Spoiler: Node 0903 Kid_Win : The sense-sharing is based on the ‘save’ system.

Kid_Win : Because each channel has its own save, I didn’t bother making a way to limit who you share your senses with.

Kid_Win : So if you want to share your senses with somebody in private, just do /mindShare in your private channel.

ModThunder : I like how this doesn’t use up processing power to achieve its goal, but I need to clarify something.

ModThunder : Unlike the Blur service with a similar effect, inputFlow doesn’t come with metaphysical filtering.

ModThunder : Basically, the information holds the same properties it would in the original cosmological context.

tipsyGnostalgic : isnt info just info?

tipsyGnostalgic : i dunno what special properties ur attributin to facts

ModThunder : Let’s say that your cosmological context has a word that, by some metaphysical capability intrinsic to the word, causes your death shortly after you learn it.

ModThunder : If you hear the word, not only will you die, but the property of the word that causes your death will be transferred to your allies as well.

ModThunder : But if that information is delivered from outside your context, where the word is safe, it will not hold this property.

ModThunder : If somebody said the killing word to one of your teammates, you would react as though you had learned the word in a world where it doesn’t kill you, and thus be fine.

tipsyGnostalgic : oh

tipsyGnostalgic : huh

Kid_Win : Zorian, if somebody tries to cast Power Word: Kill on you, please stop them.

zKazinski : I have never heard of such a spell.

zKazinski : The words used in spellcasting don’t have any intrinsic power.

zKazinski : What do you mean by ‘Blur’?

ModThunder : Blur was one of the services I disabled. It deals in creating coherency through indistinction.

ModThunder : With it, you could do things like share your powers or senses by becoming more conceptually alike.

zKazinski : As useful as that sounds, I’d prefer to remain as me.

tipsyGnostalgic : so r we gonna do this?

tipsyGnostalgic : im rdy for some people to climb into my brain

tipsyGnostalgic : experience ROXYVISION

Kid_Win : Okay, let's do it then.

tipsyGnostalgic : get rdy to experience my BOMBASTIC body

tipsyGnostalgic : /mindShare on Click to expand... Click to shrink...

zKazinski : /mindShare on

zKazinski : I was really expecting to feel something weird.

zKazinski : Don’t let me forget if it’s on. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Node 0903 Ino! : Alright!

Ino! : So the first thing is…

Ino! : DON’T THINK ABOUT EACH OTHER’S PRIVATE PARTS.

Ino! : Don't acknowledge them.

Ino! : Don't even think about them.

Ino! : It’s now officially COMPLETELY taboo and it’ll only make things weird.

tipsyGnostalgic : o my GOD

Kid_Win : I feel like I'm getting The Talk from a preteen.

Ino! : Seriously, I'm not joking.

Ino! : Roxy has a chest, you boys have… your things…

Ino! : And it's going to feel weird, but let's not make this awkward.

Kid_Win : The shutdown command is /mindShare off.

Kid_Win : Use it liberally.

Kid_Win : As cool as you guys are, I'm not ready to take a shower with you.

Ino! : Thanks, KW.

Ino! : Up next: Food!

Ino! : We won't all have the same tastes in the stuff.

Ino! : Don't complain when somebody eats something you don't like, but I want to try food from other worlds without getting fat.

Ino! : I fully intend to live all my food fantasies through you while I stick to my diet.

Kid_Win : Fair.

Ino! : That said, I will complain about your music choices, KW.

Spoiler: Node 0903 tipsyGnostalgic : watch urself

tipsyGnostalgic : au katy perry aint bad

Kid_Win : At least somebody here has taste.

Kid_Win : You also owe us some authentic sushi, Ino.

Kid_Win : I don't set up sense-sharing for free.

Ino! : Konohagakure isn't anywhere near the coast.

Ino! : Our fish isn't that great.

Kid_Win : I don’t care.

Kid_Win : It can’t be worse than ABB money laundering sushi.

zKazinski : What's sushi?

Kid_Win : Don't say what I think you're going to say.

tipsyGnostalgic : raw fish

Kid_Win : That is a vast oversimplification of a culinary art!

Kid_Win : They actually catch a fish and take a bite out before throwing it back in.

tipsyGnostalgic : lmao

zKazinski : I see that your worlds have firmly mastered cooking.

zKazinski : An actual explanation, please?

Spoiler: Node 0903 Ino! : Your language sounds so weird.

Kid_Win : I’d do it.

Kid_Win : If our theory that this a Groundhog Day loop is accurate, then you aren’t in serious danger.

zKazinski : We haven’t strictly proven that it’s a loop.

zKazinski : We just know that an unknown factor is causing the time travel, and that nothing I’ve done in two times through the month has prevented me from going back.

zKazinski : I don’t want to take the risk of doing something that might prevent me from going back.

tipsyGnostalgic : if ur THAT afraid of butterflyin urself out of existence

tipsyGnostalgic : takin pretty much any action might end up causing ur loop to end

tipsyGnostalgic : but u were picked for the node

tipsyGnostalgic : and im sure if ur situation was that delicate that wouldnt have happened

Ino! : Yeah!

