Uchiha Kiyoshi hurried home from the Ninja Tool Shop, feeling extremely excited.
"How hadn't I thought of that? Separation—there was still separation!"
He went to the study on the second floor that he had set up for himself. In truth, it was more of a research room. However, all of Uchiha Kiyoshi's research was theoretical and did not involve any actual experiments. He also had no money to prepare that kind of equipment.
All experimental equipment was expensive. Don't be fooled by how Orochimaru seemed to have laboratories all over the Ninja World in the original story—those all cost money. Besides being called a scientist, Orochimaru was undeniably rich!
By Uchiha Kiyoshi's estimate, Orochimaru had spent no less than a billion just constructing his laboratories. For Uchiha Kiyoshi, who was still struggling toward his first million, that was an astronomical figure.
Uchiha Kiyoshi forced himself to calm down.
He first took the ninja tools out of the scroll. Good thing he had remembered; otherwise, if those tools were damaged, he would have nowhere to cry.
Only after arranging everything did Uchiha Kiyoshi begin his research.
Uchiha Kiyoshi had always been looking for a way to control Physical Energy. Unfortunately, after nearly a month, he had not found the slightest clue. This purchase of ninja tools had given him another line of thought. Sure enough, some things still depended on fate.
From Nawaki's words, Uchiha Kiyoshi had found his direction as well: separation.
Uchiha Kiyoshi had never considered the issue of separation before. Once it was pointed out, everything suddenly made sense.
It was not like he had never done similar problems in his previous life. There had been all sorts of maddening chemistry questions, like how some things could not be transported directly and had to first react into another substance, then be converted back after reaching their destination.
That line of thought could also be applied to the problem Uchiha Kiyoshi had been considering: controlling Physical Energy.
I can't control your movement, but I can control Chakra. If I transport Chakra to the appropriate location, then restore it into Physical Energy and Spiritual Energy, wouldn't that indirectly control the movement of Physical Energy?
With an idea in place, all that remained was to try it step by step. The most troublesome part now was how to restore Chakra into Physical Energy.
Uchiha Kiyoshi focused his attention, formed a hand seal, and released Chakra from his right hand.
Although Chakra was harder to control outside the body, he was unsure whether accidents might happen during the process. For safety's sake, Uchiha Kiyoshi did not plan to try it directly inside his body. Otherwise, one mistake could at minimum rupture his chakra pathways, and if it was serious, he might die outright.
Looking at the blue-glowing Chakra energy in his hand, he adjusted the entire mass until it was roughly the size of a sesame seed before proceeding to the next step.
Uchiha Kiyoshi continuously sensed the Chakra energy in his hand, feeling for the Spiritual Energy within it.
Uchiha Kiyoshi did not know how to restore Chakra into Physical Energy and Spiritual Energy. No one had tried it before, so he had to explore it himself.
Still, that was not truly troublesome. The real difficulty was finding the right direction. Once there was a direction, answers to many problems became easy to think of.
Uchiha Kiyoshi's idea was simple. Physical Energy was difficult to deal with; perhaps it required complete control over the body or something similar. Whether judging from a warrior's training or from Uchiha Kiyoshi's attempts before extracting Chakra, both indicated that Physical Energy was difficult to control.
Therefore, the starting point had to be Spiritual Energy. During his previous research, Uchiha Kiyoshi had discovered that Spiritual Energy was easier to manipulate. When many ninja extracted Chakra, they also controlled Spiritual Energy to make contact with Physical Energy.
That way, Uchiha Kiyoshi could sense Spiritual Energy and try his best to control it. As long as he could "withdraw" the Spiritual Energy from the Chakra, wouldn't that solve it?
Unfortunately, ideals were plump, while reality was skinny.
Though there was no problem in theory, as Uchiha Kiyoshi proceeded, he discovered that even the first step was extremely difficult.
Sensing the Spiritual Energy within Chakra was not hard. Uchiha Kiyoshi had researched Spiritual Energy and Physical Energy for two weeks, so he could easily sense both types of energy.
Unlike Physical Energy, Spiritual Energy was connected to the soul. Even after becoming part of Chakra, Uchiha Kiyoshi could still sense that he was able to control it.
But that only meant he could sense that it was controllable. He was still far from truly controlling it.
For three hours, Uchiha Kiyoshi did not even look through his Sealing Jutsu materials and focused entirely on his research.
Unfortunately, once the last bit of Chakra was exhausted, Uchiha Kiyoshi still failed to control the Spiritual Energy and withdraw it from the Chakra. He could only sigh helplessly.
"Sure enough, this is another thing that requires training. Sigh! I really am doomed to work myself to the bone."
After Chakra was released outside the body, it naturally dissipated even if nothing was done to it, though relatively slowly. Still, it was being consumed. Therefore, if Uchiha Kiyoshi wanted to maintain enough Chakra for research, he had to continuously supply it. He could only maintain a sesame-seed-sized mass of Chakra for three hours, which was why only an Elite Jonin could nourish a fist-sized piece of metal for twenty-four hours straight.
