With the precious research documentation tucked securely in a sealed scroll, Elric headed home in considerably higher spirits than he'd been in for weeks.
It wasn't purely selfless concern for the Marvel version of himself, though that was certainly part of it. The truth was, the faster Marvel Elric became stronger, the better it was for all of them. Their fates were intertwined across dimensions—each version's success contributed to the whole.
If Marvel Elric suddenly managed to acquire a Celestial's power as planned, what kind of bulshit technology would he develop? He will just push that entire world's horizontally.
Unfortunately, Marvel Elric usually didn't come to the White Space outside of their scheduled weekly meetings. He was too busy with his own world's.
Which meant Elric would have to wait for their usual meeting time to share this breakthrough.
Five days left until then.
Well, no point rushing, Elric thought. I can use this time productively.
He'd decided to take the seal home and show it to his mother. She might have some insights the research team had missed.
Most people who didn't know her well assumed she was just a typical housewife, content with domestic duties and raising her family. She rarely participated in clan politics, almost never took combat missions, and seemed perfectly happy managing household affairs.
But that surface appearance was deeply deceptive.
Actually, she was one of the most talented fuinjutsu practitioners born in the Uzumaki Clan in recent generations. Her understanding of sealing theory was profound, almost instinctive, as if the very language of seals spoke to her on some fundamental level.
If she declared herself the number one seal master in Uzushiogakure, not a single person in the clan would doubt her claim for even a moment. Even the elders deferred to her expertise on complex seal work.
"I'm home!" Elric called out as he entered through the front door, already mentally preparing how to explain the project without revealing too much.
But he paused mid-step, noticing an unfamiliar pair of shoes near the entrance. Guest sandals, well-worn but quality crafted.
Someone's visiting?
He moved into the main living area and immediately spotted a familiar figure sitting at the low table with his mother, both of them apparently engaged in pleasant conversation over tea.
"Tsunade?" Elric's voice carried surprise mixed with annoyance. "What are you doing here?"
Tsunade looked up at him with an expression that somehow managed to be both annoyed and smug simultaneously. "What does this have to do with you? I came to visit my aunt. Is that a crime?"
"Okay, fine. Do whatever you want," Elric said dismissively, already losing interest in her presence. He turned his attention to his mother. "Mom, can you take a look at this for me? See if there's anything that can be improved, or if there are any problems I'm missing?"
He pulled out the research scroll and unrolled it on the table, revealing the complex seal array documentation.
"What is it?" his mother asked, taking the scroll with curiosity lighting up her features.
Tsunade, unable to resist her natural nosiness, immediately came around behind Elric's mother, sneakily peeking over her shoulder at the scroll.
"Just some research the team's been working on," Elric explained vaguely. "I want to make sure it's as refined as possible before I use it."
His mother's eyes moved across the seal formula with speed, her mind clearly analyzing the structure, flow, and purpose of each component. Her expression shifted several times—initial interest, growing focus, slight frowning at certain sections, occasional small nods of approval.
After several minutes of careful examination—far quicker than the research team's months of work, but then again, she was working from their completed documentation rather than developing from scratch—Elric's mother looked up with a decisive expression.
"Yes, there are definitely areas that can be improved," she said, her tone taking on the analytical quality. "There are many places where the array is unnecessarily complicated—redundant pathways that don't actually contribute to the function. Those can be simplified significantly without affecting the core purpose."
She pointed to several specific seal components with her finger. "And here, here, and here—these are relatively simple seal structures that can actually be enhanced with more sophisticated alternatives. The research team did good foundational work, but they were clearly being conservative, probably worried about stability."
Elric leaned forward with interest. "How much improvement are we talking about?"
His mother considered for a moment, her eyes distant as she ran calculations in her head. "I don't know exactly what you're planning to do with this seal, but give me about a month—maybe two if I want to be thorough—and I can raise its effectiveness from the current seventy percent to at least ninety-eight percent compared to the natural baseline."
Elric's eyes widened. That was a massive improvement—going from barely functional to nearly equivalent to natural chakra pathways.
"And that's not all," his mother continued, warming to the subject. "I can even add a chakra storage function to the array—essentially a built-in reserve that stores excess chakra when the user isn't actively employing it. That would help compensate for the slightly slower generation rate."
She tapped another section of the scroll. "I could also create modular branches in the seal structure where you can add preset seal effects—kind of like plugins. Want to add a healing acceleration seal? Plug it into branch three. Want to add a sensory enhancement? Branch five. The architecture would support it."
This was even better than Elric had hoped. His mother was essentially offering to transform his functional prototype into a masterwork.
"Though," his mother added thoughtfully, "if you want to use this on animals, a chakra storage function alone would probably suffice. I don't think most animals would have enough spiritual energy to properly condense chakra on their own, even with artificial pathways. The mental discipline required is significant."
"Oh, don't worry about that specific application," Elric said quickly, waving off her concern. "I need it for some of my other research projects. More... experimental applications." He gave her his most winning smile. "Can you do everything you just mentioned? All the improvements?"