ModThunder : It would have been accounted for in our metrics for picking exceptional individuals, so I can say the theory likely holds water.

zKazinski : Wow.

zKazinski : Thanks for staying on my side, Thunder.

tipsyGnostalgic : was that a JOKE?

tipsyGnostalgic : its like i dont even kno you anymore

zKazinski : I’m still going to turn down her offer.

Ino! : Fine, but you have to do it next time through the month.

Ino! : I want to see this dungeon.

zKazinski : Alright, fine.

zKazinski : Just let me spend this month in peace.

Ino! : They don’t have to be sharp if you throw them hard enough. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

tipsyGnostalgic : hey ino whats goin on

Ino! : My dad is worried for me. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Ino! : HE WANTS TO KNOW IF I HAVE A BOYFRIEND!

tipsyGnostalgic : do u????

Ino! : NO! Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Node 0903 tipsyGnostalgic : then whats the prob?

Ino! : First of all, he knows I'm keeping something from him.

Ino! : Second of all, I don't want to talk to him about BOYS! He's my dad!

zKazinski : You only talk about one boy.

Kid_Win : One boy we haven't met yet.

zKazinski : You talk about him enough that I’m sure your dad already knows about him.

Kid_Win : Anyways, you still need to ask him if he knows anything about sealing for me.

Ino! : Oh, right!

Spoiler: Node 0903 Ino! : Okay, Kid.

Ino! : He’ll help us.

Ino! : But how am I going to keep this a secret if I can't even go two days without people noticing something’s different?

tipsyGnostalgic : whys it gotta b a secret?

tipsyGnostalgic : i told all my friends

Ino! : Because of ninja things.

Kid_Win : Which ‘ninja things’? You already know what happened when I told the PRT about you guys.

Ino! : I don't know! Ninja things!

Ino! : I'm a genin fresh out of the academy, don’t ask me.

Ino! : But this isn't the sort of thing you share in the ninja world.

Ino! : I told Shikamaru and Choji, and they know how to keep their mouths closed when it matters.

Ino! : But I just met Asuma-sensei!

Ino! : And my dad answers directly to the Hokage!

Kid_Win : You've always talked about the Hokage as though he's this really nice grandfatherly type.

Kid_Win : Why would you hide it from him?

Ino! : Because I’m a Yamanaka!

Ino! : I can't-

Ino! : No, WE can't allow for anybody else to have mental techniques like ours.

Ino! : It would permanently damage our reputation.

Ino! : We get hundreds of clients each year specifically looking for the services of the Yamanaka. We’re the ONLY mind-readers in the world.

Ino! : What would happen if word got out of a non-Yamanaka mind technique user?

Kid_Win : I see.

Kid_Win : Okay, but you could still tell a few trusted people, right?

Ino! : I have done that. My team knows.

Ino! : I’m not stupid.

Ino! : And how do I know it doesn’t get sent straight to the Intelligence division?

Ino! : What did the Parahuman Response Team do when you mentioned your situation?

Kid_Win : Uh.

Kid_Win : They interviewed me for several hours and I’m still in quarantine.

Ino! : Our interrogation department is called the Torture and Interrogation department.

Kid_Win : Okay, I understand your perspective.

tipsyGnostalgic : i get that ur worried

tipsyGnostalgic : n ill totally help u keep it a secret

tipsyGnostalgic : just keep in mind that lettin some other ppl know might not be as bad as u think????

Ino! : Okay.

Ino! : I’ll CONSIDER it.

Ino! : Can we talk about something else?

zKazinski : Yeah, I have an idea that’s worth looking into.

Ino! : What is it?

zKazinski : Thunder, can you go over the differences between our sense sharing command, and the one that is built-in to Blur?

ModThunder : Sure.

ModThunder : Your command is based on /inputFlow, which we used heavily while testing the Prime Hub.

ModThunder : It takes information directly from one context to another, but in that process, the information acts as though it did in the original context.

ModThunder : The '/blur Sensation’ command doesn’t transmit information directly, but it instead wears down the conceptual borders between the user’s senses.

ModThunder : It’s less as though you experienced the information in the other person's context, and more like you experienced it inside the Node.

zKazinski : Could we reduce the strain on the Node by transmitting information with special properties through the Node?

ModThunder : Theoretically you could, but only if that information can be somehow used to optimize the Node’s connection.

tipsyGnostalgic : so we’d have 2 have some super strong info?

ModThunder : Yes, pretty much.

ModThunder : Information that can do something just from viewing or otherwise sensing it.

zKazinski : There are monsters that can do magic with nothing but eye contact, but I’m not risking that.

Fraymotifs

Fraymotif

Aspects

Fraymotifs

Heart

Void

Fraymotifs

Fraymotif

Aspect

Oblivion Waltz

Fraymotif

Fraymotifs

Heart

Life

Fraymotifs

Void

Heart

Heart

Void

Spoiler: Node 0903 Kid_Win : Dude.

Kid_Win : What the fuck.

Ino! : Woah.

tipsyGnostalgic : u felt that too?

zKazinski : This is really interesting.

zKazinski : You can just invoke this knowledge to create effects?

tipsyGnostalgic : fefeta says anybody can use them so long as one of them is aligned with heart and one is aligned with void

tipsyGnostalgic : i dont think you guys count ‘cause ur not from my universe

zKazinski : Okay, so we now have something we can use.

zKazinski : That was incredibly weird, but we have something.

