Dataslate Mark II [Seiko's Training]

"This journal will hold my notes and current findings as well as my studies of my own personal mental state and wellbeing as I seek a form of perfect logic and efficiency. My name is Seiko Rikigaku-Kaironokuma, I am currently thirteen years of age and I am a T.Jonin with the Logistics and Support Division. My plans are to become a Combat Medical Ninja in order to further enhance my abilities, my studies and my overall mastery of the Rikigaku's Golem Path." Her handwriting was flawless and elegant as she wrote in the small journal. Her left hand came up for a moment to push her glasses up her nose to stop them from falling off.

It wasn't an easy thing to understand the need to remove parts of the mind others thought were important. Emotions were gateways towards weakness as far as she was concerned. The young girl sat back at that thought and stared at the ceiling, catching herself and rewinding a small bit. Not all emotions were weak, although all of them could become weakness. Her thoughts drifted over her cousin and her family, never the greatest family but they stood by her.

She also thought on Clio's words, her lips pursing together. Did Love truly... Help? Was there a benefit to it? She closed the journal over and slid it along her desk before hopping off her chair and moving to a bookcase nearby. It took an hour of finding and reading segments of books before she sat back down at her desk and reopened her journal. There were a lot of cases of love driving people insane, of driving them to reckless actions, however there were also cases of love allowing people to do amazing things, boosting their strength through some unknown means, although she was pretty sure it was due to an overwhelming adrenaline reaction within the body.

With these thoughts in mind, she decided that Love was important enough to keep for now. Perhaps with more experience she'd find out just how useful it truly was... Or she'd find out that she didn't need it and would excise it at a later time. Her thoughts now turned to her other emotions and she considered them fully, even the gap where one should be, after all who truly needed Fear?

Seiko knew that Dues understood emotions more deeply than others but she was learning to properly isolate them and study them closely. With that in mind, the ones she brought to the fore were Sadness, Anger and Disgust. She had decided that Joy and Surprise were useful for the moment. Sadness always seemed to get in the way, were there positive sides to it? Perhaps the ability to sympathise and seem more human could be considered a benefit but then again, she rarely ever cared about such things. Would Taigakai be bothered by a loss of sadness? It was an emotion that Seiko rarely experienced, she was more contemplative than sad.

She moved on, focusing instead on Anger. Anger was a dangerous emotion, one of recklessness but equally, anger fuelled the body when other things might not, enabling greater feats of destruction. She looked at her hands and the callouses she had from the work on her Golems. She had grown frustrated before, it was true, she had also felt spite before and both of those had fuelled her through gruelling moments of construction. She refused to let the world conspire against her and ruin her creations. Those emotions, she recognised now, were drawn from anger and thus were useful. She left anger where it was.

She then thought of Disgust and brought it to the fore. This was a strange emotion but was it rooted in survival or societal standards? She knew she had experienced this one keenly, the first time she had seen a rotten carcass when travelling. The scent and the sight kept her away and seemed to remove any desire she had to study the carcass further. Part of her knew that this was due to the fact that rotten meat not only attracted certain predators but also could be dangerous to the body, disgust stopped the body from wanting to eat such things or handle it, both things that could cause sickness. However, it also regularly got in the way and made study of certain things harder. Seiko pondered on this for a few long minutes before shaking her head. For now, she didn't have enough data to consider Disgust.

That left only one true option and she brought it to the fore once more; Sadness. It was a distinctly human thing, something that made a person a person... A sign of sapience but not intelligence. She decided quickly that being a distinctly human emotion did not grant it any intrinsic value nor made it more useful to her. So it was time to be done with it. She stood up, pushing her chair under her desk and jotted a few last words in her journal.

"This is written just before I perform the second emotion removal from my mind. I have decided that sadness has no true value to me and as such, I shall remove it to enable additional processing power to more important bodily functions." She closed the journal and then moved over to her bed.

It was neatly made but she smoothed out a wrinkle or two with the back of her hand anyway before climbing up and lying down, resting her head on her pillow. She took her glasses off and placed them on her nightstand before closing her eyes. As she lay there, she made note of all of the current sensations she could feel; the slight tug of her hair shifting due to lying on it, the slightly crisp touch of her bedspread beneath her, the way her socks shifted over her toes. She decided the distractions were weak enough for her to continue and let herself fall deeper into her meditation. She could feel her heart rate slowing, her breathing deepening as she put herself into the trance she had before. Using her mind like a scalpel after this, she set to work.

