"How could there be such a massive surge of chakra? And what was that thunderous sound just now?"
The ninja clans in Kirigakure had already sensed the battle raging in the Kaguya Clan's territory. Now and then, someone poked their head out to check what was happening, but the moment they saw the Kirigakure shinobi on guard in the streets, they hurried back into their clan compounds.
At this stage, the Mizukage's authority in Kirigakure could not be challenged.
No matter how the fighting on the front lines was going, Shisui Uchiha had already achieved part of his objective.
On the top floor of the Mizukage Building, in a heavily guarded underground chamber, six Kaguya Clan elites were bound in front of Shisui. Each had a Shikotsumyaku development level of at least 50%.
The ropes binding them were no ordinary restraints. Every length was covered in talismans that sealed chakra, ensuring that the captives could not use their chakra to escape.
Under normal circumstances, Eye Technique: Yamata could only be used on targets whose bloodline development was lower than the user's. Combined with the bloodline loss during the plundering process, this meant Shisui could only effectively improve his own Shikotsumyaku development by targeting those whose Shikotsumyaku was more developed than his.
"Those eyes of yours—they're Sharingan. You're from the Uchiha Clan. Why are you here?"
"You're not the man who called himself Uchiha Madara. You're much younger than he is. Tell us, why did you tie us up and bring us here?"
They were afraid, naturally. Anyone who could enter the Mizukage Building and abduct them had to be backed by a powerful force.
They weren't wrong. Shisui had the whole of Kirigakure behind him.
"The more you know, the faster you die." Shisui had no interest in answering a bunch of dead men. All his attention was fixed on his left eye.
[Potential target detected: Taketori Sankyu, Shikotsumyaku development: 50%]
[Potential target detected: Taketori Ichibo, Shikotsumyaku development: 55%]
[Potential target detected: Taketori...]
Facing six targets at once put considerable pressure on Shisui.
Even with one of Orochimaru's concoctions left to replenish his ocular power, he couldn't be sure nothing would go wrong during the bloodline-plundering process.
In the end, Shisui chose the safest approach. Starting with the one whose bloodline was least developed, he used Eye Technique: Yamata on them one by one.
"What are you doing? Aah... Aah... Aah!"
Under the immense ocular power of the Mangekyo in Shisui's left eye, Taketori Sankyu's eyeballs burst first. The unknown tissue inside them was broken down and expelled, leaving behind only the tiny essence within the eyes that carried the bloodline's power.
Next came Sankyu's entire head, then his neck and torso, before the process spread to his limbs.
Taketori Sankyu was gradually stripped down from a whole person, his skin and tendons pulled apart. Beneath the shattered tissue, drops of blood infused with Shikotsumyaku's power were continuously purified, their impurities removed.
His various organs were broken down into tiny particles. The black particles were expelled, leaving behind only the purest red ones.
The purified essence then fused together, forming an even purer bloodline essence.
To the other members of the Kaguya Clan, it looked as if Taketori Sankyu had been disassembled alive.
Even as his heart was broken down, it continued to beat strongly.
The horrifying sight shattered their strained nerves.
"What are you doing, you devil?!"
"I don't know anything! Please, let me go!"
"You ate Sankyu! You actually ate him, you evil god..."
To them, Yamata's method of directly breaking down flesh and organs looked just like the man-eating of an evil god from legend.
"Please, don't kill me like that."
Cries of terror, curses, and pleas filled the dark chamber.
Shisui chose to ignore them.
[Shikotsumyaku development: 11%, 12%, 13%...]
In the end, after Eye Technique: Yamata had finished, Shisui's Shikotsumyaku development level stopped at 22%.
"Only a 12% increase? This plundering efficiency is nowhere near as good as the growth from the Indra Bloodline..."
Shisui tried to activate the Shikotsumyaku within him. To his disappointment, a development level of 22% only allowed him to control some of the bones inside his body. He still couldn't extend his bones outside his body and use them to attack.
"It seems that aside from the Indra Bloodline I was born with, plundering other kinds of bloodlines with an eye technique is much harder."
The more often he used Eye Technique: Yamata, the more of its limitations he discovered. It wasn't nearly as perfect as he'd once imagined.
"Even so, it's a great asset." Shisui wasn't discouraged. He knew that strength couldn't be gained overnight, especially through a method as defiant of nature as his.
Everything had to face unimaginable difficulties on the way from "0" to "1."
Feeling the Shikotsumyaku growing stronger within him, Shisui was surprised to find that as its development increased, not only did his physical strength improve, but his body also began feeding a surge of pure chakra back to his left eye. This chakra was actually repairing the damage to his eye, restoring its ocular power at a rate he could feel!
"What's going on?!" Shisui was both startled and delighted by this phenomenon. But with so little information at hand, he couldn't determine what was really causing it.
"But this might explain why, when I used Yamata earlier, my body also craved those bloodline essences so intensely." At first, Shisui had even worried that fusing other people's bloodlines might have harmful side effects.
Though the Uchiha Clan's bloodline excelled in spiritual power, spiritual power still needed a body to depend on. A person's spirit and body were inseparable.
Without a body, the spirit had nowhere to reside. And without a soul, the body was just an empty shell.
The two depended on and complemented each other.
"Could improving my Shikotsumyaku development make my body more complete? And could that physical enhancement also feed back into my spiritual power, thereby improving my ocular power?" Following this line of thought, Shisui continued to speculate.
"To some extent, every bloodline limit in the Shinobi World traces back to the Otsutsuki Clan. In other words, whether it's the Indra Bloodline or Shikotsumyaku, both originate from the bloodline of the Otsutsuki Clan. As my Shikotsumyaku development increases, combined with the Indra Bloodline already inside me, could the bloodlines in my body be reverting to their ancestral state?"
Bloodline reversion. What a maddening theory.
Shisui was surprised to find that his hypothesis actually fit the basic logic.
If it was right, he might have discovered a path no one had ever walked before.
With that thought, Shisui looked eagerly at the five remaining Kaguya Clan members.
"Devil, stay back! Don't come near me!"
"I don't want to die like that! Somebody, save me!"
Unfortunately, the Shinobi World had always been a place where the strong preyed on the weak.
"Eye Technique: Yamata."
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