Bloodline

"I'll go first." Uchiha Minghuo glanced around, then stepped forward on his own initiative. He took a pill from the box and, under Fugaku and the others' watchful eyes, closed his eyes and swallowed it.

In an instant, a chilling Chakra seeped out from Uchiha Minghuo's body. Everyone present sensed and caught that Chakra, which felt dark, oppressive, heavy, and filled with an unsettling aura.

Two streaks of blood wound down from the corners of Uchiha Minghuo's tightly shut eyes, leaving crimson trails across his face. The violent emotions stirred within his spiritual world were vividly displayed to everyone present through his facial features and Chakra.

Just as Fugaku's expression turned grave, three tomoe emerging in his Sharingan as he pushed his ocular power to its limit in an attempt to observe Minghuo's Chakra flow, Minghuo's tightly shut eyes abruptly flew open.

The extremely chilling Chakra, along with the bloodshot and crazed look in Minghuo's eyes, immediately alerted everyone that something was wrong.

Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!

Orochimaru opened his hands almost without hesitation. Countless venomous snakes shot rapidly from both his arms, launching toward Minghuo amid shrill gusts of wind.

Kagetsu connected to Minghuo's shadow in an instant as well.

The other two Uchiha Jonin used the Body Flicker Technique to evade at once.

Minghuo's body clearly slowed for a moment due to the black shadow linked beneath his feet. Seemingly still unsettled and immersed in the Illusory World, he immediately erupted with even stronger Chakra, breaking free of the Shadow Binding Technique's effects, and formed Fire Release Hand Seals at a dazzling speed.

Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!

Blazing flames burst from his mouth, gathering into an enormous fireball in midair that burned the snakes with sizzling crackles.

Fugaku and the other two Uchiha Jonin launched their attacks in tacit coordination. In the end, Fugaku, his ocular power raised to its utmost limit, spotted an opening and knocked him unconscious with a Knife Hand Strike.

"What happened to him?" Looking at Minghuo lying on the ground, Fugaku and the other two Uchiha Jonin turned to Kagetsu, hoping to get a definite answer from him.

"His mind was overstimulated. For the moment, he just can't distinguish illusion from reality." Kagetsu stepped forward and used Medical Ninjutsu to examine him in front of Fugaku and the others, then openly drew a tube of Minghuo's blood.

"Senior Fugaku, once he wakes up, remember to have him come over for a Medical Checkup." Kagetsu calmly tucked the blood into his palm, handed the other two pills to Fugaku, and reminded him.

"So does that count as a success or a failure?" Fugaku asked anxiously.

"I consider it a success, but we'll still need to see how his mental state is afterward. I suggest that the other two Jonin seniors wait for a while and observe the situation before taking theirs," Kagetsu replied.

"Ming Huo's ocular power seems to have grown stronger." Recalling their earlier clash, one of the Uchiha Jonin looked uncertainly at Fugaku and his other companion.

"Return to the clan grounds first." Fugaku waved his hand, glanced at the somewhat wrecked Laboratory, and indicated that they should leave before discussing anything further.

Uchiha Shisui did not leave with them. Instead, he stayed behind and began helping restore the Laboratory.

"Do you want to research the Uchiha's Kekkei Genkai?" Orochimaru suddenly asked Kagetsu in the inner Laboratory, where only the two of them remained.

"I do have that in mind." Kagetsu nodded. In this Laboratory, he could keep it hidden from everyone except Orochimaru.

Even if he said nothing, Orochimaru could tell what he intended to do from the use of the Instruments, the consumption of resources, and the backup data.

"You want the Sharingan?" After thinking it over, Orochimaru concluded that Kagetsu's purpose in researching the Uchiha was the Sharingan.

Having never suffered under Mangekyo Genjutsu, Orochimaru did not possess any fanatical obsession with the Sharingan or the Uchiha. He merely regarded it as a powerful Kekkei Genkai.

"No, I'm only curious and want to study it." Kagetsu shook his head.

He was currently looking at his Status Panel, which had changed once again, with pleasant surprise.

Talent Card: Mayuri Kurotsuchi

World: Shinigami

Quality: Purple (7900/10000)

Effect: Growth-Type Research Talent

Field: Your research talent in the Biological and Neural Fields far surpasses that in other Research and Development Fields!

Passive: Biological Modification! Kekkei Genkai Research!

Accumulation: All research depends on the accumulation of vast amounts of knowledge and material experimentation. All knowledge you possess will be understood and memorized more efficiently, then returned in an alternative form as Knowledge Feedback!

Achievement: For every recognized creation you produce, the higher its Recognition, the more it can improve your Physical Fitness and strength.

Recognized research products: Dog Food, Kikaichū Insecticide, Turning God Tree! Yin Release Secret Technique: Shadow Coffin, S-rank Ninjutsu: Blood Armor.

Reward: Physical Fitness +10, Chakra +600

Obsession: Become a scientist surpassing Kisuke Urahara

Obsession Quest One: Kekkei Collapse Orb!

Quest: After Kisuke Urahara and Aizen, you wish to create your own Hogyoku.

Name: Turning God Tree

Quality: Purple

Traits: Capable of devouring specific Chakra attributes and bearing Chakra Fruits with corresponding attributes according to the planter's settings.

Skills: Devour, Transform, Store.

Hidden Attributes/Skills: Wood Release (Sealed)

Description: This is a special plant with a certain degree of Evolutionary Power, existing somewhere between a living creature and a plant. If it can be cultivated with more exceptional Devouring Material, it will have a higher growth limit.

Recognition: 130/1000, Physical Fitness +31, Chakra +100

"Clan Head, Ming Huo has awakened!"

One of the Uchiha Jonin who had returned to the clan with his Clan Head used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Fugaku and report to him.

By the time Fugaku hurried over, he found Ming Huo sitting there in a daze, looking both utterly lost and as though he had narrowly survived a disaster.

"Ming Huo?" Fugaku came to his side and called out softly, rousing him from his daze.

"Clan Head." Ming Huo shifted his gaze to Fugaku's face. His lips moved twice before he answered.

"How do you feel?" Fugaku sat beside the bed and asked quietly.

"Terrible." Ming Huo knew full well that Fugaku was asking both about his physical condition and about the effects of that Fruit.

"It feels like I died once." After a pause, Ming Huo closed his eyes and said, "I stayed in that illusory world for a very, very long time. I went through far too many things, and even now, I can't tell reality from falsehood. I don't even dare be certain whether what I'm seeing now is real or an illusion.

"The only thing I can be certain of is that I don't have the aptitude to awaken my eyes. I went through Hell in that illusory world, yet I still failed to awaken the Mangekyo!"