Enhancing the Chakra Network

This was the quickest he had ever died.

The first time he used the Simulator, he had at least managed to survive for nearly a year.

This time, he died after just over two hundred days—hunted down and suffocated.

"Could the Byakugan and the chakra network actually stack?"

Shimizu looked at the rewards from this run, feeling a little surprised.

He had drawn plenty of duplicate items before, but this was the first time he had drawn a duplicate Kekkei Genkai.

Shimizu guessed that if he chose the Byakugan now, it would evolve from its current state.

Like the Sharingan, which had different levels, from One-Tomoe to Three-Tomoe.

The Byakugan had levels too, measured by purity, but purity had no intermediate stage like the Mangekyō Sharingan.

If its purity reached the threshold, it became the Tenseigan. If not, it remained the Byakugan.

"Just stacking another Byakugan won't be enough."

In THELAST, Otsutsuki Toneri had gathered a huge number of Byakugan before combining them into a pair of Tenseigan.

If Shimizu chose the Byakugan now, he didn't know how much its purity would improve, but he guessed the difference would be negligible.

"Looks like I can only choose the chakra network. I choose the chakra network."

Shimizu ignored the last option, Moon Soil.

What would he do with dirt from the moon? Become a scientist?

[Chakra network (self) has been granted...]

As the voice faded, Shimizu felt as if his entire body had been plunged into boiling magma.

Heat. Pain.

A burning sensation spread through his whole body. It felt as if boiling water, not blood, were flowing through his veins.

Sizzle, sizzle...

Shimizu's skin turned dark red, and mist like steam billowed from his body.

As the seconds passed, he could clearly feel something inside him being restructured.

His chakra network stretched, widened, and grew more resilient and sturdy.

Chakra flowed through his body much faster. Its quantity hadn't increased at all, but Shimizu found it much easier to use than before.

Nearly an hour passed before his body finally stopped changing. His skin returned to its normal color, and the mist dissipated into the air.

Whoosh!

Shimizu raised his index finger and tried to release chakra from its tip.

A surge of pale-blue chakra instantly flowed over the surface of his finger, like a blazing flame.

"A Chakra Cloak?"

Shimizu raised an eyebrow.

He had only gathered chakra at his fingertip to test its transmission speed and see how the chakra network affected his tenketsu.

But the chakra had effortlessly clung to the skin of his finger, like an extra layer wrapped around it.

Chakra Cloaks were common in the Ninja World.

Susanoo was essentially a kind of Chakra Cloak, except it projected the chakra outside the body and shaped it into a giant.

When Naruto used Nine-Tails Chakra, the red layer that enveloped him during his Tailed Beast Transformation was also a Chakra Cloak.

Leaked chakra would solidify into the shape of a demon fox to maintain a more stable form.

"But my chakra doesn't have any special properties."

Under Shimizu's control, the Chakra Cloak around his index finger gradually spread over his whole hand.

From a distance, it looked like blue flames, glowing brightly.

Susanoo could become more durable, while Tailed Beast Transformation could boost attack power, defense, speed, healing, and more.

His chakra had no special properties. Even if he coated himself with it, the result would be much the same as simply gathering chakra inside his body. Why go to the trouble of laying it over his skin and letting his enemies notice?

"No, wait."

Shimizu's gaze sharpened. Ordinary chakra might have no effect, but what if he added Chakra Nature Transformation?

Lightning Release Chakra Mode used the nature transformation of Lightning Style, wrapping the body in powerful lightning to attack or defend, while boosting the user's movement speed and ability to withstand damage.

Taking the idea further, what if he added Medical Chakra?

Could it activate every cell in his body and produce an effect similar to the Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth?

The Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth required the Strength of a Hundred Technique to release the chakra that had been continuously stored in the Yin Seal, day and night. Shimizu could simply use chakra as needed, without wasting nearly as much.

After all, no one knew how long the Yin Seal had to store chakra before it could fuel the technique once.

What if he also tried stacking Lightning Release Chakra and Medical Chakra together?

His cells would be doubly activated, with a solid defense on the outside and Medical Chakra constantly healing him within.

His whole body would be protected. Unless he took damage to a vital spot, just imagining how much punishment he could take made Shimizu feel a surge of excitement.

"Maybe this gives me a direction for my physical training, too."

Lightning Release Chakra Mode must have a limit, because a person's body could only withstand so much chakra. In other words, the limit depended on the strength of their chakra network.

When Sasuke used Chidori in a fit of rage, the lightning had even ravaged his skin, tearing it right off.

Shimizu's chakra network was twice as large as other people's. Would that mean his limit for strengthening his body with Lightning Release Chakra would also double?

"First, I should work on Fire Body Flicker."

Shimizu shook his head. These past few days, he had been going to Kakashi whenever he had the chance to secretly learn the Hatake Style Kenjutsu.

He had also made some headway in researching Fire Body Flicker. The specific pathways through the chakra network had given him plenty of inspiration.

Perhaps in a few more days, he could bring Fire Body Flicker into existence a whole year earlier.

His insight had improved, and he was learning faster through observation. He was already surpassing the future the Simulator had predicted.

A few days later.

At the Uchiha Fugaku residence.

In the bright living room, Fugaku watched Shimizu with a frown.

The night before, he had used that ocular technique and seen the Uchiha Clan's dark future!

A man with strange eyes had brought destruction. Mikoto had been groveling at his feet, plunged into an abyss.

The Uchiha Clan and Konoha lay in ruins everywhere. The man's roars mingled with the women's cries of anguish.

The vision filled Fugaku with a powerful sense of crisis. It seemed that both the Hidden Leaf Village and the Uchiha were about to face a calamity.

But no matter how hard he tried, Fugaku couldn't make out the strange-eyed man's face. He could only see those terrifying eyes.

Six white tomoe were embedded in his scarlet pupils, edged in gold. They kept spinning and shifting, as if they had no fixed form.

Fugaku was certain they weren't Mangekyō Sharingan. They had to be some rare Kekkei Genkai from the Ninja World, one he had never heard of before.

When he increased the power of his eyes, trying to see the future more clearly and learn how many years away it was,

the man's scarlet eyes seemed to flash. Blood tears streamed from Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan. His ocular power was exhausted, and he couldn't even maintain his Sharingan; his eyes reverted to their normal state.