Nara Kekkei Genkai

Nara Clan Estate.

Nara Shikaji stared wide-eyed at Kagetsu seated across from him, his face full of disbelief.

"What did you say? Say that again!"

"I awakened a Kekkei Genkai." Kagetsu repeated everything he had said before, word for word.

"That shouldn't be possible!" Having confirmed once again that he had not misheard, Nara Shikaji began doubting his life all over again.

With the Nara Clan's constitution, who in their right mind would awaken a Kekkei Genkai? And one based on Yin Attribute Chakra, no less.

Having studied Yin Attribute Chakra for centuries, the Nara Clan knew all too well the hidden dangers of Yin Release Kekkei Genkai.

"Come with me!" Nara Shikaji rose to his feet and motioned for Kagetsu to follow.

The two arrived at the estate's rear courtyard one after the other. Nara Shikaji and Kagetsu stopped facing each other, and Shikaji gestured for Kagetsu to demonstrate.

Under Nara Shikaji's watchful gaze, Kagetsu's shadow instantly stretched forward and merged with the shadow beneath Shikaji's feet.

"You can use a Shadow Secret Technique without hand signs?" Nara Shikaji's eyes lit up. At the same time, he mobilized the Chakra within his body to resist and fight back, struggling with Kagetsu's shadow for control over his own body. He even tried to use his own shadow to counter Kagetsu in turn.

When techniques were identical, what mattered was the nature of one's Chakra and the amount of Chakra one could output.

As a member of the Jonin ranks, Nara Shikaji quickly reclaimed some control over his body through his understanding of Shadow Secret Techniques.

"Is that all?" Nara Shikaji formed hand signs, maintaining his own Shadow Secret Technique as he resisted Kagetsu's shadow.

Kagetsu said nothing. But in the next instant, Nara Shikaji saw fine black branches split off from Kagetsu's shadow. They traveled along their shadows and began climbing upward from Nara Shikaji's feet.

In an instant, Nara Shikaji felt his control over his own shadow forcibly stripped away. As the branching black lines twisted and crawled upward, he lost control over his body once more.

"This is—" Extreme shock appeared on Nara Shikaji's face again. He discovered that not only had he lost control over his body, but a wave of unease had suddenly risen in his heart.

It seemed as though his body and mind were being probed by something.

Nara Shikaji's hands began forming signs on their own. A black palm coiled upward from beneath his feet, reaching all the way to his throat.

Then, in an instant, both the black shadow palm and the black lines spread across his body like external nerve fibers faded away.

Nara Shikaji regained control over his body.

"Is this your Kekkei Genkai?" Nara Shikaji recalled what he had just experienced firsthand.

There was no doubt that Kagetsu's shadow possessed far greater control than his Shadow Secret Technique. When it came to controlling and contesting shadows, there was an enormous gap between them.

If he had not been a Jonin, with more Chakra and greater proficiency in Shadow Secret Techniques than Kagetsu, he would have had almost no room to resist in a confrontation of shadows.

This meant that the Yin Attribute Chakra in Kagetsu's shadow far surpassed the Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Techniques in terms of nature transformation.

If he had to make a comparison, it was like the number of tomoe in an Uchiha's eyes. It was a qualitative transformation in nature!

"Other than making shadows easier to control, does it have any other uses?" Nara Shikaji suddenly asked.

Based on their earlier exchange, Kagetsu's shadow clearly concealed some secret, unknown transformation. That sensation of being watched was not something found in Shadow Secret Techniques.

"One of its abilities is Forced Control." Kagetsu drew his shadow back beneath his feet. "You could say it's an enhanced version of the Shadow Imitation Technique. It achieves a more stable and secure control effect with less Chakra consumption."

"What are its limits?" Nara Shikaji asked again.

"That depends on the opponent's Chakra reserves, as well as their attainments in mental willpower and nature transformation," Kagetsu said.

After all, it was not truly Soul King's Left Hand, which could directly force any attacker under its control and issue all kinds of commands to their body in place of their brain and nervous system.

Though Kagetsu had also obtained so-called Forced Control, its strength and priority clearly could not be compared to Soul King's Left Hand.

His shadow control had limits.

He had been able to control Nara Shikaji because they used the same Shadow Secret Techniques and both belonged to Yin Release. His own Chakra reserves and qualitatively transformed Yin Attribute Chakra nature transformation had made up for the gap between himself and Nara Shikaji, expanding his advantage.

"Anything else?"

"Other things... Inanimate Activation?" Kagetsu thought for a moment, then used his shadow again in front of Nara Shikaji.

The pitch-black shadow burst apart before Kagetsu, and dense, web-like shadow branches clung tightly to the ground. Then, within the area covered by the shadows, the stone slabs on the ground began to rise and take shape under the influence of Yin Release Power.

Two palms formed from stone slabs stood to Kagetsu's left and right. Their palms opened downward, shielding Kagetsu from the sky like umbrellas.

Black branches spread across the palms and arms of the stone hands like the human nervous system.

Under Nara Shikaji's unblinking gaze, the two stone hands moved in all manner of ways according to Kagetsu's will, as though they were living things.

They were as nimble as a real person's arms.

Watching Kagetsu control those two stone arms as easily as his own limbs, the shock in Nara Shikaji's heart never faded.

In his eyes, what Kagetsu had done already involved an exceedingly profound level of Yin Release Power. At the very least, no member of the Nara Clan who had mastered Shadow Secret Techniques had ever accomplished such a thing in centuries.

Granting vitality to inanimate objects.

Even if it still appeared to require shadows for control, it was a realm none of the Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Techniques could reach.

"Come meet the Elders with me." After a moment of silence, Nara Shikaji finally calmed the shock and complicated emotions in his heart. He subconsciously sighed and spoke to Kagetsu.

He could already sense another wave of trouble sweeping toward himself and the Nara Clan.

Kagetsu withdrew his shadows. The two stone slabs shaped into arms did not collapse, but remained standing where they were.

"Remember to have your body checked later." Nara Shikaji walked side by side with Kagetsu and reminded him.

The Yin Release Shadow Secret Techniques alone had already made the Nara Clan, who were not known for their Physical Fitness, weak as medicine jars. Now that the technique had advanced into a Kekkei Genkai, its burden on the body would naturally increase alongside its power.

Although Kagetsu was much stronger than Nara clansmen of the same age, it was better to prepare in advance. After all, as long as one's Physical Fitness or mental strength could not keep up, there was a certain chance that the Kekkei Genkai Disease unique to Kekkei Genkai would occur.