Five Elements Balance

At their usual spot by the river, Doichi Hyuga sat down cross-legged.

As for Wood Release, Doichi Hyuga had only awakened it after strengthening his body to a certain degree.

Five years ago, when he had first begun cultivating, it had been extremely troublesome.

The Six-Syllable Breathing Method drew in more than ten times the Natural Energy of normal human breathing.

Although it took in a great deal of energy, only about twice as much as normal breathing could be retained!

The small portion most easily absorbed by the human body remained, while most of the energy was expelled along with the breath and waste gases.

Later, Doichi Hyuga had thought of using various martial arts forms and Daoist health-preserving methods to assist in absorbing Natural Energy.

The martial arts were manageable enough, considering he had a decent foundation from his previous life.

But when he first began striking all sorts of strange Daoist health-preserving poses, that exquisite agony was beyond words.

Fortunately, people in this world had stronger bodies than in his previous life, and he had managed to persevere through those first five years.

The human body was a balanced system of the inner Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. As long as the body was healthy, the Five Elements within it would inevitably remain relatively balanced. Once that balance was disrupted, illness would soon come knocking.

Among the Five Elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, the east belonged to wood, the south to fire, the west to metal, and the north to water. Earth lay at the center of the five directions and the Five Elements.

Within the human body's Eight Trigrams, earth corresponded to the Kun and Gen trigrams and governed the spleen and stomach.

Natural Energy was guided into the spleen, then the qi of spleen-earth entered lung-metal. Lung-metal entered kidney-water, kidney-water entered liver-wood, liver-wood entered heart-fire, and heart-fire returned to spleen-earth, forming a minor Five Elements balance among the five internal organs.

Then, the essence of the minor Five Elements within the body drove every bodily structure associated with the Eight Trigrams and Five Elements to generate and transform one another without omission, forming a balanced closed cycle of the Great Five Elements Technique.

Take the Kun and Gen trigrams, which belonged to earth, for example. They governed the spleen and stomach, but also included many other bodily parts: the Conception Vessel, abdomen, left shoulder, muscles, digestive system, nose, hands, right lower limb, instep, toes, spine, and raised areas such as the skin.

Every part of the human body corresponded to the Eight Trigrams, encompassing all human tissues—from head to toe, chest to back, tendons, bones, skin, membranes, and the five viscera and six bowels.

Nourishing the entire body was an enormous undertaking.

Reaching the stage of balancing the Great Five Elements within his body had cost Doichi Hyuga two years.

After another three years of arduous cultivation, by the time he was ten, the Great Five Elements Technique had reached minor completion and could circulate on its own. The speed at which it refined Natural Energy increased again, and only then did he switch to daily meditation, breath absorption, and exhalation.

It was worth mentioning that when the Great Five Elements cycle within his body had reached minor completion, Doichi Hyuga had been able to use Wood Release in a preliminary fashion.

Among the Eight Trigrams, Zhen and Xun belonged to wood and governed the liver and gallbladder, the two major organs.

The liver opened into the eyes, and abnormalities in the liver could affect the eyes, resulting in various disorders.

That made Doichi Hyuga think of the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyo Sharingan.

The awakening of the Mangekyo Sharingan usually brought about a surge of liver-fire, which in turn ignited blazing heart-fire, causing the heart's inner demon to run rampant and radically changing one's personality.

The liver and gallbladder of Uchiha Fugaku and Itachi Uchiha were both in poor condition. Itachi Uchiha in particular had likely died young because of damage to those two major organs.

Awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan damaged the liver and gallbladder, which was why its users were also plagued by blindness.

And one way to solve this drawback was to transplant First Hokage Cells—in other words, Wood Release. Wasn't that interesting?

Once cells related to the wood attribute of the human body, such as those of the liver, became strong enough, they produced Wood Release.

As long as liver and gallbladder damage was remedied by Wood Release and Yang Release, there would no longer be a risk of blindness. The two major organs both belonged to wood, and since wood generated fire, heart-fire would decline as well, causing one's emotions to become calm and peaceful.

The Huangdi Neijing said: The five viscera belong to yin, while the six bowels belong to yang.

Of course, emotions were emotions, and personality was personality.

Take Obito Uchiha, for example. His way of doing things was extremely calm and cautious.

Of course, a personality that had already changed would not revert simply because one's emotions had calmed down.

