Pov: Kenzo

  The orange box slowly transforms into the next and st stage- I see an entire hospital form before me, only a small one and definitely not the size of Konoha's, unfortunately the line of customers waiting seems to be as long as the big hospitals.

  I enter into it and a nurse approaches me.

  "Doctor O- please head to the surgery room and complete all surgeries by the end of today" She says with a smile.

  My face freezes in pce... how? The operations take hours at a time...?

  I rush to the surgery room and notice that I only have one table and a set of tools... so no cheesing it by doing multiple at a time... call in the first patient, they y on the table and the people around me enter into standard procedure, the patient is soon sleeping and I form my hand into the tattoo tool.

  Ink is passed over to me and I begin the operation.

  Make a frame- cut the frame.

  Ink the frame and then graft the frame.

  Once.

  I'm not going fast enough... its not a matter of skill this stuff takes time though...

  Twice.

  I'm missing something entirely...

  Thrice.

  But I cant get it done any quicker, soon the day ends and I fail, I listen to the clock tick and suddenly the sound stops, suddenly the people disappear and the small one story hospital becomes eerily silent.

  I step out into the hallway as the lights turn off and I feel a cold breeze enter the halls as something opened the front door.

  I swallow my saliva as I edge down the hallway and silently approach its corner.

  *Scratch*

  I hear a scratch on the wall and I turn to read it.

  'Survive'

  ...?

  *Thunk*

  A heavy footstep sounds from the lobby and instinctively shiver, should I confront it? Surely I can take it in right? But the wall said survive... not kill.

  I take a careful step forward and peer around the corner to see the creature.

  Pale white skin colour, humanoid in appearance except for the head which mimics a lizards shape but without the scales and all the stretched out pale skin- no nose, ears or eyes with a very toothy maw that holds a long bck tongue inside, the creature has arms twice as long as its body and its gaunt features make me think it's starving, the legs on the creature are bent quite like a wolves legs, it stands tall about twice or thrice the size of me.

  Its tongue flicks in my direction and I bolt down the hallway as I hear heavy thunks throughout the halls behind me- cold sweat runs down my body and I boost myself with breathing and wrapping my body in lightning.

  *Cackle*

  I slide and speed around corners before jumping into an empty office, deciding to jump within the roof panels to hide my taste amongst the dust.

  *Thunk*

  ...

  *Thunk*

  It slows down and enters the office, I can hear the tongue sshing about coating many objects in its saliva.

  *Slide*

  The roof panel next to me pops up and a bck tongue slowly crawls up, reaching for anything near.

  I hold my breath, shapeshifting to remove any odour causing attributes of my body to shut off or disappear entirely.

  I slightly shuffle away as the tongue moves closer...

  *Ch*

  The tongue gets caught on the corner of the roof panel and decides to retreat downwards- I take steady breaths as I hear the creature leave.

  ...

  Okay... so I need to learn how to do surgery quicker.

  I listen as the creature slowly walks into every room within this building, it stagnates at the surgery room.

  I can hear the ancient song singing joy.

  Its happy to know that I was there... that's not good- the creature spends a few hours scanning every room before jumping into the roof from another area, I listen to it move about in the same area as me.

  Where did I put my goggles? The second I stare at that creature it will know I am close...

  I slide out of the roof and into the office again, I make sure to use the best of my ninja abilities and erase any presence of myself as I walk out of the office and down the hall.

  It is closing in on my location... I need to find somewhere to hide- I start sprinting as I am sure it cant hear me, it slows down in the roof and stagnates in the halls where I once was.

  *Clink* *Thunk*

  I hear it drop from the ceiling and start tracking me again- I walk out the lobby door and look around, the environment is just an empty grassnd... maybe I could get on the roof?

  I jump up with my parkour skills and walk on the ft roof of this building... I listen to it slowly rotate from the lobby to the halls and then to the office, it keeps checking in in some of the areas I have been in.

  It ends the night by standing still in front of the surgery room.

  I listen to the ancient song tell me it is content.

  Content with what? What's it doing in there?

  Sunrise happens and noise returns to the busy hospital, the creature vanishes and the people return.

  I drop down and look at the lobby... the same patients again- I have to do all of these in one day? I feel so tired... how can I learn that? Is it teaching me efficiency and speed? If not what else could it be?

  I get down and yawn as I shake off the tired feeling and enter into the surgery room once more.

  Tools.

  Too little...

  Patients.

  Too much...

  Ready.

  Maybe not... kind of want to sleep...

  One.

  *yawn*

  Two.

  Definitely missing something.

  Three.

  Why are there flesh carving tools avaible? No one is carving anyone's flesh except for the small attachment on my frames...?

  Four- four is the maximum number of patients I can handle if I speed up the process to my maximum effort, that must mean I am missing something.

  I yawn once more as the clock stops ticking.

