Naruto Bloodline Theory? It's Just Trash

Just as they were about to make their move...

Shennong's relaxed, teasing voice came from the darkness. "I saw the Yellow Flash's disciple, Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan. I'm afraid Minato Namikaze is here too. Get up and deal with these people quickly, then pack up and run..."

"!"

Shikahide Nara and the others abruptly turned around. The tall figure in the darkness was utterly blurred, making it impossible for them to see his true face.

And... he said...

Squelch!

Squelch, squelch!!

The next moment.

A medical miracle unfolded.

Mingren, who lay on the ground and had been believed to be near death, began healing at an eerie, rapid pace.

His physical injuries recovered at an unimaginable speed.

His strength was increasing.

His muscles grew thicker, his bones harder.

A few seconds later.

Mingren rose to his feet without a scratch. In his icy eyes, Black Flames began to burn openly.

Body Activation Technique!

A jutsu that only ninjas proficient in medical treatment could perform.

Shennong had learned this unique jutsu and taught it to Mingren.

When you wandered the Ninja World, how could you avoid getting cut?

To heal injuries quickly, ordinary Medical Ninjutsu simply would not do.

So Shennong found a way to obtain Body Activation... in other words, the Body Regeneration Technique!

The primary function of this technique was to use a jutsu formula to actively control one's body and induce cell division.

Human cells had a limited number of divisions over a lifetime.

Strictly speaking, this was a technique that shortened one's lifespan.

However, that changed with the completion of the Dark Chakra Jutsu.

Dark Chakra was the power of the heart. As long as the heart did not die,

power would continuously pour forth, even transforming into "real" flesh to replenish the body.

By combining Dark Chakra with the Body Activation Technique,

the body could undergo an endless positive cycle of... destruction → repair and strengthening → destruction → repair and becoming even stronger...

In other words,

Mingren was now stronger than before!

[Strength... 7.4!]

At the sight of this,

Asuka, Shikahide Nara, and the others froze once more...

6. Black Will

"M-Monster!"

Seeing this,

the weakest Konoha ninja swallowed hard. He was also the youngest, only ten years old.

Mingren glanced at him.

Yet he saw a deep malice within him.

Dark Chakra was the power of the heart.

It was driven by emotions.

After receiving this jutsu formula, humanity's dark side was laid bare directly before Mingren.

"How many innocent people have you killed?"

Mingren stared at him with blazing eyes, his expression ice-cold.

"Ah~!"

He suddenly cried out in panic and hurled several kunai all at once.

Facing the weapons flying toward him,

Mingren stepped forward and attacked directly.

Squelch, squelch!

The kunai struck his body, spraying droplets of blood.

Yet Mingren paid no attention to his injuries. He stepped forward and extended his powerful right hand.

Crack!

He seized the man's neck and snapped it in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, the other man stopped breathing.

After taking one person down in a single strike, Mingren did not immediately attack again.

Because...

visible to the naked eye, wisps of black aura rose from the corpse in his hand.

They were the resentment of the dead before their final moments, their unwillingness to accept death, a collection of all sorts of Negative Emotions.

Perhaps in his previous life, such things would have been dismissed as superstition.

But in this world, where souls, Chakra, and Mental Energy existed...

Negative Emotions turning into energy was nothing unusual.

With a thought from Mingren,

that dark Negative Emotion was absorbed into his body, becoming nourishment for the Dark Chakra Jutsu!

The next moment...

[Strength... 7.5!]

The difference between strength 7 and strength 7.5 seemed small.

But in reality, the gap was immense.

In the Original Work,

the twenty-six-year-old Kakashi in Part One had strength 7 and could subdue both Demon Brothers in a single strike.

Asuma in Part One had strength 8 and could instantly kill a line of Otogakure Chunin in one blow, making a flashy entrance before Shikamaru.

With his strength raised to 7.5, Mingren now had enough power to kill a cow with one punch.

Dealing with a few Extra Chunin would be no problem.

Having completed the absorption and grown stronger once more, Mingren casually tossed aside the corpse in his hand and coldly looked toward Shikahide Nara and Tetsuya Senju, who was clutching his broken leg.

Both men were stunned by the scene before them.

"Secret technique... Shadow Binding Technique."

Sweat beaded on Shikahide Nara's forehead. The shadow extending beneath his feet caught Mingren during his momentary pause.

This secret technique

had been passed down through the Nara Clan for generations and was the foundation of their clan.

Now...

he had caught this monstrously strong guy with his shadow.

But Tetsuya Senju was injured and could no longer move.

Although Hanzo's Granddaughter was nearly out of strength...

the situation was unfavorable to their side no matter how he looked at it.

They could only... wait for Captain Kakashi to arrive.

"Waiting for Kakashi Hatake? He won't make it over. I used a little trick... It can't deal with Minato Namikaze, but trapping his disciple for a while won't be a problem."

Shennong, standing in the shadows, shrugged and laughed.

It seemed like a twisted sense of humor, yet also like a kind of... despair.

Hearing Shennong's words, Mingren's expression did not change in the slightest.

"Damn it...!"

The next moment, Shikahide Nara's body began to tremble.

Obviously,

the Shadow Binding Technique had limits in both duration and effectiveness.

Its duration was not yet a concern.

He could hold on for quite some time.

But his opponent was absurdly strong and was slowly increasing his force, trying to break free.

"Even Explosive Tags are useless... How are we supposed to deal with a monster like this?"

Perhaps their only chance was to wait for Captain Kakashi to arrive and use his powerful Chidori to kill this guy in a single strike.

So until then, he had to hold on.

Seeing this, Asuka immediately drew her weapon, wanting to help.

But Mingren stopped her with a single look.

Asuka: "!"

What kind of eyes were those?

Asuka believed that her black sclera and red pupils were already eerie enough.

Yet,

when she met those eyes burning with Black Flames, she could not help feeling wave after wave of alarm.

The will expressed in his gaze was so resolute.

Paired with those burning Black Flames, it was like... Black Will itself!

Like a black hole, drawing people in and devouring them...

After glancing at Asuka and stopping her with his eyes,

Asuka continued to exert force silently.

Whoosh!

As several fingers moved,

a pitch-black hurricane suddenly appeared.

This time, it differed from when he had absorbed the invisible Negative Emotion Mental Energy of others.

When the pitch-black Chakra hurricane appeared,

helplessness appeared in Shikahide Nara's eyes for the first time.

Smack!!

A loud slap cracked across Shikahide Nara's face.