Future Plans

A strange sense of familiarity emanated from the flowers.

Prompted, the five immediately followed Hiruko's instructions and carefully plucked the five silver flowers, each the size of a fist.

In an instant, a familiar sensation came from the flowers, leaving the five somewhat dazed, as though they were a mixture of their own ocular power, chakra, and flesh.

Touching the flowers felt like touching a part of their own bodies.

Tekka Uchiha stared at the flower in his hand, greed flashing in his eyes.

He felt an incomparable pull from the flower. As long as he ate it, his strength could rise another level.

Then, as if possessed, Tekka raised it toward his mouth. Hiruko immediately grabbed his arm.

Tekka Uchiha abruptly snapped awake as if from a dream, staring at the little silver flower before him with a face full of fear.

The others had likewise been restrained by the remaining ninjas, looking at the flowers in their hands in terror.

They were all elite jonin, yet they had just been tempted by an external object.

Hiruko shook his head and said, "Rest now and bring your mental strength, chakra, and every aspect of your condition to their peak."

"This flower will raise the limits of your mental strength and chakra. It will also temporarily awaken the Kurama Clan's ability, creating an incomparably real genjutsu dream realm that fully simulates all five senses.

"In the dream, you will forget the memory of taking it.

"If you can break free from that dream, your strength will improve.

"But if you become immersed in the dream and cannot pull yourself out, if your mind is destroyed, you will suffer severe damage and will basically have no chance of advancing further in the future.

"Your mind may even mutate, and you may become self-destructive." Hiruko explained seriously.

In Hiruko's eyes, the Kurama Clan's bloodline limit was a technique of creation from nothing.

Since it occupied one of the five abilities he had chosen, Hiruko's research into the Kurama Clan had naturally long since reached great depths.

Of course, this ability was also connected to his plans for the future.

"Wait until you are well-rested, then use the flowers together with certain medicines."

Hiruko continued, "You also need time to recover and adjust your physical and mental states so that you are fully prepared.

"This experiment carries considerable danger. This is an absolutely real, fully simulated five-senses illusion, not an ordinary genjutsu."

Fugaku glanced at the five of them, unable to suppress his hesitation.

This flower that had been injected with medicine seemed connected to their bloodline.

Fugaku Uchiha could not help asking, "Does this flower really work? Can it truly help us awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

For the Uchiha Clan, their pride and confidence in the Sharingan were carved into their bones.

Other than the Senju Clan, their arrogance was directed at every ninja and ninja clan.

The Mangekyo Sharingan was the legendary divine power beyond the three-tomoe Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan, the eyes possessed by stronger beings on a higher level.

No Uchiha who took pride in the Sharingan could refuse such a temptation.

Yet Hiruko shook his head. "Do you think that's possible?"

His question instantly chilled the hearts of the surrounding ninjas, and Fugaku Uchiha's expectations vanished as well.

"What do you take this thing for?

"Even if it completely drained you just now, it would only double your strength.

"Do you think doubling your strength could compare to a powerhouse with the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

"Then can this flower take our Sharingan a step further?" someone stepped forward and asked in a deep voice.

"Of course!"

"Its function is merely to raise the limits of your chakra and mental strength, then use the Kurama Clan's five-senses illusion to stimulate the evolution of the Sharingan," Hiruko explained.

"Simply put, it creates an absolutely real illusory world capable of stimulating your eyes to awaken.

"If you have sufficient potential, your eyes may evolve to a higher level.

"Of course, if you only possess the talent for a three-tomoe Sharingan, then it can only strengthen that talent.

"It cannot allow you to cross that threshold and become a true wielder of the Mangekyo Sharingan," Hiruko said indifferently.

"Furthermore, it must be used with other medicines to suppress the effects of the five-senses illusion."

"Otherwise, it could cause the mental world to collapse, leading to terrible consequences, perhaps even leaving you in a living-dead state."

Fugaku looked at Orochimaru again. Seeing that he remained silent, Fugaku could not tell what Orochimaru was thinking.

Still, Fugaku was not particularly disappointed by this.

As long as a three-tomoe Sharingan was powerful enough, it could still reach Kage level. Why insist on pursuing the Mangekyo?

As for the Mangekyo Sharingan, it was indeed incomparably powerful.

But to say that flowers created merely by extracting vast amounts of physical strength, flesh, chakra, and mental power

could directly send someone soaring to the heavens in a single step—even he did not believe that.

Over the past century, the only recorded Uchiha Clan members to awaken it had been Madara Uchiha and his younger brother Izuna Uchiha.

For other Uchiha Clan members, awakening the three-tomoe Sharingan was already exceptionally impressive, enough at the very least to grant them the strength of a jonin.

Hiruko then drew three blue syringes from a silver box at his side.

The Uchiha jonin had originally intended to take soldier pills to quickly recover their stamina, but when Hiruko suddenly held the box out before them, they hesitated briefly before accepting it.

These injections were not unfamiliar to them. After all, Life One, which Hiruko had previously produced, was no longer a secret within the clan.

Many of the Fourth Hokage's people had already received that miraculous injection.

This one was probably medicine for restoring strength.

Fugaku Uchiha then selected three clan members with more aggressive temperaments and handed the medicine to them.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the three sat down on the ground. Without hesitation, they drew out the syringes and swiftly plunged them into their arms.

As the medicine entered their bodies, astonishing changes began to occur.

Tekka Uchiha was the first to feel the surging power. His body seemed to erupt like ignited oil, and his weakened frame was instantly filled with vitality.

His stamina rapidly recovered, and his heavy body became nimble and responsive.

The Sharingan that had closed due to exhaustion and depleted ocular power reopened under the stimulation of the medicine, while their ocular power continued to grow stronger.

Within only a few minutes, all three had nearly returned to their peak condition. Their excess energy even began to spill over.

There was none of the hollow feeling that came after squeezing out their strength with soldier pills.

Even...