While Shiki went about his life and business, the rest of Team 6 was not idle either, though the boy's recent lone wolf streak certainly did not please them in the slightest.
His brief activities with Benihime as a duo rather than joining his actual Team for missions was certainly not pleasing as well.
Lately, Mei in particular had grown rather resentful of the time Maiko, the new addition to the boy's life, was monopolising.
In fact, it would not be wrong to say that the ladies of Team 6 were suffering from critical Shiki withdrawal.
That said, it was not like they lacked any contact with the boy . . .
It only made things worse though.
Like when one is desperately craving for something, if they are given just a tiny smidge, it is worse than getting nothing at all.
Shiki himself, despite being aware of this, was not too emotionally invested.
He met them to see if he could use the distilled power of his Nirvana Seal to help grow their power in preparation for the upcoming conflict and nothing else.
It showed that the boy cared so the ladies could not really complain about his absence when he still made that effort to look out for them.
Of course, they could still be unreasonable like proper anime girls, complaining and even hitting Shiki despite no fault of his own, even if they were themselves at fault but alas . . . the boy certainly could take it if he thought himself at fault, however . . .
If Shiki believed he was blameless, he would not hesitate to strike back with words and fists.
It had never happened yet but the frigid looks of promised violence whenever Mei felt the temptation to act like that, immediately discouraged such behaviour.
*
Speaking of Uchiha Mei, she was the one Shiki felt most interested in assisting and there was a very simple reason for this.
Her Mangekyo Sharingan.
Namely, the boy believed he had a way to, at the very minimum, allow her to achieve sustained usage over long periods of time.
However, if things progressed according to his most optimistic expectations, it was plenty possible that the bespectacled girl's eyes could evolve even further.
The method was deceptively simple.
Shiki used his outstanding prowess in the art of fuinjutsu to seal a large supply of Nirvana Chakra, the name he gave to the distilled energy of his Nirvana Seal, into Mei's eyes.
The boy set the seal up to activate in response to the activation of the girl's Mangekyo, releasing more energy proportionally to her level of ocular exertion.
With the powerful life force of its Gelel component, Nirvana Chakra could easily repair the damage the Mangekyo incurred while in use.
But, if the mutative, evolutionary properties of the Nirvana Chakra were taken into account, considering Shiki had already gathered plenty of genetic material in an attempt to reconstruct the Otsutsuki bloodline, it was possible that the inherent flaw of the Mangekyo could be corrected.
Whether this would signify an evolution to the Eternal Mangekyo stage or some other mutation, the boy was not sure but, after thoroughly explaining the implications of the procedure to Mei, the bespectacled girl did not hesitate to acquiesce to the procedure.
Of course, Shiki adequately censored the information so as to not reveal core secrets like the Otsutsuki's existence just yet but, truth be told, he felt that even if he offered no explanation or justification at all, Mei would still let him do whatever he pleased to her.
'An Uchiha's love truly is heavy . . .' Was his thought on the matter.
Though it was honestly the kind of weight he was more than comfortable to bear.
After all, having a cute Uchiha beauty be so utterly devoted to you did not feel bad in the slightest.
Mei growing more adult lately, maybe having something to do with Shiki's rising interest.
It was not a matter of appearance, even if he was technically younger than her, the boy could not really think of her in the same way she thought of him while she was still a child, no matter how precocious shinobi world children seemed to be.
Though with Mei turning sixteen and he still being just eight, Shiki was starting to feel that she was the pervert with special preferences, trying to take advantage of a young little boy like himself . . .
*
Then there was Shinka, a considerably harder to figure out member of Team 6.
Always bundled up in sensory jutsu blocking clothes that covered up every inch of skin and had enough volume to completely cover up her figures, even her eyes were hidden by special goggles.
If not for the slightly increased size of the bundle, one could not even tell she changed over the years at all.
Though the change had been small enough that, if he was not absolutely confident in his measuring abilities, Shiki would doubt its existence, it was in fact there.
This was despite the fact that she went from nine to thirteen after Shiki met her.
It was not the kind of growth speed that painted a good picture for future height.
Though maybe, unbeknownst to all, "something" was actually growing quite nicely beneath all those clothes . . .
Putting such superfluous matters aside however, Shiki felt secure in his ability to help the Aburame girl out in terms of developing her abilities.
After all, his Nirvana Chakra seemed exactly like the kind of food that would be able to make chakra eating insects evolve into superior forms.
Although slapping a seal somewhere on Shinka's body would be the most efficient solution, the girl was still quite vehement about not unpacking the bundle of clothes that she was.
"Prying secrets off of her is truly difficult.' Were Shiki's thoughts on the matter when he was seeking ways to help her.
He had managed to coax out of the girl that there was a third secret type of insect she had access to within her body but, even nowadays, she refused to share what their abilities were, or even their name.
In fact, as Shinka got older, she became more and more tight fisted about that particular piece of information.
Still, even without the option of putting a seal on her body, Shiki was not without recourse.
The idea he came up with was producing a crystal like a Stone of Gelel but rather than pure Gele Energy, it would contain Nirvana Chakra.
Since the entire Gelel Ore Vein was a component of his Nirvana Seal, the boy believed it to be possible.
Shinka would then be able to use this Nirvana Stone as a source of evolutionary food for her insects and, if the experiment was successful, Shiki would then have the means to create an object capable of bestowing others with his Nirvana Chakra.
With a little extra refinement, he might be able to produce Nirvana Stones capable of melding into the bodies of living beings like Gelel Stones could, providing potentially massive enhancements to his loved ones and future subordinates.
Even more importantly, it would help extend their lifespan, ensuring eternity would become Shiki's curse to suffer through but his blessing to enjoy alongside people he loved and loved him back.
Though for that, perhaps he needed some introspection first, to better understand and come to terms with his nature as the heir of the Ryumon legacy . . .
+++++
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 -