In the end, rather than outright giving the go ahead for the assassination operation, Inori elected to postpone the decision, there was still quite a bit of journey left before they arrived at the Land of Iron so her decision was understandable.
Shiki, Mei and Shinka however, had their minds on this self appointed mission already and were thus thinking of ways to improve their success rate which in turn, would also alleviate some of their sensei-s concerns.
The white haired boy was constantly seeking new ways to improve himself and thus his ability to perform various missions so all the situation did was to create a greater sense of urgency while limiting his options since he could not just abandon the caravan for training.
'Alright, there are three major ways to improve one's strength.' Shiki began his ponderings.
'Raising one's base stats is one of the most effective, diversifying one's skillset is the easiest but usually not a very efficient method and deepening one's skills through specialization is sort of a middleground.'
The boy's base stats were already hitting his peak until he reached the next big growth spurt at around twelve or thirteen, Hollows usually experienced their greatest growth in their mid teens but with the addition of chakra, Shiki was confident his spurt would come a bit sooner.
Regardless, this meant that for the next few years, his raw stats were unlikely to improve on their own without any external factors.
Even then, strength and endurance at around Elite Chunin to early Jonin level as well as Elite Jonin agility and chakra capacity combined with chakra potency superior to most kage meant that the boy was already in a pretty good position if he could fully take advantage of those stats.
'If I can convince the caravan group to switch up the travel plan for a bit and instead of sailing to the Land of Iron and crossing over into the Land of Medicine, we instead landed on the coast of the Land of Medicine and then crossed into the Land of Iron on foot . . .' Shiki planned.
'It would necessitate some backtracking as a not very efficient route but it would provide a major opportunity to acquire a plentiful amount of raw power. . .' The boy filed the idea for consideration when the caravan got closer to the area.
For the time being, there were more easily accessible paths.
'Chakra potency is by far my best attribute at the moment, so powerful ninjutsu that would take full advantage of it is my best bet.' Shiki thought to himself.
The only decision to make was whether he should try and learn some of the various ninjutsu he memorized for later practice or if he should focus on improving those he had already grasped, at least to an extent.
Between those two, focusing on what he was already doing was the best option. Trying to learn new skills now would only result in a shallow grasp.
Lately, Shiki had been focusing on fuinjutsu as a means to enhance his base like he planned when he first saw the Uzumaki's Blood Spiral Sealing Arts.
As his mastery of the sealing arts became deeper, the boy had started to conceptualize an actual method which he called, Nirvana Seal: Transcendence.
The three main components he required to complete this seal besides the obvious fuinjutsu skills were copious amounts of genetic samples, a massive energy source that could not only enhance his mutative potential but also sustain his life through the process and one more thing.
A jutsu that could guide the self transformation process.
Shiki had determined the best energy source already and he had a lead on the transformative jutsu as well. Genetic material collection was under way too, by studying medical ninjutsu in the Konoha Hospital, he could easily gather various samples.
He also took the opportunity to collect the bodies of enemy shinobi while on missions.
All this however, was a long term plan, meaning Shiki's focus on this type of fuinjutsu had slowed his immediate growth in power and skill.
Until he perfected the Nirvana Art: Elemental or improved his nature affinities further, elemental ninjutsu was out as well.
In actuality, the boy was banking on the Weather Manipulation Jutsu of Tenki's Yamakaze clan to help perfect this Nirvana Art but he could not put all of his eggs in one basket so it was for him to develop a trump card for decisive battles from one of his jutsu.
A certain kill move he could rely on to finish any fight with a single blow.
'My jutsu with the greatest raw attack power is the Compression Rasengan, so I'll take a page from Naruto's playbook and try to come up with a Rasengan variant to solve my current problems." Shiki decided.
After all, there was not a problem in the shinobi World that could not be solved with a rasengan, the protagonist proved so himself.
*
The other members of Team 6 were also pondering ways of enhancing their combat effectiveness in a relatively short period of time and both Shinka as well as Mei arrived at solid plans even though each had different issues to contend with.
For the latter, the secret lay in her sharingan.
Both her family as well as her team knew she had not only awakened it, it shockingly manifested with three tomoe right away.
In truth, the bespectacled girl should have awakened it before but the clan's misconceptions about her flawed normal sight created mental blocks for her.
What she had yet to reveal however, was that at that moment when she saw Shiki "die" in front of her, Mei had awakened the fabled evolution of her clan's dojutsu.
That's right, the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Mei was aware of what those eyes meant for the Uchiha as well as the reputation they inspired with everyone else and that made her hesitant to reveal their existence, even to her closest family.
It was not like she could use them well, her chakra simply did not hold up but, the more she tried, the greater her chakra capacity and potency seemed to surge, like her body and spirit were forcefully evolving to keep up with her new dojutsu.
As such, she decided to begin development in earnest rather than fear the implications, though the girl still chose to do so privately for the time being.
Shinka, on the other hand, had no mechanical limitations.
Though she had never shown it before, the girl was special amongst the Aburame clan, hence her recruitment into the Root.
Namely, other than the standard Kikaichu, Shinka possessed three highly specialized breeds that were immensely rare within the clan by themselves but unheard of in a single individual.
These were the Rinkaichu, Kochu and In'yokuchu.
The first were shown by Torune in the original series, making it highly dangerous to even touch the user.
Nano-sized insects that attack the cells themselves, destroying enemies' bodies from within, extremely painfully.
These were part of the reason Shinka used so much protective clothing, she could not control them very well and so the entirety of her body was purple as the Rinkaichu were always active and looking for targets to jump to at the slightest touch.
The Kochu were the insects that allowed the Root to take out Shisui, near imperceptible yet highly venomous with their undetectable poison being 100% effective at getting the kill and leaving no traces in the victim's body.
The final In'yokuchu were something Shinka inherited from her deceased mother and the second reason she required so much clothing and the girl needed a way to reduce the sensory stimulation she received due to the effects these insects had on her.
However, these three insect types were supposed to be well kept secrets her superiors at the Root commanded her not to reveal as they were meant as a trump card to control or eliminate her teammates if the need should arise.
But with her internal doubts about the Root and the Hokage growing ever more inflamed, the girl wondered if she should just come clean to her team about her abilities and secret mission, hoping they would still accept her and that Inori would not rat her out.
With the self-assigned assassination mission, Shinka gained the extra impulse she required but there was still the need to build up a bit of courage.
However . . . It was not only the young members of Team 6 that were having thoughts about their abilities.
Another youngling was having such thoughts as well.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -