Elements and Alchemy

Uchiha Clan Territory

An uninhabited, unapproached border zone.

This was Uchiha land, yet the Uchiha seemed to have abandoned it.

Now, in a slightly repaired house, Miyoshi was here.

He was attempting to study Sage Art.

Sage Art training was extremely difficult; even a large clan like the Uchiha had only sparse records.

Natural Energy was elusive and hard to track—it existed in nature yet wandered between heaven and earth.

To capture Natural Energy, one had to merge oneself with the world.

Innocent Heart.

Chakra and Natural Energy mixed in proportion required preventing Natural Energy from going out of control, with the risk of mutation.

A very vague answer left Miyoshi at a loss, scratching his head.

Innocent Heart—might as well just block him outright.

Having fused Dragon Blood and awakened the Divine Tree Bloodline, he wasn't exactly violent on a daily basis, but his heart was definitely never still.

Wanting him to achieve an Innocent Heart was like waiting for Natural Energy to be absorbed by him on its own.

But considering the limitations of his predecessors, Miyoshi felt there had to be methods they hadn't thought of.

Given that Sage Art was currently out of reach, Miyoshi decided to first study Dragon Script and elements, hoping to gain insight by analogy.

First, Miyoshi considered the similarities between elements and Natural Energy.

Both wandered through heaven and earth, both were energies ordinary people couldn't use.

However, comparing the two, there might be some connection between Natural Energy and Chakra, though it was uncertain.

He first used Mirror Eye to transcribe the Wind King Eye, chanting Dragon Script to trigger elemental resonance.

Under the guidance and control of Dragon Script, the elements gradually formed a weak tornado.

Miyoshi once again felt the presence of elements—Wind Elements, like spirits in the breeze, roamed through nature.

Miyoshi tried again to absorb Wind Elements, but this time he was prepared, taking in only a very tiny amount.

Once inside his body, the Wind Elements, losing the guidance of Dragon Script, began to turn into fine Wind Blades, scattering in all directions.

Tiny beads of blood seeped from Miyoshi's skin. He endured the pain, patiently experiencing the power of the elements.

Because the amount of elements was so small this time, they dissipated within Miyoshi's body and returned to nature without him even needing to actively release them.

"Elements."

Miyoshi patiently comprehended the sensation of the elements from appearance to disappearance, recording the process with Mirror Eye.

"Elements don't dissolve into the human body. So what does Natural Energy feel like?

Mixed with Chakra, what makes elements and Chakra different is the variable of Chakra."

Time passed quickly. Miyoshi spent every day pondering how to guide Natural Energy like elements.

Just then, Yan arrived with good news—the things Miyoshi had asked her to buy were ready.

Speaking of Yan, they hadn't seen each other for a week.

At school, it seemed she had taken leave at the same time as him, though he didn't know what she was up to.

Still, Miyoshi had some guesses—probably dragged off for special training by her Second Grandfather.

Because during that time, Yan had come once, and they had a rare sparring match.

This time, without using Word Spirit, Miyoshi found himself somewhat no match for Yan.

This time was no exception—they were evenly matched, but Yan held the absolute upper hand.

"Two Tomoe?"

Watching Yan's sharp movements, as if she could foresee everything, Miyoshi helplessly spread his hands and conceded.

"Guessed right—it's the Two Tomoe Sharingan."

Yan tied up her hair, openly showing off her Two Tomoe Sharingan.

In her blood-red pupils, two black tomoe patterns slowly rotated, beautiful and dangerous.

"The Sharingan evolved—did something happen?"

Miyoshi understood the conditions for the Uchiha Sharingan's evolution.

It was emotional fluctuation. But Yan—forgive him—he really couldn't think of anything recent that would make her angry.

"It's not Miyoshi-kun making me mad. It's that Second Grandfather has been keeping me from seeing Miyoshi-kun lately."

As if guessing what Miyoshi was about to say, Yan puffed out her cheeks, looking just like a little dango.

"This time, I came to deliver something to Miyoshi-kun."

"Mercury refined from Cinnabar, a small piece of Chakra Conductive Metal, Pure Gold, and metal materials."

Yan bit her finger, formed hand seals, and summoned an orange kitten.

The orange kitten had a large bundle behind it. As soon as it appeared, it dropped the bundle and happily ran to Yan's feet, meowing.

"I know, I know."

Yan smiled, taking out a dried fish to feed it.

Miyoshi-kun, meanwhile, opened the bundle the ninja cat had brought and checked the items he needed.

These were, of course, not equipment for researching Sage Arts, but consumables for analyzing and experimenting with Alchemical Circuits.

He wanted to experiment by carving the Dragon Script he had analyzed onto materials.

That way, he might find a way to deeply analyze Dragon Script, and thereby discover or create a Dragon Script suitable for guiding Natural Energy.

"I'm really happy today. Miyoshi-kun, you need to work hard too, or I'll leave you far behind."

Yan smiled, two small dimples appearing on her face as she spoke to him.

"That won't happen. I won't let you leave me behind."

Miyoshi-kun also smiled as he replied.

Analyzing Dragon Script was extremely difficult. Miyoshi-kun had tried to analyze it before, but in the end, he still failed, wasting a lot of time in the process.

But it wasn't entirely without gain. He discovered the structure of Dragon Script—that is, its model.

It was firmly fixed by three layers of structure, stacked and interwoven, forming a complete Word Spirit.

For example, the inner layer of the Word Spirit—Mirror Eye—was analysis and memory.

The middle part was composed of Dragon Script for control and information processing.

The outer layer was the transcription and replication manifestation of Mirror Eye.

And then there was Wind King Eye.

Its inner layer was a Dragon Script named Whirl.

The middle part was Dragon Script that guided the Wind Element and controlled the amount of Wind Element.

The outermost layer was Dragon Script for diffusion and release.

Miyoshi-kun tried to analyze it with Mirror Eye, but the time required was very long. In the past, he could only activate Mirror Eye for a few minutes, making it completely impossible.

Each Dragon Script required a long time to analyze.

Yet, in the fragmented time of nearly three years, Miyoshi-kun still used those brief moments to analyze.

Not a single day's time was wasted.

And now, he had finally managed to analyze it.

After long deliberation, weighing practicality against computation time, he ultimately chose the middle part of Wind King Eye.

Carefully peeling away the Dragon Script structure took a year.

Then, going all out, he ran Mirror Eye at full power to analyze this part of the Dragon Script. After finishing his research on elements yesterday, he finally completed the analysis.

After seeing Yan off, Miyoshi-kun first took a small piece of Chakra Conductive Metal.

He tested its properties.

As the name implied, Chakra Conductive Metal could conduct chakra, which would undoubtedly greatly enhance a ninja's combat power.

The question Miyoshi-kun pondered was whether he could, while maintaining chakra conductivity, forge a Chakra Sword that could also guide the power of the Wind Element.