44. Four years later pt2

A few other things that happened during the last four years are as follows. One that has brought Tomoka equal parts enjoyment and frustration is finding root’s hidden bases around Konoha. As an otherworlder with some info about root thanks to the anime Tomoka has been able to find some hideouts. However, she hasn’t been able to find the big prize.

Saying that Tomoka found them is not entirely true, but it isn’t false either. The ones to find the hideouts are the many clones Tomoka has sent on said task. Thanks to their less than firm forms they are able to sneak into vents and other places otherwise inaccessible. The frustrating part is that she hasn’t been able to find their HQ. 

She had been working hard to get rid of Root and Danzo. A direct confrontation is ill advised since despite her incredible growth she is far from strong enough to deal with the eye thief. Because of this she has been working diligently to create many chemical and explosive weaponry. Her plan is simple: find root HQ and blow it to the high heavens while Danzo is inside. 

The current problem is that the eye thief is extremely paranoid and careful. She has been able to find some hideouts but from what she could tell they were less than important. Nothing more than one of many defensive measures. She has already planted as many bombs as she can without being found out inside of them. No reason to not to blow them up as well. 

Another source of frustration for Tomoka is the little progress she has had with her secret lab. No cave her clones have found is good enough. Some are too small, some have unstable ground, some are entirely flooded, some have their entrances too accessible. over a hundred caves found and dismissed.  

At least one saving grace was the map she currently held in her mental palace. Her clones had taken to mapping as much of the fire nation as they could. Tomoka could say with full confidence that she had knowledge of at least eighty percent of the entire fire nation’s topography. However, there was this region that eluded her. 

She discovered this hole in her map a while back and no matter how many times she sent clones to investigate they could not map it. The place was elusive and hidden. No matter how many times she tried, her clones couldn’t find it. In their perception the place didn’t exist. The only reason she had found this hole in the map was thanks to the minute yet constant discrepancies she had found.

Travel times and measurements indicated the existence of this segment of land. Yet the perception of her clones was altered when traversing it. No, rather it was altered to avoid it completely. She went as far as creating over twenty clones at once, encircling the area and having them move towards its center. Yet this failed too. 

The clones spent an entire day walking towards the “center” of the anomaly only to find out they had been walking in a circle around it. Tomoka was a hundred percent sure that something interesting if not important was hidden there. However, for the time being she had decided to give up on it. 

Last but not least of the events in the past years is her interactions with Both Hinata and Nozomi. Another source of frustration and confusion for the girl. The two were like water and oil. Worst of all is that this was only while Tomoka was around. The two girls would argue and fight constantly while Tomoka was around. However, as soon as she left they would act friendly and cordial with each other. 

Not being able to contain her curiosity she once asked the two girls for an explanation. The answer she received was a piercing glare from the two kids. Somehow their angry faces made her feel guilty. Of what she couldn’t tell but she felt guilty nonetheless. 

One positive thing that happened through the years was her monetary gains. To say Tomoka was loaded was and is an understatement. Through the years she released one game every year. Each and every one a success, though some more than others. She even got to make her own brand at her parents' insistence. 

Her brand for her games is: Wondertainment. Under its wing there is Uno, Monopoly, Dungeons and Dragons, the Rubick’s cube, and finally, Jenga. She had planned to release next year a card game like yugioh or something though she felt like it would be better to make it using this world’s historical personages. For that reason she was planning to make a card playing game with the world’s renowned ninjas as the face of the playing cards. She would call it: Ninja nation.