Uchiha Shisui

The upgrade cost for the Chakra Refinement Technique was far cheaper than that of a Sealing Technique.

Perhaps because the direction Yuzuru Hyuga had given wasn't particularly difficult—just increasing total chakra reserves—the system only needed to charge 10,000 free experience points to elevate the Chakra Refinement Technique into an A-rank special refinement technique.

Life Return.

Of course, the name was purely for coolness; it had nothing to do with the Life Return from One Piece.

According to the system's description, this refinement technique's function was:

[While refining chakra at high speed and efficiency, use chakra to nourish life back, consuming mental and physical energy while simultaneously raising the upper limits of both.]

The essence of chakra is the mixture of mental energy and physical energy.

So-called mental energy can be broadly summarized as spiritual power; so-called dojutsu consumption is often tied to spiritual power as well. Beyond that, precise chakra control, chakra sensing, and using ninjutsu all require spiritual power.

Physical energy, simply put, is stamina.

Stamina is also linked to physical strength.

Even if Might Duy came back from the dead, reincarnated his soul, and possessed Rock Lee, he couldn't do at age ten what Might Duy could do at twenty. Physical strength is always tied to age; no genius can defy the objective laws of biological development. Even if ninjas develop relatively quickly, a five-year-old body still can't do what a fifteen-year-old can.

To put it simply, what can't stand up, just can't stand up.

But Life Return could bypass the limits of age and body, directly using chakra to nourish both body and spirit.

If other ninjas treated chakra like a fuel tank—filling it only as big as it was, with the engine's power fixed—then Yuzuru Hyuga was filling the tank while simultaneously expanding it, and constantly upgrading the engine on the fly, without needing to wait until he reached a certain age to swap parts.

TL;DR: Yuzuru Hyuga would never run out of chakra again!

Never running out of chakra meant he could release multiple ninjutsu in succession. Developing both physical and mental energy would turn him into a tireless pounding machine—if he couldn't train himself to death, he'd train until he dropped.

"Good, let's start with a hundred Rotations."

Yuzuru Hyuga made a bold resolution.

But reality was a bit cruel. After only six or seven consecutive uses, his vision started swimming.

On one hand, the chakra consumption was truly ferocious; on the other, his Rotation was the 'Neji version' of Rotation.

The Caged Bird wasn't just a tattoo. When that damned curse mark activated, it caused the Byakugan's otherwise 360-degree, no-blind-spot vision to lose one degree of sight directly behind the spine.

This meant the so-called absolute defense had a weak point.

In the original manga, Neji, as a rare super-genius of the Hyuga Clan, taught himself and found a breakthrough solution to the problem of not being able to use Rotation like the Main House could.

Since the Byakugan had a defect and couldn't see fully, making Rotation have a weak point, why not just spin? As long as he spun fast enough, the weak point wouldn't exist!

Thus, to compensate for the flaw, under the Caged Bird's restriction, using Rotation required spinning the entire body at high speed.

Spin and leap, but you couldn't close your eyes. Even Carter wouldn't dare spin that hard.

"Hah..." Yuzuru Hyuga forced himself to sit on the ground, refining and recovering chakra.

Every extra bit of chakra quickly nourished his body. On one hand, it silently expanded the container; on the other, while refining chakra, it also replenished the consumption of both energies.

100 stamina converted into 100 chakra, and then the chakra gave back 30, plus a portion from natural recovery—this made Yuzuru Hyuga's recovery speed astonishingly fast.

Itachi Uchiha, while grimly babysitting and teaching Izumi the Chakra Refinement Technique from scratch, secretly glanced at Yuzuru Hyuga out of the corner of his eye.

He looked like a faulty electric fan—resting for a while, standing up and whirring around a few times, then sitting down to rest again, then whirring around again.

The park ground had been hollowed into a small spiral pit by Rotation.

This guy...

He was terrifyingly strong.

As Itachi Uchiha marveled, he also felt sorrow and anger for him.

Someone with such extraordinary talent—why did he have to hide in the park and practice Rotation, a secret technique that should belong exclusively to the Hyuga, all by himself?

