Naruto: Systematic Shinobi

Chapter 118: The Chunin Exams - 44

What most of the people currently visiting the tower in the middle of the Forest of Death, probably didn't know-

Was that the tower itself had a basement level.

Daiki himself wouldn't have known about it either.

If not for the fact he could literally see through any solid object with but a glance with his Shinkugan. So a sweeping look revealed it to him during his first day in the tower.

And another sweeping glance with his eyes after he left Sakura behind, revealed to him, that the basement level was exactly where Kakashi and Sasuke were.

Honestly, finding the door to the basement took more time than finding their whereabouts.

He even stopped a passing chunin patrolling the halls about it, who had no idea what he was talking about.

As it was, it took him a few minutes to locate the door.

Fucking Kakashi, couldn't that lazy prick do anything helpful? 'Oh Daiki, by the way, the door is located over there'

That was all he needed to say, but no, as always, he had to make things way more difficult than they needed to be.

Because, he was a prick.

There wasn't even any stairs, just an inclined little hill kind of thing. It was subtle as all hell, to the point where he missed it a few times when searching with his eyes.

The basement level itself was odd. It was really only one big massive room, filled with pillars going up into the ceiling.

He had no idea what purpose this place served at all. Granted, he also didn't really care.

Though with all the huge, sturdy pillars around, his best guess was that it was a place used for chaining up huge beasts.

Which made a slight bit of sense considering all the massive beasts in the forest of death.

Though the why still alluded him.

He found Sasuke and Kakashi quite quickly, making his way through the huge basement level room towards them.

His eyes revealed to him though, that there was a fourth in the room. Hidden underground, not far away from Sasuke and Kakashi, their presence completely concealed.

Daiki hid a grimace.

Fucking Orochimaru.

He made sure not to look directly at the man or stare and give away that he knew he was there.

He didn't want to spook the man into action, with what he revealed the other day, he might feel his plans were jeopardized and try to kidnap Sasuke right here and now. His serpentine yellow gaze followed him with interest, and Daiki ignored him as best he could as he made his way over to his friend and the copy prick.

'Shit, I didn't even consider that.' Daiki cursed inwardly. He'd left Sasuke and his team behind in the forest, after showing he was capable of destroying Orochimaru's soul fragment in the Cursed Seal.

He hadn't even considered the fact that the man might just have taken Sasuke because of Daiki, and not risk losing his future vessel.

Stupid of him.

He'd need to think things through a bit more.

He was lucky this time, but the consequences of his actions needed to be understood more.

He put that out of mind for now though as he approached the student and teacher pair waiting for him.

"Well well well, if it isn't little Timmy and the would be criminal." Daiki said in greeting as he reached them.

It was an odd sight. While Kakashi was the same as usual, Sasuke knelt within a sealing circle on the ground, shirtless. Lines of sealing kanji were painted all over his torso, leading down like chains onto the ground, going on for a few feet, before reaching up and spreading across multiple pillars.

So this was the Evil Sealing Method seal array?

Or rather-

It was extended compression seals, spread out over a larger surface to make it easier to compress the seal matrix onto a smaller target.

It showed Kakashi's lack of skill when it came to sealing, because just from a cursory glance, he already had a descent understanding of the Evil Sealing Method.

'I could apply this with only a fraction of the space.' he mused.

…But this was something he hadn't considered. Using an amateurs tool, which would be akin to someone tracing another drawing and calling themselves an artist in scale, to apply a seal.

'With this method, I could use it to compress the seals for my eyes.' he mused.

"I think he's talking to you Sasuke." Kakashi mused, idly turning a page in his smutty book.

"Just ignore it, he says random crap that nobody understands all the damn time," Sasuke rolled his onyx eyes, and looked to Daiki, a frown on his lips, "Tch, so you are totally fine, unlike me apparently."

"Sakura told you then?" he asked in reply.

"Yes," Sasuke clicked his tongue, "Told me you shook off the pain of that seal unlike me real quick and then made it your own, even used the power boost it gave you to blow that Orochimaru guy away."

"Well, almost right, if it was that easy to kill him, he wouldn't have lasted to this point, he escaped my jutsu without any problem," Daiki shrugged, "As for the Cursed Seal, well, let's just say that I'm just built different from you." he added, and gave Sasuke a pointed look before touching his thumb to the right side of his chest.

Sasuke's eyes widened minutely, before he quickly smothered his surprised look, returning to his usual impassive expression, "I see." his frown deepened.

