Chapter 11 - Tsubaki Senju

I stared blankly at Azula, raising an eyebrow in a silent demand to know what this sudden betrothal nonsense was about. Naturally, she completely ignored my look, seamlessly pivoting into a stream of utterly asinine chatter.

Azula was incredibly sly. She knew exactly whose domain we were sitting in, and she knew the Hokage's walls had ears. So, instead of talking strategy, she rattled on about her training with the two old hags at the Fire Temple. She casually mentioned that Zuko had run off with her Uncle Iroh, smirking as she noted how her brother was probably just tired of getting upstaged by her at every turn. She didn't stay much longer after that, dropping a casual parting bomb that she was moving into my home and that her servants had already begun unloading her luggage.

I let out a heavy sigh the moment the door closed behind her. Azula was a brat who had never been told “no” in her entire life, well, besides by me. Even Ty Lee and Mai just did whatever she wanted, finding it far easier to do what she says than to tell her no. and once again i say that Azula is a brat.

I leaned back against the pillows, finally alone. I closed my eyes, eager to pull up my interface and dive straight into the Shop feature. Since I had integrated as a Devil, the Devil Race category was right there, screaming for attention with its massive racial discount. 

My mind raced through the possibilities. I could buy high-class Devil magic circles, specialized magic books, or even get myself a peerage like that fool kept ranting about. I opened the Worlds tab and…

“That one’s going to be a handful. I don’t envy you.”

A voice cut through the quiet from my right, scaring the absolute crap out of me. My eyes snapped to where I heard the voice, my hand instinctively twitching toward where my short blade usually rested, finding nothing. Fuck.

Why the hell did I spend five years specializing in sensory arts if people can just materialize next to my bed? I thought, frustration burning in my chest.

I looked the woman over, my enhanced senses immediately picking up the sheer, dense weight of her chakra. How did I fucking miss that, now that i know she is there and actively sensing her chakra it feels like fog horn blaring in my face. 

Looking her over, she was undeniably beautiful. She had vibrant, deep red hair cascading down her back, woven through with a few stray green leaves that perfectly matched the unique vine patterns etched onto her gear. She wore a modified Leaf Village Jonin flak jacket over a dark mesh undershirt, more leaf pattern on her green arm guards, a leaf-accented hip pouch, and a massive storage scroll strapped to her lower back set her entirely apart. Her forehead protector sat firmly against her brow, framing sharp green eyes that looked right through me with a mixture of amusement and deep experience. In her right hand, she held a jagged kunai loosely, while a glowing swirl of wind and leaves danced over the fingertips of her left—a blatant display of flawless nature transformation.

"You look upset," she said, her lips curving into a smirk. "Why? Because you couldn't sense me? Boy, you might be a monster for a Genin, but you are still just a Genin. Just because a few of your physical attributes are in league with a stronger Chunin doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. Did you truly think that because you dealt the final blow to that monster, you are suddenly more than you are?"

"No," I muttered, my voice tight with resignation. "It was a cheap shot. But I figured with my heightened senses, I'd at least hear someone stepping right up to my bed even if I didn't sense them." I say, not wanting to admit that my sensor talent failed me. It was one of my trump cards you know, something I was proud of and this is the second time it failed me. The other being in the dungeon, Three if you count the manor.

"Boy, I'm a Jonin, and not an ordinary one by any stretch of the imagination," she countered smoothly, tossing her kunai up and catching it effortlessly. "I bet even as you are now, you would get your ass beat by most ‘average’ Chunin." She says, drawing out the word average.

I scoffed out loud. Rude, I know, but the woman had to be dreaming. With my new and improved body, I'd destroy any Chunin I could feel every time I flexed a muscle. My raw defense and speed were off the charts for my rank.

"Oh, you don't believe me?" she says and I try to relax my face. Her green eyes flashed with amusement. "Don't worry, I'll personally arrange for a Chunin from my clan to teach you a lesson. Maybe they'll beat some sense into you. It's the exact same issue with that boss you killed”. She continues with air quotes. "From my talk with Anko, that monster had all the raw power of a Jonin, but the actual combat skill of a noble child swinging a stick."

I winced, knowing that hit entirely too close to home.

"You will soon learn that skill, and especially experience, IS what keeps you alive," she continued, her voice clinical. "It allows you to fight much stronger enemies rather than just stealing kills from your teacher."

"We're shinobi," I retorted meekly, trying to defend my pride. "We kill whenever the opportunity presents itself."

"Don't worry about the kill itself. If Anko had finished the boss, she wouldn't have acquired the system anyway," she said, smoothly shifting the subject. "As far as we can tell, or what we can guess from the system users we currently know about, you have to possess a direct, intrinsic synergy with the bloodline or ability you acquire from killing the boss."

