Hunt Begins: Two Talents

Having resolved to hunt gang members, Uchiha Hara did not act rashly.

He recalled his previous refinement experiences: refining Kiryu Daiki had yielded the blue talent [Steel Bones and Iron Muscles], while refining the three generations of the Uchiha family had yielded nothing.

This showed that people could possess talents too, but not everyone had them.

Once he began hunting, the successive disappearances of gang members would inevitably alert the ninja clans backing them.

And once widespread attention was drawn, his opportunities to act would inevitably decrease.

This meant that before attracting widespread attention, the number of times he could strike was limited.

Therefore, he had to choose carefully, targeting individuals with special talents in order to gain the greatest possible returns from his limited hunts.

His Essence and Spirit attributes could still steadily improve by refining animals, but unique talents were things that could only be found by chance.

So how could he identify people with talents amid the vast sea of humanity?

It was actually not difficult. For ordinary people who moved through the underworld, if they were exceptionally gifted, they would rarely remain unknown. It was easy for them to make a name for themselves in a certain field.

And their distinctive nicknames were often direct reflections of their talents.

Over the following days, Uchiha Hara controlled his rat Avatar, "Senju Jerry," and quietly mingled through gray areas such as taverns and gambling dens where gang members gathered, eavesdropping on their boasting and conversations.

After nearly a week of patient information gathering, intelligence on several famous figures in Konoha's underworld gradually became clear:

First was the Golden Ape Society, which controlled the largest black market and casinos. Its backer was the Sarutobi Clan.

Ironhide Kobayashi Nuo, forty-seven years old: an elder of the Golden Ape Society, famous for skin as tough as iron that could withstand blades. Though he had semi-retired, his status remained highly respected.

Kobayashi Nuo had now married a woman from the Sarutobi Clan and had a son and daughter. Unfortunately, neither child had inherited his talent.

Uchiha Hara guessed that this man likely possessed a talent similar to Ironhide.

Black-Eyed Yun Jiro, thirty-three years old: a former subordinate of Kobayashi Nuo. His eyes were pitch-black and pupil-less, and anyone he stared at would feel fear rise in their heart. He was suspected of possessing a Genjutsu-type eye technique. The Sarutobi Clan had once tried teaching him the Chakra Refinement Technique to explore the effects of his Black Eye, but he was already an adult when he encountered it and had never successfully refined Chakra.

The effects of his Black Eye talent were unknown.

The Sarutobi Clan had also made him marry a Sarutobi woman in an attempt to pass down the Black Eye through bloodline inheritance, but neither of his two sons had inherited it.

Sword Saint Kurozawa Shu, age unknown: a refugee from the Land of Iron. His swordsmanship was peerless, swift, and precise. Rumor had it that he could sever the wings of a flying fly. He likewise could not refine Chakra and currently served as the Sarutobi Clan's swordsmanship instructor, teaching non-Chakra swordsmanship.

Uchiha Hara guessed that he possessed a swordsmanship-related talent.

Staff Demon Sarutobi Taku, twenty-five years old: a member of the Sarutobi Clan with extraordinary talent in staff techniques and few rivals within the clan. Unfortunately, his Chakra aptitude was abysmal, and his Chakra reserves were inferior even to a Genin's. He had been sent to the Golden Ape Society to manage its affairs.

Uchiha Hara guessed that he possessed either a combat talent or a staff technique talent.

There were also several rising younger members of the Golden Ape Society, such as Ghostfoot Awu, Viper Lina, and Iron Abacus Heiji, each with their own specialties.

Then there was the ruthless and secretive Root Tendrils organization, backed by Shimura Danzo.

Six-Eyed Celestial Amemiya Aki, female, around thirty years old: the chief accountant and general manager of Root Tendrils. She possessed an eidetic memory and the ability to divide her attention, capable of handling six documents at once. That was how she earned the name "Six-Eyed."

Her mental arithmetic was also exceptionally outstanding, allowing her to sort through complex accounts in an instant.

Cross Fang, age unknown: a general of Root Tendrils, known as "the number one assassin beneath ninja" and "Chunin Killer."

Though he had no Chakra, he had trained his body to the level of a Chunin and had successfully assassinated Chunin before. That was how he earned the name Chunin Killer.

His blade techniques were top-tier in close combat, and he was especially skilled with cross-shaped throwing blades. Within ten paces, he never missed, and their killing power was immense.

As for other gangs like Eye of the Forest and Fang Brawl Group, either because their operations leaned more toward business or because they acted more discreetly, relatively little information about their well-known experts had spread.

"Root has people like this too..." Uchiha Hara's eyes flickered as he swiftly locked onto a target—Amemiya Aki!

There were two reasons for choosing her:

1. Weakening an enemy: Root and the Uchiha had always been at odds. Weakening Root was equivalent to indirectly strengthening his own camp.