His mother smiled back, clearly pleased to have a challenging project to work on. "Yeah, no problem. Give me a month or two, and I'll have a completely refined version ready for you."
"You're the best, Mom."
Meanwhile, Tsunade had been examining the seal documentation over his mother's shoulder, her expression shifting from curiosity to concentration to... disappointment.
Even though Tsunade didn't consider herself particularly knowledgeable about fuinjutsu—it had never been her primary interest or talent—it couldn't be helped that Mito had forced her to learn the basics when she was young and relatively powerless to resist her grandmother's strict education regimen.
So she understood enough to grasp the seal array's basic intention and function.
And honestly? She found it completely underwhelming.
It was just a toy, really. A complicated academic exercise with no practical application. Completely useless in any real-world scenario she could imagine.
The awe she'd felt toward Elric earlier—the almost mythical respect that had built up from hearing stories about his overwhelming power in the recent battle—decreased somewhat in that moment.
After she'd finished examining the documentation and understanding what it did, Tsunade lost interest entirely. She straightened up and crossed her arms, her expression shifting to one of mild mockery.
"After eating that pizza you invented last month, I got some real expectations about your creative abilities," Tsunade said in a deliberately mocking tone, referencing the surprisingly delicious food innovation Elric had introduced to Uzushiogakure. "But it seems that was just a fluke. One lucky creation doesn't make you a genius."
Elric's eye twitched with annoyance. "What even—why are you still here anyway? We provided the Konoha delegation with perfectly good living quarters in the diplomatic residence. Shouldn't you be there instead of bothering us at home?"
His tone carried irritation now.
Tsunade immediately darted behind Elric's mother, using her as a human shield while putting on an exaggerated expression of wounded innocence.
"Aunt!" she called out in a deliberately pitiful voice. "Look! Elric is bullying me just because he's stronger now! He's using his power to intimidate a helpless guest!"
Elric's mother turned to look at her son with a mildly reproachful expression. "Elric, why don't you show Tsunade some of your other inventions? Be a proper host."
"Mom, how many times do I have to tell you?" Elric's voice rose with exasperation. "Those things weren't created for showing off to guests. They're for serious work!"
"Hmm. Serious work?" His mother's tone carried just a hint of teasing skepticism. "You mean that 'serious work' where you lock yourself in your room and play in a fake world for days on end?"
Elric felt his face heat up with embarrassment.
After receiving the PC from Marvel Elric and spending considerable effort setting it up properly in this world without electricity—a process that had required several custom-designed chakra-to-power conversion seals—he might have gone slightly overboard with his enthusiasm.
Okay, fine. Significantly overboard.
He'd played video games for a week straight. No sleeping. Barely eating. Just him, the glowing screen, and various RPGs and strategy games that didn't exist in this world.
His mother had eventually physically dragged him away from the computer and forced him to eat a proper meal and sleep for twelve hours.
It had been... perhaps not his finest moment.
"That was different," Elric protested weakly. "I was conducting important research into alternative reality simulation frameworks and—"
"You were playing games," his mother interrupted flatly.
"...I was playing games," Elric admitted with a sigh of defeat.
Tsunade's eyes lit up with genuine interest for the first time. "Wait, you have games? Like, actual fun games? Not training exercises?"
Despite his embarrassment and irritation, Elric felt a small spark of pride. The PC was pretty impressive, especially in a world where such technology didn't exist and wouldn't exist for decades at minimum.
"Okay, okay, fine," Elric said, giving in to the inevitable. He gestured toward the hallway leading to his room. "Come with me. I'll show you. But you have to promise not to break anything!"
"Why would I break anything?" Tsunade asked, confused.
"Because you have superhuman strength and terrible impulse control," Elric replied immediately. "That's a dangerous combination around delicate technology."
"I have excellent impulse control!"
"You punched through a wall because someone said your gambling luck was bad."
"That wall was being disrespectful!"
Elric's mother watched them bicker as they headed toward his room, a small smile playing across her lips. It was nice to see her son acting like a normal kid for once, rather than carrying the weight of whatever mysterious responsibilities he'd taken on.
She looked back down at the seal, her mind already beginning to work through the improvements.
A month or two, she thought. I can definitely refine this into something truly special.
.....
In Elric's room, Tsunade stared at the strange glowing box with suspicious fascination.
"What is this thing?" she asked, circling the computer like it might attack her.
"It's called a computer," Elric explained, already booting it up. "Think of it as... a chakra-powered thinking machine that can create illusions you can interact with."
"That sounds like genjutsu."
"It's not genjutsu. It's technology. Completely different principle."
"If you say so," Tsunade said skeptically. Then her eyes widened as the screen lit up with colorful images. "Whoa..."
Elric couldn't help but smile.
Maybe showing off a little wouldn't hurt.
Besides, if Tsunade was occupied with games, she'd stop bothering him about the seal research.
"Here, let me show you how this works..."
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