That afternoon, the Third Hokage convened a collective meeting of the higher-ups.

The heads of the various ninja clans, representatives of civilian jonin, department heads, and the head of the Jonin Council arrived at the meeting room one after another.

Once everyone had arrived, Hiruzen Sarutobi, seated at the head of the table, spoke.

"Early this morning, Root was attacked. Elder Danzo was unfortunately killed."

At the news, people below began whispering among themselves.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and the two elder advisors swept their gazes back and forth, carefully observing every attendee.

Some were expressionless, while others struggled to suppress their smiles. Not a single person present was saddened by Danzo's death.

Pfft!

And this one had actually laughed outright.

"Tekka! Half a year's salary will be docked. Apologize to everyone present immediately."

Uchiha Fugaku's face darkened, and he nearly coughed up blood in anger.

"I'm sorry, everyone. I was disrespectful. Please forgive me!"

Uchiha Tekka desperately wanted to control his expression, but his facial features simply would not obey. He could not force down the corners of his mouth, yet he could not cry either.

That bizarre expression made several people in the back rows lose control completely, and snorts of laughter rose one after another. Afraid of being blamed by the higher-ups, they could only cover their faces and shrink down as hard as they could.

Seeing that the Hokage and advisors' faces had already darkened like the bottom of a pot, Uchiha Fugaku stood and roared.

"You disgraceful fool! Get back to the clan compound and reflect on your actions immediately!"

"Hokage-sama, Advisors-sama, and everyone here, I failed to properly discipline my clansman. I have wronged you all."

Uchiha Fugaku bowed deeply, his attitude utterly sincere.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and the two advisors' faces grew even darker. I was just about to lash out, and you sent him away? Has Uchiha Fugaku gotten smarter?

Knock, knock, knock!

Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped the table, signaling everyone to quiet down.

"I have gathered everyone today in the hope that you can help collect information on the attackers. Anyone who provides a useful lead may claim a reward of five million ryo, and have two successful S-Rank missions recorded."

Completing a single S-Rank mission came with a reward starting at one million ryo, with no upper limit.

"There were four attackers. They wore masks bearing the characters Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow, and their hair was red, yellow, blue, and black. Of course, these may all have been disguises."

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke slowly, the corner of his eye fixed on Uchiha Fugaku the entire time.

The Uchiha Clan hated Danzo the most. The fact that even the usually stern Uchiha Tekka had laughed aloud was proof enough.

Yet Uchiha Fugaku had worn the expression of someone whose mother had died from the moment he entered. The corners of his tightly pressed lips had not risen even a fraction.

"The attackers have been assessed as at least Elite Jonin. If you encounter these four attackers, please prioritize your own safety. Please spread the word among one another. I am counting on you!"

After Hiruzen Sarutobi finished speaking, he declared the meeting adjourned.

Everyone went home to find their mothers.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and the two advisors returned to the Hokage's Office, all three of them looking rather unpleasant.

"These people have gone too far. Their comrade was killed, yet they could still laugh? Especially that evil Uchiha Tekka."

Utatane Koharu's face twisted as she could no longer suppress her anger.

"There is nothing to be done about it. Root forcibly took away so many ninja. It would be impossible for everyone not to hold grudges."

Mitokado Homura rubbed his brow, but he did speak a fair word.

"What did ANBU say about the killers?"

Utatane Koharu looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi and asked.

"ANBU has investigated up to now, but they have not found a single useful clue. Sigh!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi lit his pipe and silently began smoking.

Unable to bear the smell of smoke, the two stood and took their leave.

In the blink of an eye, half a year passed.

The capital of the Land of Fire.

"Karin, how has your studying been lately?"

"It's been okay! Big Brother Dao Yi! My progress in sealing techniques is decent, but I still haven't found the knack for medical ninjutsu."

The energetic red-haired girl's face reddened slightly, and her voice weakened somewhat.

"Do some tree-climbing and water-walking training regularly to improve your chakra control."

Doichi Hyuga lay in a rocking chair, lazily swaying as he looked over the scroll in his hand.

"Lord Dao Yi! Karin, come eat."

"Got it, Mom!"

Karin raised her head and answered.

The one speaking was a red-haired woman.

Her face was pale, and her hair was somewhat dry and yellow. She was Karin's mother, Rena Uzumaki.