The Most Miserable Qi Practitioner

Uchiha Yu cleaned up the remains of lunch and their horseplay. By then, it was already afternoon; the sun had visibly shifted westward, and the scorching feel of the summer air had faded considerably.

Under the shade of a tree in his courtyard, Uchiha Yu set out a bamboo daybed. On the low table sat a watermelon chilled in well water.

He did not even need a knife. With a gentle pull of both hands, he split the watermelon neatly in two, more evenly than any blade could have managed.

Holding a palm-leaf fan in his right hand and a slice of watermelon in his left, Uchiha Yu savored the cool, crisp sweetness while watching Miwa Masayo, the tabby cat, nibble at her watermelon with little meows.

He watched her bury herself completely in the watermelon, soaking her fur through, and watched her eat until her belly was round and she lay motionless on the bamboo daybed.

As he watched, Uchiha Yu smiled.

His heart relaxed, and the tension from seven straight days of missions gradually melted away.

This was not a time of peace. The Third Shinobi World War had already begun, and security outside the ninja villages was worsening by the day. Going out on missions carried great risks.

It had clearly been an ordinary B-rank mission, yet they had encountered several groups of unidentified ninja during its execution. Even though no fighting had broken out, Uchiha Yu had needed to remain fully alert. He had not dared close his eyes for seven entire days, and only then had he completed the mission safely.

His tension had not come solely from this mission.

After being expelled from the Military Police Force, he could be conscripted to the front lines at any time. That possibility troubled him greatly.

It was all Uchiha Setsuna's fault. One day, I'll make him pay.

Only when he was with Miwa Masayo could Uchiha Yu truly relax and let calm, peaceful feelings seep into his heart.

Rōshi wrote in the Tao Te Ching: "Attain utmost emptiness; maintain profound stillness. As all things arise together, I observe their return."

Roughly speaking, when the mind reached a state of clear emptiness, one could preserve inner tranquility and see things that had once been invisible.

With every steady breath, countless motes of light appeared before Uchiha Yu's eyes and naturally gathered toward him along with his breathing.

This was Natural Energy—the foundation of Senjutsu that had made Jiraiya the foremost of the Sannin, and which Orochimaru now craved.

Consciously and unconsciously, Uchiha Yu chose the red particles and absorbed them into his body, driving away all the dark yellow, cyan, blue, and pale violet particles.

The red motes entered his body and flowed into his meridians, merging with the endlessly surging crimson current.

As that crimson current grew slightly stronger, the Chakra flowing through his meridians was squeezed out by another fraction. It was already as thin as a thread and could snap completely at any moment.

As a ninja, Uchiha Yu was not worried in the slightest that his Chakra circulation was about to be cut off. Neither alarmed nor delighted, he continued absorbing the red motes of Natural Energy, gradually weakening his Chakra.

Uchiha Yu had begun absorbing Natural Energy three months ago. For the previous eighteen years, his restless heart had caused him to waste that opportunity.

Transmigration had become a trend in the twenty-first century, but when it happened to him, it was deeply frustrating—especially when he landed in a world wracked by endless war.

Worse still, his surname was Uchiha. Who could accept a fate destined for violent death?

But since he had already transmigrated, he had to keep living no matter how difficult things became. He could hardly kill himself just to see whether he might transmigrate back.

Besides, what was wrong with being an Uchiha? The Uchiha had a path to the heavens. Uchiha men were handsome and Uchiha women beautiful. The Uchiha were also a wealthy great clan.

If he had some talent or a system too, would he not be set for life?

What Night of the Uchiha Massacre? Would that even count as a problem?

Once I am invincible, I'll crush Konoha F4 like ants, take out Obito the Fool, slap that dance-obsessed senior around a few times, help Little Black free his mother, and make her pregnant with a fourth child...

Wonderful!

Unfortunately, there was no system.

His talent was simply the standard, above-average Uchiha template.

He trained like everyone else, entered the Ninja Academy without distinction, took first place for four ordinary years, and graduated as the top student without any fanfare.

