Within Range, It's the Truth

Complaining aside, being able to wield nuclear energy was still a trump card.

Even if it couldn't save his life at a critical moment, he could at least strike back before dying and make Orochimaru suffer.

Besides, Uchiha Sora was confident that as long as he handled it properly, he could make good use of nuclear energy.

So Uchiha Sora bought it without hesitation.

"Ding! Congratulations, host. Purchase successful: Nuclear Fist!"

"A friendly reminder from the system: Ninjutsu may be rigid, but people are flexible. Put it to good use, and the results will be beyond imagination!"

As the prompt ended, Uchiha Sora realized that a new memory had indeed appeared in his mind, containing everything about Nuclear Fist.

His muscles had even formed a memory of it. He raised his hand instinctively, and a faint blue glow appeared in the depths of his palm.

The light was warm and gave off little heat. It bathed Uchiha Sora's whole body in blue, making for a rather "nuclear-harmonious" sight.

At the same time, Uchiha Sora felt a third of his chakra drain away, and he nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

"Whew! Nuclear energy... I never thought it would appear in the Ninja World. I just wonder how this little bit of nuclear energy compares to a Tailed Beast Bomb. Which one's stronger?"

Uchiha Sora was breathing a little heavily, afraid that one careless move might set off the nuclear energy.

"Let's try it now... If my idea is right and I can control it properly, I'll have a trump card!"

Uchiha Sora's eyes gleamed as he casually pulled out a bullet.

That's right. Uchiha Sora planned to load the nuclear energy into a bullet.

He wasn't using a grenade because he understood that no matter how strong his throwing arm was, he couldn't throw one three kilometers. If the blast radius covered its range, he'd still just be asking to die.

A bullet, by comparison, was faster and had a longer range. "Within range, it's the truth"—this was the perfect example.

Next, Uchiha Sora proceeded with extreme care. First, he used chakra to prime the bullet with a tiny spark, ensuring it could detonate properly.

Then he bored a small hole into the bullet's tip with chakra and carefully placed the faint blue nuclear energy inside.

Uchiha Sora didn't even dare breathe during the whole process. He was afraid that one shaky hand would make him the first ninja in Hokage history to die in a nuclear blast.

Who knew? Maybe future generations could even extract a trace of nuclear energy from his body.

Shaking his head, Uchiha Sora continued his careful work. Soon, beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

Fortunately, after half an incense stick's worth of cautious handling, a bullet glowing blue lay in his palm.

Success!

"Damn, I finally did it! It's only a tiny bit of nuclear energy, but if it detonates completely, the blast should be worth at least several hundred tons of TNT!"

As he spoke, Uchiha Sora hurriedly put it away in his storage space.

He knew this thing was radioactive. There was no way he was carrying it on his person!

With his trump card in hand, Uchiha Sora felt more confident. As he headed back to the village, he mentally assessed his current fighting strength.

"First, the Gatling Gun is my main weapon. I've got more than fifteen thousand bullets. By my calculations, if I fire without stopping, it should last about the time it takes to burn one incense stick."

"Under normal circumstances, that should be enough to take out a whole bunch of elite jonin... Then there are all the grenades, which will come in handy in close combat!"

"With my Sharingan, my current chakra reserves, and my Taijutsu, I should be able to unleash some impressive fighting strength!"

Uchiha Sora smiled confidently, sure he could handle the coming battle.

He knew full well that science wasn't the only thing behind his combat strength.

His Sharingan, the gunpowder chakra granted by the system, his near-elite-jonin-level chakra reserves, and the top-tier Taijutsu he'd trained whenever he had time—all of those added to his fighting strength!

Only when he combined them with scientific weapons at a critical moment could he bring out his full power!

That was what you called all-round development in virtue, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor.

Meanwhile, outside Konoha, on a secluded forest path,

a battered figure crawled out of the bushes. He reeked of charred flesh and looked as if he'd just been deep-fried. There wasn't a single patch of skin on his body that wasn't damaged.

He staggered along, shedding flakes of skin with every step. After a few more paces, he finally collapsed to the ground, too weak to move.

But a moment later, the corners of his mouth split open, and a brand-new body crawled out. Trailing a mass of slime, he struggled to his feet, his face still etched with fear.

It was none other than Orochimaru!

"Damn it! Are all the kids in Konoha this strong? Is every member of the Uchiha Clan a freak?"

Orochimaru still hadn't recovered. He was completely dazed.

He'd originally sneaked into Konoha for the simple purpose of stealing the Uchiha Clan's bloodline and raising a vessel for himself.

What was wrong with that?

But who could have guessed that Uchiha Sora would be such a freak? He'd held down Orochimaru with some unknown weapon and kept beating him!

Worse still, Orochimaru had never seen anything like it. He'd been caught completely off guard, and the ambush had blown him nearly to pieces.

The more Orochimaru thought about it, the angrier he got. He wanted to capture Uchiha Sora right then and there and study him.

"Damn it... What was that? Some kind of ninja tool, or a special ability awakened by that kid's Sharingan? It felt like he used chakra during the fight."

"But that tiny amount of chakra couldn't have caused such a terrifying explosion. What was it?!"

Orochimaru's eyes were bloodshot, and his greed only grew stronger.

He felt that Uchiha Sora seemed even more appealing than Sasuke.

"That kid has so much talent. Taking over his body seems like a better deal than Sasuke. Maybe I could gain that power too!"

"But I can't pull it off alone... I need to notify the organization at once and get them to push the plan forward!"

A short while later, outside Sunagakure, surrounded by endless yellow sand,

two mysterious figures stood wearing conical hats and black cloaks patterned with red clouds, their gazes cold.

One of them was Orochimaru.

"Deidara, are you sure Sunagakure agreed to work with you?"

Deidara pursed his lips, unconvinced.

"Of course. Sunagakure isn't united; they have traitors too. We've already reached an agreement... More importantly, you said that Uchiha kid was really that incredible? He can make you explode out of thin air?"

Orochimaru nodded bitterly.

"That's right. Even now, I still can't figure out how it worked. It was probably some kind of Sharingan technique..."

Before Orochimaru could finish, Deidara beside him grabbed his hand, excitement written all over his face!

"Really?! He can create art out of thin air! That's amazing! You have to take me to meet him!"

"No, wait... I'm going with you on this mission! I want to capture him alive. He's a talent with an artistic soul, just like me!"

Before he could finish, a cold voice came from behind them.