After preparing everything, Team - 11 gathered at their meeting spot and departed out of the village to perform an intelligence-gathering task.
Before doing anything to Hiruko, they must first figure out his whereabouts, so they have to track him.
As soon as the four have left the territory of Konoha, Kakashi as the captain said to the rest three, "Since we do not have any idea of where Hiruko is, the best approach is to search and track him as well as other members of Akatsuki individually. So, the four of us will go to different countries and find whatever we can as a preliminary investigation. Based on the first stage of the investigation we will shortlist the possible places."
The other three nodded, it was the best approach to work with.
Kakashi looked at the other three and said, "Choose the countries…"
Shisui looked at Kuroto, who silently nodded to him. Following that Kuroto said, "I will go to the Land of Rain and the countries behind it, to investigate Hiruko's as well as the tracks of other Akatsuki members."
Shisui said next, "In that case, I will take the Land of Grass, Land of Waterfall, and Land of Iron."
Guy looked at Kuroto and Shisui, then thought a little and said while laughing, "Hahaha… if my friends are taking so many countries each then I can not be left behind, I will go to Land of Rivers, Land of Whirlpools, and Land of Tea!"
Kakashi nodded, "Then I will go to the Land of Hot Water, Land of Sound, and Land of Frost!"
With that decided, Kakashi said, "Remember we can not draw attention to ourselves, and we will not be wearing our Anbu uniform while performing this mission, make sure to perform the counterfeit missions as well so that even if someone notices us, they do not figure know what we are truly doing… and finally, even if someone encounters any of the members of either of Akatsuki Organization or Amatsukami Organization, you will not engage in combat retreat at once, that's an order! Our mission right now is just intelligence gathering, and then report to Hokage-sama, then decide further course of action, understand?"
The other three nodded as they all put sealed their Anbu uniforms in their hideouts.
Then Kakashi added, "We will meet at the same place two months from now, regardless of results, understood?!"
"Mm-hmm!" "You got it!" "Yes, captain!" the three each nodded.
"Alright disperse!" – with that order, the four split into four different directions. Kakashi went into the direction of Land of Hot Water, Guy went into the direction of Land of Whirlpool, Shisui went into the direction of Land of Iron, and Kuroto went into the direction of Land of Rain.
Kuroto is naturally not an idiot that he would venture into the Land of Rain, the den of enemies, the only reason he took this country for himself is that he didn't want the others to choose this country as they would never be returning if they went there.
And it's not that he himself isn't confident of being able to retreat, it's just that he doesn't want Pain and Obito to be alerted so early on.
The number of people aware of this mission of Team-11 only amounts to five, which includes the four members of team-11 and Sandaime-sama. Not even the other three of the Elder Council are aware of this mission. Sandaime-sama has taken all the precautions he could to prevent the leakage of intelligence, and Kuroto has no intentions of giving away anything.
In fact, Kuroto and Shisui have already decided that they would use this period to train and perform many missions from the Black Market, for that very reason he is going to the Land of Iron, Shisui will be spending the next two months in Land of Samurai and train as a wandering Samurai.
The same is the case with Itachi. Itachi too will be living in the Land of Iron for the next two months and enhance his skills as much as he can, and perform as many missions as he can.
All for the purpose of gathering funds required for the working of Amatsukami, especially required for the repairs of Ancor Vantian.
While Kuroto himself also has some objectives that he plans to focus on for the next two months.
After going around, and quietly returning to Ancor Vantian, the first thing he did was to check the status of Chimera Buds.
After about a month of cultivation, results have started to appear. About 40 of the hundred samples have yielded some results and without exception all of them are failures.
But this is not contrary to Kuroto's expectations, so there is no disappointment in Kuroto's expression.
Accepting failures, but not succumbing to failures is a must-have quality for a researcher like him.
So even if all the hundred samples result in failure there would be no disappointment.
But it is still sometimes when all the samples show results.
So, after checking the status of Chimera Bud's cultivation, Kuroto focused on his main objective for the next two months. To do so, he transferred his soul to the Tsukihi clone.
Coming out of the Nutrition Tank, Tsukihi muttered, "Now it's time to start further development of this body…"
The wholesome strength of the Tsukihi clone is obviously strong, courtesy to the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, but without the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan Tsukihi Clone is pretty weak when compared to Suijin Clone. Whether it is the strength of the body or the degree of Fire Chakra, both are relatively weak.
This is clearly evident from the Chakra Volume itself, as compared to the Chakra Volume of Suijin Clone, Tsukihi Clone doesn't even amount to fifty percent.
And the concentration and individual volume of Chakra are highly important, so the further enhancement of Tsukihi Clone must be put on the immediate agenda. As it is necessary for Kuroto's plan.
After weighing all changes in the physical attributes of Tsukihi Clone, Tsukihi sighed while holding her chest, "I cannot fathom enough how Tsunade-sama and other few Kunoichi handle such heavy chest when I already feel my back aching with this size!"
