Uchiha Hara, Demon Pot

Chapter 1: Uchiha Hara and the Demon Refining Pot

"Uchiha Hara, I like this name."

Consciousness broke free from the chaos, much like a diver violently bursting through a water surface, yet the first breath of air inhaled carried unfamiliar dust and wooden scents.

Uchiha Hara opened his eyes abruptly. There were no panicked shouts, only a sudden constriction of his pupils and a momentary tensing of all his muscles.

What met his gaze was an unfamiliar, faintly dim Japanese-style room ceiling. Exposed wooden beams revealed the traces of time, and there was even a patch of damage on the roof, through which specks of starlight leaked, telling Uchiha Hara the current time.

Not my ceiling, not my room.

I really did time-travel!

In truth, this was not his first awakening, but a fresh wave of memory shocks after waking up had caused him to pass out again.

Fortunately, that influx of memories was not large, and he quickly woke up once more.

After all, he was only a five-year-old child; how many memories could he possibly have?

Without wasting time on sentimentality or disbelief, the instinct for survival made him quickly begin assessing his environment.

He tried to sit up, and a strong wave of exhaustion and dizziness struck him. This body felt as though all its energy had been hollowed out, limp and unresponsive.

He lowered his head and looked at the hands bracing against the tatami mat—thin, pale, with distinct knuckles.

Extremely weak, malnourished, suspected internal injuries.

The fragments of memory that had just integrated began to appear and flash back.

A black-haired child in the training ground, desperately throwing shuriken until the webs of his hands split open; performing hand signs over and over again, practicing the Fireball Jutsu, until his chakra was exhausted and blood seeped from his nose and mouth...

The overt or covert ridicule and isolation from peers within the clan...

"A good-for-nothing with no father or mother."

"Overestimating your own capabilities."

And there was the lingering sense of hunger in his memories. The meager relief funds were barely enough to get by on food, let alone purchase cultivation resources...

That was the obsession of the original Uchiha Hara, an orphan whose parents had both died and who received cold treatment throughout the clan, attempting to use crazy cultivation to prove himself and shake off the derogatory label of "dead last," only for it to backfire completely.

Not only did he hollow out his foundation, but in the clan test conducted during the day, he also came in dead last.

Now, not only had his body collapsed, but his mindset had collapsed as well.

In the end, he had quietly exhausted everything in this cold room.

The Uchiha clan, the Hidden Leaf Village. Time... uncertain, but it should be early in the storyline.

His knowledge of Naruto from his past life was instantly mobilized, like a massive database being activated.

Situation: Orphan, Uchiha identity sensitive, low strength, body on the verge of collapse.

The situation was looking bad!

Uchiha Hara did not panic, nor was he lost. In his past life, he had been an extremely calm person with a strong heart.

Therefore, after time-traveling, he could immediately understand that in this situation, all unimportant emotions were a waste of time.

You think time-traveling into a five-year-old child who cannot eat or dress warmly and suffers from a sickly body is tough?

I am telling you, the difficulties have only just begun!

Ahead lay the Ninja Wars, the conflict between the village and the Uchiha, and the Night of the Clan Massacre!

As a veteran Naruto fan in his past life, he knew all too well the cruel essence of this world.

Beneath the facade of passion and peace lay endless conspiracies, betrayals, and slaughter.

Danzo's Root, the Third's crystal ball, the isolation of the Uchiha, the shadow of the Akatsuki...

Compared to all these, a sickly body was the most trivial matter.

Anyway, a child's recovery ability was ample; as long as he rested well, he would recover in a month or two.

Moreover, the reason Uchiha Hara was covered in injuries and ailments was mainly due to excessive training.

As long as he stopped training and used the relief funds purely for meals, it would still be enough to get by.

Physical issues could be dealt with slowly; next came how to survive in this world.

Konoha was not an ordinary village; it was a village that gathered tens of thousands of ninjas.

What kind of existence was a ninja?

An entity combining intelligence gathering, code breaking, protection, assassination, and combat all into one.

Put in the context of his past life, it was the integration of three professions: secret agent, mercenary, and assassin.

In a place full of secret agents and mercenaries everywhere, if your actions, language, and behavior deviated even slightly from common sense, you would be discovered by others.

Therefore, in his past life, Uchiha Hara had not really liked those particularly bouncing protagonists; they treated living in Konoha like playing house.

Doing this during the Boruto era might still fly, but during the era of the Second and Third Hokage, wasn't this seeking death?

In a place full of secret agents everywhere, you had to treat yourself as an undercover agent who had infiltrated a spy organization. Trembling caution and meticulousness were the norm, and watching your words and deeds had to be engraved into your bones!

Of course, one shouldn't be too exaggerated either. Not acting at all definitely wouldn't work, but acting with too heavy a trace of pretense wouldn't work either.

The degree of this could only be grasped by oneself!

Aside from his style of conduct, Uchiha Hara also had to consider his survival strategy.

Looking across all kinds of Naruto novels, the early stage could roughly be divided into two factions: the Konoha faction and the anti-Konoha faction.

The former was loyal to Konoha, while the latter was disloyal to Konoha.

But by the middle and late stages, as Naruto concluded, various analysts entered the scene, and conspiracy theories rose, a single character was singled out from the Hidden Leaf Village.

This person was Sarutobi Hiruzen.

