Will Overwrite · Refining Avatars

Creating a small world, cultivating, devising techniques, and planning for future actions—Uchiha Hara had somehow accomplished so many things in a single day.

Although today's gains had been substantial, Uchiha Hara's mind felt somewhat fatigued.

He wanted to consume Blood Essence and Soul Essence to replenish what he had expended.

Though he could catch large quantities of fish at once and refine them into Blood Essence and Soul Essence for storage, he seemed to prefer the freshness of "catch and eat immediately."

Previously, unrefined fish had floated directly within the Demon Refining Pot's storage space, where time stood still.

Now that he had a small world and that lake, he released his daily reserves of live fish into it. Watching them swim through the water added a touch of vitality to the place.

With a thought, a plump river fish leaped from the lake and landed in his hand.

Just as he prepared to communicate with the Demon Refining Pot through his thoughts and refine it into the purest Blood Essence energy as usual, an unusual sensation suddenly came over him.

Among the feedback from the Demon Refining Pot, aside from the familiar [Refinement · Extraction] option, there was unexpectedly a blurry option he had never seen before—[Refinement · Will Overwrite]?

"What is this..." Uchiha Hara paused and carefully sensed the information conveyed by this new option.

Its essence was not to extract life essence, but to thoroughly refine away and erase the target creature's faint consciousness and instinctive imprints, then inject a sliver of Uchiha Hara's own split consciousness into it, turning it into an [Avatar] under his absolute control!

"When did the Demon Refining Pot gain this function? Why didn't it tell me?" Uchiha Hara was initially surprised, then felt somewhat resentful of the treasure's lack of consideration.

When had this been updated? Such a practical ability had nearly been missed because of his habitual actions!

Just as doubt arose in his heart, a weak yet clear thought returned from the depths of the Demon Refining Pot. It was not language, but the transmission of a concept.

Its general meaning was: This function is not the recovery of my original source. It is a natural manifestation born from the extension of the host's own Dao.

"An extension of my own Dao? What Dao do I have?" Uchiha Hara was first stunned, then inspiration struck, and he suddenly understood!

"It's the Primordial Scripture!" Realization flashed in his eyes.

One of the core functions of the Primordial Scripture was to refine and cleanse the collective will belonging to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki contained within chakra, then imprint it with Uchiha Hara's unique personal mark and transform it into Primordial True Qi.

At its core, that was a form of replacing and controlling wills!

The Demon Refining Pot was fused with his soul and intimately connected to him.

After he successfully created and cultivated the Primordial Scripture, mastering the profound method of "refining a will and replacing it," his understanding of that Dao had naturally fed back into and enhanced the Demon Refining Pot, a supreme treasure that already contained the Law of Refinement, thereby unlocking this related derivative ability!

"So that's how it is!" Uchiha Hara felt enlightened. "Repairing the Demon Refining Pot with materials isn't the only way to improve its abilities! My own understanding and development of the Law of Refinement, as well as related laws such as the Law of Space, can also in turn promote the evolution of the Demon Refining Pot's abilities!"

The Demon Refining Pot was a dual-law spiritual treasure of the Law of Refinement and the Law of Space, so the same approach should work for developing both laws!

This was an extremely important discovery! It meant that the Demon Refining Pot's potential was closely tied to his own growth and comprehension, and that the future held limitless possibilities.

After his excitement faded, Uchiha Hara calmed down.

Naturally, he could not waste a precious [Avatar] slot on an ordinary fish.

He needed a more suitable vessel.

His gaze swept across the small world.

Some of the small animals he had captured earlier to advance his talent were still alive, and he kept them enclosed in a small patch of woodland.

He chose an alert mouse and a sharp-eyed crow.

At present, he had not encountered many combat situations. What he needed more was intelligence gathering; he had relied too heavily on Heimi before.

"Come to think of it, it's not as if no one knows I killed Uchiha Osamu's group of three. Heimi knows. Though summoned beasts prosper and suffer alongside their owners, and ninja beasts are creatures within the ninja system with the awareness to keep secrets, still..."

He would have to give Heimi a proper warning later.

"Mice are good at sneaking and burrowing. They're small and hard to notice, making them best suited for reconnaissance at night or underground."

"Crows are flying units with broad fields of vision. They're relatively intelligent among birds and are suitable for wide-area surveillance and tracking during the day."

Both creatures were extremely common in the Hidden Leaf Village and would hardly draw any extra attention.

Furthermore, at this point in time, neither Uchiha Shisui's nor Uchiha Itachi's crow ninjutsu had likely appeared yet. Seeing a crow would not immediately make people think of the Uchiha.

After selecting his targets, Uchiha Hara began his experiment.

He first caught the mouse, focused his mind, and selected [Refinement · Will Overwrite].

The process went more smoothly than he had expected.

He could clearly sense the mouse's faint biological instincts and fearful consciousness melting away like ice and snow beneath the Demon Refining Pot's power.