This wasn't fair!

Itachi Uchiha had known Yuzuru Hyuga for almost a year now. From a clueless little kid, he'd been teased into a four-year-old schemer burdened with worries. All these experiences hadn't just failed to harm their friendship; over this year, his relationship with Yuzuru Hyuga had even developed to a level no less than his bond with Shisui.

Both teacher and friend.

But the closer they grew, the more powerless he felt about everything before him.

Whether it was the death he'd witnessed firsthand on Kikyo Mountain, the daily quarrels erupting within the Uchiha clan, his father's coldness and distance toward the Hyuga Clan, or Yuzuru Hyuga's own situation.

What should I do? I can't do anything!

Itachi Uchiha's mood sank, but Izumi's sudden joyful shout made his brow twitch.

"I learned it!"

Izumi's big eyes were full of delight. She stood up, shouting "Hoo-ha-hee-yah," but found she couldn't produce the same effect as Yuzuru Hyuga—the special effect of blue light covering his palm.

"Why won't the chakra listen?"

She pouted.

Itachi felt a headache coming on.

This girl had learned the Chakra Refinement Technique in less than two hours!?

For a four-year-old to calm down and actually think, meditate, was already extremely difficult. And refining required talent and a flash of instinct.

Even though he seemed to have learned it by age three, still.

He glanced at Yuzuru Hyuga—could this guy have calculated this in advance and deliberately brought this girl along?

These days, endlessly pondering "adult problems," Itachi Uchiha's way of thinking was gradually maturing.

Or rather, becoming realistic.

How annoying. What am I even thinking about?

Itachi Uchiha fell silent, but suddenly heard someone calling his name in the distance.

"Itachi, are you here?"

Hearing the call, Itachi tensed up. His first instinctive thought was actually to tell Yuzuru Hyuga to hide.

"Shisui, I'm here."

It should be fine, right?

Itachi Uchiha revealed a sunny smile, rare for him lately, as if thinking of something.

Although Shisui wasn't much older—only four years older than Itachi—even as an eight-year-old boy, he had already carved out a fearsome reputation in the Third Great Ninja War.

The title "Body Flicker Shisui" had quietly left an impression in the minds of many powerful figures.

And Kakashi, similarly young, was regarded as Konoha's future star. Kakashi was seen as the next Konoha White Fang, while Shisui was expected to take up the mantle of the Yellow Flash, becoming a meteor streaking across the battlefield.

There was no denying it—Konoha truly produced genius after genius.

But the fact that an eight-year-old had become a renowned figure in the ninja world also, to some extent, highlighted Konoha's current decline in talent, forced to pin its hopes on a bunch of children.

"You're here." Shisui's figure appeared, peeking out from the front of the park.

In an instant, he noticed Yuzuru Hyuga observing him from the corner.

Uchiha Shisui instinctively restrained his smile.

"This is my friend, Lord Hizashi Hyuga's son, Yuzuru Hyuga." Itachi Uchiha suddenly spoke up, briefly introducing Yuzuru's identity.

"I'm Kawai Izumi! Yuzuru's good friend!" Izumi popped her head out too, momentarily forgetting about the whole "can't emit blue light" thing. But seeing that the newcomer was clearly much older than her—a "mature big brother"—she decided to keep quiet, slipping behind Yuzuru Hyuga and tugging at his sleeve, peeking out at him timidly.

Hizashi was, after all, the head of a Branch House, so Uchiha Shisui naturally couldn't have been unaware of him.

In fact, he also knew something about Yuzuru Hyuga.

Itachi Uchiha had mentioned this friend to him more than once. Though he hadn't gone into detail, Shisui roughly understood Yuzuru's identity and knew that Itachi had taken quite a few beatings from him.

But this was the first time they'd met in person—after all, being the same age as Itachi, he was still just a kid himself.