Once again held back by his amount of Chakra, Uchiha Kiyoshi suddenly felt a little envious of the Uzumaki Clan's physique. Even immediately after extracting Chakra, the Uzumaki Clan possessed an enormous amount of it—probably comparable to an Elite Chunin, right?
If not the Uzumaki Clan, then being a Jinchuriki would not be bad either. That massive Chakra reserve and Tailed Beast Mode were both quite appealing.
Of course, it was only a thought. Uchiha Kiyoshi had no desire to truly become a Jinchuriki. One only had to look at Naruto, the Fourth Hokage's son, and Gaara, the Fourth Kazekage's son, to see how miserable Jinchuriki lived. Every village practically wanted to lock up its Jinchuriki and prevent anyone from learning information about them.
If that was the kind of life he had to live, Uchiha Kiyoshi had no desire to experience it.
Turning his attention back to this experiment, he stared at it once more.
"Too difficult. It seems this isn't something that can be completed in the short term either."
It was another long-term project. Thinking of the tasks he had piled up, Uchiha Kiyoshi's head began to ache. Since starting his special training, he had accumulated many unresolved problems. And now another time-consuming project had come along. What could he do? Just get to work!
After three consecutive hours of intense concentration, Uchiha Kiyoshi was exhausted. He had not even eaten dinner before falling asleep.
Early the next morning.
Uchiha Kiyoshi woke from hunger.
Feeling his stomach protest, Uchiha Kiyoshi hurriedly got up and ran to the kitchen to cook. He would skip this morning's training. He was too hungry to have any strength—how was he supposed to train?
Uchiha Kiyoshi was not like certain people who would abandon their bodies just to train.
"People are iron, food is steel. We have to nourish our bodies properly before we have the strength to cultivate, right?"
As he ate the food he had made, Uchiha Kiyoshi found plenty of excuses for himself. In any case, this morning's training was skipped.
After packing his lunch, Uchiha Kiyoshi left home and headed straight to school.
Along the way, Uchiha Kiyoshi summarized yesterday's gains.
First, he had found a direction. At least for now, his line of thought seemed feasible. As long as he persevered, completing this Secret Jutsu would not be a problem.
That was right, a Secret Jutsu.
In the Ninja World, Secret Jutsu generally belonged only to relatively powerful clans. They were special techniques with all kinds of abilities. Like the Nara Clan's Shadow Jutsu, which could control shadows to perform certain Ninjutsu, and the Akimichi Clan's Expansion Jutsu, which could instantly enlarge the body. These were closely guarded clan secrets, even tied to a clan's rise and fall.
And now, Uchiha Kiyoshi had begun developing his own Secret Jutsu. If others learned of this, it would definitely cause a massive uproar.
Moreover, the effects of this Secret Jutsu could not be revealed. Otherwise, Uchiha Kiyoshi would absolutely become a target, and even the Uchiha Clan's backing would not be enough. A technique that nourished the body—forget living to a hundred; even if it merely extended a ninja's lifespan by ten years, or prolonged their peak condition by ten years, it would be enough to throw the entire Ninja World into turmoil.
When he arrived at the classroom, Uchiha Kiyoshi's listless appearance worried Nawaki a little. He wondered whether something had really happened to his deskmate. Uchiha Kiyoshi had been acting strangely yesterday, and now he looked troubled again. Nawaki did not know if he had run into some kind of problem.
But it was someone else's private matter. Uchiha Kiyoshi had not explained yesterday, so Nawaki did not feel it was appropriate to ask.
Over the next half month, Uchiha Kiyoshi spent one hour every day training his control over the Spiritual Energy within Chakra. Everything else continued as usual.
After half a month, Uchiha Kiyoshi could already control a small amount of the Spiritual Energy within Chakra. So, he planned to try again and see whether he could succeed this time.
That day, after class, Uchiha Kiyoshi hurried home, entered his study, and began another attempt.
Uchiha Kiyoshi stared intently at the blue-glowing mass of Chakra in his hand. Feeling the Spiritual Energy within it, he carefully controlled that Spiritual Energy and withdrew it from the Chakra.
However, just as he began extracting the Spiritual Energy, Uchiha Kiyoshi's expression changed drastically, and he immediately threw the Chakra in his hand away.
Boom!
Fortunately, Uchiha Kiyoshi reacted in time and threw the Chakra away, so he was not injured. Furthermore, he had used only a tiny amount of Chakra in the experiment, just half a sesame seed's worth. Yet even so, that small amount of Chakra exploding due to an operational error was already comparable to a firecracker. It was enough to injure Uchiha Kiyoshi's hand.
Looking at the site of the explosion, Uchiha Kiyoshi clicked his tongue. He felt that he might have discovered something remarkable.
If he could control that explosion, could it count as a self-created Ninjutsu?