  I stretch as the people disappear.

  And I rub my eyes as the creature opens the lobby doors.

  *Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunk*

  !?!?!

  It starts sprinting to this room and by the sound of it- I am slower than this thing!? Was it toying with me yesterday?? How can it run so fast!??

  I leap through the roof panels and start sprinting through the roof area, I peel off my sweaty clothes as I run and throw them as far as possible away from me.

  It crashes through the ceiling and rips through my clothes, eating them in few gulps.

  ...

  There they go- I sprint and cover myself like I did st night... its tongue flicks around and spreads saliva everywhere as I drop from the ceiling and back outside to the top of the roof.

  I stand on that roof for an hour, my eyelids threaten to close but my ninja training ensures that I stay up and listen to the creature.

  It doesn't care this time- in the manner of a few hours it smashes through almost every wall sprinting and crashing around the pce, it sms its huge hands into every hiding pce and licks every nook and cranny in the hospital.

  Hours go by once more and the creature having thoroughly searched the pce decides to leave through the broken lobby door.

  It shes its tongue around and I shake myself awake as it begins to slowly climb onto the roof.

  ...

  I walk to the other side and it slowly walks in my general direction, I change directions and after a few moments it stops and turns.

  It can sense me? Damnit! This is so hard to do without being able to look at this creature.

  *Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunk*

  It sprints at me directly and I take a breath instinctively... it unches at me as I try to run but its surprising speed catches me.

  It pushes me to the ground as I try to sprint away and I roll around on the floor, it sms its bony hand into my leg and its cws pierce my flesh... I hold back tears of pain as it drags me towards its tongue.

  The creature licks the back of my neck and I feel the warmth of sun make it vanish.

  ...

  I fall unconscious... so tired.

  ---

  Pov: 3rd Person.

  Kenzo woke up the next day, luckily a few hours before nightfall, and unfortunately without time to think on how to speed up the operations.

  The hospital is a mess, apparently the pce doesn't automatically regenerate each day, and so Kenzo decides to dig a hole- a small tunnel in which he can hide in.

  Night comes and the monster hunting Kenzo rattles around trying to find him- Kenzo cannot sleep in fear of it finding him.

  Kenzo sleeps during the day and fears the monster during the night.

  He struggles to find a sense of understanding surroundings the lesson that needs to be learned here... it doesn't matter how fast he goes he can't get any better.

  He leaves himself exhausted and on edge for days straight trying to come up with any sembnce of an idea as he huddles within the tunnel.

  It is on the twelfth day in this portion of skill training that he falls asleep in that tunnel.

  It is on the twelfth day that the creature smashes the ground in anger and notices the ground shift in an unusual way, it licks the dirt and uncovers the hole.

  It is on the twelfth day that Kenzo ran out of luck.

  ...

  *Slide* *Squirm* *Smack*

  The creature slowly grabs Kenzo by the ankle and pulls him out of the dirt, Kenzo retaliates with swift kicks and attacks having been woken up in surprise.

  Kenzo's throat lightens up as he prepares a dragon breath and the creature grabs Kenzo's head- twisting it away from the creature.

  Kenzo cannot resist, not because he is weak, but because he is limited by the size and control over his body- he is too small and this creature uses that to its advantage.

  The creature lowers its head as Kenzo tries all his tricks to free himself, every shift in his body is shut down by the creature gripping his new body part- every lightning attack is diverted and every skill is stomped out by creatures primal strength and cunning.

  Kenzo in a st ditch effort shifts to form strong teeth and bites into the creature's neck as it drives to eat him- he tears off a sizable chunk and the creature makes a rattling roar in protest as it throws Kenzo into a wall, colpsing the building on top of him.

  ...

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  Words appear on the ground in front of the pile of rubble.

  'C-rank Shapeshifting unlocked'

  ...

  *Rattle*

  "ROOOAAAAARRRR" the creature listens to the pile of rubble make a simir rattle to its own.

  The rubble moves as bones crack and flesh shifts, a pale body mimicking the creature is formed- an exact copy.

  *Crackle* *Zap!*

  With some notable differences.

  ---

  Pov: Kenzo

  Yang energy... I ate its yang energy and my body understood it- if I eat a creature while it lives I can copy its entire being.

  This nightmare creature is now in my arsenal- I can use this in reality.

  I look to the animal in front of me and my saliva drips in anticipation- I rush it and we tackle into each other, me and the creature tussle on the floor and ssh at each others bodies.

  I have the advantage- my blood is of lightning, my sshes tear off its flesh and yet the bones of this creature are immensely dense and powerful, add onto the fact my stats make me a superior version of the nightmare creature and it makes sense why I can so easily overpower this one creature.

  My empowered cws cannot ssh through its skeleton so I tear through the muscles in the arms... I bite through the chest and my taste buds are covered in blood.

