While he had indeed yapped way too much, the reason Shiki excused himself was because he had finished mapping out Hoshigakure and now wanted to focus on perusing their secrets.
But at the same time, he did not want to talk much about Uzushio because he himself held several doubts regarding it.
Shiki knew more than most about the Uzumaki's strength and their methods, Mito seemed to be raising him as some sort of successor or second-in-command so she had shared Uzushio's current state with him.
'As a village with a single clan, their population is not very high but with Uzumaki all having strong bodies and chakra as well as a longer lifespan and thus a longer prime than regular shinobi, most Uzumaki ninja are Jonin level and sealing masters.' Shiki pondered.
'But while this puts Uzushio near the same tier as the current Konoha in military power and maybe even above it in economy owing to all the sealing goods trade, it would all still be meaningless against a surprise combined assault from Four Great Villages.'
'Only in open battle though . . . Fighting against the strongest group of sealing masters in the world while they are in their home turf, fortified with seals and formations across generations?'
That question was the source of the boy's doubts.
Yes, Uzushio would ultimately lose but they would not be instantly destroyed before anyone even had a chance to react. In fact, the more fuinjutsu Shiki learned, the more unlikely he believed this could be.
'Unless sabotage is involved . . .' The mused.
It was the only option.
If Uzushio's sealing based defences were sabotaged ahead of the main assault, that instant annihilation recorded in the original series' history became possible.
'Now, when something shitty happens in the world, especially to Konoha and its allies, 9 times out of 10, you can blame Danzo and be right but for once, I don't think he is to blame for this, he lacks the ability at most, he delayed Konoha's response which would be too late anyway.'
'There is however, one particular individual with both the capabilities and the motivation to bring down Uzushio. An individual very interested in scouting a traumatized independent talent with the blood of the Uzumaki.' Shiki had already come to a conclusion.
Alas, there was simply nothing he could do. He could not even come up with a reasonable excuse to alert Mito but he still had years to prepare.
'I can stop this scheme.' The boy internally declared.
And so, he redoubled his efforts to fleece Hoshigakure for all it was worth, he needed the power for a good cause and the locals were too incompetent to discover him, much less stop him.
*
Shiki was able to read the various secret records written by successive generations of Hoshigakure, some of the knowledge within, coming at great cost for the Hoshi shinobi.
But while there was some illuminating information, the answers to the questions he truly seeked, remained out of reach.
Like the boy had speculated, individuals with stronger constitutions showed increased tolerance to the training while others boasting "powerful and abundant chakra" from the onset, at least by Hoshigakure standards, also had a much higher survival rate.
The writers loved spouting nonsense about worthiness and will power and love for the village being conducive to better results but the truth was obvious.
A stronger constitution could handle the increases in chakra capacity and potency brought forth by "Enrichment" while those strong from the get go already had powerful chakra to begin with and were thus able to withstand the training much better.
Additionally, those who stopped the training before the early onset of side effects could leave for years, sometimes a decade or two before succumbing.
'In the original series, Natsuhi was the only one said to have completed the training with no side effects . . .' Shiki began pondering.
'Did the star's enriching effect reach its limit before she reached her own? Or did she simply stop the training?' The boy wondered.
If the first option was true, then the star was likely to not be that useful. Natsuhi was at most a top Elite Jonin and even that estimate was being generous. Should the enrichment cap out at that level, it was practically useless for Shiki himself.
'Hoshi shinobi were never strong enough to truly verify these things . . .' The boy thought, mentally reviewing the records again to see if he could come up with a theory.
Minutes passed as Shiki sunk into his thoughts, deeper and deeper.
He was waiting for a batch of trainees to go do their Start Training so he could see what takes place directly but until then, speculating was all he could do.
'Hmm . . . According to the records, those with stronger constitutions could tolerate the training better but the onset of the side effects matched other students of similar overall prowess, the only difference being the effects themselves not being as grave . . .'
Shiki felt he was on the verge of discovery.
And suddenly, the imaginary light bulb above the boy's head lit up.
'I got it! Their talent cap!' The boy almost felt like hitting himself.
The answer had been right there in front of him the whole time.
'The Star can enrich a trainee's chakra to an unknown limit, however, if a trainee's chakra is enhanced beyond the cap imposed by their natural talent, they begin to suffer from side effects as their body gets overwhelmed by the power of the Star.'
Shiki felt he finally grasped the truth, his cosmically charged intuition only confirmed his belief.
Now, all that was left to do was to observe the training that would undoubtedly take place eventually and try to figure out the exact mechanics of the enrichment process as well as its possible limits.
Fortunately, the slow diplomatic process was making things easier on him. It was expected that their departure would be no sooner than two days after their entry.
The boy observed the Star and clearly sensed its radiation.
His untraceable sensory chakra seamlessly mixed with the meteorite's emanations without sparking any particular reaction.
The radiation level fluctuated throughout the day and peaked during the deep hours of the night. Training sessions were usually held then.
And so they were.
Shiki could clearly tell.
'Grunts, twitching, heavy perspiration, high fever . . . These idiots don't learn their lesson. If they knew their limits, their village's overall strength and numbers could climb quite drastically.' The boy thought to himself, inwardly mocking the foolish Hoshi shinobi who bit more than they could chew.
But this did not distract him from the purpose of analysing the workings of the Star Training.
In fact, trainees being suicidal in by taking the training way to far only helped study the effects more perfectly.
And what he discovered was truly astounding.
The mechanics of the Star's chakra enrichment were eerily similar to the principles of sage mode, with two key differences.
Sage mode involved absorbing nature energy and balancing it with one's physical and spiritual energies to achieve a 1/1/1 ratio.
Having large and potent chakra reserves was a must or the nature energy would simply overwhelm the prospective sage with animal transformation followed by petrification being the end result.
The Star's chakra enrichment effect was not a third energy to be balanced but, similarly to sage mode, if there was not enough chakra to enrich or if said chakra was not potent enough, the trainee would begin to get overwhelmed.
Not by a third energy though, their own chakra would transform into a strange energy outside of their control.
At this point, more radiation from the Star just poisons the trainee, even the chakra within them has the potential to become toxic and unusable.
Conversely, if one's chakra is both potent enough and abundant enough, they can absorb much larger amounts of radiation without experiencing any side effects.
'Now, the only question yet to be answered, is whether the enrichment process has an upper limit beyond the trainee's chakra . . .' Shiki thought to himself.
+++++
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 -