ModThunder : I’m going through the diagnostics as we speak.

ModThunder : It seems like ‘Void’ might have some useful properties for piercing through the borders between cosmological contexts.

tipsyGnostalgic : ur damn right it does!!

tipsyGnostalgic : i have the BEST fuckin aspect that ever did get haved

tipsyGnostalgic : u remember the voidstorm?

tipsyGnostalgic : thats me

tipsyGnostalgic : im the voidstorm

tipsyGnostalgic : board up the windows bitches cuz im rollin in

zKazinski : Right, thank you for this analysis of the situation.

tipsyGnostalgic : *wink* *wink* *wonk*

zKazinski : I was talking to Thunder there, not you Roxy.

tipsyGnostalgic : :’(

tipsyGnostalgic : brb cryin

❖​

Spoiler: Node 0903 tipsyGnostalgic : so r any of these boys this sasuke boy u like so much?

Ino! : No! Ew! Why would I be interested in dog-boy or bug-boy?

tipsyGnostalgic : i dont get ur taste in men

tipsyGnostalgic : u talk about brooding n mysterious and yet mr sunglasses over there is off the table?

Ino! : That's different.

Ino! : He's not mysterious.

Ino! : He's just weird.

tipsyGnostalgic : not mysterious huh?????

tipsyGnostalgic : tell me one fact about him

Ino! : Uh.

Ino! : He likes bugs?

tipsyGnostalgic : hmmm

tipsyGnostalgic : HMMMMMMMM

tipsyGnostalgic : why tho?

Ino! : I don't know!

Ino! : Bugs are gross!

tipsyGnostalgic : so hes…….. A MYSTERY???

Kid_Win : You walked right into that one, Ino.

Kid_Win : But enough of that.

Kid_Win : You said you’d give us a demonstration of elite ninja fighting today.

Ino! : Right!

Ino! : I have the perfect plan, watch and learn.

Ino! : These are handseals, they’re a big part of how ninjutsu is performed.

zKazinski : Interesting. Very different from the gestures in spells.

zKazinski : Does ninjutsu require vocalization? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Ino! : Nope.

zKazinski : So what is he yelling?

Ino! : The name of the technique.

tipsyGnostalgic : im so happy to hear that people do that on ur world

tipsyGnostalgic : UNSPEAKABLY happy Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Ino! : Kurenai is a master of illusions.

Kid_Win : Do they only target one person at a time?

Ino! : The fact that we can see what’s really happening is a sign that she wants us to see what’s happening. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Ino! : They’re holding back.

zKazinski : How can you tell?

Ino! : Except for the knife throw, this is how hard Asuma fights when he’s training us.

Kid_Win : It’s still really impressive. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Kid_Win : When did she do that?

Ino! : Hm.

Ino! : I bet it was during the second group of shuriken she threw!

Ino! : We didn’t even see any of them hit, and obviously neither did Asuma. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Kid_Win : We need to figure out how that’s made if I’m ever going to tinker with chakra.

Kid_Win : Wires made of this material could be useful.

tipsyGnostalgic : already tryin to replace electricity with ninja magic? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Ino! : I just asked Asuma if you could zap people with lightning chakra in wires, and he said yes.

Kid_Win : I can totally use that.

Kid_Win : I’m sold on this chakra stuff. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Node 0903 tipsyGnostalgic : oooohhh wow

tipsyGnostalgic : sharpest fuckin knife ive ever seen

zKazinski : So, let’s discuss that fight and what we learned from it.

tipsyGnostalgic : ninja yell their attack names

zKazinski : I still don’t understand why anybody would do that.

Kid_Win : The handseals, what are up with those?

Ino! : I don’t know the exact science, but it has to do with controlling the way chakra moves through your body.

Ino! : Sometimes, people can get good enough chakra control that they can do techniques without relying on handseals.

Ino! : That’s what Asuma did to dispel the illusion on him.

zKazinski : Similar things can be done with magic.

tipsyGnostalgic : they were sneaky the whole fight

tipsyGnostalgic : even ur sensei dude was trying to trick her into thinking the illusion got him

tipsyGnostalgic : they didnt treat range like most ppl would in a fight either

tipsyGnostalgic : they were movin so fast that melee range and shuriken range werent super distinctive

Ino! : I could tell the difference!

tipsyGnostalgic : id have to see more ninja fights to learn what was goin on

Kid_Win : I saved a few cool moments in a private channel.

Kid_Win : I’ll transfer them over if anybody wants to see.

zKazinski : Speaking of transferring saves.

zKazinski : I know none of you can read the books I’ve been digging through for the past few hours, but I saved some information on spell formula that might be useful.

zKazinski : Well, several books of information.

zKazinski : I think when we can start sharing energy, this will be a crucial guide to using mana for your projects, Kid.

Kid_Win : Mwahahaha!

Kid_Win : My evil scheme comes together!

ModThunder : Perfect time for this subject to come up!

ModThunder : I just finished the optimizations on the Node, which should allow us to open an unanchored Node connection.

