88. The New Batch / Team Impregnation 2

It’s been a few weeks with no sign of the next arc starting. Everyone gives birth to their Template insects within the span of a few days. Thankfully, we have the Amalgam ability now and can fast-heal the recovering girls inside their partners (though it takes a significant chakra expenditure). Hah hah hah, Amalgam really is the most busted Kekkei Genkai!

Then it’s time for a harem meeting; I figure we have enough margin before the next plot advancement to adjust to our new Kekkei Genkai and at least get a new batch of insects started.

I watch Tenten play with a kunai like a yo-yo, pulling it up from the ground using her new magnet powers (courtesy of a Silver Magnet Beetle she wears like a broach) only to let it fall again before catching it midair. Hinata and Sakura are doing some taijutsu sparing in the living room with their new Sharingan eyes. Anko activates her Byakugan while laying on the floor to avoid getting dizzy while viewing everything in three-hundred-fifty-nine degrees around her simultaneously.

Nearby, Kin-Kitty spins around cutely beneath a light snowfall sprinkling from a Crystal Ice Mirror she placed on the ceiling. Karin practices her Wood Release on a bonsai tree in a pot on her lap, trying to get it to bloom after accepting her Cedar Cicada Chrysalis. Ino sits in Kurenai’s lap since the Jonin accepted my proposal and is now the proud owner of an Amalgam Hear-Ringworm.

I’m watching Ino and Kurenai stare at the last Sharingan eyewig with trepidation in one case and envy in the other when something occurs to me. “Oh, shit, I think we’re about to hit a deadline.” All eyes turn towards me, muscles tensing for battle, and I raise my hands to calm them, “I forgot Kin-Kitty needs a Sharingan for her next mission.” Pressing my palms together, I bow at the waist as I make a request, “Ino-chan, I know you were considering giving that Sharingan to Kurenai, but can I please give it to Kin-Kitty instead?”

Ino and Kurenai meet gazes for a moment before the Jonin shrugs and waves off the platinum blond’s concern. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve waited this long; I can wait another month if necessary.”

I’m glad that’s settled, though Kin-Kitty is now the girl with trepidation as she realizes with mild horror she’s going to have to let that eyewig eat its way into her brain. The things we do for power in the ninja world…

“Umm, hey, so, what the hell does this creepy fucker do?” Tayuya asks from her place on the couch. She’s got a golden beetle in her hand.

Eagerly, I come over to gingerly take it in my hands. It’s the culmination of my most complicated project so far! I lift it high while triumphant music plays in my mind. “This new golden Jewel Sage Scarab is going to change everything!”

Anko deactivates her Byakugan and struggles to her wobbly feet. “It doesn't actually put you in Sage Mode, though, right? That’d be crazy.”

She’s right, of course. “No, no, but I’m only exaggerating a little. It deserves the name!”

“Yeah, sure, fucking whatever, but what does it do?” Tayuya insists.

“I’m glad you asked.” I launch into exposition mode for the sake of my girls. “But first, let me explain Sage Mode. By collecting Natural Energy, the ambient magic of the world, and molding it with one’s own Physical and Spiritual Energies, one creates Senjutsu Chakra. It is superior to normal chakra both in quality and in quantity because you’re supplementing your internal reserves with an external supply. Once you have the proportions in balance, if you have enough of it, and your body can withstand the additional stress, you enter badass Sage Mode. Problem number one is learning to sense Natural Energy, but let’s set that aside for now. Problem number two is learning to meld Natural Energy with your internal energies in the correct proportions. It’s difficult mainly because, if you get it wrong, you turn to stone and die.”

Everyone makes a disconcerted face.

“But, but… I know from my visions that Orochimaru-kun did a lot of research on this. He found a group of people that don’t turn to stone when they absorb Nature Energy and extracted enzymes from their bloodline to create his Curse Marks. They allow him to help his subordinates enter a Pseudo-Sage Mode by supplying them with Senjutsu Chakra that he molds himself remotely. It then transforms them instead of turning them to stone.”

“Except we don’t have a fucking ‘Pseudo-Sage’ to supply Senjutsu Chakra,” Tayuya grumps. “What’s the point?”

