Life-Eye Soul Crystal and the System's Surge

When the sky began to lighten, Tsunade got to her feet.

Her movements were far more brisk than they had been at night. Most of the alcohol had worn off. Though her head was still a little dizzy, some clarity had returned to her amber eyes.

En crouched beside the nearly extinguished campfire, poking at the ashes with a stick.

"Take that coat." He pointed at the faded old coat lying on the ground two meters away.

Tsunade looked down at her loose collar, clicked her tongue, then bent down and picked up the coat, casually draping it over her shoulders.

"Kid."

"Yeah."

"What was your name again?"

"Uchiha En."

"En..." Tsunade repeated the name, the corner of her mouth curling up. "The En for flame?"

"The En for scorching heat."

"Close enough."

She stood there, looking down at En. Morning light filtered through gaps in the canopy, casting flecks of gold across her face.

"About tonight." Tsunade's tone suddenly changed, turning heavy. It was no longer the muddled voice of a drunkard, but the pressure of one of the Sannin—though she released only a trace of it, the hairs on En's back still stood on end. "Not a word of this leaves this place."

"I can't even be bothered to tell people where I live. Who has the time to spread rumors about you? Please keep my matters secret too."

"Still got a sharp tongue. Fine, we'll call it an exchange of secrets."

Tsunade rummaged through her pockets. First, she pulled out two empty bottle caps, a crumpled betting slip, and half a dango that had been sitting there for who knew how long—then her fingers touched something.

Her expression changed slightly.

It was a subtle change. Not hesitation, but more like a carefree, Whatever, why not?

Her hand emerged from her pocket, pinching a crystalline object between her fingertips.

It was the size of a thumbnail. It gave off a warm golden glow, with incredibly fine patterns flowing across its surface like a sunrise shrunk ten thousand times.

The moment En's Observation Haki touched the energy radiating from the crystal, his entire sensory network buzzed.

The life force contained within it was so rich that his Magma-Magma Fruit instinctively resonated with it.

"Catch."

Tsunade flicked the crystal toward En.

En reflexively raised a hand and caught it. The instant his fingers touched its surface, a warm current shot from his palm into his arm, burned along his meridians to his shoulder, then spread through his entire body.

It felt good.

Too good.

Like the first second of soaking in a hot spring during winter.

"This is—"

"Yang Release Chakra Crystal." With her back to him and her hands in her pockets, Tsunade spoke as casually as if she were saying the weather was nice. "One of the treasures my grandfather left behind. I was planning to bet it at a casino anyway. If I lost it, so be it."

She tilted her head and shot En a sidelong glance.

"Consider it payment for keeping me company while I drank all night. If you dare tell anyone about tonight—"

She raised one finger.

"One word, one bone. I'll break one bone for every word you say. You've got 206 bones in your body, enough for you to say two hundred and six words."

"I won't." En clenched the crystal tightly.

"Good boy."

Tsunade waved a hand. With one shift of her feet, her figure blurred into the morning mist.

After taking seven or eight steps, she stopped again.

She did not turn back.

"Kid."

"Yeah."

"The things you said—about protecting people, about things being fair or unfair."

The wind blew her long golden hair to one side.

"...They were nice to hear."

Her voice was soft, so soft that it was almost scattered by the wind.

Then she left.

Her figure vanished completely into the morning mist. That faded old coat remained draped over her shoulders, utterly out of place with her green gambler's outfit.

En stood alone beside the dying campfire.

He looked down at the Yang Release crystal in his palm. Golden light flowed between his fingers, its warmth seeping from his palm all the way into his bones.

In his mind, the system notification rang out right on cue.

[Ding—]

[Detected that the host has engaged in deep emotional interaction with a key figure of the worldline, "Tsunade"!]

[Will interference assessment... successful!]

[Emotional resonance intensity... exceeded the expected threshold!]

[Magma-Magma Fruit evolution rate +10%!]

[Current evolution rate: 30%]

En's breathing caught.

Thirty percent.

It had jumped straight to thirty percent.

One night had surpassed ten days of arduous training.

Before he could even process that number, another system notification appeared.

[Congratulations, host, for obtaining a top-grade item—Life-Eye Soul Crystal!]

[Item description: An item left behind by Hashirama Senju, containing pure life-energy ocular power. It complements the Yin Release attribute of the Uchiha bloodline and can neutralize the "cost" of the Mangekyo Sharingan's evolution process—namely, the side effect of blindness.]

[Special note: This item is a crucial piece of the future Sharingan evolution path. It may be stored in the system.]

Life-Eye Soul Crystal? Wasn't this a Yang Release Chakra Crystal?

Apparently, even Tsunade did not know this thing's true value. En hurriedly stored the crystal in the system with a silent command. How considerate. Now he would not have to worry about losing it.

His fingers trembled slightly—well, partly from excitement, but mostly because he knew exactly how valuable this thing was.

The blindness side effect of the Mangekyo Sharingan was the most fatal shackle of the Uchiha bloodline.

In the original story, Itachi went blind. Sasuke had only evolved into the Eternal Mangekyo by transplanting Itachi's eyes.

And him—a branch family orphan—where was he supposed to find another pair of Mangekyo Sharingan to transplant?

He could not exactly dig out the Sharingan from Danzo's arm, could he? Every eyeball in that pile had a shady origin. If he used them, he might even have to fight resentful spirits.

Now that he had the Life-Eye Soul Crystal, this dead end had become a path forward.

Thanks, Tsunade. Thanks, First Hokage, En silently said in his heart.

Then he looked over the complete data on the system panel.

--

[Host Status]

Name: Uchiha En

Age: 12

Sharingan: Unawakened

Magma-Magma Fruit evolution rate: 30%

Observation Haki: Lv. 1 (Perception radius: 125 meters)

Armament Haki: Unawakened

Conqueror's Haki: Unawakened

--

[Item Inventory]

Life-Eye Soul Crystal ×1

--

Thirty percent.

What did a thirty-percent Fruit evolution rate mean?

En closed his eyes and sensed the changes in his body.

His right arm's reaction speed was at least three times faster than it had been a week ago. The range of his magma transformation had expanded from one arm to both arms and half his torso. His upper temperature limit was also rising—he could now feel that if he unleashed everything, the temperature could approach three to four times that of Fire Release ninjutsu.

More importantly, there was the duration of his elemental transformation.

A week ago, he could only maintain it for fifteen seconds.

Now—he had secretly tested it just now—he could last at least forty seconds.

Forty seconds.

That was enough to do many things.

Of course, now was not the time.

En put those thoughts aside and turned to leave the Forest of Death.

Morning light spread across Konoha's rooftops. In the distance came the calls of breakfast vendors and the faint sounds of ninja stepping across roof tiles as they changed shifts.

He carried out a routine scan with Observation Haki, then used an opening to complete the swap with his stand-in.