"Hmm?" Kakashi looked up from his book at their silent conversation, before shrugging, "So, the Hokage tells me you have a way of not only dealing with the problems of the Cursed Seal, making it safe to use, but also improving upon it."

Hmm, well obviously the old man would tell Kakashi about it.

"Not quite, I've made my own safe to use and improved upon it, in fact by my estimates, the power boost it gives me has been increased by a bit over fifty percent," Daiki replied, "The problem is, the way I made it safe for me, isn't something I can replicate for anyone else."

Kakashi's eyebrow raised and he gave him a searching look.

If the Hokage told him of this, no doubt he told him of the fact that he could in fact do something about the Orochimaru soul fragment in other seals as well, he was just holding off on it for now.

'Drop it for now.' Daiki projected his chakra into a message and directed it into Kakashi's mind.

"Hmm, well that's disappointing," Kakashi mused, "You're really quite useless here then, huh?" he needled.

"Like you're one to talk, look at the mess of this sealing array," Daiki scoffed, "I could get this seal down in a few hours and apply it with just my chakra, and you're supposed to be a student of the Yondaime Hokage, one of the greatest sealing experts to ever live, probably the best outside of the Uzumaki Clan period."

"Uzumaki clan?" Sasuke's eyes widened a bit, he seemed a bit shocked to learn of such a thing.

"Yeah, extinct now except for a few like Naruto, but we used to be allies with them, in fact we still wear their symbol," Daiki jabbed his thumb at Kakashi's flack jacket, pointing to where the Uzumaki swirl was displayed proudly, "They were known for having absurd vitality, powerful chakra and stamina and being absolute monsters when it came to the sealing arts, as in so good they even make me look like an amateur and I'm pretty fucking amazing."

"Absurd vitality, powerful chakra and stamina huh? Just like Naruto." Sasuke mused thoughtfully.

"Yup, honestly, odds are, Naruto might be the last of his clan like you," Daiki pointed out, "Actually, I know you're a shit teacher and all Kakashi, but why haven't you tried to at least get him started on the basics? He might be a spastic, but his actual talent is only something an idiot would miss."

"Hmm, you seem to know a lot about the Uzumaki clan and Naruto in general." Kakashi pointed out instead of answering.

Always with the run around with this prick.

"Our alliance with the Uzumaki clan is well established in older textbooks and what clown would pursue the sealing arts without knowing of the foremost masters of the art?" Daiki replied with a shrug, "Hell you don't even need to teach him yourself, if you just told him he had a clan and they specialized in seals, he'd pursue it himself."

That was just how much the blonde desired family, that even for just a connection to his clan he'd pursue it all.

"Eh, just didn't occur to me." Kakashi waved him off blandly.

…This guy.

"Ignore Kakashi, I'll tell him about it once this exam is done, so he doesn't obsess over it in the next round," Sasuke cut in, "Now enough of this crap, can we get a move on here? You two might be having fun bantering like fools, but I'm not having a good time kneeling here with my own blood painted all over me."

"You're such a spoil sport Sasuke," Kakashi pouted, "But, I suppose since your little friend is utterly useless, we can get a move on."

Don't Bijuudama him.

Don't Bijuudama him.

'I want to fucking Bijuudama him.' Daiki's eye twitched in annoyance. He'd even be pragmatic about it and fire it in the direction of Orochimaru while he was at it.

Get rid of two annoying pricks for one Bijuu Bomb.

And everybody won.

Except Kakashi and Orochimaru.

But who cared about them?

'You'd also blow away the entire tower, and much of the surrounding area.' Isobu added his input.

…That was a sacrifice he was willing to make as long as it shut Kakashi the fuck up for a bit.

"Alright, brace yourself Sasuke, this might sting a bit." Kakashi said, stowing his book away and walking over to stand behind Sasuke and ran through a few hand seals.

"Just get on with-" Sasuke began, only to be cut off by Kakashi.

"Evil Sealing Method!" Kakashi declared, finishing his hand seals and pressing his hand flat against the Cursed Seal on Sasuke's neck.

The Uchiha's onyx eyes went wide and a howl of agony erupted from his throat almost immediately, his body beginning to convulse.

The sealing kanji spread out over his back, the floor and the pillars began glowing and retracted from the pillars, shrinking from the floor and retreating up onto his back.

It moments it was over, the massive lines of kanji gone, and replaced by a ring of sealing kanji circling around the Cursed Seal on Sasuke's neck.