Then, he cautiously separated an extremely tiny thread of spiritual power and injected it, along with a wisp of Primordial True Qi, into the mouse's empty shell.

A moment later, light returned to the mouse's previously vacant eyes. Yet the calmness and scrutiny within that gaze belonged to Uchiha Hara.

A marvelous connection formed. It was as though he had gained another body, able to share the mouse's senses and control its actions as easily as moving his own limbs.

"Success!" Uchiha Hara was thrilled.

He repeated the process and refined the crow into his second Avatar as well.

Immediately afterward, he began testing the limit on the number of Avatars.

When he tried to refine a third animal—a squirrel—he clearly felt a sense of sluggishness and pressure in his mind, as though his brain was nearly reaching its limit. Though the Avatar refinement succeeded, he could no longer divide his attention to control it precisely.

So he decisively stopped before making a fourth.

"So the current limit is... three Avatars." He reached his conclusion.

Avatars also required him to split off part of his mind to control them, so the number of Avatars should be directly related to the current strength of his 2.0 "Spirit" attribute.

That made him think of another technique—the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

Shadow Clones were also physical duplicates that required chakra and spiritual power to be allocated to them, and the number of Shadow Clones likewise had a limit.

"Could Shadow Clones occupy the same slots?" With that question in mind, Uchiha Hara immediately found the scroll recording the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

It was rather strange. He had clearly wanted to learn those two ninjutsu before, yet after receiving the ninjutsu scrolls, he had not learned them until now.

With his current ninjutsu talent, mastering this A-rank forbidden technique was not particularly difficult.

After learning it, he conducted a test.

While maintaining the mouse and crow Avatars, he tried using Shadow Clones.

He discovered that he could only create one additional Shadow Clone at most.

The moment he tried to create a second, the spiritual connection to the mouse Avatar began to destabilize.

Conversely, if he first created two Shadow Clones, he would have only one Avatar slot left.

"So one Avatar slot equals one Shadow Clone slot!" Uchiha Hara confirmed his guess.

"At present, the total number of my [Avatars + Shadow Clones] can only be three at once. Including my original body, that means four 'me's can be active simultaneously."

He looked at the [Spirit: 2.0] value on the panel. Combining it with the reality that Avatars plus Shadow Clones totaled three, a formula surfaced in his mind:

Maximum number of (Avatars + Shadow Clones) = Spirit attribute value × 1.5? That did not seem very integral.

Looking at it another way, if he counted only clones, including Avatars and Shadow Clones, the maximum was three while Spirit was two. Perhaps it was clones ≤ Spirit attribute value × 1.5, rounded down?

Or perhaps it was even simpler: number of clones = Spirit attribute value + 1?

Or should his original body be included as well? Maximum number of (original body + Avatars + Shadow Clones) = Spirit attribute value × 2?

He could not determine it precisely for now, but he could be certain that the number of clones was strongly related to the "Spirit" attribute.

"Still, I can only make three Shadow Clones. Then look at Naruto Uzumaki next door..." Uchiha Hara could not help sighing.

That guy could create over a thousand Shadow Clones at once while he was still in the Ninja Academy!

"Working backward from that ratio, Naruto's 'Spirit' attribute might already have reached the terrifying level of several hundred at that time!"

Naruto could create a thousand Shadow Clones. At a 1:2 ratio, his Spirit value should have been 500.

At a 1:1.5 ratio, his Spirit value should have been 666.

"Is this the benefit of nurturing himself with his Dantian—the sealing space—from childhood, even unconsciously, while having the Nine-Tails, with its enormous Yang-attribute chakra, sealed within him? Yang attributes mainly strengthen the body, yet they can indirectly nourish the mind to such a horrifying extent as well..."

"The potential of the Primordial Scripture truly is enormous! If I can continue cultivating it..."

Thinking of this, Uchiha Hara became even more resolute about the path ahead.

Whether it was improving his own attributes or developing new abilities for the Demon Refining Pot, everything was full of exciting possibilities.

Still, something was strange. If Naruto's Spirit value was so high, why were both his learning ability and political ability so mediocre?

It would not hold up to say that his Spirit was often occupied suppressing the Nine-Tails.

That explanation might have made sense before, when he was suppressing the Nine-Tails, but later he had reconciled with it. Why was he still so foolish?

Or perhaps Naruto's own Spirit value was not high at all, and what was high was Asura Chakra?

Maybe that thing was like equipment that gave +500 Spirit.

Since that portion of the value came from an external source, Naruto's own intelligence naturally would not be affected.

Forget it. Naruto had not even been born yet. Why think so much? Once he saw Naruto in person later, he would know everything.

With a thought, the mouse Avatar silently burrowed into the soil of the small world and began adapting to underground movement. The crow Avatar spread its wings and took flight, circling through the small world's sky as it familiarized itself with the perspective of flight.

These two new "eyes" would provide tremendous convenience for his upcoming "hunts" and reconnaissance.