One hour, fourteen minutes and thirty two seconds later, she awoke once more and a small, satisfied smile played over her lips.

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The world was blurry as her eyes opened but it was always that way. Well until she fixed it anyway. A soft sigh left Seiko's lips and she reached up, rubbing her eyes with her thumb and index finger. She really needed to find a way to either get more sleep or reduce the amount of sleep her body needed. She sat up, tossing aside her blankets, spending a few moments enjoying the soft fabric under her fingertips. She had things to do today so she couldn't spend too much time enjoying sensations.

Her bare feet hit the floor, toes curling against the cold wood as she stood up and stretched her body out. Her joints popped and settled as she worked each limb one by one, starting from the closest part to her core; her shoulders or hips, then working outwards, ending with cracking her fingers and her toes. Her neck followed afterwards and then she worked her jaw to finish it off. Now that she was up and properly awake, it was time to deal with that bluriness.

She reached out and took the glasses from the top of her nightstand and slipped them on, the world coming into crisp focus around her. One of these days she'd fix up her eyes, it'd be a shame to lose the aesthetic she had cultivated with the glasses though. A mental command flickered out and an Automaton came to life nearby, moving over to the closet and taking out an outfit for her as she rooted around in a chest of drawers, pulling out underwear and socks.

There were few things she enjoyed more than soft materials against her skin and once she was dressed she let herself soak in the sensations for a second before shaking her head and pulling her hair into a pair of braids that draped over the back of her shoulders. She switched off her Automaton and then left the house, grabbing a premade sandwich from the fridge before she did so, she always made sure to leave something for breakfast when she was making food to save time.

She chewed thoughtfully as she walked, her eyes unfocused, ideas and plans flitting around in her head. She was out for a specific reason today, there were a few books she needed to pick up from the library and then she would be studying from them and learning how to be a medical ninja. Anatomy always interested her and now that she was a Tokubetsu Jonin, and a Division one at that, she was able to request more detailed and interesting books, they couldn't use her age against her now that she had ranked up.

A few minutes later she had left the library with her books and flicked through them all to make sure they were all there before handing them off to a Golem she summoned to walk alongside her. She had already started researching the different forms of medical exams but she knew that she'd lose out on the ability to practice certain things if she want that route so she'd want to get a proper Ninjutsu base before she went that way.

She took a seat on a bench and looked around. Surprise attacked her for a moment and her eyes widened, why didn't she recognise these surroundings? Hadn't she sat on this bench several times? The light was also strange. It took several minutes for Seiko to realise that she'd been guided by recent memories, not old ones. This wasn't Hakagakure where her parents lived, where she was born... This was Kohaigakure. Her new home. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to equalise her emotions once more, her fingers tapping a soothing rhythm on the bench she was sitting on.

Once she had calmed herself she rolled her neck and sent a command to her Golem who immediately kneeled and offered her the first book on the pile. She picked it up, thanked her construct and then opened the book, starting her reading. With the additional processing power allotted to her due to the removal of Sadness, she found that she was able to read and process the information way more effectively this time. Actually having free access to this information was vindicating in such a satisfying way that Seiko couldn't help but smile, she'd spent a lot of time sneaking peeks at books like this or convincing her parents to check them out so she could read them and get ahead.

As she read and the time passed, she counted out rhythms in her mind and started to collate and collect the information, connecting certain thoughts and ideas together. Specifically her mind started to connect the thoughts of the Lobos Path that she had recently been granted access to within the Rikigaku Clan. The connection of metal and flesh to create something even greater, something more autonomous than a puppet. She glanced up at her Golem and thought about what it would be like to not have to control it directly, to give it commands and have it do them to the best of its ability. She would be able to direct her focus to other things and perhaps rely on them less, instead creating a fusion of her own abilities and the golem's.

The ideas connected fully as she stared at her Golem. She'd been considering giving them a mind, something like the Neo Golem and while that was powerful, mind meeting machine resulted in a dumb machine but what if she could take over something designed to work with the mind? She grinned wickedly as she considered it, creating a way to turn a living body into a machine, perfectly under her control... It would be even greater than a Human puppet, capable of replenishing itself.

