Mediocre Peng Bird

Gen'ichi ultimately didn't agree. Helping her cultivate wasn't the right time yet.

Compared to cultivation, Gen'ichi finally had an opportunity to study Ichie's body.

In the basement of Ichie's home.

"This is really a good place. It's perfect for doing experiments."

A faint smile appeared on Gen'ichi's face. He gently pressed Ichie onto the examination table, drawing blood and taking measurements in one smooth motion.

"Gen'ichi-san's expression has become very serious... Is my body also undergoing Mutation, like those Giant Parasitic Insects?"

Ichie still wore a fake smile on her face as she spoke calmly.

Gen'ichi, wearing a white lab coat, nodded slightly. "It seems you're prepared. Gaining power this way comes at a price. We don't know yet how far your body has Mutated, but I suspect... it's very bad."

A mediocre person, barely ten years old, had already surpassed the power level of an average Chunin.

With such a drastic increase, it was possible that Cancerous Transformation had already begun to develop within Ichie.

After a careful examination.

"As expected, there's a problem with your cells. They are fewer in number than a normal person's and multiply faster, but their lifespan is shorter... And scattered cells are extremely active, undergoing endless self-division. This is... Cancerous Transformation."

After drawing more than a dozen vials of blood, Gen'ichi found the clue and spoke softly.

Cancer Cells.

Given this situation, Ichie could almost be described as an early-stage cancer patient.

Moreover, it was full-blown cancer, affecting her internal organs, muscles, tissues, bone marrow, and brain—everything.

"Cancerous Transformation... I've never heard of such a disease. How much longer do I have to live?" Ichie remained remarkably calm.

Perhaps she had long since come to terms with this, willing to pay any price to break free from her mediocre fate.

But Gen'ichi didn't respond immediately.

He directly transferred some Chakra. Upon being stimulated by the Chakra, the Cancerous Transformation cells immediately underwent strange changes, their activity becoming even more astonishing.

This power called Chakra...

"If you stop receiving my power now, your physical condition might allow you to slow down the deterioration. Optimistically, you could live for ten to twenty years without a problem."

"However, you will no longer be able to maintain this current rate of progress, and even holding onto your current strength will be very difficult."

Gen'ichi looked at Ichie, who lay quietly on the examination table.

Ichie fell silent for a moment, then finally spoke.

"...Gen'ichi-san, please help me cultivate."

"Have you decided? Your body's healthy cells were already killed in large numbers due to frequently receiving my power, which weakened your physical condition to a certain extent. Your ability to bear my power will also decline, leading to even worse health... This is a vicious cycle. If you continue, you'll live for at most three years. In a worse scenario, you'll only have one or two years left."

Gen'ichi gazed deeply at the person before him.

To maintain the facade of a genius, to go this far... is it really worth it? To spend one's entire life just to bloom for a fleeting moment?

But Ichie, do you truly understand what Cancerous Transformation means? Even with a panacea-like energy like Chakra, which connects spirit and matter and can temporarily suppress some inevitable occurrences, Cancerous Transformation... it's never just cancer...

A faint smile appeared on Ichie's face. She smiled as usual and said, "Gen'ichi-san, a genius like you could never possibly understand how I feel... You were already a genius. Being the Dead Last for the past few years was just because you were awakening a new bloodline."

"But I'm different. I've been a mediocre person since birth. That's the definition the clan assigned me. Mediocre talent, mediocre comprehension. In fact, the possibility of ever awakening the Sharingan in this lifetime was supposed to be negligible."

"Can you understand that feeling? In the Uchiha Clan, a prestigious family that pursues strength, everyone has their own place and fully displays the value of their entire life. A mediocre person like me... I had no value."

"When I accidentally discovered that place, the one Gen'ichi-san created, the intense stimulation it gave my body made me realize that a turning point in my destiny had arrived."

"For a year, I ate all the plants there, then started eating the soil, desperately absorbing the power that stimulated my body. I could feel myself getting stronger. The moment I awakened the Sharingan, in the dead of night, I knelt on the ground and wept bitterly..."

"One year... If I can have this one year to shine with a brilliance I've never had in my entire life, I am absolutely willing, even if the price is offering my life to the devil."

Ichie sat up directly, put on her clothes, and calmly combed her long black hair.

Quietly, large amounts of black hair fell out.

Ichie's movements didn't pause at all, as if she hadn't seen it.

Truly remarkable.

Everyone has their own obsession. A bird that has tasted the feeling of soaring will never allow itself to stay in a chicken coop.

"Ichie, perhaps I can find a way to cure you before you die," Gen'ichi said softly. "Although I have some leads, don't get your hopes up too high."

But Ichie smiled. "No, that's not it. I remember when you killed Gantetsu, you once said... that individuals infected by you are beyond saving."

"Yes, I did say that. But if it's you, having come this far, you can naturally do even crazier things. Someone like you... might be able to find another path."

Gen'ichi spoke frankly.

Chakra.

This is the combined power of the spirit and body, from matter to energy, from the living world to the Pure Land. This power is everywhere.

Chakra Extraction requires combining the individual's soul power with the life force of the 130 trillion cells within their body.

Ordinary cells die after dividing a certain number of times, but Cancer Cells are known division maniacs, possessing the ability to divide themselves endlessly.

If all the Cancer Cells could be controlled and used as a reserve physical force for Chakra Extraction... perhaps it could extend one's lifespan somewhat.

"In the Naruto World, it seems ninjas don't get cancer. Is it that during Chakra Extraction, they drain the life energy from the Cancer Cells, achieving the effect of suppression or even total elimination? Or, is it truly as I suspected, that nearly absurd possibility..."

Gen'ichi watched as Ichie slowly walked away.

The sample size was too small, especially considering the ninja profession was inherently life-threatening; only a tiny fraction lived to be fifty.

Whether some of these theories would pan out required more rigorous calculation and screening, followed by final experimentation.

As for what's called vitality, what's the connection between it, Cancer Cells that could divide infinitely and achieve a kind of 'immortality', and Chakra...

"Ichie, if you can truly overcome this, perhaps you really can become a Peng Bird soaring high above... Silent for ten years, astonishing the world with a single cry!"