Kid_Win : Excellent.

tipsyGnostalgic : is it rly perfect timing if weve been talking about this nonstop for the past few hours?

Ino! : Hell yeah!

tipsyGnostalgic : like u woulda lost a coinflip more often than find a bad time to bring this up

zKazinski : What are you waiting for?

zKazinski : Set it up!

ModThunder : /node status 1



Systems stable

Core at 88.1% ~

Node Population: 5

User Count: 4

Realm Count: 4

Page 1/6



ModThunder : Take a long look at these numbers.

ModThunder : /node setDefaultRules ‘MTPrivateChannel/optimizationsVoidV1’



Default Rules updating…

Done.

Applying rules…

Done.



tipsyGnostalgic : so what did it do?

ModThunder : This.

ModThunder : /node status 1



Systems stable

Core at 82.1% ˇ

Node Population: 5

User Count: 4

Realm Count: 4

Page 1/6



tipsyGnostalgic : nice

ModThunder : Here we go!

ModThunder : /node setConnection {‘Realm1’, ‘Realm2’, ‘Realm3’, ‘Realm4’} point(freeFloating, open)



Opening connections.

ModThunder : Behold the unanchored Node connection!

Kid_Win : I’m going to submit this for testing right now.

zKazinski : I'm going to message you in a private channel so we can work together with Mana, alright? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

zKazinski : Still no Zach.

zKazinski : He didn’t show up last time I went through the month, either.

zKazinski : Which adds credence to the theory that I replaced him as the time-looper.

tipsyGnostalgic : so where did he disappear to? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

zKazinski : That’s what I’m worried about.

tipsyGnostalgic : obvs hes gotta be somewhere

tipsyGnostalgic : or somewhen

zKazinski : Agreed, but I don’t know how I would find him. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

tipsyGnostalgic : HOLD UP ANY N ALL OTHER CONVOS

tipsyGnostalgic : INO

tipsyGnostalgic : WHAT DID U JUST DO??????? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Ino! : I did a mind-transfer into Kiba’s dog.

Ino! : It’s hard to hit moving targets, but I was eye-level with him and he was running away from me.

tipsyGnostalgic : no

tipsyGnostalgic : u do NOT get to skip over the fact that you called your attack

Ino! : I was just telling Shikamaru what I was doing!

Ino! : He’s the team strategist, he needs to know when I use my risky techniques. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Ino! : That’s it.

Ino! : Tomorrow I’m going to make Asuma take us out on a REAL mission.

Ino! : Like the one Sasuke’s on.

Kid_Win : Good luck convincing Mr. Lazybones to agree to that.

Ino! : Believe me.

