Chapter 40: Going on a trip

'Aldous. That isn't a name that rings any bell but if there's even a small chance of the akatsuki being alive then I have to check it out.' Sora thought as he held a vial of blue liquid.

[Object: Potion of Knowledge]

[Effect: It doubles the user's learning speed for two hours.]

Unlike what the name implied, it didn't just give you knowledge. You still had to work for it and that was perfectly fine by him.

'This means that I need to speed things up a bit. After all, if you don't cheat then you're not trying hard enough.' He thought as he set repeated the process of making the potion.

"So you're going to china now?" Zatanna commented dryly as she sat on the bed behind him, studying one of her magic books.

"Soon, but not yet. I have to make sure I'm ready for whatever I meet there." Sora said as he finished another potion before proceeding to make another one.

"I hope you're not planning on going alone." She said to which Sora didn't answer.

"I haven't exactly been sitting idle while you've been busy. I'm going with you whether you like it or not." She stated firmly, getting up from the bed and standing with her arms crossed behind him.

'Déjà vu…' He thought with an internal sigh.

He paused in his brewing for a moment before turning his head to face her.

"If you want to follow then that means we'll be upping your training to make sure you're also prepared." Sora said in a way that she could help but shiver a bit but she couldn't back down now.

"Bring it." She provoked with a smirk.

Has she seen the cruel smirk on Sora's face, she would have taken back her words as the vial in his hand held the potion that would aid her punishme…training.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zatanna dodged a low roundhouse kick, putting her hands up to block a punch that came her way.

Her forearms trembled a bit at the force that impacted them but she stayed strong. Another kick was aimed at her but she had no intention of taking it as she tilted her body away from it.

As she dodged, she pressed momentary advantage, throwing a jab towards her opponent who parried it away. She didn't stop there as her other hand shot towards her opponent's chest for a punch.

He caught her hand only for her to use it to pull herself up, aiming her rising knee at his chin. The other hand of her opponent pushed the knee down only for the other foot to come speeding towards his head.

He was forced to release her as he flipped backwards to avoid the kick. Sora let out a small smirk as he landed on his feet opposite the slightly panting Zatanna.

"You've improved a lot. Three weeks ago you could barely hold your own against me now look at you." Sora said as Zatanna drop her stance.

Despite not fighting to his full ability, he had to admit that she had grown a lot.

With him not leaving to interrogate some poor gang members for the three week period, he had time to focus on training; both his and hers.

With the repeated and constant use of the Potion Of Knowledge for the time period combined with Sora's teaching skill, Zatanna's fighting capabilities had grown quite a bit.

"I don't know if I'm more impressed with you or with myself." He continued only for her to give him an eye roll.

"Real humble. You know when I said I agreed to training, I didn't think it would turn out like this." Zatanna said as Sora threw her a healing potion.

"Turn out how?" He asked as she gulped it down.

"I've memorized the patterns on the ceiling. That goes to show you how many times I've been sent flat on my back." She said with a deadpanned expression.

"Even with that, you can't disagree with the results. Maybe one day you'll be able to give the real me some trouble" He said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What a great way to boost my confidence." She said sarcastically as the Sora that had been sitting in the corner of the room with his eyes closed in meditation got off the ground.

"Don't feel too bad. You're leagues above most of your peers." He said with a small smile.

"Most?" She said with a challenging look only for Sora to raise a brow at her.

"You forget that I still exist." He said in mock arrogance though it was true as she raised her hands in surrender.

Sora let out a small chuckle at that but he was right about his earlier statement. He could confidently say that this Zatanna would absolutely crush the Zatanna that joined the team of sidekicks.

That being said, he hadn't ignored his own training. With a simple thought, he dispelled the shadow clones that training in his room.

He currently had enough chakra to create six clones as opposed to previously when three was his limit. He braces himself as the five batches of memories flooded into him.

He stilled for a few seconds, sorting and arranging them in order. He pulled up the template panel with a satisfied look on his face.

••••••••••••

[Template Name: Sasuke Uchiha]

[Template Progress:39.9%]

[Skills]:[Engineering Mastery Lvl 72] [Energy Sensing Lvl 50] [Sealing Mastery Lvl 89] [Medical Knowledge Lvl 94] [Art of the Mind Lvl 61] [Analyze Lvl 10] [Teaching Lvl 64] [Alchemy Lvl 70] [Poison Resistance Lvl 17] [Cursed Seal of Heaven Lvl 9] [Transmutation Lvl 58] [Counter Lvl 20][Sword Mastery Lvl 23]

••••••••••••

He hadn't been idle one bit throughout the past three weeks. He had himself and his clones working day and night to level all or at least most of his skills.

What came as a surprise was the acquisition of the transmutation skill upon reaching level 50 in alchemy.

Apparently some skills were prerequisite to gaining other skills when a certain level of mastery was reached.

Like the name said, he could change the form of nature of anything he touched. What he didn't expect was for the skill to be so useful.

He realized it's usefulness when he turned a piece of paper into a sheet of metal. After that, he had tried it on living things.

The few goons that he snagged from Kenji showed their usefulness in this part. Combined with his medical knowledge, he was able to safely make some…alterations.

Though, using transmutation on living things was more draining than when used on inanimate things.

Who knew someone could look like a man one moment and look like a girl in the next.

Moving on, the other skill he acquired was one he was very proud about. It took quite a bit for him to get it right but it was worth it.

He always had his eyes on the signature move of a particularly perverse midget demon. Although he couldn't get the full package, he got the best he could get for now.

Reading the timing and nature of an attack and sending it back. A move truly fit to work with the sharingan.

Counter was a skill that reflected energy based attacks right back to the attacker. The power the reflected attack possessed depended on the level of the skill.

With a satisfied sigh, he closed the panel and turned to Zatanna who was resting on a chair.

"I think we're about ready. We'll start our trip tomorrow." Sora said, startling Zatanna.

"Are you sure? Isn't it too soon?" She said, a bit unsure.

"I'm sure. If we waste too much time, by the time we get there we might not find anything. We already pushed our luck by waiting so long."

'Although we're not as strong as I'd like us to be before going there, we can't risk losing our lead. If it comes down to it, I'll have to use it.' He thought as he walked to his room to take a bath.

"Take some time to pack and relax. Our flight leaves tomorrow morning." He said as he shut his bedroom door leaving Zatanna stunned.

"Flight?"