Takama-ga-hara

Thinking of the pleasant parts, Kanna smiled once more and pulled down the collar of his shirt to take a look.

Beneath his slightly gaunt collarbone lay layers of white medical bandages, through which faint traces of blood could be seen seeping. As Kanna focused his attention, a semi-circular, tattoo-like pattern on the skin exposed between his collarbone and the top of the bandages seemed to sense his summons, manifesting gradually from nothingness.

It was a dark red circular mark with intricate patterns along its edges; if the bandages were removed entirely, one would see a perfectly circular tattoo.

This thing, of course, was not something the previous Kanna had tattooed on himself, but rather another function obtained by this transmigrator "Kanna" after awakening his system—perhaps it could be understood as a skill slot.

A skill slot, as the name implies, is a circular tattoo specifically designed to house a certain ninjutsu. Its effect is somewhat similar to a summoning technique used by Uchiha Sasuke—the Lightning Blade Light Transformation. Do not be misled by the name; this is not a ninjutsu that applies lightning release to a blade to create a sword of light, but rather a simple means of summoning weapons. By engraving a storage formula onto a wrist guard, one can instantly summon ninja tools just by touching the "seal" on their hand. The "skill slot" circular tattoo that Kanna obtained functions in much the same way.

According to Kanna's speculation, since storage ninjutsu formulas can be engraved on wrist guards, other ninjutsu should theoretically be achievable in the same way. In fact, there are many ninjutsu in the ninja world that use external seals to cast spells, such as the Second Hokage's Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags or Orochimaru's Cursed Seal; these are all ninjutsu that can take effect independently of the caster. Thus, this "skill slot" is not hard to understand—it is merely the decomposition and individual engraving of a ninjutsu's seals, simplifying the series of steps—"initial seal, chakra circulation, guiding seal, final seal"—again and again, until it becomes like an online game, allowing one to release a skill with a single thought.

This function undoubtedly provided Kanna with great assistance. As a newcomer, even though he had tried his best to digest the memories of this body during this time, the two different scientific perspectives still made it impossible for him to use chakra proficiently. So far, he had barely managed to master a Transformation Technique. With the help of this "skill slot," he could directly input certain ninjutsu that he found impossible to analyze or utilize, and use them directly through the system.

Thinking about it, this function was quite interesting. At first glance, it seemed only useful for helping Kanna get through the transitional phase of being unable to use ninjutsu flexibly as a beginner. After all, Kanna was confident that as time passed, he would eventually get used to and become proficient in ninjutsu. Would this skill slot be useless then?

Kanna vaguely felt that this skill slot was not that simple. If ordinary ninjutsu could be parsed, what about certain bloodline ninjutsu? Or space-time ninjutsu? Theoretically, any ninjutsu could be performed using the most basic seals and various changes in chakra. Regarding this, Kanna was prepared to try it out once he obtained some special ninjutsu, to see if he could discard various casting restrictions through the skill slot and use them directly.

Kanna was very satisfied with this setup, and the only factor limiting his progress was likely his chakra. Because this skill slot did not exist out of thin air but was attached to his physical body, it could be fully regarded as a type of seal. Just like now, the pitifully small amount of chakra in Kanna's body was almost entirely provided to the circular "seal" on his chest. As long as he wished, he could choose one of the seven D-rank ninjutsu he had already obtained and implant it. In that case, the series of processes required for the release of that ninjutsu in the future—the corresponding chakra circulation—would not be triggered through Kanna's body, but would unfold directly within this "skill slot" seal. It was as if an extra organ for releasing ninjutsu had been added to his body; it was truly miraculous.

Kanna gave this "skill slot" a rather profound name—Highland.

The Highland is the upper world imagined in the Shinto sect where the gods reside. For Kanna, this "skill slot" that could carry individual ninjutsu was like the Highland that carried the gods, and it also represented his encouragement to himself and his outlook on the future.

Becoming a man who carries "gods" with his own flesh and blood—that's not bad, is it?

