Scientific Awakening? The Uchiha Were Stunned

A chubby boy from the Akimichi clan shuffled over, the bag of chips in his hand already crushed flat.

"Qian Ye, what exactly was that high-intensity nutritional supplementation you mentioned?"

The chubby boy wore a broad smile, his eyes gleaming with desire.

For the Akimichi clan, who cultivated the Expansion Jutsu, the greatest shortage was a balance between calories and physical strain.

After using the Human Boulder, their bodies would fall into extreme hunger and weakness.

Qian Ye waved a hand, looking thoroughly modest.

"I only know a little. Just a little."

"Orochimaru-sensei's research notes mentioned that simply piling on fat was the most primitive form of energy storage."

"The truly clever approach is to use Yang Release chakra to regulate the stomach and intestines while eating, improving the efficiency with which food is converted into vitality and blood."

The chubby boy nodded repeatedly, treating every word as sacred truth.

The Nara boy, who had been complaining about how troublesome everything was, could not help approaching as well.

"Qian Ye, what about the shape transformation of Yin Release chakra?"

The Nara boy scratched at his pineapple-like hairstyle.

"Whenever my Shadow Imitation Technique encounters strong light or complicated terrain, my control drops sharply."

Leaning against the tree trunk, Qian Ye put on that masterful bluffing air again.

"It's actually very simple."

"A shadow is essentially light being blocked, but the core of your secret technique is an extension of Yin Release chakra."

"Don't focus on the shadows on the ground. Try compressing Yin Release chakra into high-density threads, then fire them out using the ground's shadows as a medium."

The Nara boy froze.

He stared down at his own shadow, as though lightning had split open his mind.

Abandon wide-area coverage and use high-density chakra threads to pierce through instead?

This way of thinking completely shattered the traditional doctrines the Nara clan had followed for centuries.

A girl from the Yamanaka clan also gathered around, softly asking about the weaknesses of the Mind Body Switch Technique.

Qian Ye welcomed every question. Using "I saw a little about it in Orochimaru-sensei's notes" as an excuse, he gave sharp, practical suggestions for improvement.

With a modern person's scientific logic and the broad horizons he had gained from the interworld mutual aid group, crushing these young masters and misses from a higher level was almost too easy.

The atmosphere within the team changed completely.

Several clan heirs who had originally looked down on everyone now surrounded Qian Ye like obedient elementary school students, asking him one question after another.

Only one person remained at the edge of the group.

Uchiha Yan leaned against a large tree with his arms crossed over his chest, his expression stiff and foul.

He was a proud Uchiha.

Asking a commoner Genin for cultivation advice in a humble voice would have felt worse than killing him.

Yet his ears were perked up high, afraid he might miss a single word Qian Ye said.

Qian Ye glanced at Uchiha Yan from the corner of his eye and secretly found it amusing.

This kid wore his tsundere attitude right on his face.

He was dying to know, yet still had to put on that arrogant act.

Qian Ye rose voluntarily, brushing the dust from his backside as he walked toward Uchiha Yan.

"Young Master Yan, why are you standing all the way over here by yourself?"

Uchiha Yan turned his head away, pretending to admire the distant scenery.

"This young master has no need to listen to such wild, unorthodox nonsense."

"The Uchiha clan's Bloodline Limit is not something ordinary people like you can understand."

Rather than getting angry, Qian Ye laughed.

"The Sharingan is indeed powerful."

"But your clan's method of developing those eyes is far too crude."

Uchiha Yan abruptly turned back, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"What did you say?!"

"You may question my strength, but you cannot insult the glory of the Uchiha!"

Qian Ye raised one finger and wagged it.

"Don't get worked up."

"Tell me, what is the essence of awakening and evolving the Sharingan?"

Uchiha Yan lifted his chin.

"It is bloodline. It is the unique talent of the Uchiha clan!"

Qian Ye sighed, looking as though he could not bear to see him fail to meet expectations.

"Wrong."

"Orochimaru-sensei conducted experimental analyses. At its core, the Sharingan is an ocular mutation triggered when the brain's optic nerves generate special chakra under extreme stimulation."

Uchiha Yan was stunned. He had never heard such a claim before.

"Your clan is always pursuing pain and intense emotional fluctuations to awaken your eyes. That is called passive evolution."

Qian Ye stepped in front of Uchiha Yan and lowered his voice slightly.

"Truly intelligent people would actively train the degree of fusion between their optic nerves and Yin Release chakra."

"Practice capturing high-speed moving objects with your vision. Gather chakra at the ends of the optic nerves with extreme precision, simulating the cerebral congestion that occurs when the eyes awaken."