She put her book down beside her and pulled two others from the pile, opening them to specific pages and reading through the information therein. She'd need to expand her medical base properly before she could create them but she could do it. A notebook came out of her pocket and she pulled out a pencil, flipping the book open and starting to scribble down her notes and prototype drawings. A latticework under the skin, a connection to the neurons and then severing control? No, severing control would make it just as bad as a Golem she'd need to move everything... Gating it? Could she create a neural gate to restrict the impulses or force them to go where she wanted?

As she pored over the books she realised that she could, it'd have to be extensive though, reaching to every part of the body in order to note down the impulses and map them out so she could take them over. She would definitely need to have a look at someone's body in more detail, get some proper practice before she set about making even a basic frame. She sat back after her initial scribbles were done and she gave a firm nod before gathering up her books and giving them to the golem. She smoothed out her skirt and then marched back to her workshop, bringing her Golem with her.

Once home, she set up several holders and rests and put all of the books around her in a semi-circle so she could read from any of them at a glance and then she got to work. She had plenty of metal to work with and she intimately knew the way her Golems worked, the way the metal could expand and stretch outwards or be shaped easily by thought and torch. As she read and worked, she filtered the relevant information to her long term memory, her fingers dancing across her workshop as she started to form the initial frame. What would she call these? They weren't a Golem, they weren't a Lobos, they were something greater, something far more horrifying. A walking, living beast with no control, under her control.

Her mind flickered away to some reports of old Pandoran battle information that the Republic had and she settled on the perfect name for them; Jiangshi. Perhaps she would even give them little talismans to complete the image. As she sat back, looking at the half complete frame she realised that she possibly should have been horrified by what she was doing. This thing would puppet a living body and if she wanted to get what she wanted from it... Would keep them conscious within their head, able to use their senses but unable to control anything.

Seiko felt nothing, however.

Well that wasn't quite true, she felt satisfaction at a job well done, she knew she was crafting something dangerous, versatile and useful, exactly what she wanted. Perhaps she was considering this because of training to be a Medical Ninja, didn't they attempt to save people? Could she do both? She knew what happened to people who fought against the village, those who committed heinous crimes, perhaps she would use them only, reduce the amount of cruelty in the world and give them a form of penance by turning them into good little soldiers. She smiled slightly at that thought, turning evil to good by force... Perhaps that was why she was brought into this world.

She shook her head, letting her loose thoughts fade away before shaking herself out and getting back to work creating the first frame for the Jiangshi. Luckily that wasn't all she was doing, every bit that she crafted and made ready she checked with two or three different books to ensure that the medical knowledge was sound, so not only was she deepening her medical base, she was crafting her new soldier... Well one of them anyway.

She glanced over to one of her prototype Knights and grinned, oh they were going to be spectacular once she crafted them.

Several hours later she finished up what she was doing and stood up, easing exhausted kinks out of her arms and legs from sitting so curled up against her workshop. All that was left on it now amidst all her tools was seemingly a ball of coiled wire that almost gave off a menacing air, especially because certain segments would constrict or shift or grind over one another like a snake. She put the ball away somewhere safe, dismissed her Golem and then left to go make herself dinner, she had definitely earned something special today.

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Such devastation. That was all Seiko could see as she rested on the roof of a building in the village that she now called home. One leg dangled down, swinging loosely back and forth, heel occasionally clicking against the stone of the building. Her other knee was up, foot on the edge and knee pulled up to her chest. She was wearing shorts and a top rather than her skirt today, so she didn't need to worry about being so proper with her posture. Her arms wrapped around her knee and she had leaned down, staring down into the destruction and sand that spread out before her.

Was this just the natural state of the Bijuu? Did they attack because they wanted to, was there actual desire involved? Or were they driven by instinct, destroying because it was all they had ever done. The thoughts plagued her as she stared at the sinkhole that had taken over a large portion of the residential district. With her stunted emotions, she wasn't even sure what to feel at this, flashes of anger occasionally crossed her and ancient neurons tried to ping emotions that no longer existed. Eventually she settled on disgust despite knowing she would soon rid herself of it.