As the days passed, Kanna's heart gradually calmed down, no longer restless as it had been at the beginning. During this period, apart from the parents of this body and some ninjas who came to offer condolences to the surviving examinees—that is, Kanna (that guy Zabuza was now doing quite well in the Anbu)—and to do some recording, no one came to disturb him.

Come to think of it, Kanna's friends, those childhood sweethearts from his class or other classes, had all been killed by Zabuza in one go. Fortunately, Kanna indicated that he didn't know those people; otherwise, this story might have turned into a Kanna revenge saga like Obito or Nagato.

After sorting through his memories and seeing his "parents" with his own eyes, Kanna felt that the people in this world were really a bit strange. At first, he had assumed that the identity of this body would be an orphan or a child from an ordinary family, but he hadn't expected that "Kanna's" parents were not ordinary people.

His father, Kanna Tokiomi, was the aide to the current Third Mizukage, equivalent to Danzo's position to the Third Hokage or Killer B's to the Fourth Raikage. Known as the "Unforgiving Kanna," he was very, very strict, but because he advocated justice and equality and acted with reason and evidence, never favoring his own interests, he was both feared and respected. In Kanna's memory, this kid was terrified of his father, never daring to mention his own identity at school and always feeling inferior because of it—a miserable youth who had developed psychological trauma due to high-pressure education.

His mother was not as exaggerated by comparison. Kanna Morishita Mai, originally named Kunihisa Morishita Mai, took the Kanna surname after marrying his father. She was a Jonin of Kirigakure who had resigned from her post after giving birth to Kanna. Like the Jonin of Kakashi's generation in the Naruto era, she accepted missions as she pleased and spent her days at home handling chores and raising her son, living quite freely.

It could be said that Kanna's parents held great expectations for him. Unfortunately, this kid was not naturally strong-willed—to put it bluntly, he was a disappointment. Because he had almost been hacked to death on the spot during this exam, Kanna Tokiomi was so angry he wanted to beat him to death right then and there. As a result, he hadn't visited him many times in all these days and had even forbidden his wife from visiting, looking as if he had been truly heartbroken by Kanna's performance.

It's true; if the one who had slaughtered everyone in the exam had been Kanna instead of Zabuza, Kanna Tokiomi would probably have been smiling in his sleep. Just look at Zabuza now; although the parents and relatives of the victims wanted to bite him to death, every time the name Zabuza was mentioned, everyone in the village would give a thumbs up and praise him as a "genius." Look at Kanna—who remembered him? If his heart hadn't been positioned slightly off-center, his corpse would have turned to ash by now.

It must be said that the people of this world, or rather this village, were quite obsessed with martial power. Kanna estimated that if he had died in the exam hall, his father's face might have looked a bit better. Of course, he also knew that Kanna Tokiomi was just throwing a tantrum, much like Sasuke's father with him and Itachi—seemingly favoring the older brother, but actually loving both brothers deeply.

With his friends and acquaintances all hacked to death and his parents in a cold war, Kanna found himself with some leisure time. He had only barely managed to understand the Transformation Technique out of the seven basic ninjutsu, so he was in no hurry to redeem the few new ninjutsu he had gained. He decided to save them up and, once he was familiar with this world, pull off something big!

Of course, before that, he needed to refine more chakra. After all, maintaining a "Highland" that could only parse D-rank ninjutsu was already quite a strain. If he wanted to construct a more advanced Highland, chakra was something that could never be in too much supply.

(PS: I admit the updates are slow because my train of thought hasn't quite opened up yet, and the background is unfolding slowly. Another point: no one knows when the Third Mizukage was in power or what his name was, so I've set this period as the reign of the Third Mizukage. Soon, the Third Great Ninja War will break out, followed by the story of the Fourth Mizukage Yagura succeeding him and Obito controlling Yagura. In my view, the period around the 40th year of the Konoha calendar is the best starting point using Kirigakure, because there is a lot going on here.)