Ino! : I'll make sure he will. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Chris held his breath. 'Testing' wasn't really a common phase in the tinker workcycle. He more-or-less threw this together, but he was good enough at code to know that a loop repeating the same simple command didn't have a lot of chance for failure. Frankly, the math command was harder. ModThunder thought this command wouldn't be dangerous, and that was the only reason he was skipping straight to using it.Zorian, Ino, and Roxy became aware of a second presence, a body other than their own. Zorian and Roxy could for the first time contextualize howanother body felt. They could feel the slight ache in his right wrist, and the way his back was stiffened from leaning over a worktable all day. Ino brushed this all off, already aware of the way another body could feel. They saw he was in a lab, with parts scattered all around him. He was focused on painting the plastic case for his new weapon, and just to test the sense he tapped the paintbrush to his finger, letting the cold paint sit on his skin before wiping it away with a wet-wipe.Roxy, Kid Win, and Zorian all recognized Ino’s senses the moment they became available. With three reference points to work from, Roxy and Zorian both started picking out all the little differences in how the bodies felt, while Kid Win got to experience the world from another’s eyes for the first time. Ino's long hair was a new experience for him, and he couldn't help but notice the way it swayed and lightly tugged her scalp when she turned her head.Now in the swing of things, nobody was particularly surprised when they found Roxy’s body in their awareness. It was becoming easier to just accept the presence, so none of them reacted strongly to suddenly seeing through her eyes. She was in her room, which was filled with stuffed animals and decorated with strange cat-like creatures frozen in resin. There were a few empty bottles laying around, and some strange pieces of technology, but nothing so fancy looking as Kid Win's lab.With Zorian, everything was in order. At first, there was some discomfort. Not in the form of pain, but in the lack of control. Seeing through another pair of eyes made them want to look around through them, but not being able to control the direction the eyes were pointing was a bit frustrated.Ino was taking it all in stride while everyone else struggled. After a few minutes of letting them adjust to it, Ino decided to give a rundown on the general etiquette of sharing senses with somebody else. It was something the Yamanaka had instilled into her from the moment she began training with her clan’s techniques, and she felt comfortable giving out the basics.Kid Win snorted. He had some Pop channel playing on the radio while he worked. It was crystal clear tinkertech surround sound, and nothing less would be accepted in his workplace, ever.he got distracted dancing in his seat sometimes, tinkering music was mandatory. Roxy had taken to silently bobbing her head to the music he was playing, not minding the weird looks she was getting from Jane and the pink ghost next to her.Fefetasprite was Roxy’s newest companion, made from two dead alien girls with a shared love of nature, animal puns, and being generally goofy. At first, when the weird clown alien threw their mangled corpses into the kernelsprite, everybody freaked out. Even if her creation wasted a revive, Roxy deemed the resultant companion ‘totes worth it’, and Fefetasprite didn’t seem to mind her situation much either. The others in the Node were still getting used to the sight of her.While Ino and Kid Win launched into an explanation on sushi, Zorian heard somebody knock on his door. He complained about how a girl named Taiven always managed to track him down to go dungeon delving in the previous two iterations of the month, and he was certain that she was appearing for exactly that reason today. He gave death-glare as he opened the door.“Hey, Roach!”She held her smile despite the harsh look on his face, and pushed past him to make her own way into the room.“What do you need, Taiven?”Taiven had just finished making her proposition at this point. In short, she was supposed to only take this job as a team of four, and Zorian was her first choice for somebody who was smart enough to handle himself and not jeopardize everything. She spent much of the talk detailing how he would bebecause they would both be going only to the highest levels, and because her team would be there to protect him.The offer still wasn’t worth taking, not when he couldn’t protect himself yet. He decided he might give it a shot next time through the month, but he wasn’t ready for that yet.After finally kicking her out of the room, he checked on what the others were doing.Roxy was in her house with her friend and the ghostly creature she had identified as her sprite. They were idly chatting, going through her food supplies and writing down the strange codes associated with the items. Apparently, knowing these codes was enough to recreate the items with alchemical resources. Or whatever passed for alchemy in her world, at least.Kid Win was still working on his latest project, a floating gun platform which he was tentatively calling the ‘Hyper Cannon’. He didn’t know enough about how it would end up to decide on its name yet. Roxy was at a loss for anything related to mechanical engineering, but whenever he switched over to the computational device to input instructions into his creation, she would immediately start offering advice.Ino was digging through a huge bin of sharp weapons for star-shaped throwing blades. Apparently, ninja weapons were sold in bargain bins when they started to dull. Keeping dozens of weapons sharp was more effort than it was worth, so most ninja just sold their dull weapons back to stores to be sharpened or melted down. This particular store decided there was a market for people buying those used blades, and Ino embraced it fully.Kid Win said that she wouldn’t be digging through the bargain bin if she hadn’t spent all of her money on a wardrobe expansion. When the resulting argument finally died down, Roxy had taken to doing a wardrobe expansion of her own, using the computerized alchemy system in the game.She could take any almost any item in her inventory system, which she had described as a piece of matter-digitalization technology, and get a unique serial code from it. This code could be reduced into a series of holes punched into a card. She could then generate two new codes by putting two codes on the same card, or overlapping two cards so only the holes they shared would be read by the system. From this method, any two objects could craft another pair of objects, typically by granting one of the pair many of the properties of the other.Unfortunately, crafting these items came with some