Beast update and hidden conflict
It wasn't all that hard really since I merely needed to account for my new level of chakra and augment my control for it. It barely took me two days to adjust perfectly and get back to my regular schedule. If you were wondering about my progress on copying Shiro's ability then I had the unfortunate news of utterly failing. Copying the chakra movements was a piece of cake but without knowing exactly which elements made up the ability I simply couldn't replicate it's effects. There was also the issue of ratios and implementation that needed to be taken into consideration.-
Needless to say my progress was abysmal compared to trying to copy the rest of my beasts abilities. Even my lizards ability was coming along much better and I couldn't sense it's chakra flow when the ability was in use. The ability cut off all forms of sensory information that could be detected other than scent, sound and natural energy which as you can expect was really damn hard to copy. The only reason I was even making any progress at all was because I had my lizard use it's ability in a localized area on it's body like a single leg or head and worked to copy the chakra flow I could still perceive outside of those areas.-
Thanks to this I was slowly but surely getting a full mapping of it's chakra flow and all that came after that was the elemental chakra nature transformation required to pull it off. I suppose I should also sort of mention that my caterpillar had finally cocooned up after growing nearly ten feet long and four feet wide, it was a chunky looking bug. The cocoon was also blindingly bright as far as natural energy was concerned as it was practically drawing in an ocean of the stuff.-
Not that I was all that surprised by this considering the gluttonous thing had been eating my sage chakra for nearly the entire time I had it. That was to say a little under two and a half years of near daily consumption of my sage chakra. Frankly speaking I'd be disappointed if whatever the caterpillar turned into wasn't a sage beast straight out the gate after so much familiarization with natural energy during it's developmental phase. I wouldn't be angry if it turned out otherwise but definitely disappointed.-
Thanks to the supplements that I now regularly fed my beasts as treats the rest of my beasts had also grown considerably more powerful as well. My hawk was now nearly as strong as a peak chunin, my cat was the same. My turtle had barely broken into special Jonin territory but only then because of it's extreme defense and size. It was nearly the size of a boulder and it's shell was so durable that not even I with all my strength could crack it. Kiba(the wolfdog) was firmly in Jonin level.-
My Bear was an elite Jonin level lumbering mass of physical destruction over sixteen feet tall and covered in a thick layer of muscle and fat under it's tough hide that lazed about whenever it wasn't eating. Akasha(my tiger) was second only to Shiro in terms of power at peak elite Jonin and spent most of her day stalking the ninjas foolish enough to wander into her territory. She didn't attack them but she seemed to enjoy inflicting terror on them as she lets them know subtly that she was there without exposing herself. My snake was peak chunin and teetering on the edge of stepping into special Jonin though needed a bit more to truly reach that point.-
Mizuhe(the cricket) was at the mid special Jonin level and had stopped growing at two feet long and five inches thick from back to belly. Despite this however it had begun to learn how to create mist that allowed it's natural ability to shine. My lizard was also at the mid chunin level but that was mostly because it specialized in stealth rather than combat. Finally of course was my first beast Ren(the scorpion) that was now the size of a large hill and showed no signs of stopping it's growth.-
Ren was my third strongest beast at elite Jonin level but with a slight caveat, it didn't fight well with others. The reason for this was simply because his toxins had reached such a high level of lethality and vastness that he could saturate a massive area with them easily which naturally meant it would effect allies and enemies alike. Unfortunately this meant if I wanted him to fight at his best I couldn't summon any other beasts as well as having to be effectively alone with the enemy. It was a heavy restriction to be sure but there was nothing I could do about it.-
On average the fighting power of all my beasts combined together was peak special Jonin to low Jonin level which was certainly nothing to scoff at. What this meant was that in a war time scenario I was effectively a one man platoon, a strong one at that even without including Shiro's ability. I'm going to be honest here my cranes ability was busted to hell and back as if unleashed at maximum range(which was quite large) it could destroy the entire village in an instant.-
Miles of people, plants, animals and everything else all frozen solid in a single moment. Of course such a large attack comes with an equally intense cost as I estimated that should Shiro unleash such an attack it would render him helpless and dangerously low on chakra. I'm talking a sneeze away from death low on chakra. This area of effect type nature of his ability was also the reason the Hokage told me that in terms of danger it was higher than the dust release of the Tsuchikage. Dust release was apparently extremely compact in nature and thus not suitable for wide area attacks but makes up for it in sheer destructiveness.-
Zero release however was ONLY area of effect in nature so while considerably less destructive it was far much more difficult to dodge compared to dust release hence making it a greater threat between the two. You may be wondering what Danzo was doing since he obviously knew about Shiro? To answer that you need to understand that Danzo I had found was all about moving in secret and scheming to himself. Naturally this meant he was definitely making plans in secret and was merely waiting for the right oppurtunity to act.-
That was fine by me though as I had my own plans in this regard to finally pluck out this thorn from my side. I couldn't justify killing the old bastard in cold blood unless I wanted to be treated like a traitor to the village but the moment he made a move I was going to rip his heart out one way or another. There was no avoiding it either as it was clear that neither of us were willing to tolerate the behavior and existence of the other.