Then his father died, killed in battle just before the dawn that ended the Second Shinobi World War.

Out of guilt, his father's captain took the newly graduated Uchiha Yu into his squad. As a veteran elite jonin, he protected him for two years.

Afterward, Uchiha Yu left the squad and joined the Military Police Force, becoming a lowly patrol guard.

He did that for six years.

As Miwa Masayo entered Uchiha Yu's life, he gradually recovered the feeling of his previous life—the feeling of being an ordinary neighborhood police officer.

In his district, not only Uchiha clansmen but ordinary Konoha villagers had formed good relationships with him. Through interaction, Uchiha Yu gradually became familiar with them, and familiarity brought peace of mind.

Wherever my heart was at peace, that was home.

The panic of being alone and helpless after transmigrating, as well as the madness born from two years of fighting as a genin, had both been erased by the reassurance of his second homeland.

Uchiha Yu let go of the growing unease in his heart. He no longer seized every moment to train desperately, merely so he could risk his life on the final night.

The despair of certain death had awakened the instincts of a fighting clan. The crazed Uchiha Yu had only one thought in his mind: kill one and break even; kill two and profit.

It was precisely three months ago that Uchiha Yu sensed Natural Energy amid tranquility. Like a drowning man clutching a straw, he began absorbing Natural Energy from then on.

In his worldview, cultivation was always the strongest path.

Uchiha Yu had no inheritance of Daoist Arts and had never thoroughly studied Daoist scriptures, but he knew of the Five Elements cycle and Chakra's five major attributes. Thus, he divided Natural Energy into five types.

They were not metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, but water, fire, earth, wind, and lightning, corresponding one by one to Chakra attributes.

The relationships of generation and restraint were completely scrambled.

According to ninja knowledge, the five attributes also formed a cycle of restraint: wind restrained lightning, lightning restrained earth, earth restrained water, water restrained fire, and fire restrained wind.

But there were no relationships of generation at all. Uchiha Yu did not know whether the ninja had yet to understand them or whether the laws of the Ninja World were unique.

After experimenting, Uchiha Yu discovered that he could absorb the red Fire-Attribute Natural Energy. Absorbing it gave him an intoxicating sense of comfort and strong positive feedback.

But the other four types of Natural Energy absolutely could not be absorbed, or serious consequences would follow.

Absorbing small amounts caused twisted meridians and muscle spasms, sometimes accompanied by intense phantom pain.

Absorbing too much not only intensified the pain, but also caused physical mutations, such as calcification and woodification. Twisted scales could even grow from his body.

One side was comfort and strength; the other was pain and weakness.

Uchiha Yu obediently absorbed only a single type of Natural Energy, gradually strengthening the flow of Natural Energy within his body.

Still, he sometimes could not help mocking himself. He was probably the most miserable Qi Practitioner in existence. He had no teachings, wealth, companions, or suitable land. His cultivation relied entirely on pain and comfort for guidance, and he had no idea what sort of outcome awaited him.

There was another experiment that caused pain: mixing tamed Natural Energy with Chakra to form so-called Sage Chakra.

This Chakra was extremely powerful. It could double the power of ninjutsu out of thin air, triple the body's defensive strength, and increase resistance to ninjutsu more than tenfold.

But synthesizing Sage Chakra hurt.

Uchiha Yu was a proper ninja, and the training he had received since childhood had given him a high tolerance for pain. Besides, the pain was not particularly intense.

However, through comparison, he discovered that every time he created Sage Chakra, both Chakra extraction and Natural Energy absorption slowed down.

From this, he concluded that Sage Chakra damaged his body's foundation.

With his shallow knowledge of the Taoist School, Uchiha Yu knew that the Immortal Path placed utmost importance on Foundation Establishment, and that the foundation needed to be pure and solid.

Damaging his body's foundation would inevitably destroy his potential and ruin his future. From then on, he firmly stopped synthesizing Sage Chakra and obediently continued absorbing Natural Energy.