The morning after the memorial, Kenji woke early, jolted from sleep by a bad dream. In it, a White Zetsu had overheard what he'd said at the graves; somehow, he was ambushed outside Konoha and dragged away for experiments. The images lingered vividly.
He exhaled slowly, realizing how careless he'd been. He needed to be more cautious about what he said from now on, better to think certain things than speak them aloud. After all, not only Zetsu could be listening; an ANBU or, worse, a Root operative might have overheard him too.
The first thing he did after waking was search for bandage wraps to cover his left prosthetic arm. As for his legs, he chose long trousers to hide the wooden prosthetics completely. If a fight ever turned truly desperate, his apparent disability might even give him an advantage
He hit three different suppliers, buying wood, metal components, leather, chakra-conductive wire, preservative solutions, and various specialized tools. The materials filled two large crates that he had to haul back home himself. His puppet prosthetics made the task manageable.
After stashing everything in what would become his workshop, he grabbed his gear and headed for the training grounds.
The place was nearly empty. Most ninjas who'd returned from the front lines were still resting, recovering from injuries or just catching up on sleep. The few who were there trained quietly, conserving energy.
He had received his deployment notice that morning. Six weeks until he shipped back out to active combat duty.
He'd been worried about finding a team. With his prosthetics and recent medical retirement, he'd half expected to get stuck with solo logistics work like delivery runs, message carrying, or supply transport. Safe but useless for gaining experience.
But it turned out he'd underestimated how desperate Konoha was for warm bodies.
The front lines were a mess. The Five Great Nations were locked in constant warfare, and Konoha had it worst of all. Fresh off a major engagement with Ame, they were now getting hit simultaneously by Suna and Iwa. Two-front war, massive casualties, and resources stretched thin... It was bad enough that even some Academy students had been forced to graduate early, and shipped to the front as cannon fodder.
And Kenji, as an "experienced" chunin with combat missions under his belt? No way the village was letting him sit comfortably at home.
Which meant he had some weeks to get as strong as possible. Because dying before the story even started would be a pathetic way to go.
He started with taijutsu.
The forms came easier now. His puppet limbs moved smoothly through the exercises, and he'd adapted to their weight distribution. Kicks, punches, blocks, evasive maneuvers... He ran through everything, focusing on technique over speed.
Three hours in, sweat was dripping down his face. He wiped the sweat from his brow, took a few deep breaths, and decided to rest for a bit. He walked over to a large tree for shade.
After drinking some water, he pulled a piece of chakra paper from his pouch.
The paper was made from trees cultivated specifically with chakra infusion. It reacted to your chakra nature when you channeled energy through it. This was a standard testing tool for any ninja trying to figure out their elemental affinity.
The original Kenji had been tested years ago. Earth and fire, and combined with the Yamanaka clan's natural yin attribute, that made three total. But something had felt off lately. Today he was going to confirm his suspicion.
He held the paper between his fingers and slowly fed chakra into it.
The paper ignited first, a small flame consuming one edge. Then it crumbled, breaking apart into fragments. Earth and fire, just like the original results.
But in the next second, the remaining paper wrinkled and creased, folding in on itself with sharp lines.
"Lightning," he muttered. "So I was right."
He'd been noticing changes over the past week. His spiritual power had been growing steadily, and not in the normal way you'd expect from training. At first he'd thought it was just the initial boost from transmigration. Two souls merging, extra mental energy. But the growth hadn't stopped. It continued. Not dramatic like the first surge, but definitely there. More spiritual power meant larger chakra reserves. And for Yamanaka techniques, which drew directly on mental strength, it meant more powerful jutsu.
Today's test confirmed that the mutation extended beyond just mental stats. His chakra nature had changed. He now had four attributes: earth, fire, lightning, and yin.
Not that unusual. Chakra natures weren't fixed. With dedicated training, ninjas could develop new affinities. Kakashi had explained as much to Naruto during wind training. Most jonin had at least two elements. Some jutsu even created new affinities as a side effect. Medical-nin often developed yang chakra from their healing techniques. Yamanaka clan members naturally gained yin chakra after mastering the mind techniques.
"Guess I'm starting nature transformation training. I need to find some jutsu scrolls that match."