I nod. “I extracted just the bits responsive to Natural Energy from the genetic changes made by many different Curse Marks—not Jugo’s whole bloodline, but that has its own serious issues, making the user randomly go berserk—to make the Natural Energy Transformation template, or NET bug.” I hold up the Jewel Sage Scarab again. “This is our big ticket!

“See, I’ve been thinking about how to access Sage Mode for months. The easiest way would be getting Jiraiya-san to send us to Mount Myoboku and learn from the toads. They have special oils to aid in absorbing Natural Energy and a rod that purges the body of excess before they turn to stone, but there’s no guarantee the toads would help us even with the Sannin’s blessing. For all I know, the Great Toad Sage might refuse us lessons for incomprehensible reasons, or they might only offer those services to the ‘chosen one.’”

Naruko, off to the side quietly watching everything with an absent-minded grin from Tsume’s lap, sneezes.

I resume, “There’s Ryuchi Cave, but I’m not betting on us being the caliber of geniuses who can accept the power of the White Snake Sage’s venom without being turned to stone or eaten. Shikkotsu Forest, the home of Tsunade’s slug Katsuyu, is a theoretical option, but the fact the Fifth Hokage can’t use Sage Mode indicates that direction isn’t viable. It’s probably a lack of willingness or lack of capability to help people learn Sage Mode there.

“I even considered my clan’s contract with the Giant Insects to reverse-summon myself to wherever they come from but decided against that as well. Unlike Toads, Snakes, and Slugs, as far as I can tell, the Giant Insects lack the ability to talk and probably have very little interest with or sympathy for our plight even if they do have a Sage.”

“You sure know a lot,” Kurenai comments, “Those visions are frighteningly potent.”

No comment. “Anyway, what we need is a safe way to train Senjutsu without turning to stone, and the Jewel Sage Scarab delivers on that.”

A lightbulb goes off in Anko’s head. “So, that’s it, then? We literally have everything we need!?!” She’s starting to get excited. I suppose she would be the person here who best understands the potential of Sage Mode from her time directly working with Orochimaru on his research, whereas Tayuya and Kin were simple subordinates.

I rub the back of my head in contrition, sorry for getting her too worked up, “Well, coming back to ‘problem number one,’ we need to learn how to sense and draw on Natural Energy by achieving a ‘state of absolute stillness’ before anything special happens.”

“I can sense Natural Energy,” Anko offhandedly comments.

“…Eh? Eh?!?” My eyes bulge nearly out of my sockets.

“Don’t get your panties in a wad,” she says even though I’m not wearing panties. What? I like running around the house naked! Sue me! “You know Orochimaru-kun found Ryuchi Cave a while back and became a sage. His problem was having a body too weak to enter Sage Mode, which is why he’s trying to induce it in others that he can then body-snatch. He taught me the basics of Senjutsu, but I balked when I realized I’d probably turn to stone attempting to master it. Seeing my hesitation, he gave me this Cursed Seal of Heaven. When it seems I didn’t have any talent for that either, he dumped me out on my ass.”

“I thought you left his ass because he was evil?” I say, confused.

“Did I…? Eh?”

“Hmm,” Karin narrows her eyes and approaches Anko, merging bodily with the Jonin from behind. A moment later, a subtle haze clears from Anko’s eyes, and Karin reemerges. “Yep, that was a deeply-entrenched hypnotic genjutsu I sensed disturbing your chakra signature. Be sure to thank me properly later~”

That’s right, Karin’s sensory prowess is top-notch because of her Mind’s Eye of the Kagura, and she’s great at dispelling genjutsus!

Anko shakes her head and startles. “Oh, shit, that’s right! The bastard altered my memories. You’re right, I left his ass because he was evil! Fuck, that was some discordant shit in my mind. He let me go, but literally just didn’t want me to remember walking out on my own. What an abusive asshole. But, Shino-chan, learning Sage Mode is crazy dangerous, are you sure that scarab thing will keep us safe?”

“It’ll keep you from turning to stone,” I reassure, “And any transformations should wear off after all the Senjutsu chakra is expended.”