Hearing her speak with the absolute authority of someone with experience, the pieces finally clicked together in my head. A Konoha shinobi  who knew more than a normal Jonin would know about the portals.

"You're Tsubaki Senju," I blurted out.

Fuck! I yelled at myself internally the second the words left my mouth. I'm not supposed to know that yet! I frantically tried to construct a cover story. Maybe I could claim I was researching Bloodlines or something and her name came up.

"Read that in the system, did you?" she asked.

My mind flatlined.

"You know about the system!" I shouted before I could stop myself. Panic flared, and I immediately tried to push my chakra sensing outward to see if the ANBU guards outside the door had heard my outburst. 

I felt nothing outside the room, it was like a blank void.

"Don't bother," Tsubaki said, her smirk widening. "I put a barrier around this room the moment I walked in. And yes, obviously I know about the system. I figured you knew who I was considering you saw my username in the local country registry on the Forum."

Fear and annoyance tangled in my gut. I hadn't sensed a single ripple of chakra when the barrier was being erected, even now when she was telling me it was there. How ridiculously strong was this woman?

"I had all of two minutes with the interface before I was interrupted." I said, a touch of dry mirth creeping into my tone as I relaxed slightly.

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm here before you make a massive mistake. Now, let's get back to synergy."

"Mistake? What mistake could I have even made yet?" I asked, leaning forward. "And synergy? What possible synergy did I have with a literal Devil?"

"From what Anko described, the creature was a noble of some house. You are the last remaining heir of a major noble family. Perhaps the system recognized that conceptual link. Honestly, without more information and time, I couldn't tell you the exact reason you got the bloodline. But yes, to acquire a bloodline, ability, etc you need something that synergises with the boss you kill. At least that's the theory we are running with"

She leaned against the wall, tapping her hip pouch. "A young man in Suna recently acquired the ability to manifest a spiritual sword that shatters into thousands of glowing blades resembling sakura petals. Before he ever set foot in that portal, his primary style involved using complex puppet strings to control flying knives with extreme precision. The system amplified what was already there."

My mind stalled yet again. A sword that turns into thousands of sakura petals? Byakuya's Senbonzakura? That meant a portal had connected directly to the Soul Society. The sheer, terrifying power scaling of the worlds bleeding into the elemental nations hit me like a physical blow. Did that Suna ninja actually manage to kill a Captain-level Soul Reaper, or did he just get lucky against a weaker manifestation? Maybe Byakuya as a student? I shook the thought away; I wouldn't get answers here.

"And your ability?" I asked, pushing my luck. "What did you acquire?"

"Hmm, becoming a little too comfortable with me, aren't you, brat?" Tsubaki said, tilting her head. It was the exact same triumphant look Azula used whenever she held all the cards. "But you will eventually see it in action. Just don't spread it around. The village and I have gone to immense lengths to keep my specific bloodline completely hidden from the public. It would put me and Konoha as a whole in danger that we frankly don't need, expecially now."

She adjusted the massive storage scroll on her back. "I'm a Senju and an Uzumaki. When I entered a portal roughly ten years ago, I encountered a living, sentient forest that was determined to kill my entire team. We dragged ourselves through the forest of man eating plants, where the boss turned out to be physically weak, compared to her environmental powers. The only reason we managed to kill her. She wasn't ready for my speed. She controlled toxic flora and plants as if they were extensions of her own nervous system. When I finally closed the distance and cut off her head, I inherited her traits."

"Ahh," I said, looking at the intricate vine patterns on her armor and the leaves in her hair. "I see what you mean about synergy. I should have figured the moment I knew you were a Senju that it had something to do with plant manipulation."

I stared at her gear, wondering if her custom clothes were actually a living, biological defense mechanism, like the living armor.

"Well, it wasn't just my Senju heritage that triggered the drop," Tsubaki said, her tone turning playful. "I think it had a little to do with the red hair, too."

I blinked, momentarily lost. "The hair?"

"The woman I killed to inherit these powers had bright red hair," she said with a wink.

Like a bolt of lightning, a very specific, iconic face slammed into my mind, a character I had spent many embarrassing nights fantasizing about in my first life.

Poison Ivy.

The pieces fell into place with terrifying clarity. Tsubaki Senju was holding back massively on what her abilities are,. I couldn't remember every single ability Poison Ivy possessed because I had been focused more on her other assets back in my old life, but I knew for a fact that the character was a walking biological weapon capable of absolute ecological devastation.

Not wanting Tsubaki to deduce that I knew far more about her powers than I should, I forced my face into a completely dry, unbothered look, completely ignoring her joke about the hair.

"Fascinating," I said flatly, crossing my arms over my chest. "So, what can you tell me about how the system actually operates, and what is this critical mistake you claim I was about to make?"

AN- Some of the Devilish pride showing there Jun. The name Tsubaki has alot to do with flowers etc.