Because of constant development, the physical development of the clone body has not stopped, and there's more than just height and weight that have increased. The major issue is that the feminine characteristics of Tsukihi Clone have started to become more and more obvious, be those thighs, hips, waist, or the pair breasts.
Sighing slightly, Tsukihi shook her head and started to wrap bandages over the obvious places. Then got dressed in a pair of deposable garbs and came to one of the training rooms.
Putting all the issues aside, for now, Tsukihi put her hand over her chin and pondered at the matter at hand.
To increase the strength of Tsukihi Clone, the approach to be followed is to develop a Kekkei Genkai, similar to the approach that was taken for the Suijin Clone.
With the major chakra attributes of Tsukihi Clone being Fire and Lightning, so a Kekkei Genkai with the combination of these two seems to be the best choice. This has long been thought of. But the thing is, there is no prior example of a Kekkei Genkai of Fire and Lightning Chakra for her to work on. As was the case with Ice Release.
Even though there is no prior example of those particular Chakra Natures, it's not that there is nothing for her to work on.
Blaze Release exists, okay it may not exist yet, as Uchiha Sasuke has yet to awaken Mangekyou Sharingan, but that's not the point. The point is that Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi is an example for Tsukihi to work on, a Kekkei Genkai that is the shape transformation of Amaterasu.
Because Tsukihi has previously used her Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan to control the special golden flames of her Susanoo, therefore it should be possible to master Blaze Release, without Kagutsuchi at her disposal. The only thing is that it will be harder, but not impossible.
For starters, according to Tsukihi, the development of Blaze Release will be different compared to Ice Release. Ice Release only involved two Chakra Natures that being Water and Wind, meanwhile, Blaze Release will require, two Chakra natures as well as visual prowess.
Chakra Natures involved will obviously be Fire and Lightning. And once Blaze Release is successfully developed, it will become an Uchiha Clan specific Kekkei Genkai, that those who have awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan can master.
But before anything, it needs to be developed. In this regard, Kuroto already has some experience when he developed Ice Release for Suijin Clone.
As such it should be a bit easier to develop Blaze Release compared to a complete newbie.
After formulating some plans, Tsukihi nodded to herself and started.
Weaving the Hand Signs, she put her hands over her lips and shouted, "Fire Release: Fire Ball Technique!"
Boom…
Instantly, a huge fireball appeared in the training room.
But because the room seemed to be fireproof, it was soon extinguished.
"The intensity of Fire Chakra needs to be further understood!" – muttered Tsukihi.
Relatively speaking, Fire Chakra Nature is more difficult to control compared to Water. The same is the case with Lightning Nature when compared to Wind Nature. Therefore, the fusion of Fire and Lightning is also difficult compared to Water and Water.
For that reason, the intensity and degree must be repeatedly tested and checked, to incorporate Lightning into it.
With that understood, next Tsukihi activated her Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan to observe all the step-by-step changes as well as add Visual Prowess.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
"Now let's start again!" "Alright!" x 10 – muttered Tsukihi's
With fire in one hand, lightning in another, and Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan in her eye the process started.
There was no tension of burning or zapping of cells and tissues because of constant healing from Ryuumyaku, so Tsukihi could fully exploit this opportunity.
Next, she tried to incorporate two Chakra Natures under the guidance of visual prowess but repeatedly failed.
Sometimes the two nature would collide and produce small-scale explosions.
The ratio of both chakra nature was repeatedly changed and tested but still a failure, after a few hundred failed trials, Tsukihi wiped the sweat, and while drinking water she thought, 'Is the use of ration not useful here? And if that's the case here, what approach should I use?'
After thinking a little she finally landed on an idea. Immediately, got readied herself to use it, she again activated her Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and activated the basic rib-cage Susanoo.
Instantly, the Golden Chakra, as well as the basic rib-cage structure, appeared around her.
Next, she controlled her Susanoo to form a layer of Golden Flames over it.
With a layer of Golden Flames covering the rib-cage structure, Tsukihi used the visual prowess of her Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and brought took the Golden Flames in her hand.
The purpose was obviously to observe these flames closely, better understand their composition. While playing with the golden flames in her hand she muttered, "Uchiha Sasuke was able to use Blaze Release without even the use of Mangekyou Sharingan during his final fight with Uzumaki Naruto, so should I also directly use these Golden Flames to develop a Kekkei Genkai? But I am not sure if that would work as I don't have Kagutsuchi… I guess I will focus on my previous approach… But I suppose I should understand these flames better, because if I am not wrong, then these are also unique, perhaps they too are a combination of two Chakra?!"
Although the Golden Flames were not as strong as Amaterasu, these are still extremely violent and raging, violent like the Lightning Chakra Nature… 'Is it possible that they are a fusion of lightning with fire?'
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Read up to Chapter - 587 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Page: https://www..p-atreon.com/Milta_translations