A FEW DAYS LATER
Kenji was excited, he was chosen as one of the first people to test out the Gates.
Well, more like he pestered Haruka until she agreed to let him go first.
The Gates were enormous, and not very gatey, if he was being honest, they were more like giant circular domes, even the smallest was as big as a small house.
The process was simple, walk in, pay, and then the dome will close, and after a bit of time, open again, allowing you to step out into your destination.
If life's goal was to find happiness, then Kenji could not stop winning.
Because The Watcher kept showing him that his faith was being rewarded, the gloomy streets, the despairing faces, the disappearance of people he grew up with.
All those things were a fact of life under Gato, even before that, life was hard, at the time, he considered it normal, his parents always a couple of months away from starvation, not from the greed of man, but from the cruelty of nature.
But now? Wave was a paradise in comparison, he had not seen a starving soul for months, what were considered luxuries before were now common items, fancy teas and coffee? A bit pricey, so you shouldn't indulge in them everyday, but affordable.
Sturdy shoes? Metal tools? Glass?
Things everyone could own.
The more he got lost in his own head, the more he realized his faith wasn't being equally rewarded.
It was over-rewarded, he needed to do more to pay back the generosity The Watcher had shown everyone.
"PRAISE THE WATCHER!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, pumping a fist into the air. "HE PROTECTS US!"
Everyone around him looked at him awkwardly, including Haruka who was standing right next to him, stopping her speech midway through.
He could practically see the thoughts passing through her head.
He felt a cold sweat form on his back, he was going to pay for that later.
But for now, she just turned back to the crowd again, smiling with only her mouth.
"Well, it seems our volunteer is feeling impatient." She said cheerfully. "Let's not keep him waiting."
The crowd reacted with cheers and prayers.
And Kenji took the hint, he walked towards the big dome, taking a deep breath and then walking in.
As he stepped inside, his steps slowed to a halt, looking around at the inside of the dome.
It was completely blank, pure white in color, it slowly closed around him, two halves of a sphere closing over his head.
There was no grand sound or flashing lights, no fancy effects of any kind.
One moment he was in Wave, and when the dome opened up again, he saw a cloudless sky, a rarity in Wave.
It was...
"AMAZING!" He yelled, pumping his fist. "Praise The Watcher!"
And so, the first thing the people of Rōran saw of Wave was Kenji, being his usual self.
***
A FEW DAYS LATER
"So The Order has large-scale teleportation now." Shikaku reported aloud. "That's what our people in Wave told us at least."
"Oh? Do they now?" Tsunade responded casually. "How restricted is it?"
Shikaku sighed as he looked down at the documents that contained everything their agents had been able to learn.
"It's open to civilian use." He answered tiredly. "Whole caravans can be sent through these things, and the price is either Chakra, a full day's worth of prayer per person, or if you can't do either, you can apply for the option to pay with stamina, but only with the permission of a medical expert and under supervision."
"How nice." Tsunade said idly, but her smile said she was trying not to scream out loud.
Shikaku let out another sigh, massaging his forehead with a hand.
"This is a tactical nightmare, The Order is now basically unkillable in the short term, since they can just flee to The Land of Demons and Rōran, and there is no reason to think that they can't just expand their network." He reported grimly. "I think we can confidently say, that The Order has surpassed Iwagakure and Kumogakure in terms of how much of a threat they are."
"Good thing they are our allies, then." Tsunade's tone was still casual, but her eyes were tired, she knew very well what implications the existence of this kind of transportation network had.
"I need a break..." Shikaku muttered.
"Too bad, me too." Tsunade responded lightly. "Now go on, I want a report on the tactical implications and what we can do to counter them should they be used against us by The Order or some other force."
Shikaku stared at her for a moment before standing up.
"How troublesome." He said under his breath.
***
Sasuke drew from the cursed seal again, breathing out slowly as he carefully directed the extra Chakra.
The typical transformation started, but this time it changed slightly, the left hand-wing was slightly bigger than normal, while the right one was smaller.
"Fascinating development." Orochimaru murmured from his corner of the lab. "Being able to manipulate the transformation could be quite advantageous, yes."
Sasuke frowned, he had been practicing with the cursed mark for a few weeks now, putting around 200 hours of his own time into trying to figure out the limits of it.
"It isn't viable though, it takes too much focus, and it would take a very long time to completely master." Sasuke pointed out, turning back to normal. "That time would be better spent mastering any other skillset."
Orochimaru chuckled quietly at that.
"You would be right, but I have some ideas about how we could improve upon that weakness." He said ominously.
Sasuke waited patiently for him to elaborate on what he meant.
"But it would require some lab work." Orochimaru continued, glee clear in his tone. "So you will need to spend more time learning your favorite things."
"Biology and chemistry..." Sasuke muttered quietly, it was no secret that he didn't like that part of Orochimaru's training at all.
He wasn't looking down on it, on the contrary, it made Orochimaru immortal, but he still hated it.
But he had demanded all those months ago that Orochimaru teach him everything he knows, and Orochimaru realized that included teaching him all of his knowledge on science too.
Sasuke had rejected this idea at first, but Orochimaru threatened to withhold his training, Sasuke had thought that Orochimaru would not be petty enough to do that, considering it would mean that he would be doomed to being stuck inside the Cursed Seal forever.
But Orochimaru wasn't bluffing, and they had a 3 day long silent standoff.
Finally, Sasuke gave up and started spending his riches on building a lab for himself.
So now he was reluctantly learning the absolutely mind-boggling amount of knowledge that Orochimaru had gathered over his life.
He had thought he was smart, but Orochimaru was just on another level.
Now he was committed, he would learn everything.
"What kind of modifications?" He asked simply.
"The main difficulty is that the Chakra from the cursed seal his not yours, making manipulating it quite difficult." Orochimaru began. "A easy solution would be to alter your genetics, and thus, your Chakra to be more... open-minded."
Sasuke sighed, that meant hours of lab work, but he got up and got to work.