  Blood tastes... so divine in this form.

  *Crunch*

  My slender arm reaches into the creature's chest and grips its heart- a swift crunch is followed and the creature falls dead.

  I undo the shifting, it takes much longer than my other shifting techniques but my bones crack into pce and blood tastes like iron again.

  I take heavy breaths and as I crack my head and rest on debris next to me, I have time to think now- especially if I have the ability to fight this thing.

  I have time to think...

  My eyes close and I fall asleep, awaking the next morning as sun shines down on me, the people gather around the destroyed lobby and I get up and prop the table onto its legs again, I make sure to spend an hour ensuring everything essential is bolted down and fixed before I return to my resting debris and sit down.

  What is this system trying to tell me? What am I doing wrong? Obviously I have missed something because I was not meant to survive that long against the bck tongued creature.

  I rub my forehead and take a breath.

  ...

  Lets take it step by step.

  E = Bio-wire and frame.

  D = Learning in library.

  C = Theory to practice.

  B = ???

  E was to set up a basis on what I need to learn ter, that was why I was allowed full control over the idea and had someone assist me in making the frame.

  D gave me a lot of knowledge on the subjects and such surrounding seals, medical practice and nature chakra plus some other things... it was designed to give me knowledge.

  C was testing my theory and understanding the lessons taught to me just before... a practical lesson.

  Theory, practical and foundation.

  So it should be building up from there right? Increasing the efficiency of the rune?

  But... it didn't give me time to think, I was thrown in-between surviving, sleeping and given maybe an hour or two a day to understand the situation.

  No actual brainstorming allowed...

  So it wasn't about theoretical improvements... and definitely not practical improvements as I don't have the time nor resources for that... was it the foundational improvements? To the wire and frame?

  ...

  That must be it- the wire only transports mana from the vein to the seal without causing damage while the frame is just a sb of flesh that contains that energy and provides a canvas for the rune.

  Do I add anything to the frame? Or should I... oh.

  I understand now, I am an idiot- I need to add variation to the frame these people are using, they don't look like ninja- in fact they all look like civilians.

  Something simple... perhaps I shouldn't even do surgery on them? I don't need to add any perfect rune without falsehoods in a non combative scenario...

  ...

  What do they need...?

  ...

  I sit there on the ground stumped at what I need to be doing, multiple thoughts enter my mind and the hours pass.

  ...!

  Maybe... the surgery table is for me? 'Complete all surgeries by the end of the day' is not aimed at the patients, I could be pumping out frames shaped like a... baton- staff! Wands!

  Bone outer yer and gross yers inside and runes pced on them to perform the jutsu- spells I create!

  This theme is getting out of hand but it works for now!

  It would take a bit to pump out so many bone wands from my body... but I can surely get that done in a day.

  Variant frames that can house jutsu in many shapes, that's what I am going with for tomorrow, I will think of the details.

  Not today though- today I must prepare to face the creature again, or if I am right whatever comes to hunt me now that I have grown.

  ...

  I get up and head fifty meters away from the hospital, I shift my self into growing a tail and I make its end look like a shovel head.

  The bone shovel moves to the dirt and I grab some cws of my own to help it dig on my knees.

  Only an hour left- i must hide.

  I dig and dig, at one point I boost myself with everything I have to dig as Deep as possible.

  Once below I crawl to the edge of my hole and use my tail to soften the dirt on top, I eventually cave myself in- how am I meant to breathe? Well I can st without breath for ten minutes at the moment and I have an idea.

  I poke through the roof of my hole with a needle like finger bone, hollow in the centre I am capable of letting air in through that, and I will keep it as wide as possible until the creature gets close to me.

  ...

  Time passes in my dirt bunker and I listen intently for the creature once more.

  *Thunk* *Thunk*

  I hear two distinct thunks as two creatures spawn in at the lobby entrance- good thing I hid, I don't have the advantage when ganged up on.

  *Ssh!* *Sm!*

  They start tearing up the area, uncovering dirt as much as possible.

  I bide my time as they start to rush around and rattle or roar at the ground as if frustrated- the ancient song conveys they are annoyed.

  At one point they get close to finding me... but I manage to cover myself in so much dirt that their taste buds cannot catch me- they move to dig up another area and roar into the night.

  My pn works- they dig up the ground all over but they couldn't predict exactly where, especially because they are a blind creature relying only on taste.

  Strong bones... powerful bodies and excellent sense of taste- they should be great for combat as Kenzo in the future.

  Might make my nickname spread a little nut that should be fine anyway, no one was going to treat me better for no reason to start with and I might as well keep growing stronger.

  I hear the people return in the morning and I leave to complete my scroll.

  Loved the Punishment and shapeshifting of this chapter, didn't really make much sense at the end with the scroll completion however so apologies about that- Thanks for reading :)