"Hello, Brother Shisui." Yuzuru Hyuga greeted him very politely, his face wearing a gentle smile that made Itachi's mouth twitch. He instinctively wanted to expose this guy's mask to his own brother, but then noticed Yuzuru had already stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Itachi Uchiha shut his mouth. Shisui was smart enough—there was no way he'd be fooled by this guy, right?

"So you're Yuzuru Hyuga? I often hear Itachi talk about you at home. These past few days, you've taken good care of him." Shisui returned the greeting politely.

Yuzuru Hyuga adjusted his glasses, his smile still warm: "We take care of each other. Itachi has helped me a lot too."

"Hmm, Itachi, your friend seems like a pretty good guy?" Shisui teased Itachi with a playful look, only to see him staring back in shock, as if asking: No way, you think he's a good person?

Though Uchiha Shisui was never one to judge by appearances, he looked Yuzuru Hyuga over repeatedly. The boy was dressed all in white, his skin fairer than snow, his black-rimmed glasses framing a face that looked gentle and quiet, his smile warm and sunny. He didn't seem at all like the bad-tempered person Itachi had described.

"Has Itachi said anything about me at home?" Yuzuru Hyuga put on a curious, innocent expression.

Uchiha Shisui didn't hold back: "He said you look like you have a good temper, but if someone hits a nerve, you'll find an excuse to hit them. He said you're a pretty bad-tempered guy."

"Ah?" Yuzuru Hyuga looked genuinely shocked. He wore an expression of guilt and self-reproach, lowering his head and murmuring: "Is that so... I'm sorry. I thought that was just training."

"I didn't say it wasn't training." Itachi Uchiha had to speak up.

If this kept up, even his own Shisui-nii would become someone else's "Brother Shisui."

"Itachi, even if you fail, don't let the bitterness of failure cloud your judgment. Let it become the nourishment that makes you stronger." Uchiha Shisui taught him earnestly.

Itachi Uchiha lowered his head, chuckling softly: "Mm, I know."

Sure enough, rather than pondering some profound life-and-death dilemma, it was more important to figure out how to beat that annoying Yuzuru Hyuga, wasn't it?

Uchiha Shisui patted Itachi's shoulder with a sunny smile: "I believe you can do it."

He turned his head and saw Yuzuru Hyuga, who seemed to have something to say but hesitated: "What's wrong? Is there something on your mind?"

Yuzuru Hyuga adjusted his glasses, looking a bit embarrassed: "Could I ask you to train with us too? I rarely get to interact with powerful ninjas, so..."

Uchiha Shisui, without a shred of suspicion or burden, laughed heartily: "Of course! I happen to be on leave these days. If you don't mind, training together is no problem at all."

"Thank you so much, Brother Shisui!"

Yuzuru Hyuga called out warmly.

Itachi Uchiha unconsciously moved closer to Uchiha Shisui, staring at Yuzuru Hyuga with hostile eyes.

Is that your brother?

He's my brother.

Mine!

Brother! Beat him up!

Itachi Uchiha couldn't help but speak up: "Shisui, no need to hold back. He's a genius who mastered Rotation on his own."

Yuzuru Hyuga, upon hearing this, only lowered his head shyly: "I'm not that outstanding."

"Rotation?" Shisui Uchiha was now intrigued.

He said eagerly: "Well then, how about we go at it right now?"

"Sure!" Yuzuru Hyuga showed a faint smile.

His goal was achieved.

Right now, a temporary little goldmine stood before him.

If not now, when!?

Fight!

If I'm not beaten to the ground today, no one's leaving!

Shisui Uchiha's experience points are mine for the taking—even the Otsutsuki can't stop me!

Shisui Uchiha had no idea what Yuzuru Hyuga was thinking. Instead, he was quite impressed by Yuzuru's willingness to challenge him and encouraged: "Come at me with everything you've got! Don't worry about me!"

"Yes!" Yuzuru Hyuga smiled slightly, nudged Izumi, and gestured for her to watch quietly from the side.

"Forgive my rudeness."

The moment the words left his mouth.

Shisui Uchiha instinctively started to reply with a casual "bring it on."

Three kunai, gleaming with a faint light, came flying straight toward his face.