downsides. The items cost more grist the more powerful they were. As if that wasn’t already enough of a problem, Roxy had also found she had a limit to the amount of grist she could carry at once. While there was a shared bank of grist that slowly refilled depleted grist types to her and her teammates, many recipes cost more grist than the game would allow her to carry on her at a time.So Roxy just spent her resources on different outfits. They made goofy hats, cute dresses, and the bushiest fake moustache that she and Jane could manage. It was totally awesome.In between Kid Win’s bouts of lament at his lack of access to both Zorian’s and Roxy’s alchemy systems, he was preparing to head out on a patrol. While he was being held out of school for the duration of the quarantine, the PRT didn’t want to risk his absences from school being linked to him not appearing publicly as a Ward.They decided they’d put him out on a few patrols with a full Protectorate hero and a few other Wards. He slipped his visor on and stepped out of his lab, where his traveling companions were waiting for him. His teammates, Vista and Gallant, were standing in the hallway in front of his lab.“Hey, KW,” Gallant said, “Miss Militia is waiting for us in the garage, we’ll be taking a van to the Boardwalk and doing a route through there. It should take about an hour or two.”Kid Win could see Vista looked somewhat annoyed at that. She understood as well as he did that a patrol on the Boardwalk meant that it would be meant more as a public showing than any attempt at actually fighting crime. He knew that Vista dealt with this a lot, because she was twelve and the PRT didn’t want her getting involved in many fights. He suspected that they also wanted to keep him out of trouble during his quarantine.The patrol was long and boring. Roxy wasn’t doing much, Zorian was in the library reading books in another language, and Ino was sitting in front of her mirror across from the bed, trying on jewelry and idly chatting about the colors.A few minutes into Kid Win’s route, there was a knock at Ino’s door, and he turned his attention to her.When she called out that he could come in, her dad made his way into the room. There was a tired look in his eyes; he had been in meetings all day long and only just got home in time for dinner. Ino didn’t know what all the meetings were about, but she knew it must be something big.“Hey Princess, are you doing alright?”“I’m doing well!” She gave him a smile.“You’ve been quiet lately.” That was relative to how quiet she usually was. “Has something happened?”She went still. Even with her enhanced ability to multitask in regards to the Node, she was still spending lots of time focusing on it to the exclusion of other things.“Uh, no.” She let the conversation lull for a moment, and immediately began to regret it. The silence was awkward and gave them too much time to think. “There’s nothing to worry about.” She gave a meek smile.“I see. Is it a boy?”Her expression stayed the same. Probably too 'the same': her eyes unblinking and her smiled becoming pained.“Don’t be silly, daddy! Sasuke is theboy for me, and he still hasn’t seen the good thing right in front of him yet.”His face radiated amusement. He probably only believed her on the principle of her being his little angel. “I see. Well, if you do have boy troubles, just let me know and I’ll deal with them for you.” By ‘boy troubles’, he meant any boy she didn’t like looking in her direction in the best case and any boydidn’t like looking in her direction in the worst case. With that, he turned to leave.“Hey, daddy? I was wondering if I could learn fuinjutsu.”He gave a thoughtful ‘hm’.“Fuinjutsu? That’s unexpected. What has you so curious about sealing? It doesn't seem to fit my little Ino's attitude.”“Well, my team is a dedicated live-capture team. Just like you and Choji and Shikamaru’s dads were-”“Just like we are. Your old man isn’t retired yet.” Heinsisted that, but they both knew that he spent more time in administrative positions than actually on the field. Same with the Hokage, and a huge number of the village's other top ninja.Ino continued through his objections. “- and isn’t fuinjutsu good for catching people? Restraining chakra, holding them prisoner, and stuff like that? And Shikamaru keeps running out of explosive tags.”He smiled. “I think that is anidea. I’ll find some books on the subject for you. Just don’t let your studies and team get in the way of you and your new boyfriend.” The smiled turned into a grin.She threw a pillow at him, but the door was already closed and he was gone.Roxy looked over to Fefetasprite. The troll-ghost-fusion had taken off her long ghostly jacket, and was examining her shirt.“Hey Roxy, isn’t it weird that I got Nepeta’s features on one side of my face, and Feferi’s features on the other, but my shirt is sleeveless on both sides? Only Feferi was wearing a sleeveless shirt before we were combined, so I should have one t-shirt sleeve and one strap! It’s pawsitively confounding!”“Fefeta, you ask all theimportant questions. But I gots a question with absolutelyimportance for you. Well, the question is of worldshakin’ importance to me. I think for you it’s just gonna be another q.”“Oh reel-y? Whale, I’m sure I can answer lots of questions for you!”“Is there any information with like, metaphysical or cosmological significance?”“Yes, but I’m not suppawsed to just give it out to you! You’ve gotta go out and learn it for yourself. Or, that’s what I’m meant to say as your sprite and guide to the game. As your, I want to help you, but you’ll have to ask more specific questions than that.”“Oh, no, I mean like. Information that has special powers. Like the knowledge itself does stuff.”Fefetasprite got a huge grin on her face. “Oh, I know the purr-fect thing!! Ais a pattern that commands the powers of thefor a combat ability. When I was Nepeta, me and Equius used to do all sorts oftogether, so I know lots ofthat you and Dirk could do!”Kid Win stopped talking with the others in the Node, and started paying attention to what Roxy was doing. He didn’t understand what Roxy’s sprite was going on about, but he recognized the importance in what she was saying.“Holy shit, really? So we get cool elemental combo-spells n’ shit?”“They aren’t quite spells, but they’re purrty mystical! You only have to know theand be attuned to the rightto use it! So if you learn, you can share that knowledge with Dirk so that you can use theas a team! I could teach you a whole bunch ofthat you can do with Dirk, plus a few you can do with Jane!”Fefetasprite gave a thoughtful look.