Strengthening the Meridian System

This was the fastest death he had ever experienced.

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

This time, he died in just over two hundred days—hunted down and then suffocated from a lack of oxygen.

Could the Byakugan and the meridian system actually be stacked?

Shimizu looked at the rewards for this run, feeling a slight sense of surprise.

He had drawn duplicate items many times 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 likely sublimate based on what he already possessed.

Just as the Sharingan had different levels, from one-tomoe to three-tomoe.

The Byakugan also had levels, referred to as purity, though this intermediate value didn't have a transitional stage like the Mangekyo of the Sharingan.

If the purity met the standard, it was a Tenseigan; if it didn't, it remained a Byakugan.

Simply stacking one Byakugan won't be enough.

In the movie The Last, Toneri Otsutsuki had to gather a massive pile of Byakugan to synthesize a single pair of Tenseigan.

If Shimizu chose the Byakugan now, he didn't know how much the purity would increase, but he estimated it would be like trying to put out a burning cart of firewood with a single cup of water.

Looking at it this way, I can only choose the meridian system. I choose the meridian system.

As for the final option, Moon Soil, Shimizu ignored it entirely.

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

[Meridian System (Self) has been issued...]

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

It was scorching, painful.

A burning sensation permeated his entire body; it felt as if boiling water, not blood, was flowing through his vessels.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

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

As the seconds ticked by, Shimizu could clearly feel his internal body undergoing a process of reorganization.

His meridian system was being lengthened, widened, and made tougher and more resilient.

Chakra flowed through his body with greater agility. Although the total amount hadn't increased by even a fraction, Shimizu felt that using his chakra was much easier than it had been before.

After nearly an hour, his body finally ceased its transformation. His skin returned to its normal color, and the mist dissipated into the air.

Whoosh!

Shimizu raised his index finger, attempting to emit chakra from it.

A surge of pale blue chakra instantly flooded the surface of his finger, appearing like a burning flame.

Chakra cloak?

Shimizu raised an eyebrow.

He had only condensed chakra at his index finger to test the transmission speed and the meridian system's effect on his acupoints.

As a result, the chakra had easily adhered to the skin of his finger, as if it were an extra layer of wrapping.

Chakra cloaks were quite common in the ninja world.

Susanoo was essentially a type of chakra cloak, merely projected outside the body and constructed into the image of a giant.

When Naruto used Nine-Tails chakra, that red wrapping—the Tailed Beast Mode—also belonged to the category of chakra cloaks.

The leaking chakra would solidify into the appearance of a demon fox to maintain a more stable form.

But my chakra doesn't have any special effects.

Under his conscious control, the chakra cloak on Shimizu's index finger gradually enveloped his entire palm.

From a distance, it looked as if it were made of blue flames, emitting a soft glow.

Susanoo could become more durable, and Tailed Beast Mode could increase attack power, defense, speed, and healing capabilities.

His chakra possessed no special attributes. Even if he wrapped it around himself, the effect was essentially the same as condensing chakra internally. Why go through the trouble of attaching it to his skin and letting the enemy notice?

Wait.

Shimizu's gaze sharpened. Ordinary chakra indeed had no effect, but what if he added nature transformation?

The Lightning Release Chakra Mode actually utilized the nature transformation of Lightning Release, wrapping powerful electricity around the body for offense or defense, enhancing the user's movement speed and providing formidable damage mitigation.

If he expanded his thinking further, what if he added medical chakra?

Would it activate the cells throughout his entire body, achieving an effect similar to the Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth?

The Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth required the use of the Strength of a Hundred Technique to release the chakra that had been accumulated day and night within the Yin Seal. Shimizu, however, could use it on the fly, and it wouldn't require wasting nearly as much chakra.

After all, no one knew how much time it took to accumulate enough chakra in the Yin Seal to use such a technique once.

What if he tried stacking Lightning Release chakra and medical chakra together?

With dual-activated cells, he possessed a hardened external defense while medical chakra constantly healed him from within.

With both his exterior and interior taken care of, unless a vital organ was damaged, the sheer thickness of his health pool made Shimizu feel a surge of excitement just thinking about it.

In that case, perhaps I've found a lead on my own body-refining method.

The Lightning Release Chakra Mode inevitably had an upper limit, dictated by an individual's limited capacity to withstand chakra—or, more accurately, the limited strength of their meridian system.

When Sasuke used Chidori in a fit of rage, his own skin was ravaged by the backlash of the lightning, literally tearing away.

Since Shimizu's meridian system was twice that of an ordinary person's, would the upper limit for body-refining via Lightning Release Chakra also increase twofold?

Let's focus on the Fire Body Flicker first.

Shimizu shook his head. For the past few days, he had been finding excuses to seek out Kakashi and secretly learn the Hatake Style Kenjutsu.

He was now making headway on the Fire Body Flicker as well; the specific execution routes of those meridian systems had provided him with great inspiration.

Perhaps in a few more days, he would be able to bring the Fire Body Flicker into existence a year ahead of schedule.

Because his insight had increased, his progress in learning through observation had accelerated, making him even more formidable than the future deduced within the Simulator.

Several days later.

At the home of Fugaku Uchiha.

In the brightly lit living room, Fugaku frowned as he looked at Shimizu.

Last night, he had used that ocular technique and witnessed the dark future of the Uchiha Clan!

A man with unique eyes had brought about destruction; Mikoto lay prostrate at his feet, plunged into the abyss.

The Hidden Leaf Village and the Uchiha Clan were nothing but ruins, the roars of men and the wails of women intertwined.

This outcome filled Fugaku with an intense sense of crisis; it seemed that both the Hidden Leaf Village and the Uchiha were facing an impending catastrophe.

Yet, no matter how hard Fugaku tried, he could not make out the face of that man with the strange eyes; he could only see those terrifying orbs.

Embedded within the scarlet pupils were six white tomoe with golden edges, constantly rotating and shifting, seemingly devoid of a fixed form.

This was not a Mangekyo Sharingan. Fugaku was certain of it; it had to be some rare bloodline limit in the ninja world that he had never encountered before.

When he increased his ocular power, attempting to see the future more clearly and determine how many years away this event was, the man's scarlet pupils seemed to flicker. Fugaku's Mangekyo Sharingan instantly bled tears of blood, his ocular power overdrawn to the point where he couldn't even maintain his Sharingan, reverting to his normal eyes.