It might not work against the Tsukiyoma, but it was a good start.
Three days later I was out on the lake at training ground nineteen when I discovered that getting in better touch with the other half of my screwed-up psyche had more effects than I’d realized. I was trying to re-create the odd feeling of opening that metaphorical door, without actually going into a meditative trance to visit my mindscape.
Then I succeeded.
Suddenly I was out, free, in complete control of my body for the first time in my life as my bookish other self watched me from the forest inside our mind. This wasn’t just the partial merger of the Sexy Technique, this was freedom!
Woah, that felt weird! It looks like we’ve traded places. Is this what it was like for you all those years?
“Yep, except I was locked in there. Is the door still open?”
Yes. I think we can switch places whenever we want. Want to play around some?
I cocked my head. “You don’t want to switch right back?”
It’s a little freaky loosing control like this, but no. It wouldn’t be fair. I trust you not to lock me up in here. Although I suppose I might deserve it…
“Nah. You’re me, and I’d have to be a real dumbass to waste time punishing myself for something that’s already fixed.” I looked down to find that I’d somehow switched to Sexy form. I was way stronger than my other self, with tons of chakra and enough sex appeal to give Anko a rdecent un for her money. Suddenly I couldn’t stay still any longer.
I danced katas across the lake with a smile on my face and a song in my heart, celebrating a freedom I’d never imagined was possible. I laughed as the wind of my own speed blew across my skin, reveling in the smooth strength of my body. I leapt forty feet in the air just to prove that I could, and waved to a flock of puzzled birds as I passed. I landed back in the lake with a tremendous splash, sinking clear to the bottom before launching myself back to the surface.
I switched places with my other self as I emerged from the water, tumbling back to my feet as I spontaneously shrank back to my natural form but gained back my perfect chakra control. An improvised technique pulled the water from my clothes and hair to run in rivulets up my arm, where it formed a perfect sphere in the palm of my hand. With a soft smile and a precise effort of will I shaped it into a statue of myself.
A sudden inspiration struck, and I made a Shadow Clone while sending my wilder self a mental invitation. The clone shifted to Sexy form as she took control of it, and we took each other’s hands with a smile.
“The Kyuubi was right. We seriously owe him for this.”
“Damn right we do. Hey, think we can do that merger thing in the real world?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
We kissed, and flowed together in a confusing tumble of passion and memory. I found myself alone on the lake in Sexy form, with more chakra than I’d ever held before. I was pretty sure my control was still perfect too, but…it was costing me chakra to maintain this state.
“Ok, so ‘Super-Sakura’ mode might have to be an emergency thing.”
No one answered. It was strangely lonely, not having another voice in my head. I relaxed, and we split apart again. My body reverted to normal, with my wilder self back on the inside.
That was weird, but kind of cool.
“Yeah. We definitely need to investigate this. So, you’re stronger and have more chakra but your control isn’t as good. I’ve got the perfect control, and I think I might be a little smarter. Did you notice any other differences?”
I’ve got bigger boobs. Seriously, what’s up with that transformation thing? It felt sort of like Sexy Technique, but I know neither of us was doing it on purpose.
“Good question. For that matter, how can you have more physical strength than me? If I can figure out how to duplicate that it could have all sorts of uses.”
I’d seen the real Naruto after a hundred and seventeen loops, and that bastard Sasuke a hundred and thirteen loops after that. Since I’d only spent thirty or so fixing myself I figured I had a long way to go before I saw either of them again, so I thought nothing of spending a dozen loops investigating this strange new ability to warp my own body and mind without the conscious use of a jutsu.
It was time well spent. With the diagnostic techniques I’d learned from Tsunade I could actually see what was happening, and between my medicla knowledge and my experience with Sexy Technique I eventually figured out how the transformation worked. It actually had a lot in common with Sexy Technique, which was already advanced enough that I was always amazed Naruto had invented it. But once I understood it, I realized that with my skills I could take it a lot further.
Transforming into a 20-year-old version of myself wasn’t much different than a 16-year-old version. For that matter, neither was turning into a child. Either way it was my own genetics that guided the change, so I ended up looking like a younger or older version of myself. Interestingly enough, the normal Sexy Technique did the same thing while suppressing the Y chromosome. So a girl would turn into an older version of herself, but a boy basically turned into his own sister. Interesting stuff. I suspected the shock of the sudden change in hormone levels was responsible for most of the mental effects, although that inhibition-supression effect was definitely still there as well.
In theory the transformation could be a lot more flexible than that. Just directly specify all the physical characteristics you want, and use that instead of a genetic template. Unfortunately everything in the body affects everything else, and the level of detail required for a successfull transformation was pretty extreme. Changing something simple like my hair color was easy enough, but for for more significant alterations the complexity increased fast. Something like giving myself more muscle or a more developed chakra system was the sort of awe-inspiring feat only a legendary medic-nin like Tsunade could hope to pull off.
Or me.
No, I couldn’t just give myself the body I’d have if I’d spent my whole life training the way Lee does. I’m good, but not that good. The body is such a complex machine that whenever I tried to improve one thing I’d screw up something else in the process, and I rapidly came to the conclusion that I’d need some kind of super-powerful simulation device to just design the perfect body from scratch. But I did figure out how to shape myself just a little bit at the end of a day’s training, so I could get all the benefit immediately instead of waiting for my body to heal and adapt normally.
And when the loop ended, I could memorize the body I was wearing and restore it after the restart. That was the point where I decided it was time to start training again.
Three loops with Ebisu and I could finally match Naruto’s physical strength. Three more and the special jounin started giving me odd looks and muttering about how unreliable Kakashi’s evaluations were. I got a giggle out of that the first time I heard it, but that seemed like a good cue to look for better teachers.
“Gai-sensei, I was really impressed to see Lee’s performance in the pre-finals. How did he get so good?”
“Ah, Sakura, my student is a genius of hard work! But I see that you want details, and my hip rival would never approve.”
“Wow, Lee, it was really impressive how you took down Sasuke in the pre-finals. But with Neji in the hospital I bet you need a sparring partner. Would you like to train together?”