“Come to think of it, I could probably do mywith myself! I’ll try it soon, but first I should probably teach you everything I can. Ready?”Instead of waiting for a response, Fefetasprite reached out and tapped Roxy on the forehead. A rush of information flowed through her being. She saw, but could not comprehend,, twisting emptiness, insignificance, and yielding. She saw, but could not comprehend,, the ways of love, the self, and eternity.The knowledge combined and shifted inside her mind until it settled in the form of her new Fraymotifs. They were strange, like music, metaphysics, and philosophy combined into a weave of Void and Heart.The ghostly fish/cat girl was smiling knowingly. “Pretty neat, huh? A lot ofstuff is status effects, but there are also some defensive options! We can practice later, after my catnap!”A few hours later, Ino had met with her team, and made their way to a different training ground than usual. Their compatriots in Team Eight were meeting with them for a group training session. Ino suspected that their team leaders only organized the event because they had the hots for each other. It was easy to poke fun at Asuma and his ‘hot new girlfriend’.They made their way down a winding road through the tall forests, and eventually approached the clearing, where the others waited for them. Team Eight was a tracking and investigation team, comprised of Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzaka, and Hinata Hyūga. Each of them had abilities that aided in tracking runaways or locating traps. The Inuzaka trained ninja hounds, the Hyūga could see through solid objects, and the Aburame commanded swarms of insects. Their team was lead by Kurenai Yūhi, a master illusionist.“Hey, Kiba! When we do team spars, you're going down!”The Kiba whipped around to look at her. His face turned into a scowl, and the small dog on his head yipped angrily.“Oh yeah? I'll have you know Akamaru and me can take down all three of you!”“Yeah, right! I bet you’re just afraid to admit you'd get beat by a!”Shikamaru looked at Ino with mild curiosity.Kiba almost literally barked with laughter. “There's no way I'd lose to you!” Ino ‘subtly’ elbowed Shikamaru, and that was all he needed to know his part in her plan. He wouldn’t be happy to be part of any plan that required more than a token non-effort, but he wouldn’t turn down a chance to complain about Ino without repercussions.“I don't know, Ino. I don't think there's a chance you can win, especially given how much faster boys are.” The bait was set. Ino was still tempted to smack the back of his head, but she restrained herself. The fact that shedidn’t go unnoticed.Kurenai looked at Asuma. “Asuma, what have you been teaching these kids? They’re young, and should be taught better than this! I know for athat you know better.”Everybody turned towards Kurenai.“Listen!” They all turned to Asuma, as though they were watching the accusation fly out to hit him. “I never taught him any of that! And I don't agree with him, but thereless women ninja and-”“Oh, that’s the angle you’re playing? And we aren't as fast, either? Kids, stand back, I think a bit of a demonstration is in order.”Everybody backed away, standing in off to one side.Kurenai immediately opened with a barrage of shuriken. At least twenty shuriken in a single throw, flying towards one man. He leapt back, dropping his lit cigarette and moving his hands in a weave of strange gestures.“Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!” yelled Asuma, as he summoned a giant gale of wind that redirected the projectiles back at the woman who threw them.Kurenai responded by dodging. Unlike her, a blast of wind couldn't aim its shots, and avoiding damage was pathetically easy. She began performing her own series of gestures, while Asuma drew two wicked blades that wrapped around his hands like knuckledusters. The blades glowed with a faint blue light, and he charged at her.She finished her technique and dodged to the left. He swerved to the right, and slashed at the air.“He can’t hear you right now, so I’m going to tell you kids in Team Ten that Asuma doesn't always know best. You should really consider your enemies as valid threats no matter what their gender is.”Suddenly Asuma whipped around to throw his dagger at where Kurenai was actually standing, forcing her to drop to the ground under the blade. The blade kept going, and passed through a tree near the edge of the clearing.“Can’t hear you, huh? And I never taught them otherwise.”She raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue talking. He must have caught what she was so curious about, because he immediately launched into an explanation. “I did a sealless release. I recognized the jutsu you were about to use and decided I might have a chance of dispelling it.”She threw another volley of shuriken, which he easily dodged. “Good gamble, maybe I should take the kiddie gloves off.”Kurenai ran through another series of handseals, and Asuma charged her with the glowing dagger. Suddenly, a dozen of Kurenai were moving in different directions.Asuma started slashing through the clones. One by one, they began bursting into clouds of smoke, and he was leaping from clone to clone in a wild flurry. Eventually, there was only one left. He looked around confused, like he couldn't see the original Kurenai at all. She strolled up to him and kicked him in the gut, causing him to buckle over.The light in front of him shimmered briefly, undoing an illusion and revealing that his combat vest had a shuriken embedded in it right where Kurenai kicked. The shuriken had been pushed deep into his vest by the force of the kick, not far enough to break skin, but enough to show that shetaken him out of the fight in that moment.Kiba started whooping and hollering at Kurenai’s victory. The bug-user Shino was completely stoic, and that left the normally shy Hinata as the one on her team to speak up.“I don’t mean to be a bother, but what were you doing with those daggers, Asuma-sensei?”He turned and gave her a smile, not particularly bothered by his defeat. “There are my chakra-conductive knives. They’re made from a special metal that conducts the power through them, which enhances the metal and the strength of the attacks. In my case, I use Wind chakra to increase their cutting power.”Hinata nodded, her curiosity apparently satiated. Ino quickly relayed this new information to everyone.“Hey Asuma-sensei, if you had a big bunch of chakra conductive wires, could you channel Lightning chakra through them to zap people?” Ino asked as Asuma started making his way to where his thrown dagger had gone.“I suppose you could. Why?”“It sounds cool.”