Moreover, Amemiya Yan was extremely valuable. Once he was killed, it would be difficult to find someone else to replace him. Without Amemiya Yan, the operation of all Root Tendrils would be affected.

2. Talent value: the Golden Ape Society's Ironhide and Black Eye talents held little appeal for him, since he already had the Sharingan and numerous defensive talents. Amemiya Aki, on the other hand, almost certainly possessed a talent related to intelligence, comprehension, or calculation. For someone like him who had embarked on the path of cultivation, such a talent was crucial and could not be missed!

Having selected his target, Uchiha Hara immediately began formulating an assassination plan.

First, he would investigate Root Tendrils' headquarters and determine the layout of its buildings, Amemiya Aki's office and residence, as well as her daily schedule.

Second, he needed to learn Root Tendrils' operational patterns—when the headquarters was crowded and when it was sparsely staffed.

By coincidence, on the very night Uchiha Hara decided to devise an assassination plan, Senju Jerry overheard an important piece of intelligence: the next night, Root Tendrils would be carrying out an operation to receive fifty orphans from outside the village, and Cross Fang would be responsible.

At that time, the guards at Root Tendrils headquarters would be relatively weak.

The opportunity had arrived just like that!

The next day, Uchiha Hara attended class as usual, slept as usual, and after school, accompanied Kurenai Yuhi on a stroll through the streets as usual. He looked perfectly calm, as though he had no major undertaking planned for that night.

At eight in the evening, after confirming through Senju Jerry that Root Tendrils' main force had left headquarters, he began his operation.

Using the Naka River water system, he quietly swam underwater to the vicinity of Root Tendrils headquarters and came ashore.

Along the way, he once again marveled at the convenience of this river. Since it ran across Konoha, Uchiha Hara could use it to reach nearly two-thirds of the Hidden Leaf Village!

It was simply too convenient!

Root Tendrils was Root Tendrils after all, not Root, so its security was far less strict.

Furthermore, now that ninja had become involved with the gangs, each group had established its own territory and business operations. They were no longer like the early days of their rise, when they had to sleep with blades in hand to guard against rivals seizing territory in the middle of the night.

After so many peaceful years, Root Tendrils headquarters' defenses had become shockingly lax. There were not only no hidden or visible sentries, but even the guards on watch were leaning against the walls and dozing off.

Uchiha Hara scaled the wall like a ghost of the night, his movements as light as a cat's.

The structure of Root Tendrils headquarters was quite simple: a three-story row building, with a large square in front and a large training ground behind.

According to the intelligence, both Amemiya Aki's office and bedroom were on the third floor.

Using [Water Perception], he precisely avoided the few people moving about inside the building. As if he knew the layout by heart, he made his way to the third floor and arrived outside Amemiya Aki's bedroom.

However, the information returned by Water Perception showed that there were actually two people in the bedroom! And they were overlapping.

"Two people?" Uchiha Hara raised a brow, but he did not panic.

Using Earth Release, he easily fashioned a key and silently unlocked the door.

The instant the door opened—

Whoosh!

A sharp whistle tore through the air straight toward him! It was a cross-shaped throwing blade!

For some unknown reason, Cross Fang, who should have been receiving the orphans, was inside Amemiya Aki's bedroom, entangled with her at that very moment!

As an ordinary person without Chakra, his reaction was already fast enough. But Uchiha Hara's Water Perception had long detected the minute movements of his tightening muscles and coiled strength!

He sidestepped and tilted his head!

The cross-shaped throwing blade missed him completely.

Uchiha Hara immediately raised his hand. The bowstring he had already drawn trembled slightly! At such close range, the sharp arrow gave Cross Fang no time to react and instantly pierced his brow!

Clean and decisive!

In the blink of an eye, the bedroom contained only Amemiya Aki, wrapped in a blanket, disheveled, and filled with terror.

She was only thirty, the most beautiful age for a woman. She had both a figure and an air of elegance, and after managing Root Tendrils' finances for decades, she had developed the capable bearing of a professional woman.

Her long hair was scattered loose, her skin white as snow. Tears glimmered in her eyes as she looked pitiful and helpless, trying to use body language to beg for a chance at survival.

"My lord, spare me. I can do anything..." Her voice trembled with a hint of seduction.

Unfortunately, the assassin only appeared to be an adult. It was actually the effect of the Transformation Technique.

Uchiha Hara's body was only five years old right now. Even when faced with a beauty, he had the desire but not the ability!

Besides, he was lustful, but he only had a special collector's obsession with "original characters."

No matter how beautiful Amemiya Aki was, since she had never appeared in the plot, she was nothing more than a passerby to Uchiha Hara.

Uchiha Hara's gaze was icy and utterly unmoved.

The second arrow left the string!

Amemiya Aki's plea abruptly ended.

His actions had been so swift that by this point, the cross-shaped throwing blade Cross Fang had just thrown had not even hit the ground.

Uchiha Hara swiftly stored both corpses in the Demon Refining Pot, then took every sheet of paper and every book from Amemiya Aki's bedroom.