Carefully, Anko takes the scarab from me and places it on her chest, where it settles in on her sternum just below the collar bone. “Here goes nothing…” She sits in seated lotus position and gradually stills until she resembles a statue more than a person, though she remains flesh and blood. We all hold our breaths as minutes pass and nothing happens. Just as I’m about to interrupt her trance, a subtle change becomes apparent. Scales sprout across her skin starting around the eyes and spread to her cheeks. Anko opens her eyes to reveal snake-like irises and blackened sclerae. “I guess I’m not stoned?”

“Success!” I jump and scream with delight like a mad scientist on ecstasy.

It looks like Anko is on the path of achieving something similar to Kabuto’s Sage Transformation, which makes sense since he eventually achieved it with access to Jugo’s DNA, Orochimaru’s remains, and access to Ryuchi Cave. That makes it sound a bit more impressive than the reality, however.

Kabuto had Jugo’s full Kekkei Genkai that pulled in Natural Energy automatically, so he didn’t have to enter meditation prior to transforming, for one thing. For another…

“Shino-chan, don’t get too excited,” Anko cautions, “True Sage Mode requires extreme chakra levels… it’s not something I’m capable of.” Yeah, Kabuto absorbed some of Orochimaru to give him the necessary power to kickstart the process. Sage Mode is a bit like a fusion reactor that requires tons of pressure and electricity to ignite. Yes, it produces lots of energy, but the sheer quantity of chakra required to get the ball rolling is mindboggling. Not even Jiraiya could go all the way, though what he’s achieved is nothing to sneeze at. “Not to mention one’s body must be strong enough to endure the change.”

“That’s where Amalgamation comes in!” I say with a grin. “If a typical kunoichi doesn’t have the chakra levels for true Sage Mode, then maybe we can get there together! Ordinarily, sharing chakra is a difficult technique because it requires shaping one’s physical and spiritual energy to match the recipient, but Amalgamation naturally combines two peoples’ physical energies. Thus, learning how to share Chakra with your Amalgam partner should be half as difficult.”

I don’t believe Jiraiya has something like ten times the Chakra of a Jonin. It’s probably only several times that of an average Jonin; what makes him a Sannin is his advanced Chakra control and a long list of exotic Jutsus.

“I know everyone’s plates are already full as far as training, but I want everyone to take turns with Anko-chan learning how to sense and gather Natural Energy with the Jewel Sage Scarab. Our current goal should be learning to enter an Imperfect Sage Mode while we work on increasing our Amalgamation capacity and practice sharing chakra.”

Tenten then raises her hand, “You mentioned a ‘state of absolute stillness.’ Isn’t that what it’s like being Amalgamated?”

““…””

I could hear a pin drop in this room.

Anko leaps to her feet, “If we merge, I can show you what it feels like to gather Natural Energy! And having someone Amalgamated doing the Senjutsu generation mitigates the vulnerability weakness of having to remain ‘still’ to do so. This is really happening!”

Anko and I hug and dance while the others look on with skepticism as the signs of transformation fade from the Jonin’s face.

“I dunno what’s going on, but I’m happy you’re happy, dattebayo,” Naruko says while thoroughly enjoying her Tsume-boob-pillows.

After settling down, it’s back to business. “In the meantime, everyone, we’ve got another selection of Templates to arrange. Tenten-chan?”

“Sharingan,” she says without hesitation. “It’ll take my accuracy and reflexes to the next level.”

Hinata goes next. “Macabre Bone Pulse. While hard-style martial arts aren’t my specialty, my selection isn’t about that. I’m more interested in the way it can be used defensively.” Oh, she’s definitely got my attention! “This Kekkei Genkai would let me control my bone density, right?” I nod. “Stronger bones will protect my internal organs from blunt force damage or allow me to make temporary bone plates to defend against a sharp blade. It’ll be more difficult to snap my neck, or cave in my skull, and I’ll be more durable in general, not to mention my body will repair broken bones more quickly.”

She’s right. She’s totally right! Simply having the passive effects of the Macabre Bone Pulse would put an average Genin on par with a Tokujo taijutsu specialist! That’s nuts! And hardly any training is required!”

“Hinata-chan’s a genius!” Naruko says with a gasp.

“N-no, no, I-I’m not. I’m n-not!” Hinata insists, but the other girls are eying her with newfound respect.

“Byakugan for me,” Sakura says, “I want the dojutsu combo even if I’m not learning Gentle Fist.”

Good, good, moving along.