“Ha! If you ever start fighting like that, I’d love to see it.” Asuma called back to her as he pulled his knife free from the fifth and final tree in the line of devastation it wrought. Ino looked at the damage, giving the others a moment to soak it in with her.Everyone felt a small distortion in the palms of their hands. Kid Win held his hand in front of his face, and uncurled his fingers to reveal a tiny glowing speck. Zorian followed suit, as did Roxy, who leaned in very close to it and squinted at it. Ino pocketed the speck almost immediately to hide it from the others.Ino heard Kurenai call her and the others for a team battle.As Ino and her team circled up to listen to whatever Shikamaru’s plan was, she passively watched Kid Win place the speck into a tiny glass vial, and hit a button on his desk. He said something into the intercom, and start making his way to the Research division. He could busy himself with that, but she had a fight to win.As she broke the huddle with her team, she turned to look at the opposing team. Hinata kept darting her eyes over to Kiba, who was yelling at them from across the field. Shikamaru watched them boredly, and Choji just waved at them and wished them good luck. Shino responded by wishing Ino’s team luck in kind.Sort-of. He actually said “Yes. I would like to see your team also arrive at a state of good fortune,” but Ino couldn’t tell exactly how much of that was a dig at her team and how much was actual well-wishes. 'Arrive at a state of good fortune'? What's that even supposed to mean!Meanwhile, Zorian had finally started his first class of this iteration of the month.While the teacher reviewed the same content for the third time, Zorian just continued watching Ino prepare for the fight.The two teams watched each other for several long seconds, waiting for the mark that would start the match. Kurenai yelled 'Go!' and both teams bolted into action. Ino's team had opened the fight under the assumption that Kiba, his dog, and Hinata would start with a charge into melee range, and Shino would stand back, supporting them with swarms of insects and various ranged attacks.Shikamaru predicted the opening perfectly. As expected, Hinata stood on the left, Kiba in the middle, and Akamaru on the right. In response to this, he put Choji against Hinata, himself against Kiba, and Ino against Akamaru. The matchups were unusual, but that wasn't enough to tip off the other team to anything. Kiba lead the charge with confidence.As the distance closed, Choji expanded, bloating like a massive balloon. Hinata skidded to a stop as her opponent turned into a giant ball. Her fighting style relied heavily on targeting pressure points, but with Choji swelled up she wouldn’t have been able to reach more than one or two points with maneuvering around his body and breaking formation. Without bothering to build speed, he began rolling towards Kiba, who met his destructive boulder-form head on, slamming into it in with a powerful blow.Ino was tackled by Akamaru, and she only just managed to push the dog off of her when she heard Shikamaru speak.“Shadow Possession complete.”A long black shadow extended out from his body. It passed under Choji, and went directly into Kiba, who was paralyzed by his contact with the bone-chilling shade. Shikamaru took a few steps back, and Kiba was forced to do the same. Akamaru turned his attention on Shikamaru, trying to protect his master.Ino held her hands out in front of her body, her palms facing outwards and held her index finger and thumbs apart in a wide circle. She gazed through the window between her hands and projected her spiritual energy through it.“Mind-Body Switch!” Ino called out.Ino's mind was in a void. Other than a general feeling of ‘motion’, she didn’t even have any sensory input. For a few seconds, there was nothing. No cold, no pain, no comfort.And then she was a dog. It was jarring for everybody involved.Ino then steered Akamaru towards Choji and leaped. Choji rapidly deflated back to Choji-size again, and without the human-boulder in the way, the dog was on a collision course with his master. Ino slipped out of the dog’s mind as Kiba was released by Shikamaru, and the two collided.Ino came to in her own body, where she was met with the sounds of explosions. Shikamaruexplosive seals and used them whenever he could. He said he would ‘handle’ Shino’s bugs, and the explosions were a good sign that Shino had started making his move.Or, more likely, that Shikamaru predicted Shino would start making his move and thus preemptively started blasting the expected location of the swarm. Kiba and Akamaru were in a dog-pile, with a few explosive notes scattered around them. The paper tags fluttered gently in the wind, and they both understood that if they moved, Shikamaru would detonate the (likely dud) explosive seals on the notes.With Choji now bearing down on Shino and Ino ready to deal with Hinata, the game was as good as won. Ino smiled at Hinata and watched her eyes fade to the strangely beautiful milky-white that they become when her visual powers activated. Veins bulged out in a web-like pattern around her eyes, and she faced Ino.But instead of engaging, she threw a practice kunai at Shikamaru without even looking at where to aim. Aiming was more of a suggestion with the Hyūga’s famed 360° vision. He tilted his head lazily to the side, dodging the blunted throwing-knife.She wrapped her hands into a handseal, and the knife boomeranged around to strike him in the back of the head. He went limp. The explosions keeping the bugs at bay ceased, and Shikamaru’s hostage threat was negated. Kiba and Akamaru climbed to their feet and charged Ino. Bugs swarmed Choji, and he was down in seconds.It was only a few minutes after the fight that both teams were chatting about where they would be having dinner. As usual, Choji got the whole group to the same barbeque place, but this time they would be bringing Team Eight to join them for the meal.The walk back was dominated by Kiba and Ino arguing over the battle, with Shino providing quips and Shikamaru lazily defending himself and his choices. The whole argument effectively hinged on Shikamaru not suspecting that a Byakugan user would have techniques that target other people’s blindspots.That devolved into Shikamaru and Shino debating the merits of highly-specific strategies when enemies of unknown capability are involved, andsomehow became Shikamaru trying to defend his overuse of explosives in the fight.He was doing a good job from a strategy perspective, but completely failed on the ‘economic viability’ end. He had spent most of the team’s funds on that spar, and. The more she thought about it, the more annoyed Ino became. She had planned on learning fuinjutsu with Kid Win, but the scribing tools involved wereWhen she became a genin, her father had this huge speech about using money wisely and learning to manage money. Shegoing to be the clan head, after all. He was happy to help her in other things, but she knew she would have to support herself in terms of ninja tools. It had meant less shopping, and buying shuriken out of bargain bins. But now Shikamaru had blown the team funds, she needed supplies, and they hadn’t even. It was embarrassing, and she desperately wanted to make up for it.Three minutes of nagging later, he caved.