As Sarutobi Hiruzen's reputation gradually deteriorated, people learned that the Hokage did not equal Konoha, and thus another faction emerged—namely, the anti-Sarutobi, non-anti-Konoha faction.

Regarding conspiracy theories, Uchiha Hara certainly believed in them.

After all, you couldn't not believe them; Uchiha Shisui's eyes had both been dug out, so did you dare claim you were more loyal to Konoha than Uchiha Shisui?

With such a role model before him, Uchiha Hara had no choice but to believe in conspiracy theories.

Then the question arose: believing in conspiracy theories meant opposing Sarutobi Hiruzen, so should one stand with the Uchiha?

This, not necessarily.

Because based on the information Uchiha Hara gathered from the original host's memories, the problems of the Uchiha clan were indeed quite massive.

First of all, Uchiha Hara could not understand why someone who worked hard at cultivation could receive so much malice.

At least from the education Uchiha Hara received in his past life, even if a student did not study well, as long as they worked hard enough, basically no one would say anything to them.

Instead, those who felt pity were in the majority.

Secondly, Uchiha Hara also could not understand why people in the Uchiha clan would so disparage the child of a hero.

In Uchiha Hara's view, the original host's parents were definitely heroes because they sacrificed themselves in the war.

Such parents were not heroes, but at the very least they were martyrs.

Yet within the Uchiha clan, the martyr's child actually could not eat or dress warmly, and the house even leaked!

And when walking on the street, he would be mocked by those children who had parents, being told he had no father or mother?

Anyone who looked at such a clan that failed to respect heroes would be furious!

Judging from the above situation, the values of the people in the Uchiha clan were problematic. Not only were the children problematic, but the adults who failed to stop the children were also problematic.

Looking at it this way, Uchiha Itachi choosing to massacre the clan might truly not be his problem?

The Uchiha are not worth trusting either, but they should still be used when needed. As for the problem of values, I can only see if I can change them in the future! Uchiha Hara sighed. Feeling his strength return somewhat, he barely managed to stand up and walked over to the mirror.

He saw that the youth in the mirror, though looking haggard, had sword-like brows, starry eyes, and impeccably regular facial features.

As expected of an Uchiha; it seemed that in the future, this appearance of his would also be that of a character capable of toppling states and ruining cities.

Looks might seem unimportant in the Ninja World, but in reality, they were quite crucial.

Leaving aside the distant past, just look at Sasuke walking the Ninja World and how much convenience he gained due to his looks; everyone knew that.

Just as his survival strategy was taking initial shape, a warm sensation suddenly welled up between his brows.

Uchiha Hara was stunned, then returned to the bed, holding his breath and concentrating, focusing his attention between his brows.

He shockingly sensed that there was a void space between his brows, and floating within this void was an ancient, profound gourd-shaped object.

As the gourd rotated, a gentle yet firm warm current seeped out from it, flowing slowly from between his brows to his brain and all his limbs. The headache caused by the influx of memories was instantly smoothed away, and the bone-chilling weakness and coldness around his body gradually dissipated.

Is this my cheat?

A thought stirred in his mind.

During the time-travel journey, his soul did indeed seem to have collided with some incomprehensible entity... It seemed this was it.

With a thought, Uchiha Hara touched this gourd with his spiritual power, and then a stream of information poured into his mind along with his spiritual power.

The information stream was a name: the Demon Refining Pot!

Ancient divine artifact, the Demon Refining Pot?

Uchiha Hara was directly shocked. According to legend, the Demon Refining Pot was a gourd refined by Nüwa from Mount Buzhou, possessing the supreme-grade Innate Spirit Treasure rank, with the ability to refine all things and swallow heaven and earth.

Could it be this very item?

He concentrated his mind, attempting to communicate with this Demon Refining Pot.

In an instant, his "sight" seemed to be sucked into a peculiar space.

This was a gray, hazy space about one cubic meter in size, surrounded by chaotic barriers, with a faint glimmer of spiritual light suspended in the center.

Uchiha Hara touched that glimmer of spiritual light again, and then some basic information about this space and the pot itself poured into his consciousness like instinct.

This was indeed the Demon Refining Pot, but it was a damaged Demon Refining Pot.

It was unknown what caused the damage, but fortunately, there was still the possibility of repair.

The damaged Demon Refining Pot currently possessed two functions.

Function One: Storage.

The current internal space is approximately one cubic meter; non-living objects can be stored and retrieved using intent.

The spatial size and functions can be upgraded as the Demon Refining Pot is repaired.

Function two: Refinement.

It can refine all things and absorb their origin. However, limited by Uchiha Hara's own cultivation and the damage to the Demon Refining Pot, it can currently only perform basic refinement.

This refinement of all things is also divided into three types: inorganic matter, organic matter or corpses, and living creatures.

Refining inorganic matter: Such as stones, wood, metal, etc., which can be converted into a negligible material origin, usable for slowly repairing the main body of the Demon Refining Pot and expanding the internal space by a trace amount.

Refining living beings:

Living creatures: Require the target to be willing or completely powerless to resist, and consume a huge amount of energy, making it currently impossible.

Corpses: Can refine their flesh and blood essence, condensing it into [Blood Essence].

Devouring [Blood Essence] can repair one's own injuries and enhance the life origin (namely physique, strength, recovery, etc.).

As the stream of information ended, an astonishing brilliance erupted in Uchiha Hara's eyes.

Heaven truly leaves no path barred! The Demon Refining Pot!