“Sharingan. It’s something Orochimaru-kun wants, so it must be good, and I’ll enjoy showing it off next time I see the bastard.” Anko chuckles darkly. “Also, it’ll help me memorize the feeling of correctly molding Senjutsu chakra.”

“Same, here,” Karin agrees, “And, maybe Shino-sama could convince that stump-humper to give me some pointers?”

I laugh. “Don’t call Yamato-kun a stump-humper to his face. And we’ll see.”

Kin-Kitty steps forward next. “Ino-chan gave me her Sharingan, so I’ll return the favor this time.”

But Ino shakes her head, “Guys, don’t worry about me. Sure, all these awesome powers are cool, but I told you I’m swamped trying to learn my clan jutsu on top of the other stuff I’ve got to train. Sharingan can wait if there’s important shit going on. Hey, bug slut, you didn’t get a new Template last round either. Let me make you a Macabre Bone Pulse.”

I was debating when to ask for this, but I’m touched Ino of all people thought of me. I give her a hug and thank her. “I appreciate that a lot. While most of my strength is going to come from you all, I don’t want to fall too far behind in personal power either. Increasing the potency of my taijutsu makes sense.”

Learning the advanced Gentle Fist moves from Hinata after she learns them is going to become more time-consuming, even with the Sharingan. I probably won’t be able to keep pace with her in that department for much longer. Like I said earlier, my focus needs to be on Amalgamation and bug techniques.

“Then I’ll go Amalgam for Tsume,” Kin-Kitty states, arching her back sensually, “I want to be inside her.”

“Good thinking,” I assess. Tsume is a Jonin-level fighter with experience coming up with ways to use the Transformation jutsu. She’s a powerful asset to the team.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Tsume objects, to my shock. “My specialty is Combination-Transformation jutsu. Sadly, that doesn’t actually mesh well with Amalgamation. Shino-chan, you don’t need to give me a ring to make me happy. If you’re worrying about how far you can stretch yourself, then save it for someone who needs the help more. None of these Templates make much sense to me, even the Dojutsu. I rely on my sense of smell, remember? The one thing that tempts me is that Boner Pulse.”

I can’t exactly argue with her. She is one of the more experienced Jonin present.

“Then I’ll return the favor for Ino-chan after all,” Kin-Kitty says, folding her arms to brook no more arguments.

That settled, I address the elephant in the room, “Tayuya-chan, forgive me, but we need you to keep making NET bugs. You’re the only one who can, and every single Jewel Sage Scarab we get is one more Imperfect Sage we can eventually put on the field.”

I don’t see Tayuya as an Amalgamation user, at least, not currently. While Tayuya offers a huge benefit to me as a breeder, the fact that her second stage transformation relies on Orochimaru’s senjutsu chakra makes me cautious of merging her body with anyone else. Maybe it’s best to keep her comfortable in the Aburame clan estate until I can solve that problem.

“That’s alright,” she says while stretching luxuriously on Tenten’s x-frame bondage wheel, “I like getting used and abused.”

“Well then, I hope everyone can pardon my selfishness, but I’d like to have my Sharingan,” Kurenai says.

“I’ll punish anyone who objects,” I joke. Well, it’s not a joke, but the ‘punishment’ will be sexy.

Current Available Templates: Ice Release, Sharingan, Byakugan, Amalgam, Macabre Bone Pulse, Magnet, Dormant Lesser Wood Release Template

Shino – Amalgam Heart ringworm, Sharingan, Byakugan

Tenten – Ice Leech, Amalgam, Magnet

Pregnant with = Sharingan

Hinata – Byakugan, Amalgam, Sharingan

Pregnant with = Bone

Sakura – Bone, Amalgam, Sharingan

Pregnant with = Byakugan

Anko – Amalgam, Byakugan, Natural Energy Transformation (NET)

Pregnant with = Sharingan

Karin – Amalgam, Wood

Pregnant with = Sharingan

Kin – Amalgam, Ice, Sharingan

Pregnant with = Sharingan (Ino)

Ino – Amalgam,

Pregnant with = Bone (Shino)

Tsume –

Pregnant with = Shino’s child

Tayuya –

Pregnant with = NET

Kurenai – Amalgam

Pregnant with = Sharingan