She hated such raw destruction, there was no artistry to it, nothing beautiful about this. Why do a thing only to take no pride in it? Surely they were just instinctive monsters and if they weren't... Then they were deserving of her loathing for being so against the natural order, for being beasts that didn't know their damned places. Seiko let out a sigh and let her emotions return to normal, checking her bodily functions to ensure everything was running optimally.

With that done she rose to her feet, hands clasped behind her. She needed to make her way to the library to put away the books that she had borrowed and to survey the damage but she could use this as a practice opportunity for something that she had been readying. As she turned, pulling the dust veil of her hat down to keep the sand out of her face, she tapped into her chakra and then a strange ability of her lineage. She might not use the Kaironokuma's sand very much but they had more than that available to them.

She focused the chakra into her eyes and felt the metal that comprised her body alter and twist, circuitry and veins connecting and sinking deeper into her body, the lenses of her eyes altering and shifting then her ears and finally her sense of smell. With all of it altered and changed, the world came into sharp focus around her. She could smell a fire nearby, some people cooking food, her ears twitched slightly to pick up speech and the sounds of movement.

However Seiko was specifically focusing on her eyes, now that things were clearer, allowing her to gaze forwards and notice the library. The top floor was badly damaged due to the fire that had started there but the majority of things were safe, partly thanks to her efforts but also the work of the other shinobi that were there. As she considered that, she might need to visit and check on the others that she met in the library, they had ended up injured and she wanted to ensure they were back to fighting capability, if not she might be able to aid with that but that was something for a later day.

She started moving across the rooftop, reaching the edge and launching herself forwards with a burst of strength to land on the next one along. She could have let Primaris carry her and gotten there quicker but she wanted to work out some of the tension she was feeling and the best way to do that was some physical exercise. Her shoes beat a steady rhythm against the stone under her, the wind of her movement shuffling her dust veil and drifting through to send loose strands of hair floating around her face.

Her breathing was steady and controlled and her rhythm was only interrupted on occasion by her performing another jump to reach another building in order to continue onwards. She let herself focus on the sensations and inputs around her, the sounds of people grunting and joking as they moved rubble, medics being called for when they found wounded, the smells of blood and sweat and fear that permeated the streets these days. Seiko reached the edge of another building and this time she dropped down, hitting the ground and tumbling forwards onto her feet again, the ground cracking under her from redirected force but she was unharmed.

She nodded to some people nearby and continued her sprint towards the library, arms pumping, feeling her heart thump a steady beat in her chest. Her body was reacting well to the new sensations and to her enhanced physical abilities, she was pleased with how well she was doing but she'd need to do more. There was a lot to prepare for. Thoughts of stronger Bijuu attacking the villages invaded her mind, or larger fauna or God Beasts deciding the villages were ripe for the picking. These thoughts did not bring with them fear, she had long excised that... No they brought only determination and an edge of fury. She would not let her people be eaten by creatures that didn't know the meaning of beauty.

She stopped and cast the thoughts from her mind however, taking a few deep breaths. She was at the library, it was time to study.

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The air was gentle around Seiko, it would appear that the decent weather was to keep up and for that she was glad. Fighting in a sandstorm was definitely a challenge but she was here for a specific reason and didn't want to ruin that for herself. She scanned around at the area of cleared out stone and sand around her, a flat area set up specifically for training purposes. Confident that everything was as she had planned, she looked ahead at her comrade, though perhaps in this situation she should better see them as a foe.

The other Rikigaku gave her a smile and bowed his head. He was young and eager, it was easy to get him to assist with her training and besides, trading ideas and Golem designs wasn't necessarily a poor thing to do. Today however she was here for a specific reason and it was to keep herself in fighting shape and to mentally ready herself for the exams that were upcoming. She had already filled out the necessary paperwork for them and had her access approved, she was going to prove that she was capable.

With a nod, both her and the other Rikigaku rose to their feet and he summoned a Golem, humanoid in height though it was obvious that it was one of the weaker chasses. Seiko for her part simply squared her stance and brought her hands up in a loose guard. "Don't hold back, I can handle myself." She told him plainly and he nodded before throwing his hand out and commanding his Golem to attack.