He had originally intended to leave, since the cross-shaped throwing blade had already fallen.

But perhaps it was simply Root Tendrils' misfortune: the throwing blade had landed in the sandy ground of the courtyard, making so little sound that the guards outside barely reacted.

"Looks like everyone here is just going through the motions!" Uchiha Hara remarked. It could only be said that they were worthy of being gangsters—their vigilance was practically nonexistent!

He no longer rushed to leave. Instead, he went to Amemiya Aki's office and packed all the funds, books, account ledgers, and paper records he could find into the Demon Refining Pot.

If he did not take those things away, Root Tendrils could simply find another accountant and quickly resume operations.

Even if the new accountant was not as capable as Amemiya Aki, they could just hire several more!

Was she not called the Six-Eyed Celestial? Then they could find six accountants. Six of them should be enough to match one of her.

But if Uchiha Hara took all those documents, Root Tendrils would have a difficult time resuming operations in the short term. Never mind whether they could reconcile the accounts—even paying next month's wages in full would be difficult.

Once everything was settled, Uchiha Hara silently merged into the night just as he had come, then leaped into the Naka River.

Once again marveling at the river's convenience, he noted that its icy waters not only carried away his traces, but also washed away any scent he might have left behind, perfectly evading the tracking of any ninja hounds or ninja insects that might arrive.

After returning home and entering the Demon Refining Pot's small world, he immediately began refining.

He first consumed Cross Fang's Blood Essence and Soul Essence. Naturally, the best things had to be saved for last.

He had thought Cross Fang was merely an ordinary person who had trained himself to the extreme and might not possess a talent. Unexpectedly, the result gave him a pleasant surprise:

[Precision (Blue)]: Projectile accuracy increased by 50%.

"Not bad!" Uchiha Hara's eyes lit up.

His foundation in throwing and archery had already been excellent. With this additional fifty percent boost, he conducted a brief test in the small world and discovered that within effective range, whether it was arrows, kunai, shuriken, or spears, he had practically reached the realm of never missing wherever his mind directed!

This was an enormous supplement to his mid- and long-range lethality.

And this talent was only an appetizer before the main course!

Early the next morning, with even greater anticipation, he consumed Amemiya Aki's Blood Essence and Soul Essence.

The instant that energy merged into his sea of consciousness, an unprecedented sense of cool clarity swept through his mind!

Then, a line of text that made his heart race appeared prominently on the talent panel:

[Three-Aperture Exquisite Heart (Red)]: Gain the ability to divide your mind, with the number of tasks you can process simultaneously equal to base [3] + [Spirit] * 3 (current Spirit: 2.281; can process 9 tasks simultaneously). Greatly increases memory, comprehension, aptitude, and calculation ability (effect approximately 100%).

A red talent!

Uchiha Hara was utterly stunned. It was actually a red talent.

White, green, blue, red, purple!

Red talents were Kage level talents!

And the effects of this talent were simply heaven-defying!

There was no need to mention being able to split his attention nine ways. It had directly doubled his memory, comprehension, aptitude, and calculation ability!

Calling it a doubling of his intelligence would not be an exaggeration!

Uchiha Hara's intelligence had not been low to begin with. At the very least, he was at the level of a genius, and now it had doubled again!

In an instant, he felt his thought speed surge as his mind became crystal clear.

The many obscure and difficult points he had encountered while studying Sealing Jutsu and Barrier Jutsu now seemed as though clouds had parted to reveal the sun. Ideas and solutions emerged one after another!

He could even keenly sense subtle inconsistencies in the Tai Chi and Uchiha Style Swordsmanship he had practiced for so long—or rather, aspects that did not entirely suit him.

Even more astonishingly, as his memory became terrifyingly powerful, memories from his previous life began resurfacing one by one.

His memory had already been strong, and he had later obtained the green talent [Memory Enhancement]. Now that his memory had been boosted by another one hundred percent, calling it photographic memory would not be an exaggeration.

As memories from his previous life surfaced, countless scattered pieces of information he had once encountered—fragments of martial arts manuals, Baidu Encyclopedia definitions, ingenious ideas from novels and films, and even martial arts routines demonstrated by various content creators—appeared clearly in his mind, as if they had been reorganized and archived anew!

Combined with his understanding of Tai Chi's principle of using softness to overcome hardness and flowing with perfect circularity, as well as his grasp of Uchiha Style Swordsmanship's fierce unpredictability and fatal strikes, an unprecedented thought began wildly growing within him:

"Perhaps... I can draw on the strengths of many schools, fuse these concepts together, and create my own—Uchiha Style Tai Chi and an entirely new Uchiha sword art!"

This hunt had not only yielded two immensely valuable talents, but had also opened a door for him toward a higher realm of martial arts, perhaps even the immortal path.

And this increase in strength was not merely a change in numbers. It was a qualitative transformation of his foundation and potential!