The boy had never considered himself as the kind of person to get easily attached to others but Beni had been very successful at establishing her presence in his mind.
'Forget it, I'll think about it later.' Shiki swiftly decided.
If thinking on a matter was not being productive, then procrastination was the clear answer and no one would convince him otherwise.
And so, the boy's mind turned towards more productive topics such as the ones he was most used to, training and research.
Surprisingly, his plans on the former were quite simple and direct.
This was due to the fact that until his research produced the results he needed, Shiki was blocked by his physical cap until his body matured.
As such, his training goals for the immediate future were focused on three simple things.
Refining the skills, he already knew, mastering basic elemental releases, including Yin and Yang which also covered genjutsu and medical ninjutsu and finally, figuring out the best way to harness the powers of Roen.
Speaking of the beast, Shiki never planned to be its host for a long period of time.
The host of Roen in the original timeline, a young boy of the Kodon Clan named Kina, survived its extraction so Shiki was confident it would not affect him either.
Just to be safe however, he had already formulated a method to keep himself alive if the extraction proved deadly.
In fact, the boy fully intended on using this method when it came time for Mito to part with the Nine Tailed Fox.
Shiki would not be ready to part with Mito anytime soon, especially with the Uzumaki matriarch having regained her youth and showing a strong will to live.
But those were issues for later.
He had to find ways to tap into Roen's power without fully transforming into the beast or the grand majority of his jutsu and techniques would lose their effectiveness.
A good enough method was to just use it as a battery, a better one was achieving some kind of hybrid form, massively boosting his physical abilities with Roen's beastly vigor while also retaining the use of his jutsu.
Refining his current skills on the other hand, was more straightforward, finishing the development of his two planned derivatives of Dragon Heart and practicing the already completed but not mastered techniques that he had.
However, the mastering of all seven basic nature transformations was where the boy suspected most of his effort would be placed.
Medical jutsu was an absolute necessity for his research.
When it came to fuinjutsu, at the cost of lopsided development of his skills due to overly specialized practice, Shiki was confident he had acquired the necessary knowledge to properly develop his Nirvana Seal: Transcendence.
His skill in medical ninjutsu however, was not yet sufficient and thus, it would require intense focus, especially on Yin and more importantly Yang Releases.
As for the other five, the boy doubted they would pose a serious challenge.
With his ever increasing elemental affinities and the assistance of Nirvana Art: Elemental, Shiki was quite sure he would naturally arrive at mastery.
Mentality drawing up some more specific training regimens, the boy's pondering soon moved on to the second topic, one perhaps even more important for his long-term future.
And that topic, was his research.
The focus was naturally, the Nirvana Seal: Transcendence.
Shiki's own ideas on the matter had shifted several times but the boy now had a solid idea on where he wanted to take it specifically.
The Dark Release user of the mercenary nin he fought against, provided the final bit of inspiration required for his ideas to settle.
Functionally speaking, Shiki envisioned a sort of Reverse Kama Seal.
In other words, a crystallization of genetic information but, rather than having his own information to override another's body, it would be filled with others' information to override his.
Well, "override" was not the right word.
Shiki did not want his excellent genes and potential to be wasted, the genetic information in the seal would have the function to enrich his genetic code and pushed towards a more evolved and "complete" state.
But while the concept was easy enough to explain, mechanically achieving it was another matter entirely.
That said, the boy believed he had found a way.
Fuinjutsu would be used to create the storage for the genetic information.
Originally, Shiki also planned to translate this data into seal form before applying to his body utilizing his own version of the Chimera Jutsu which he was trying to develop.
But he now had different ideas.
His reason for the original plan was due to concerns of instability from continuous absorption of genetic material.
The boy wanted to create a nearly perfect template and apply it to himself in one single instance of modification rather than a continuous process of repeated transformations, lest he become a monster like Orochimaru would.
However, Dark Release had given Shiki inspiration to develop a stable method of continuous absorption.
So long as the appropriate powersource, which Shiki had already decided upon, could be acquired . . .
All he had to do was to make sure his revamped Chimera Jutsu was capable of adjusting the absorbed genetic data, discarding unneeded parts while keeping the essential, steadily perfecting his genetic code bit by bit.
Unfortunately, this relied much more heavily on his medical ninjutsu which the Chimera Jutsu could be classified as, an area in which the boy still found himself rather lacking.
His journey provided him with plenty of resources towards improving in that area however, it was just a matter of time though time was precisely what Shiki wanted to spend the least.
If time was abundant, he could just wait to grow and reach Kage or even Super Kage level just with hard training.
But the approaching war left him with far less time than required for that method of growth.
The boy could only hope his research was ready in time, otherwise, Roen's power would have to serve as his reliance for survival in a conflict capable of killing even Kage level shinobi.
But now, as Shiki's musings on the topics of training and research came to an end, the one topic he had temporarily pushed aside due to how troublesome it was, once again came to the forefront.
His mission was about to end, what path would Benihime take?
Would she choose to follow him back to Konoha, abandoning her former country and identity?
Would Ema and more critically, Tomoe, even be willing to accept such a course of action?
Shiki truly did not know.
EQ was not the boy's strong suit, he himself would be the first to admit this.
As his thoughts turned endlessly with no conclusion in sight, Shiki's unfocused gaze naturally turned towards Benihime, only for him to find her staring right back at him.
The two younglings could only freeze while locking eyes.
A few seconds later, the both turned away at the same time, Benihime's cold face now sporting a slight blush while Shiki internalçly cringed at the situation.
Meanwhile, poor Mei could only grit her teeth and this "obvious" display of tacit understanding and affection.
Girl . . . They are only four years old . . .
+++++
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 -