Heavenly Book Anomaly

After cutting the last pile of rice stalks, Uchiha Aozora dispelled his Shadow Clone. Twice the exhaustion hit him at once, and he could not help collapsing into the rice paddy.

Sai's pet, Little White, had long since reverted to the form of a small dog. It lay on its back with all four paws in the air, panting continuously with its tongue hanging out.

Inuzuka Aya no longer looked as energetic as usual either. As she wiped away her sweat, her feelings were complicated.

After a while, she walked over with a cold expression and said, "A bet is a bet. What Ninjutsu Scrolls do you want?"

Inuzuka Aya had already prepared herself for Uchiha Aozora's unreasonable demands.

Who would have thought that Uchiha Aozora merely smiled and said, "Anything is fine. I'm not picky."

Then he added, "No Fire Release Ninjutsu, and nothing too common."

Inuzuka Aya looked at him in a new light.

Not all C-rank Ninjutsu were equal. Some C-rank Ninjutsu involved Secret Techniques, while others could be bought by anyone with enough money.

Uchiha Aozora's request was not difficult to fulfill.

"I'll get it to you as soon as possible," she promised.

After saying that, she paused before adding, "You won again, but I'll definitely beat you next time. Just wait."

"Sure. I'm looking forward to our next match."

Seeing that the atmosphere between them was not bad, Gekko Hayate walked over and said, "Aozora, Aya, this mission was thanks to you two."

Inuzuka Aya hurriedly waved her hands. "It's nothing. We only cut a little more rice."

Uchiha Aozora agreed. "Exactly. We're a team, so we should help one another. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and plays a different role in the team. You're not good at physical labor, so we'll help out more."

"Well said. Everyone on a team has things they excel at and their own shortcomings. Teammates should help each other."

At some point, Aburame Shibi and the old man had appeared by the edge of the field.

Looking at the neatly bundled rice stalks, the old man said with a moved expression, "Thank you so much. I hope you'll come help me harvest rice again next year."

The smile vanished from Inuzuka Aya's face, while Gekko Hayate was left speechless.

Uchiha Aozora, meanwhile, stood frozen in place.

The normally silent Heavenly Book suddenly stirred. A Pale Gold droplet appeared on one of its pages.

After bidding farewell to the lonely elderly man, Aozora and the other two followed Aburame Shibi away.

On the way, seeing Uchiha Aozora looking absent-minded, Inuzuka Aya actually began to comfort him.

"Aozora, don't worry. Sensei said we won't take this mission again in the future."

"Besides, we might all be Chunin by next year. We definitely won't be taking D-Rank Missions then."

Uchiha Aozora came back to himself. Seeing the concern in Inuzuka Aya's eyes, he felt somewhat comforted.

This single-celled organism accepted her 'enemy' so quickly. If someone sold her off in the future, she'd probably help them count the money.

No, with her intelligence, she probably wouldn't even be able to count it properly.

Though he mocked her inwardly, Uchiha Aozora forced a smile and gave a vague couple of acknowledgments.

Seeing this, Inuzuka Aya thought her consolation had worked and happily played around with Little White.

After they had walked for a while and night had fully fallen, Aburame Shibi said, "We'll turn in the mission tomorrow. We're dismissed for today, so go home and get some rest."

"Okay!"

"Thank you, Sensei!"

After harvesting rice for three days straight, all three of them were somewhat exhausted.

"Then gather at the mission hall at eight."

With that, Aburame Shibi parted ways with the three of them.

The Uchiha Clan Compound was not in the same direction as his two companions' homes, so Uchiha Aozora bade them farewell as well.

After leaving their sight, Uchiha Aozora quickly leaped onto the rooftops and soon returned home.

Sitting on his bed, Uchiha Aozora did not even bother to regulate his breathing. He immediately focused his mind and entered his sea of consciousness.

Without visualization, no words appeared on the ancient page. Yet a Pale Gold droplet rested upon it, swimming across the page like a tadpole.

Uchiha Aozora was both worried and excited.

He was worried that the droplet would damage the Heavenly Book's functions or even destroy it. The Heavenly Book was his guarantee of rapidly increasing his strength and reaching Kage-level. If he lost it, he would drift ever farther from changing his brother's fate.

Moreover, the Heavenly Book was within his sea of consciousness. If it shattered, he could not guarantee that his soul and mind would not suffer severe damage.

His excitement was easy enough to understand.

Since discovering the Heavenly Book at the age of five, this was the first time Uchiha Aozora had seen anything other than writing appear on it.

This meant the Heavenly Book had undergone another change. Perhaps it had gained a new function.

The Pale Gold droplet flowed freely across the page, but Uchiha Aozora felt as if it was not moving over the page at all. It felt as though it were darting about inside his heart.

In the end, curiosity overcame his fear of the unknown, and he decided to investigate it.

He first tried to sense the Pale Gold droplet.

As his spiritual perception reached the droplet, he felt as if he had been wrapped in warm water, as though his soul were soaking in a hot bath.

After only a brief attempt, Uchiha Aozora withdrew his consciousness.

When he looked at the Heavenly Book again, the Pale Gold droplet on the page had become increasingly transparent, and nearly all of its luster had vanished.

"This droplet seems harmless and beneficial so far. It appears to offer some benefit to the mind."

Watching the droplet on the verge of disappearing, Uchiha Aozora decided not to continue his "soul bath." Instead, he would test whether it had any other effects.

No sooner thought than done, he immediately visualized "Henge."

He wanted to test what effect the droplet had on divine abilities and spells.

Fearing an undesirable outcome, Uchiha Aozora chose Henge, the least important spell to him at present.

Among the divine abilities and spells currently appearing in the Heavenly Book, Guidance and Qi Cultivation was the foundation for training his body and refining Chakra, Weapon Control was his powerful offensive method, and True Fire of Samadhi possessed tremendous potential. By comparison, Henge was less important.

As he visualized it, the two gray ancient characters for "Henge" soon appeared on the Heavenly Book.

After the two ancient characters emerged, the transparent droplet stopped drifting freely. It quickly flowed toward the characters, then merged into them.

Before long, the droplet vanished completely, and Uchiha Aozora saw that the characters for "Henge" seemed to have brightened somewhat.

He touched "Henge" with his soul, and the feeling of enlightenment surged through him once more.

After a while, Uchiha Aozora opened his eyes and could not help bursting into laughter.

The droplet had not damaged the divine abilities and spells within the Heavenly Book. Instead, it could perfect them.

Within this inheritance, he discovered that in addition to his previous knowledge, Henge now contained knowledge of using Chakra to alter meridians and bones.

This knowledge was absolutely not contained within the Transformation Jutsu or Substitution Technique, nor had he learned anything related to it himself. It was knowledge bestowed by Heaven.

This meant that as long as he found enough droplets in the future, he could continuously perfect the divine abilities and spells within the Heavenly Book and learn the complete versions of Guidance and Qi Cultivation, True Fire of Samadhi, and more.