The first thought through Seiko's head was that such a command was sloppy, the Golem could be commanded through mental impulses, it didn't need a shouted command that gave the enemy too much warning. She sighed and moved forwards toward the Golem as it leaped towards her. Its fist came swinging down and she rotated her body, left hand snapping out and slapping it aside while her right fist swung out in an arc, slamming into the Golem's chest and knocking it back a few feet, metal boots grinding on the sand.

The Golem wasn't too elegantly designed, all curves and simple metal, a small head lowered between a massive set of pauldrons and collar. It was almost rotund in a way and she could tell that it wasn't under any form of enhancement at the moment, it was also lacking in drives and cores but she could understand that, the Rikigaku was still young, they could definitely improve. The Golem was easier to fix than a body though, at least for the moment, hence Seiko asking to fight the Golem itself to keep her physical skills up.

She narrowed her eyes and brought both hands up, catching the Golem's fist in her hands, her defense tiers triggering and the metal of the fist cracked and split as the force was redirected back into it. She kept one hand on the Golem's fist, digging her fingers in and twisting its wrist to open its guard. She then kicked the golem in the knee, splintering the metal but she was forced to back away as the golem's other fist snapped out at her face. She threw herself backwards and rolled onto her feet in the sand, the Golem chasing her despite its damaged limb. Pushing off the dusty ground, she rolled between the Golem's legs and turned, hopping up onto its back.

As she was pulling her fist back to drive through its backplate, a metal hand closed around her midriff and tossed her backwards. She flipped over in midair to take in the scenario around her and congratulated herself on remembering to put on shorts under her skirt before fighting today, wouldn't do to inadvertently flash another member of the clan.

There was another Golem on the field, humanoid like the other and of the same inferior Chassis. It likely had few Drives and few Cores, the toss wasn't too strong after all but it seemed like her opponent wasn't content to just let her win against his Golem. That was fine by her, she could take on both, she'd just need to be smarter about it... And that was one thing she had in spades.

As she moved in, she stopped letting her thoughts wander and focused instead. The look of the Golems didn't matter, their compositions did. Neither were enhanced and they were weaker than she was, although they had a number advantage. Both of the enemy Golems leaped towards her, one low dashing across the sand, the other high to try and drop down onto her.

She nodded to herself and stopped, her left hand snapping out like a viper to impact the fist of the first Golem as it attempted to punch her. The force of her own punch plus the redirected force caused the arm to explode into metal shards, flying off to the side and behind the Golem. The other Rikigaku looked stunned as it happened but even more so when Seiko reached up and caught the falling kick of the second golem.

Her fingers dug into the metal and she swung the Golem down, slamming it onto the top of the first, driving them both into the ground. She then hopped up onto the Golem and swung her fist down, driving it straight through the chestplate of the metal soldier, her fingers clasped the Element Drive it possessed from the wrong side and she ripped it out, tossing it aside, the Golem shutting down.

With a kick she cast the broken chassis aside and dropped down onto the still functioning Golem, her foot hit its face and crushed it in while her hands grabbed the chestpiece at the neck and waist. She released the limiters on her body and dug her foot into its groin to keep it in place as she pulled upwards, ripping the Golem in half. With a heave she tossed the metal aside and then hopped away, dusting herself off and wiping the oil off on a cloth that she pulled out of her pocket.

"An excellent test. The Element Drives of your Golems have survived, your training is going well." She told the other Rikigaku who was now kneeling on the ground, picking up the oil and metal shard covered element drive she had launched to his side of the field. Perhaps she shouldn't have torn them apart so thoroughly but it felt good to exercise her muscles in such a way. She was sure he'd recover and find the inspiration to do better. She gave him a formal bow and then turned.

As she left she mentally checked off her current Element Drives and the chasses that she had stored away. Both of them were fully functional and each of them had three implanted Drives. She'd need to update the Cores perhaps but that was something that didn't take too much time, just a lot of chakra... Seiko sighed and realised that she might not be able to do it before the Exams started, perhaps if she rushed?

If she hadn't bothered setting up this spar perhaps she might have had more time for it and anger flashed through her mind. She grit her teeth and took her glasses off to clean them of sand and also to center herself, rubbing her eyes before she put the glasses back on. Perhaps she'd have to improvise, the meeting with the members of her team? Definitely a possibility. With a nod she continued on her path.

