[Lottery started]
As before, countless figures flashed across the interface.
When the final result appeared, Xuanye looked utterly stunned.
She had neat, short, light-brown hair and a look that combined boyish spirit with a girl's charm.
Despite dressing like a wealthy young lady, she showed none of the usual delicacy. She was more like a bright, blazing bolt of lightning.
Xuanye found it oddly fitting. Had visiting Mikoto before coming here somehow led him to draw Tokiwadai's Electric Princess?
[Lottery complete. Selected character: Misaka Mikoto] [Ability acquired: Electromaster (Lv5)]
Railgun was merely Misaka Mikoto's nickname, as well as a playful reference to her signature move of launching coins.
In truth, her powers were extraordinary. She could control all kinds of electricity-related phenomena, far beyond simply discharging electricity.
She could manipulate magnetic fields, infiltrate networks, create Electromagnetic Barriers, guide the electrical currents in her body, and even summon lightning from the heavens to change the weather.
A Level 5 esper was, by definition, a superhuman who could fight a modern army without losing ground.
The moment a power of that caliber merged with Xuanye, it adapted completely to his body and transformed into Lightning Release Chakra.
Blue-white arcs now danced across Uchiha Genya's entire body, making him look like a novice ninja who had lost control of his power.
The immense electrical power acted like a catalyst when it merged with his Chakra.
Lightning Release Chakra kept spilling out of him. The Chakra within him surged as though a stone had been thrown into a still lake, stirring it into towering waves.
Awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan had already caused Xuanye's Chakra reserves to soar to Kage Level.
Now they multiplied again, vaulting beyond Kage Level and continuing to rise.
As Uchiha Genya felt the vast electrical power inside him, violent lightning even flashed in his eyes.
Though the sudden surge left him struggling to control his power, Xuanye still wanted to laugh out loud.
The increase had done far more than expand his Chakra reserves. Watching blue sparks leap across his hand, Xuanye had a sudden feeling.
Any Lightning Release technique he used now would be far stronger than before, and he would no longer need Hand Seals to cast it.
The electrical power in his body was enough to fuel any Lightning Release technique.
Clap his hands, and whatever technique he wanted would come—not just Wood Release.
Anyone who mastered a power to its utmost limit could do the same.
As Xuanye's strength soared, Musō Isshin grew restless within him, steadily absorbing his immense Lightning Release Chakra.
Though it was unflattering to admit, Musō Isshin had never truly accepted Xuanye at first.
How could a frail human body wield the divine weapon of a true god?
The Thoughtless Blade he had unleashed before had not represented Musō Isshin's limit. It had been Xuanye's.
Even then, he had only managed it by using Saha World to turn illusion into reality, temporarily transforming Susanoo into the Evil Radiance Shadow-Facing Heavenly Demon.
But now, Musō Isshin seemed to be beginning to accept him.
As long as he let Musō Isshin absorb enough Lightning Release Chakra in ordinary times, Xuanye could just barely draw on the blade's power when it mattered, without going all out.
The system really did understand him. Every reward was perfectly timed, generous, and tempting.
Still, after drawing lightning-related characters twice in a row, Xuanye wondered whether he was destined to follow this path to the bitter end.
But so what? There was nothing wrong with that.
Strengthening every aspect of himself would be nice, but taking one path to its end could bring him to the pinnacle too.
In excellent spirits, Xuanye ignored the fact that all of Konoha had been mobilized. He pulled up his blanket and slept soundly.
After a night of cleanup, Konoha had temporarily regained order. The wounded had received treatment and been settled in suitable places.
But the wounds left by the Night of the Nine-Tails had sunk deep into the great tree that was Konoha.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Konoha's other leaders had not slept all night. Many clan heads looked exhausted too.
Even so, once the ruins left by the Nine-Tails had been roughly cleared, they all gathered in the Hokage Building's conference room for a meeting of the jonin.
Strictly speaking, calling in every jonin was rare. Usually, summoning the clan heads and department leaders was enough to resolve most of Konoha's problems.
Most clan jonin had no need to attend such meetings. Once they returned to their clans, someone would pass the details along.
But what had happened in Konoha the previous night was too grave. The Nine-Tails had broken free, and the Fourth Hokage and his wife had died in battle.
Konoha had lost two vital pillars of its strategic deterrence in a single night.
Even Orochimaru, who had not appeared in public for a long time, had come to the Hokage Building's conference room. He watched the worried faces around him with a smile.
Orochimaru seemed thoroughly uninterested. Clearly, if Sarutobi Hiruzen had not dragged him here, he would never have bothered with the meeting.
And yet...
Orochimaru glanced toward the Uchiha.
The Uchiha had more than ten jonin, accounting for a tenth of all the jonin in Konoha.
And Uchiha jonin were renowned fighters. Their clan alone could be said to make up a quarter of Konoha's top-level strength.
What truly surprised him, though, was the Uchiha's attitude now.
Every one of them, including their clan head Fugaku, sat obediently behind Xuanye, backs straight and expressions solemn.
Apart from Fugaku and Shisui, the others looked at Xuanye with fervor in their eyes.
Their gazes seemed to say that if Xuanye led them in rebellion right now, they would draw their blades against every jonin present, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered.
Only one thing could inspire such fervor in so many Uchiha: overwhelming power.
Orochimaru was not alone in watching the Uchiha Family. The others kept glancing their way too, plainly shaken by what they had seen the night before.
As expected of one of the two great clans that had laid Konoha's foundations, the Uchiha had still been hiding power like that.
It was terrifying.
When victory was impossible, no amount of political maneuvering mattered.
Now that the Uchiha possessed enough power to destroy Konoha, they deserved a position above its ordinary affairs.
The enormous scar stretching nearly a kilometer through the forest outside the village was enough to make most ambitious people abandon every thought they should not have entertained.