What was the principle behind the explosion? How could he increase its power?
That had only been a sesame-seed-sized amount of Chakra. What if it was as large as a Rasengan? It should at least be B-rank Ninjutsu, right?
However, after thinking it over, Uchiha Kiyoshi shook his head and abandoned that tempting idea.
He had not even learned a single Ninjutsu yet and had no protective measures at all. If an accident happened, would he not simply be asking for trouble?
Pushing aside those strange thoughts, Uchiha Kiyoshi continued his experiment.
"Just now, perhaps suddenly extracting part of the Spiritual Energy caused the ratio between Spiritual Energy and Physical Energy in the Chakra to become unbalanced, leading to the explosion.
"So, what should I do this time to solve that problem?"
Uchiha Kiyoshi considered the cause of the explosion and tried to find a solution.
Fortunately, after so much time had passed, there were no longer ninja watching near Uchiha Kiyoshi's home. Otherwise, it was hard to say whether they would have noticed anything unusual.
Besides, Uchiha Kiyoshi did not want explosions constantly coming from his house. If one day he threw an explosion in the wrong direction and blew up the house, that would be troublesome. So, if he could solve something by thinking, he would not pile up attempts through brute-force experimentation.
"Since the issue may be an imbalance in proportions, I'll start there.
"Just now, I extracted Spiritual Energy evenly from the entire Chakra mass. This time, I'll change it up and directly extract all the Spiritual Energy from one portion of the Chakra."
Once Uchiha Kiyoshi found a method, the experiment began again.
Blue-glowing Chakra appeared in Uchiha Kiyoshi's right hand once more. This time, compared to last time, he released far less Chakra—only the amount formed by combining all the Spiritual Energy he could completely mobilize with Physical Energy in proportion. It was not even one-tenth the size of a sesame seed. It was no easy task for Uchiha Kiyoshi to control such a tiny amount of Chakra.
This time, Uchiha Kiyoshi directly controlled the Spiritual Energy in the Chakra in his hand and withdrew it.
The originally blue-glowing Chakra gradually drew in its light, eventually becoming an energy that emitted a pale green glow. Before Uchiha Kiyoshi could examine it closely, the energy in his hand dissipated.
After carefully considering the situation, Uchiha Kiyoshi understood.
He had previously suspected that Physical Energy could not be preserved outside the body. Just like what had happened moments ago, it dissipated in an instant. Now, that hypothesis had merely been proven.
This success was exhilarating. Uchiha Kiyoshi had finally confirmed that his line of thought was correct.
The most important thing next was to verify whether Physical Energy truly had a nourishing effect on the body.
Unfortunately, the amount just now was too small for Uchiha Kiyoshi to feel any effect, so he still needed to work harder.
Moreover, Uchiha Kiyoshi still did not dare conduct the process inside his body. It was simply too dangerous. A firecracker exploding in one's hand could injure someone, let alone inside the body. Besides, how to preserve the Physical Energy was also a problem.
This time, Uchiha Kiyoshi released every last bit of Chakra in his body, amounting to roughly the size of a soybean.
Uchiha Kiyoshi tried separating the Chakra in his hand, dividing it into a structure like a spherical shell containing several smaller spheres.
Selecting one Chakra sphere inside, Uchiha Kiyoshi used the method from before and successfully withdrew the Spiritual Energy. A mass of pale green Physical Energy appeared, then began to dissipate. However, upon closer inspection, there were still faint threads of green inside the outer Chakra wrapping. In other words, the outer layer of Chakra could indeed prevent the Physical Energy inside from dissipating.
Uchiha Kiyoshi let out a breath of relief and continued trying them one by one, concentrating completely.
Ten minutes later, aside from the outermost Chakra membrane, Uchiha Kiyoshi had restored all the Chakra inside into Physical Energy.
Next, Uchiha Kiyoshi planned to test how effectively Physical Energy could nourish bodily cells.
He controlled the Chakra sphere and slowly brought it into contact with his right hand.
Uchiha Kiyoshi was extremely careful throughout the entire process, fully focused and not daring to be the slightest bit careless.
As the Chakra sphere touched his right hand, Uchiha Kiyoshi controlled it to return to his body.
Finally, he moved the Chakra sphere to his right little finger, dissipated the outer Chakra membrane, and allowed the Physical Energy within to spread into the cells around his right little finger.
Soon afterward, Uchiha Kiyoshi felt an unparalleled sense of satisfaction rise from his entire right little finger.
Like sweet rain after a long drought, cells that had been empty for so long were nourished for the first time, greedily absorbing the spreading Physical Energy. Physical Energy continuously nourished the cells around Uchiha Kiyoshi's right little finger, and a wave of pleasure rose from deep within his heart.
Uchiha Kiyoshi could not help but sigh.
"What a comfortable feeling. This is what cultivation is supposed to be!"
Uchiha Kiyoshi grinned. Before he could record anything, a wave of dizziness hit him, and he fainted.
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