Chapter 257: Data

 

Hidden in the dark forest, Tonbo maintained a hand seal while a torrent of information reached him through the nerves he had planted.

 

Jirōbō's Cursed Seal changed before his perception in layers.

In the first state, the natural energy stored within the mark provided mild physical activation. It reinforced the body without changing its basic shape. The second state was different. The seal continuously absorbed natural energy and transformed it. Special enzymes spread through Jirōbō's body, expanded, and reshaped him into the monstrous form fighting Chōji.

His physical strength had increased more than threefold. It approached Lee's body after opening four of the Eight Gates, yet the Cursed Seal caused fewer immediate injuries.

That advantage came from using an external reservoir and remaking the flesh to accept it. The Eight Gates released limits already imposed upon the user's own body; the Cursed Seal introduced natural energy, filtered it, and altered the vessel at the same time. The two methods produced similar force through very different paths.

"Orochimaru created something remarkable."

Chōji's changes were equally valuable.

 

The green Spinach Pill released more than thirty percent of the body's latent strength. Expansion techniques multiplied the result, making the blow to Jirōbō's back almost fatal. Without the second state's natural energy and physical transformation, the first strike would have killed him immediately. Even now, the damage waited beneath the Cursed Seal. Once the transformation ended, Jirōbō would probably die.

The yellow Curry Pill replenished the vitality Chōji spent after the first pill and expanded his chakra at the same time. It made Super Expansion possible, though Jirōbō's draining golem consumed much of the benefit.

Tonbo followed the sequence through pulse, temperature, muscle activation, and chakra flow. The three medicines did not simply multiply the same effect. Each prepared a different resource for the next stage, which explained why taking the final pill alone could not reproduce the complete transformation safely.

The red Chili Pill transformed all energy stored in Chōji's fat into chakra, adding it to what remained from the previous pill and condensing everything into the Butterfly form.

Tonbo's internal sensors showed chakra gathering at a single point with every movement. Each punch and kick released a concentrated force. The control looked even tighter than Tsunade's Chakra Enhanced Strength.

He wondered whether an Akimichi jinchūriki could focus the Nine-Tails' chakra the same way and create an attack more concentrated than a Tailed Beast Ball. The answer depended on whether Butterfly Mode could condense energy beyond the reserves stored in fat.

"Planting neural sensors in every junior I could reach was worth the effort."

The battle supplied more than combat observations. Tonbo now possessed the flow of natural energy through the second Cursed Seal state and the way it intertwined with the enzymes inside Jirōbō's body. Without a clone nearby, the distance would have prevented his main body from receiving such detail.

Sage Mode felt close.

At minimum, he could imitate part of the Cursed Seal and create a technique that activated the body for taijutsu. That mattered against Urashiki. Tonbo remembered that the Ōtsutsuki of the coming era could absorb ninjutsu, leaving taijutsu and senjutsu as his most reliable answers if Urashiki arrived before Forced Execution was complete.

The future remained troublesome.

Chōji attacked.

He kicked through the mud golem. Stone and packed soil exploded outward. He stepped across the falling pieces, reached Jirōbō, and brought one leg down in a crushing axe kick.

The transformed Sound shinobi could not react in time.

The ground collapsed. When the dust settled, Jirōbō lay mangled inside the crater, with only his head and part of his torso recognizable. The second state receded from the corpse.

Chōji watched until he was certain the enemy had died. Then he released Butterfly Mode.

All strength left him at once.

"I cannot support you any farther, Shikamaru... Naruto..."

He collapsed and slowly closed his eyes. His chakra presence faded until it seemed to disappear.

Tonbo emerged from concealment and examined him. The neural sensors confirmed that Chōji still lived, though barely. Tonbo cast Genjutsu of Phantoms and fixed the body's current state, preventing it from deteriorating any further.

The illusion did not replace what the pills had consumed. It made Chōji's brain continue issuing the pattern of signals associated with a stable condition, holding respiration and circulation at their surviving threshold. That bought time. A medical ninja would still have to repair the damage and replenish what could be restored.

Tsunade could repair the physical damage. Saving Chōji after the pills had always been her achievement, and Tonbo saw no reason to take it from her.

He looked once at Jirōbō's remains.

"Chōji has become strong. If this pursuit had not begun early, and if the Sound Four had fought Genma's team first, he might have killed Jirōbō with the opening attack."

Despite all the butterfly effects around Tonbo, events had curved back toward the course he remembered. For an instant he wondered whether the Sage of Six Paths was correcting the world. The idea made little sense; Hagoromo had no reason to interfere with Sasuke's growth this way.

Perhaps the world had corrected itself.

Tonbo did not find the thought comforting. A self-correcting history might resist his attempts to protect his family just as readily as it preserved Sasuke's path. He set the suspicion aside because no amount of speculation would answer it in the middle of the pursuit.

"Kiba's battle should end more quickly."

The present Kiba was far stronger than the boy in Tonbo's memories. Tonbo had trained him personally.

Ahead, Kidōmaru sensed the pursuit closing and handed his part of Sasuke's barrel to the others.

"Keep moving. I will deal with them."

He covered the forest with dense spiderwebs, attached traps at several heights, and hid among the branches like a patient hunter.

Shikamaru's reduced team arrived soon afterward. He stopped them before they entered the web field.

Kiba and Akamaru tested the air. Neji activated his Byakugan.

"One enemy at nine o'clock," Neji said. "Traps throughout the trees and ground."

"They left another fighter to delay us," Shikamaru said. "That means we are running out of time to recover Sasuke."

Naruto stepped forward. "Then we all attack and finish him quickly."

"Do not be reckless. Follow the plan or none of us will reach Sasuke."

Shikamaru looked from Neji to Kiba. The Inuzuka pair had already identified another scent ahead and judged it more dangerous than the hunter waiting nearby.

"We have to split again. Neji stays here. Kiba, you take the stronger one farther ahead. Can you handle it?"

"No problem," both answered.

Their confidence came from a thousand simulated deaths.

"Then move. Kiba, clear the way."

"Fang Over Fang!"

Kiba and Akamaru became twin drills of spinning chakra and tore through the webbed corridor. Traps snapped, tags exploded, and an open path appeared behind them. Shikamaru and Naruto followed.

Kidōmaru dropped from above to block their escape.

Neji intercepted him.

"Gentle Fist!"