Kakashi pulled his hand from Sasuke's back, and the boy slumped over onto the ground, sweating profusely and panting deeply and rapidly, eyes wide.

"So, even if the Cursed Seal awakens again, this seal will suppress it," Kakashi began explaining nonchalantly, "Though Sasuke, the foundation of this seal is your own will power, you have to want it to work and not be led stray by the temptation of the Cursed Seals power, if you give in and rely on its power, the Evil Sealing Method will be useless, so-"

"Blah, blah blah," Daiki cut him off rolling his eyes, "Sasuke, if you rely on the seal, Orochimaru will brain wash you and take over your body, so don't just be a little bitch. I already owned this bitch ass seal and made it my own, you can't because you're too weak and unskilled, that's it, so if you have to rely on it, it just means you're a weak piece of trash in the end and you'll never come close to Itachi."

Honestly, Kakashi didn't understand Sasuke at all. The best way to make him not rely on the Cursed Seal, was to bitch slap his pride and rub his balls all over it.

Sasuke scoffed at his words, a smirk spreading across his face at Daiki's words, "Look at you acting all high and mighty just because you've got a crappy seal that gives you a little power boost," he said, "Don't forget who you're speaking to loser, even with that seal, your eyes and all your other little advantages, I'll still beat your ass in a fight."

Daiki crouched down in front of the other boy and smirked, "Tough talk, let's see you prove it," he replied, "I'll wait for you in the finals, try and keep up, eh?"

"Keh, It'll be fun to see you talking so big when I'm punching…your face…in." Sasuke began replying, even as his eyes dimmed and his consciousness left him.

Before his face could smack into the ground, Daiki caught him and hoisted his friend up onto his shoulder.

He'd keep him safe himself. If Orochimaru tried to go for him and take him now, he'd blow him away full power.

While he wanted to keep his status as a Jinchuuriki hidden, he was surprised to find that he wouldn't hesitate to unleash his full power as the Sanbi Jinchuuriki alongside his Heavenly Star Seal to keep him safe from Orochimaru.

'When did I become such a fool?' he wondered idly.

It really was odd. Initially, he only planned to use these people and Konoha as a whole to make sure he survived the coming apocalypse. But somewhere along the way, he'd come to respect and care for them.

"Kukukuku," a familiar hissing laugh echoed through the underground basement, "Now wasn't that an interesting little show."

Kakashi's eyes widened and he immediately fell into a ready stance, pushing up his headband, "Daiki, don't move from my side." he said, utterly serious.

It was an interesting change from the Kakashi he was used to dealing with. And it seemed he hadn't at all sensed Orochimaru until the man decided to introduce himself.

From behind one of the pillars, the pale snake faced man, dressed in what looked like a Konoha jonin uniform made his way out, though it was different, where Konoha's base was a dark blue, this was a pale purple, and the flack jacket a greyish blue.

He'd outright copied the uniform of Konoha for his Sound Village it seemed.

"Kakashi-kun, it seems you've even dabbled in the sealing arts these days, impressive," Orochimaru's eyes gleamed as he looked from Kakashi to meet Daiki's own eyes, "And Daiki-kun, so good to see you again." he licked his lips with a long, snake-like tongue.

"Yeah, nice to see you not frozen over and charred by lightning I suppose," Daiki replied blandly, before smirking, "If I were you, I'd toddle off, because I won't hold back this time." he added and as he did, he pulled not only on the Heavenly Star Seal, but also Isobu's chakra.

Lightning-like marks spread across his body, and the whites of his eyes shimmered and turned into a ringed purple.

This was more or less the same set up he had against Orochimaru in the forest before.

But now, he was even stronger. Not only was his base form a decent bit stronger from the energy from the fragment of Gelel, but even the Heavenly Star Seal gave a much improved boost compared to the Cursed Seal.

In fact, with the Star Chakra and Gelel energy amplifying it, it was close to double the strength, at least hovering around the one point seven five times mark.

So seventy five percent stronger boost wise.

The boost it gave was near enough comparable to two of Isobu's base chakra cloak tails.

With it and his initial jinchuuriki stage, he was around the same strength right now as back when he used the Hero's Water.

Orochimaru didn't bat an eye at his threat, instead his eyes seemed to brighten with interest, "So Kakashi was not lying when he said you improved upon the Cursed Seal, how interesting," he hummed, "You really are quite the specimen Daiki-kun kukuku."