"You don't need teammates to die. You don't need psychological trauma. You can still improve the Sharingan's insight and its chances of evolution."

Uchiha Yan's whole body stiffened.

No need to suffer psychological trauma?

Actively train the optic nerves?

These theories were utterly subversive, yet their logic was airtight. They struck Uchiha Yan's heart like a heavy hammer.

He carefully recalled the state he had been in when his eyes awakened. It truly had been as Qian Ye described—a uniquely strange energy surging from his brain and flooding into his eye sockets.

If he could really simulate that state through precise training...

Uchiha Yan looked at the commoner Genin before him, and the contempt in the depths of his heart completely vanished.

In its place was an overwhelming shock and reverence.

Orochimaru-sama's disciple truly was a monster.

He could even dissect the Uchiha clan's core secrets so clearly with such lucid theory.

Uchiha Yan took a deep breath and awkwardly turned his head aside.

"Hmph."

"It sounds like utter nonsense."

"But... this young master will try it casually after returning. If it doesn't work, I'll settle accounts with you."

Qian Ye smiled and did not expose that pride as thin as a cicada's wing.

Hyuga Tianfeng watched everything from the side, raising his assessment of Qian Ye another level.

Not only was he powerful, he could easily win over these gifted heirs from great clans, each with wildly different personalities.

If someone like him had been born into a great clan, he would definitely have been material for a clan head.

Everyone ate dry rations, with only a few minutes left in their break.

The Nara boy sighed and picked up a branch, drawing aimlessly on the ground.

"I really wonder what things will be like when we return to the village."

"The front lines are fighting so miserably, yet people in the village still sent suicide soldiers to intercept us. They nearly blew up the bargaining chip for peace talks."

As soon as he said that, the expressions of several young people darkened.

They had just gone through a life-and-death battle, and they were furious at such betrayal from within.

Qian Ye knew the timing was right.

These twelve- and thirteen-year-old youths were at the age when their blood ran hot and they could not tolerate even a grain of sand in their eyes.

"Do you really think the village is still that place of light from the legends?"

Qian Ye sat on a rock, his voice calm yet carrying an extraordinarily sharp, piercing force.

Everyone turned their eyes toward him.

Even Pakura, sitting in the grass with shackles on her wrists, raised her head to look at this Hidden Leaf brat.

"Look at the front lines."

"Countless commoner ninjas like me are sent to the battlefield to die like expendable supplies."

"Now look at the village."

"Lord White Fang earned tremendous merit, yet because he abandoned a mission to save his comrades, public opinion has now driven him so hard that he does not even dare leave his home."

"Those higher-ups hiding in the darkness shout about the Will of Fire, yet their hands are busy sabotaging peace negotiations."

Qian Ye spoke slowly, every word piercing the hearts of these young clan heirs.

Hyuga Tianfeng opened his mouth, wanting to refute him, but could not find a single word.

The attack they had encountered today was irrefutable proof.

"The village is sick."

"Those old people in power have grown accustomed to sacrificing the young to secure their own positions."

Qian Ye stood, his gaze sweeping across the faces of Hyuga Tianfeng, Uchiha Yan, the Nara boy, and the others.

"If we continue drifting along with the current like this."

"Today, Lord White Fang is the one treated as a discarded pawn. Tomorrow, commoner Genin will be sent to the front lines as cannon fodder."

"The day after that, it may be you so-called geniuses from the great clans."

Uchiha Yan clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white from the force.

The Uchiha clan's position in the village had always been delicate, and he deeply understood the higher-ups' suspicions toward them.

"Then what can we do?"

The chubby Akimichi boy put down his dry rations, his little face filled with confusion.

"We're only Genin. We cannot even interfere with our clans' decisions."

Qian Ye smiled.

There was ambition and flamboyance in that smile that did not belong to someone his age.

"Alone, one person truly cannot do much."

"But what if we stand together?"

Qian Ye extended his right hand and opened his palm.

"We don't need to immediately change the bigger picture, and we don't need to do anything against the village's interests."

"We only need a circle that belongs to us young people."

"Share intelligence, exchange cultivation notes, and entrust our backs to one another on the battlefield."

"So we won't be manipulated as cannon fodder by those old men's schemes."

The Nara boy pushed at the bridge of his nose, his eyes gradually brightening.

"Cooperating with one another, advancing and retreating together..."

"It sounds like an alliance."

"What would it be called?" Uchiha Yan suddenly cut in, his blazing gaze fixed on Qian Ye.

Qian Ye looked toward Hokage Rock in the distance and slowly spoke three words.

"Sparkfire Society."

"A single spark can start a prairie fire."