Having scrolls to work from was way more efficient than trying to develop techniques from scratch. Naruto had spent months with thousands of shadow clones just to create the Rasenshuriken because he was inventing something completely new. But learning an existing jutsu of the same element was much faster.
Look at Sasuke, he'd learned Chidori, an A-rank technique requiring both shape and nature transformation, in just a few weeks of special training before the Chunin Exams. Impressive progress, and he didn't even have Naruto's shadow clone cheat.
Kenji's current jutsu repertoire was pretty limited. Aside from the Yamanaka clan techniques, the only elemental ninjutsu he knew was Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. Sure, it had a reputation for never actually killing anyone in the series, but at the genin level, it was still a deadly move that could turn fights.
He spent the afternoon continuing his training. More taijutsu, some chakra control exercises, practicing the Great Fireball until his throat felt raw from breathing fire.
When he finally headed home, the sun was setting and his body was screaming for rest.
But he had work to do.
He cleared out an empty room in his house and moved all the puppet materials he'd bought that morning. This would be his workshop going forward.
He started by sorting everything. Wood went here, metal components there, chemicals and solutions on that shelf. Organization now would save him headaches later.
Then came material preparation. The wood needed to soak in preservative solutions overnight. The leather strips required treatment with oils to keep them supple. Metal joints needed inspection for defects before installation.
His current prosthetics were a bit crude.
He'd rebuild them properly this time. He was also planning to construct a special puppet specifically designed for the upcoming mission.
While the materials soaked, he opened the medical ninjutsu scroll. His future plans required at least basic medical knowledge as a foundation. He couldn't just wing it.
The scroll covered fundamentals, like chakra control for healing, anatomy basics, common injuries and their treatments, and field medicine protocols. His mother's annotations filled the margins with insights that the original text didn't cover.
He also had a sealing techniques scroll and two new jutsu scrolls he'd acquired from the clan archives:
Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall. It was B-rank defensive jutsu, one of the most commonly used earth techniques in the entire series. It creates a barrier of solid rock to block attacks.
Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder. This one was an offensive jutsu that sent lightning chakra through the ground to hit enemies at a distance. It was not as famous as Chidori, but still efficient.
Lightning affinity was rare among Yamanaka clan members, so the only lightning jutsu he could find in the family archives was Electromagnetic Murder. As for Chidori, the most iconic lightning technique? Kakashi was currently one or two years old. The jutsu wouldn't be invented for another decade.
In the weeks that followed, he was really busy.
Mornings: taijutsu training at the grounds, chakra control exercises, "endurance building."
Afternoons: studying the jutsu scrolls, practicing the hand seals, attempting to manifest the techniques.
Evenings: working in his workshop, constructing new prosthetic components, assembling the combat puppet piece by piece.
Nights: reading medical and sealing texts until his eyes wouldn't focus anymore.
Earth-Style Wall came first. The hand seals weren't complicated, but channeling earth chakra properly took practice. His first attempts produced nothing but dirt clumps. Then weak walls that crumbled immediately. Gradually the barriers got stronger, and taller.
By day four, he could raise a proper wall that would actually stop attacks.
Electromagnetic Murder was trickier. You had to channel lightning chakra into the ground and guide it toward a target. Miss the timing and you just shocked yourself. He spent an entire afternoon learning that lesson the hard way, his hair literally standing on end from repeated electrocution.
But by day five, he could reliably send lightning strikes through the earth to hit targets ten meters away.
The puppet work progressed slower. Precision construction took time. Each joint had to be calibrated perfectly. Rushing meant defects, and defects meant failure at the worst possible moment.
Medical ninjutsu and sealing techniques were even slower going. You couldn't master either discipline through brute force practice. They required understanding, study, and gradual skill building. He made progress but knew he'd need months or years to get truly proficient.
During the remaining weeks before deployment, he devoted himself almost entirely to perfecting his new puppet and deepening his grasp of medical ninjutsu and sealing arts. The workshop became his second home; he spent long nights fine-tuning mechanisms, testing joint movements, and practicing healing techniques until exhaustion finally forced him to rest.
The day before his deployment, he finished the last touches on his new puppet and confirmed he could reliably execute both Earth-Style Wall and Electromagnetic Murder.
Not bad for six weeks of prep.