However, Reko did not seem to be intent on making fun of him. The boy was busy with collecting the items from the lab, sealing them in his scroll.
…
Soon after, the looting was complete and Reko demolished the hideout with his earth release.
Retreating back to the village, Reko kept silent.
'I used it…. I was surprised and could not resist.'
'Jonin level steal gone, just like that.'
'I cannot even test it out with him here. Let's complete the mission here quickly.'
These were his thoughts as he was running back to the village, wanting to quickly get home.
Unable to resist, Reko asked Genma about the curse marks on Jirobo. He wanted to know if Genma was aware of the technique.
"So, do you know the type of Jutsu that guy used?"
"It's a forbidden jutsu. From the instability in his combat style, you would have guessed that it's not a safe one."
"What I would suggest is that you don't get into such stuff. You have a lot of potential as you are still young."
As if expecting Reko to ask this question, Genma explained briefly before dismissing the topic.
He was happy to explain, but the topic was kind of forbidden. Because Reko was already a Jonin level and was Tsunade's student, Genma took his time to briefly explain. Since Reko was going to learn about the jutsu anyway, if he questioned lady Tsunade.
…
After a day, back in the village.
"Done? You can rest for a week and join when the next step of the training begins."
"Until then, work on your chakra control."
Tsunade instructed, beckoning him to leave. The mission report was to be submitted by Genma and that guy was her personal guard. So, he stayed in office while Reko headed out.
"No need to mention, I was going to do it anyway."
Reko replied as he walked out of the room.
Genma had already mentioned how there was an enemy from Orochimaru's experiment. Not to mention the opponent had Jonin level strength, top tier in shinobi ranks. At the moment, he began to explain that it was a curse mark developed by Orochimaru.
"A curse mark user?"
"You can leave Reko."
Hearing the words about curse mark, Reko stopped just outside the door and was standing with his ear stuck to the door. But Tsunade had sensed him already and ordered him to leave.
"Genma. How was the strength of that shinobi?"
Sensing the chakra from Reko gone, Tsunade asked Genma to continue. She wanted to know the base strength and the boost the curse provided to that man.
"Low Jonin but that's because he was caught off guard and could not control his rage. His emotions appeared to be out of place, outside of his control."
Genma recalled the physical strength of that shinobi, on the same level and even higher than him.
"He had grown a lot. His strength was high, if he was not so reckless and trained in taijutsu then it would have been a difficult battle.
But the fact that his sanity was fading away means that it's not possible for such experiments to do strategic battle and be in conscious control of their actions."
He precisely described the traits of the curse mark user. The pros and cons that he could witness after fighting against it once.
"I see. Good work."
Saying so, Tsunade dismissed her personal guard, allowing him to get back to his guard duty without any rest.
Not that she needed any of them to guard against her. She insisted that only one guard always actively guarded her, just in case she needed someone to run errands.
'He has made improvement to that impure world technique and now this new thing.
To boost a Chunin or a Genin to this level is unheard of.'
'The same curse mark that he put on her student Anko, the same he put on Sasuke Uchiha.
He has fallen down, his greed for immortality and power has made him into an irreversible monster.'
Tsunade pondered deep in her thoughts. Her former teammate was already long gone. There was no redemption for him, not that she would care for it anyway.
She had long given up on that guy. The only friend she had currently was Jiraya.
Sighing, she continued her office paperwork. She wanted to distract herself from these depressing thoughts.
Also, she needed to prepare for the training for her students. She had postponed the training because Sakura still needed to gain experience while Reko needed a break.
Even though it seemed that he was not tired, she still chose to give him a break, satisfied with his training results.
'Though Narcissist, that student of mine is a prodigy. Sakura with her talent is barely keeping up.'
Tsunade smiled, recalling the days of training with him and Sakura. It was fun. He was a little pervy but nothing compared to Jiraya.
…
Reko was lying down on his bed, his right hand clenched. Something had changed inside him, he could sense another source of energy, a different but superior form of energy.
In the middle of his palm, there was a small, almost ignorable ring sized circle.
"This seems very overpowered."
He glanced at the description of the jutsu.
…
[Curse mode lvl 1]
Strength: +50%
Endurance: +50%
Chakra: +100%
…
Reko could not wait to use the curse mode. If the stats shown on the system screen were to go by then he would instantly jump to S rank ninja, skipping the mid Jonin and high Jonin ranks.
He had rested for a few hours already. Tsunade had ordered him to leave, leaving no option for him.
So, he began to research the unique Jutsu, the curse marks.
Reko was not even sure if it was possible to copy such a jutsu. He was kind of scared of establishing a connection with Orochimaru. Fortunately, the connection with Orochimaru's soul was not copied.
He was itching to use the jutsu. Even though he had used up his only Jonin level charge, he was not bothered at all.
He could store chakra and get another Jonin level charge but the opportunity to acquire the curse mark without any connection with Orochimaru would have been difficult.
"Alright, I can't wait anymore."
Stretching, he jumps on the roof of his house, ready to head to the isolated area in the deep forest.
He wanted to use the curse mode and for that he needed to get somewhere where he could let loose.
"Seems good enough for a test."
"Now, how do I activate this?"
Sitting crossed legged, he sensed the energy source and tried tapping into it. The small circle on his palm reacted to his senses.
The black mark expanded, forming a mysterious pattern, mix of circles and lines. His right hand became fully covered with the cursed mark.
"This feeling!!"
To test out his enhanced strength, he jumped, sprinted, and finally punched a giant tree with his fist.
Boom!!
With a cracking sound, he pierced through the trunk of the tree with his bare fist, punching a hole.
"Okay… this is some serious strength."
Reko could not stop grinning, the strength of his attack has far surpassed his expectations. This was the level of punches that Tsunade threw around with her advanced chakra control technique.
If he could reinforce his hands in this mode, then he was sure that he would reach Tsunade's peak strength.
"At curse mode level 2, maybe."
The transformation of curse mode level two was very likely to give him another huge boost, allowing him to breach that gap.
"Time for ninjutsu check."
Although he very rarely used ninjutsu with hand signs and only preferred Earth release defense and Rasengan, he still wished to know the difference it made. He began to form hand signs for the Majestic Flame jutsu.
"There's a slight resistance in chakra control. Is it because of the increase in chakra quality?"
He had a strong chakra control, very strong in fact. Perhaps because of the unfamiliarity, he could feel that the chakra in curse mode was a little harder to control.
He needed to train in this form and get used to controlling this chakra mixed with natural energy.
As he completed the hand signs, the wave of flame that he created scorched a good few meters of the forest, destroying the trees.
"No wonder Sasuke with curse mark was able to defeat almost 1000 shinobis without spilling blood."
He deactivated the curse mode, unsure of the side effects and time limit. But one thing he was sure of, was that the strength it provided would allow him to survive against kage level shinobis.
Reko just needed to not lose his mind during the battle and resist the bloodlust. He was able to sense the change of emotions in his head, increased joy and the urge to test out his strength was evident.
…
Walking back to the home from the forest, Reko was slowly collecting his thoughts when he was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"You have been really busy these days."
It was Tsume who had spotted him and began to talk. She was in a really comfortable shirt, her skin showing to the third button of her top.
....
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