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Another long day, another bout of resigned exhaustion. Seiko leaned back in her chair and reached up to take her glasses off, setting them down on her desk before rubbing her tired eyes. She let out a soft sigh and opened her eyes again, staring up at a ceiling that she had seen far too many times. There was still a patch of mold and discolouration in the far corner, she would need to get maintenance to fix that. Her thoughts turned sour and she fixated on that for just a moment, would it really help to get it fixed, would it do anything other than appease that strange little voice in the back of her head that told her everything had to be neat and perfect?

This world wasn't perfect, there wasn't anything close to that. She glanced down at the clipboard and information on the paper attached to it. Another shinobi, young this time, a fresh Chunin, getting attacked by a band of Missing Nin. He was going to lose an arm and maybe his career through it. Or at least she was pretty sure he was going to lose an arm, she still had some avenues open to her and some things she could yet try. Calculations and ideas started to drift into her mind filtering down behind her eyes but for the moment she shook them away. He was stable for now, he needed some rest if he was to be strong enough for surgery or additional work done on him. So she looked away from the clipboard again and instead let her mind wander.

Did she feel fulfilled helping people? Partially. It was good to know that she was useful, that even if it was only partially she could keep the Republic from crumbling, keep the number of active soldiers up but was there an end goal? She thought for a moment about Nukenin in general, were they actually free or was their life one of struggle and being hunted? Why fight something like the Republic, why not work to change it? There were enough Missing Nin that they could do that. Maybe some of them were just evil.

Evil.

Now that was a strange word. It made her pause and she pursed her lips. What did it mean to be evil? To fall to base instincts? Or was there a deeper issue there? Seiko considered that, she thought about the plans that she had in her workshop about the Jiangshi Project, there were a great many people that would see that as evil but she was only going to use it on people that had already broken the rules, broken the law, only on those that.... Deserved it.

"What a curious thought." She muttered out loud, reaching out to pick up her glasses and put them back on. Perhaps that was where the issues lay? Who could say they deserved it?

Well...

She could. Seiko blinked. If she was going to go in mental circles she'd end up just lying in a heap doing nothing and she refused to be that person. If she had to draw the line and be the arbitrator of what was just then so be it, she was strong enough to take that on herself. Those people had already cast aside their rules and laws, they could atone for that in any way that she so deemed fit. However to do something like that she would need some sleep.

She glanced over at the clock and realised she had been in the hospital for almost sixteen hours helping people out. She rarely remembered to sleep these days and only ate during lulls. At that her stomach rumbled and she glanced down for a second before sighing and getting to her feet. She was still human, she was still alive. Her legs protested slightly as she started to move but it wasn't enough to make her actually take notice. She said goodbye to the relevant people, passed on the necessary paperwork and headed out into Kohai.

The night was clear which was nice, no sandstorms and the stars were visible. The moon gave enough light to see by but it was fairly cold, causing Seiko to pull her jacket a bit tighter around her body. She put her hands in her pockets and walked on into the Village. She'd head home, get something simple to eat and then head to bed before heading back to the hospital tomorrow...

...And then she walked into a sweep of light and the smell of freshly made ramen hit her. She turned to the stall that was currently empty but still open and blinked a few times. She was about to step away but hesitated and suddenly envisioned her cousin, what would Taigakai say or do here? Well she knew that answer straight away. Maybe she had been spending too much time focusing on others.

She went over and took a seat, ordering herself something large and flavourful for a change and spent a while just... Enjoying herself and the sensations. She had pushed so many things away, she had learned to just accept that people saw her as inhuman, as a machine but her cousin had never thought of her that way. That made the ramen she was eating taste all the better and for the first time in a while, a genuine smile crossed her face. She finished her meal, paid and thanked the owner of the stall before setting back out into the night.

Maybe she'd take tomorrow off and just work on her own stuff for a bit, the hospital could manage without her for one day... And the gentle warmth of her joy told her she'd made the right choice.

She went home and checked on her workshop, noting one of her halfbuilt Knights and gave a smile before heading in and up to her small bedroom. She picked up a snowglobe that Taiga had sent her as a gift one year and gave it a shake once she was undressed before climbing under the covers and falling to sleep watching the little sparkling flakes drift down. She was a good person, she was worthy of these moments, she was human after all, she was alive and that's what mattered.

Today was going to be a new day, one that she could enjoy, she deserved the rest.

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