Come Out, I Found You!

To this end, Yei had used his Cheat Ability once. He had originally wanted to save up 1,000 points and see whether he could obtain some more useful abilities.

But to deal with this crisis, he had used them in advance, all to strengthen himself as much as possible!

He spent 500 points and obtained the skill—Hakuda!

Hakuda was one of the four foundational abilities of "Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido" in the world of Bleach.

As the name implied, it was skill with fists and feet—combat ability!

After obtaining this skill, Yei discovered that his Taijutsu combat ability had improved tremendously.

Even his Eight Trigrams Palm, which combined the Gentle Fist and Strong Fist, had been completely refined with the support of this skill!

This had undoubtedly improved Yei's strength somewhat, but it was not a qualitative leap. He was merely stronger than before.

Still, Yei was already quite satisfied. Any increase in strength was welcome now—who knew what he would face next...

Without dwelling on it, Yei continued onward and soon arrived at the location of his newly established laboratory.

Activating his Byakugan, Yei scanned the surroundings and discovered that many snakes were lurking nearby. Some were even coiled around the large trees beside him, their slit pupils watching him.

At the sight, Yei became even more certain of his suspicions.

Yei swept his gaze over the area without paying it much mind. He walked to a specially treated tree, removed a layer of camouflage, and revealed a tree hollow.

Yei slipped inside, formed a few hand seals, and conjured a crimson fireball in his hand that illuminated the surroundings.

After passing through a passageway, Yei entered the laboratory that he had yet to begin constructing.

This was an underground cavern he had opened up with Earth Release. It was more than ten meters belowground. Unless one was a member of the Hyuga Clan like him, it would be difficult to notice that there was an underground cavern here.

Earth Release was a Chakra nature that his predecessor had possessed. However, like the other members of the Hyuga Clan, his predecessor had only learned the Gentle Fist and therefore did not know any Earth Release Ninjutsu.

After Yei entered this body, however, his Chakra natures had increased through his Cheat Ability.

The current Yei possessed four Chakra natures—lightning, fire, wind, and earth. He had tested them using Chakra test paper!

Yei had also speculated that the changes in his body had most likely come from his Cheat Ability.

The various skills seemed to have been "assimilated" by this world. Hado had become Ninjutsu, Bakudo had become sealing techniques, and the other skills had also undergone more or less some changes...

To use Ninjutsu of different natures, one had to possess the corresponding Chakra nature!

Therefore, it was very possible that Yei's body had changed after he obtained skills...

He had gone from possessing only Earth Release Chakra to having four Chakra natures: lightning, fire, wind, and earth!!

This was also something Yei had been studying all along. He still had some questions regarding his Cheat Ability!

He took out a notebook from his ninja tool pouch and looked over the lines recording his current condition.

After thinking for a moment, Yei added parentheses after the line, "Abilities from other worlds may be fed back into the body, bringing about changes," and wrote three words in Chinese—"Confirmed!"

"I noticed it before: skills can affect the body. This Hakuda is the same. It's practically confirmed beyond doubt..." Yei stared at the lines in the notebook and sank into thought.

He used this notebook to record information related to his own condition, future plans, and certain events that would happen in the future.

It was written in Chinese, so even if it were lost, he did not need to worry about anyone else deciphering or interpreting it...

The writing system in this world was one that had never appeared in his previous life. It resembled oracle bone script and the like. Though there were also a small number of traditional Chinese characters and Japanese hiragana, it was an independent writing system of its own...

Yei had already discovered that the skills obtained through his Cheat Ability did not simply grant him abilities. In order to adapt to those abilities, his body had also changed to varying degrees!

Skills could affect his body!

The Hollow Mask was the same. After putting it on, Yei's appearance would change slightly.

Even though the Hollow Mask was currently unusable, like a toy with dead batteries, the changes it brought remained...

Turning to the next page, Yei wrote down another line concerning Orochimaru, Medical Ninjutsu, Tsunade, and similar matters...

"Advanced Medical Ninjutsu requires joining the medical corps and earning it through contributions. That's too troublesome. Tsunade currently has the strongest Medical Ninjutsu, but she isn't in Konoha, so it would be difficult to make contact with her. Orochimaru may not be proficient in Medical Ninjutsu, but he should have quite a few scrolls in that field..."

"The best outcome would be to avoid clashing with Orochimaru and trade with him. He has many things I want as well... However... Orochimaru isn't someone who is easy to negotiate with."

"I'll probably still have to fight him..."

"With my current strength, if I go all out, do I have the power to defeat Orochimaru? Kage level..."

"..."

Orochimaru was very strong—there was no doubt about that. But it was not as if Yei had no confidence at all.

If he went all out, Yei's strength was still quite considerable. His life-burning trump card was not his only ace...

Even if he could not win, escaping would be easy enough.

Although this was a risk and went against Yei's cautious nature, unknown threats were the most terrifying.

He did not want Orochimaru to ambush him one day while he was sleeping. Living in constant fear would only leave him unsettled and cause him to lose the initiative...

Caution was certainly important, but some necessary risks still had to be taken!

The Shinobi World was dangerous. Being cautious was never wrong, but excessive caution became cowardice!

Although Yei possessed a Cheat Ability, if he only hid away, he would not be able to gain points!

He needed to defeat or kill powerful enemies to gain more points. That alone indicated that Yei would not lack for battles in the future!

How could someone afraid of death possibly face those powerful enemies that would appear in the future?

Once your spirit weakened, you were finished!

Besides, Yei needed a powerful opponent to test just how far he could go when unleashing his full strength!

Ever since the injuries from the Hollow Mask had healed, Yei's previously stalled strength had begun rising rapidly. At present, even he was somewhat unclear about the limits of his own power...

Orochimaru's appearance was both a crisis and a whetstone for Yei to test his strength. Perhaps... it was also an opportunity?

His mind churned over how to deal with Orochimaru, as well as his plans for the future.

But at that moment, Yei seemed to sense something. He closed his notebook, activated his Byakugan, and looked toward a spot aboveground, his heart sinking slightly. Has he come?

"So it really is Orochimaru..." After sensing a certain figure, Yei took a deep breath, returned the notebook to his Ninja Tool Pouch, and murmured, "But this may not necessarily be a bad thing..."

Orochimaru had many things Yei wanted. If Yei possessed enough strength to make him wary, and could offer him intelligence he could not refuse, perhaps they could establish a cooperative relationship!

First Hokage Cells, biotechnology, all sorts of ninjutsu and forbidden techniques—Yei wanted them all!

Even if Orochimaru had not come looking for him, sooner or later, Yei would have tried to make contact with him!

He simply had not expected Orochimaru to set his sights on him first...

Letting out a breath, Yei steadied his mind, his gaze turning sharp. "Then let's go see what the strength of a Kage-level shinobi is like..."

Without hesitation, Yei stepped forward and left the underground laboratory.

He looked around. His Byakugan found no sign of Orochimaru, but his Observation Haki could sense him—Orochimaru was watching him from behind a large tree!

Pretending not to have noticed anything unusual, Yei flashed toward Konoha Village. However, his Observation Haki remained firmly locked onto Orochimaru.

The moment Yei moved, Orochimaru moved as well, drawing ever closer...

After traveling some distance, Yei slowed to a stop. Activating his Byakugan, he looked in one direction. "Come out. I found you!"