The Ascension Plan

On the other side, Yayoi began today's experiments as well.

No matter what, the white mice always died after being corroded by Dragon Blood. Small animals couldn't withstand its corrosive effects.

The Artificial Deadpool Plan required other organisms to serve as test subjects, so Yayoi had set it aside for the time being.

That left the Uchiha Gene to study. Later, he would also research the Hyuga Clan's genes.

After thinking it over, Yayoi decided to create three Shadow Clones to begin researching the Uchiha Gene.

He himself went to a reinforced room.

Steel plates covered the walls. The bedroom had also been reinforced with special materials, and there was a small window.

Yayoi decided to experiment with Word Spirits to explore the secrets of the elements.

Yes, this world also had elements. They existed in everything.

Without a medium, they could never be put to use.

Yayoi wanted to study the elements and learn about the power of the Dragon Kings, who wielded authority over them.

More than that, he wanted to wield that authority himself!

But for now, it seemed certain to be a long and tedious process.

There was still a great deal Yayoi needed to do before he could wield something as distant as that authority.

Even deciphering Word Spirits, the language of the Dragon Clan, would take a great deal of time.

Word Spirits were the language dragons used to control the elements. They were commands. If Yayoi wanted to wield authority over the elements, deciphering Word Spirits and Dragon Script was essential.

He called this grand plan to wield all authority—

the Ascension Plan.

It would have been utterly impossible in his old world. But in this Naruto world, where chakra was a universal energy, there was at least a glimmer of hope.

He would wield all authority, strengthen the Ten-Tails bloodline within him to its peak, and see if he could devour the Ten-Tails, pushing both sources of power to their utmost limits.

This was a new Path to Godhood. The Ascension Plan was Yayoi's ambition.

First, he used his Mirror Eye to transcribe the Wind King Eye.

A breeze quickly swirled around him. The Wind Flow gradually expanded, drawing out the oxygen as a small tornado began to form around Yayoi.

He did his best to control the tornado's size, keeping it within manageable limits.

When he released the Word Spirit, he could clearly sense the Wind Element howling and feel the resonance between the Dragon Script and the elements.

Dragon Script was the switch that activated the elements.

Yayoi tried to draw the elements into his body. As they circled around him, he used chakra to capture them.

But soon, his expression twisted in pain, and blood began to seep from his body.

Only after expelling the elements from his body did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He silently made a note: elements were not suitable for storage.

Elemental power was different from chakra. It was an energy that existed everywhere—at least, everywhere in the Ninja World.

He couldn't use it by storing it the way he did chakra.

What Yayoi had just put himself through proved that completely.

The Wind Element had turned into countless fine Wind Blades, slicing into his body.

It was violent. If he wanted to draw it into himself, he would have to suppress its rampage every moment.

It would be better to command the elements whenever he needed them, just as he did with Word Spirits.

After finishing his experiment, Yayoi went back to the laboratory.

He turned on the computer and recorded his experimental data in a mixture of Chinese and English.

The Ascension Plan

1. Complete the Uchiha Gene

2. Decipher Dragon Script

3. Collect Tailed Beast chakra

4. Research Senjutsu (priority)

The first step was to make up for the deficiencies in his own Divine Tree Bloodline. That was beyond question.

The second step was key to wielding authority over the elements.

The third was to collect the pieces of the Ten-Tails. Although the Ten-Tails inside him wasn't the real thing, there might be an unexpected bonus.

The fourth was something he needed to work on soon. He would have to research it.

Senjutsu was a very mysterious subject.

It mainly involved absorbing Natural Energy. In the original story, one had to go to the Three Great Sage Regions to learn from the Three Sages.

This step wasn't about completing some kind of puzzle. It was a trump card Yayoi hoped to find so he could survive on the battlefield.

That made it his top priority. After all, he estimated that the two bloodlines wouldn't run out of control for at least another five years.

By then, he'd have graduated a year ago and already gone through a stint on the battlefield.

If he died there, the grandest plan in the world would be worthless.

So he was quite interested in anything that could significantly increase his strength.

"How to draw in Natural Energy—that's a subject worth studying."

Yayoi wrote it down. This was his main research focus for now.

"Yan, how have you been doing at school?"

The old man's expression was kind and gentle. Even with a vicious scar on his chin, Yan wasn't afraid of him at all.

He was Elder Hyuga of the Uchiha Clan, a man who had survived the Warring States period.

At that moment, he spoke as tenderly as if she were his own child.

In a way, she was. Yan's parents and relatives had all died on the battlefield.

The old man's older brother had been Yan's grandfather. Now Yan was his only family.

Like a remnant of the old era, he lived in the vast Konoha Village, often feeling wistful and as though he were a lone boat drifting through a downpour.

A thin thread was all that connected him to Konoha.

That thread was his older brother's granddaughter, his own little granddaughter—Yan.

Yan had been clever from a young age, and her talent was exceptional. Her hair, inherited from a powerful member of their line, only strengthened his belief that she would lead the Uchiha to greatness.

But times had changed. Alas...

"Look at me, forgetting everything. It's raining today, and I didn't even go to pick you up."

The old man felt deeply guilty.

"It's all right, Second Grandfather. Miyoshi-kun walked me home."

Yan shook her head.

"It's not your fault, Second Grandfather."

"Was it that Senju boy?"

"It was Uesugi,"

Yan corrected him.

"Not a Senju?"

The old man wasn't convinced. He had seen Yan's so-called friend from afar.

His keen instincts had told him the boy wasn't ordinary. Once, after Yan left school, he had secretly followed them and confirmed that something was indeed off about him.

He knew Yan's talent well, yet she could only fight him to a standstill.

The boy could easily overpower Yan in taijutsu, and his chakra reserves were just as immense, as if they would never run dry.

All the signs suggested he was a Senju. But since his granddaughter said he wasn't, then he wasn't.

As he'd said before, times had changed.

He could feel that the Konoha of today might no longer be the village built by the Uchiha and Senju of old.

The Senju had vanished from sight, while the Uchiha were at the height of their power.

On the surface, they were Konoha's foremost clan, but public opinion of them kept declining.

As a Uchiha, he didn't care about the opinions of civilians or small ninja clans, but with age came concerns.

He had set aside his Uchiha pride and realized the problem: because of their power over the Security Force, the Uchiha had become the village's outcasts.

In all of Konoha Village, there was no place for the Uchiha to belong. Only within the clan compound did they feel at home.

The higher-ups watched them like hawks, while their own arrogance and prejudice made it impossible for the Uchiha to fully integrate into the village.