Hope

It was night.

Inside the Cultivation Room.

Qian finished a rapid string of hand seals with practiced ease, and the chakra inside him surged in response.

The next moment, a gleam flashed through his eyes.

Ahead of him, inside a cage, a rabbit under his gaze immediately fell into a deep sleep.

Proficiency +1!

On the panel, "Mind Reflection Technique" instantly changed from lv0 (99/100) to lv1 (1/200)!

And as "Mind Reflection Technique" leveled up, a special kind of chakra was born inside his brain, flowing along his Chakra Meridians and into his eyes.

"This is..."

All at once, Qian thought of Tobirama Senju's explanation for how the Uchiha clan awakened their eyes.

That was, the Uchiha clan were born with an immense "love," and when they lost that "love," a special chakra would surge from within their brains and act upon the Visual Nerve.

At that moment, their eyes would change. That was the awakening.

This process was so similar to everything that had just happened inside his brain that Qian could not help thinking more about it.

"Panel!"

With a thought, Qian opened the Proficiency Panel.

[Name: Uchiha Qian

Age: 10

Physical Constitution: 6

Spirit: 7

Chakra: 415 (580→622)

Bloodline: Sharingan · Unawakened (51/100)

Skills: Chakra Refining Technique: lv2 (9/500)

Clone Technique: lv2 (1/500)

Transformation Technique: lv2 (1/500)

Substitution Technique: lv2 (1/500)

Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique: lv0 (52/100)

Mind Reflection Technique: lv1 (1/200)

Basic Body Technique: lv2 (1/500)

Ninja Tool Throwing: lv2 (120/500)]

"No change?"

Looking at the Sharingan awakening progress that was still displayed as (51/100), Qian was stunned.

He had never imagined that "Mind Reflection Technique" would actually be useless.

"No, that's not right."

Qian took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. He closed his eyes and pondered for a while, and only after his emotions had settled did he form seals again and cast "Mind Reflection Technique" once more.

Before he had entered the door, he still needed a rabbit as the target of the technique to ensure the success rate.

But now, without any external target, he could also cast this technique as he pleased.

The only thing that made Qian somewhat uncomfortable was that after advancing to lv1, every time he cast "Mind Reflection Technique," it consumed at least two hundred points of chakra.

Although the chakra consumed by the Three Body Technique had also changed before and after entry, it was nowhere near as enormous as "Mind Reflection Technique."

But thinking about it, that made sense. The Three Body Technique was only the lowest-level Rank E ninjutsu, and casting it once only consumed around twenty points of chakra.

"Mind Reflection Technique," however, was as high as Rank A. Before entry, each practice session consumed at least one hundred points of chakra, so now consuming two hundred points was still reasonable.

It was only because his current Chakra Amount was not small. Otherwise, he really might not have been able to hold out.

Pulling back his thoughts, Qian stopped thinking too much and began carefully sensing the effects of "Mind Reflection Technique."

Just like before, a special chakra was born inside his brain again and surged into both eyes.

Several breaths later, Qian opened his eyes.

On the panel, the awakening progress of the Sharingan still had not changed.

This time, however, Qian's emotions did not fluctuate much.

There was no other reason. Based on what he had just sensed, he could confirm that his eyes were moving closer to the Sharingan.

In other words, "Mind Reflection Technique" was effective. Its effect was just somewhat faint.

Reflected on the panel, that meant the awakening progress of the Sharingan remained completely motionless.

"Now it depends on how many times I need to use the Mind Reflection Technique before the Sharingan's awakening progress goes up by 1."

With that thought in mind, Qian once again gathered his chakra, formed hand seals, and cast the Mind Reflection Technique.

Once, twice, three times.

Several hours later.

When Qian had raised the Mind Reflection Technique's Proficiency to lv1 (10/200), the Sharingan's awakening progress on the Status Panel finally changed to (52/100).

That made Qian let out a long breath.

Although he had expected it, he only truly relaxed when the Status Panel actually changed.

After silently calculating it, he had consumed almost two thousand points of chakra from start to finish before increasing the Sharingan's awakening progress by one point.

That cost was both high and low.

It was indeed not easy for a Genin to gather that much chakra, but a Chunin could absolutely bear it.

Even if they could not grind ten points of Proficiency in one go like him, they could split it up.

Even if they insisted on casting it only once a day, they would only need a few months to awaken the Sharingan.

"Then why has no one in the Uchiha clan succeeded?"

If it had required persisting for several years, perhaps no one really could have done it, but if it was only a few months, someone definitely should have managed it.

Qian would never underestimate the Uchiha Clan members' desire for the Sharingan.

With that belief supporting them, persisting for a few months should not have been a problem.

But even so, no one had ever used this technique to awaken the Sharingan.

This could not help but cast a shadow over Qian's heart.

After pondering for a long time, Qian still could not figure out why.

Since he could not figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it. In any case, the progress on the Status Panel had already moved. Next, all he needed to do was grind.

Perfectly, he did not have to go to school for the next few days, so he could take the chance to get started with the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, and also test and confirm the pattern by which the Sharingan's awakening progress increased, so he could better formulate his training plan.

However, that was for later. Qian yawned and glanced at the time. It was already five in the morning.

To confirm the effects of the Mind Reflection Technique, he had stayed up all night until now. It was time to rest.

The next day.

Noon.

After casually eating something, Qian went to the Training Ground and began training alone.

First was refining chakra. The lv2 Chakra Refining Technique was quite effective, restoring six hundred points of chakra to him in just three short hours.

With abundant chakra, he began practicing the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

As a Rank C ninjutsu, and an attack-type ninjutsu at that, the chakra consumed each time he practiced it was at least fifty points.

At present, his Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique was at lv0 (52/100).

Every time he cast it, as long as he followed the standard procedure, whether he succeeded or failed, it would increase his Proficiency by one point.

In other words, he still needed forty-eight more attempts before it would level up.

Forty-eight multiplied by fifty was two thousand four hundred points of chakra.

That was also just about the Limit of chakra Qian could use in a day.

Unless his Physical Constitution increased by another point, or he found Soldier Pills that were easier to absorb and digest, it would be very difficult to raise this Limit.

Boom~

A fireball was spat out by Qian, then rapidly grew larger, eventually expanding into a huge fireball with a diameter of a full one and a half meters.

The fireball smashed into the ground, blasting out a large pit. The inside of the pit was charred black, and even after the flames went out, it still radiated scorching heat.

Over the course of an afternoon, he had ground the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique up to lv0 (75/100). Although he had not yet truly gotten started, he could occasionally succeed once now.

Just like earlier—that had already reached the level of entry.

Raising his head to glance at the sky, he saw that the setting sun had already begun to sink westward. Qian did not linger any longer and immediately returned home.

After only a brief rest, he began training again.

It was inconvenient to practice ninjutsu indoors, so Qian focused his energy on the Mind Reflection Technique.

Again and again, until late into the night, only then did he fall into a deep sleep.

The next few days were all like this.