Storm Approaches

Madara looked at his high-spirited little brother on the platform and felt genuinely happy for him. To be honest, he did not care who became clan head. If the clan head was incompetent, the clansmen themselves could drag that person down.

"Our third brother is getting more and more imposing. What do you think, Izuna?"

"That outfit looks so cool!"

"..."

After the clan meeting, Uchiha Yuan spent half a month relaxing within the clan. He specifically went to see that little brat named Uchiha Kagami. He was quite cute—or rather, all Uchiha children were rather good-looking.

"Sigh~ Haru, why are they so cute as children, only to grow up ugly?"

"Lord Yuan means...?"

"I mean most of the people in our Clan Land. They all look rather... distinctive."

"Maybe the pressure is too great."

"Or maybe they have too much on their minds. As the saying goes, the face reflects the heart~"

Uchiha Haru felt that there seemed to be some hidden meaning in his words, so she could only pretend not to understand.

The New Year holiday ended, and February was just around the corner. After leaving behind a Shadow Clone, Uchiha Yuan returned to the laboratory a day early.

"Not a single one of them came early. They had better not have run off, or I'll drag them back even if they flee to the Clan Land."

Uchiha Yuan narrowed his eyes, picked up a broom and rag, and began cleaning. Afterward, he made a trip to the Ninja Cat Clan Grounds and had them relay a message to the tools.

"Get me some death-row prisoners, scum guilty of heinous crimes. The more, the better. Send them over in batches every week. Let's set the number at a hundred."

After the orange cat finished recording his words, it vanished with a bang. Uchiha Yuan then prepared to head back.

"Is that child doing well with you?"

"Hm? You mean Little Kuro? She's doing quite well. She's put on at least ten pounds."

"Then she really is doing well..."

With a wave of his hand, Uchiha Yuan bid farewell to the big white cat and began preparing for the next round of gene extraction. Only three bloodlines remained, and he planned to handle them all at once.

At present, the Yuki and Uzumaki genes in his body were performing very well. There was no discomfort whatsoever, and his strength was steadily improving.

Early the next morning, the stone blocking the cave entrance was moved aside, and the five test subjects entered one after another.

"Yo, not a single one of you ran away?"

"Hehe, Lord Yuan, you jest. The treatment here is so good. Why would we run?"

"Heh, Big Fool Shibaki, your ideological awareness is pretty high~"

"Who is Big Fool Shibaki?"

"A former powerhouse of the Shinobi World."

"Oh!?"

With the experience from the previous two times, the gene extraction process was much more efficient. However, the white mice sent by the tools had not arrived yet, so he could not conduct live testing.

Uchiha Yuan did not sit around waiting. He began deducing the Yin Seal; after all, he had promised Haru.

"The Yin Seal, the crowning achievement of Uzumaki Sealing Arts. Using the point between the eyebrows as a medium, it gathers a massive amount of Chakra within the body, keeping the brain cells active and the body in its peak state year-round."

Its drawback was that Chakra accumulated far too slowly. After using it once, who knew how long it would take to build up again? Furthermore, the original work had a rule that it could be passed to daughters but not sons, which was why the technique had the word Yin in its name.

"I remember facial markings appearing when the Yin Seal is activated? In other words, this is actually a Sealing Art cast on oneself."

The principle felt somewhat familiar. After thinking it over for a long while, Uchiha Yuan realized it was very similar to a Sealing Scroll.

In theory, the things stored in a scroll were sent into a designated pocket dimension. The storage capacity depended on the caster's Chakra and the quality of the scroll.

After grasping the basic principle, Uchiha Yuan began exploring step by step how to draw sealing circuits within the body.

Three days later, a diamond-shaped red mark had appeared between the brows of Uchiha Yuan, who sat cross-legged meditating in the laboratory.

"This doesn't seem very difficult..."

Using his body as paper and his meridians as the canvas, he completed the internal circuit formed by the Yin Seal with surprising ease.

The reason Uchiha Yuan found it easy was because he could control his body without the slightest obstruction. If anyone else tried it, merely mobilizing Chakra to form Chakra circuits along the meridians would stump countless people.

"The body extracts Chakra, then stores it through the Yin Seal's circuit, but this speed..."

If the body was a large water tank and the water inside was Chakra, then the Yin Seal was a reservoir beside it. Yet the passage connecting them was merely a thumb-thick straw, slowly drawing water from the tank into the reservoir.

"How long is this going to take?"

Uchiha Yuan had even widened his meridians specifically to increase the speed of Chakra storage, but even so, he estimated that it would take three years to fill it completely.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Lord Yuan, someone is looking for you outside."

"Oh, right away."

When he opened the laboratory door, Hoshigaki Kuroto was standing outside. This shark-faced man looked fierce, but after spending time with him, one would find that he was actually honest and simple. He did not talk much, yet he had always maintained good relationships with everyone. He truly had the ways of the world down pat.

"Who is outside?"

"Looks like a merchant. No Chakra. He has a group of people tied up with ropes behind him."

The tools have delivered the white mice? Pretty efficient.

The Uchiha Clan Grounds had only just entered February, normally the busiest time of the year, when a major incident occurred.

There was a mining area between the Uchiha and Senju territories. It was not large, but the ore inside was highly valuable. For thousands of years, the two clans had fought over it, and at least half their wars had been sparked by it.

The Uchiha had been powerful these past few years, with three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan, and had forcefully seized it. Now, however, the Senju had begun mobilizing to fight for it again.

In the clan head's office, Uchiha Yuan's Shadow Clone sensed that this matter did not seem so simple.

"So that gold mine has been taken again? What were our casualties like?"

"Reporting to Clan Head, we followed your orders. We did not fight to the death and retreated directly. Aside from a few who suffered minor injuries due to unforeseen circumstances, the rest of the clansmen are fine."

"Mm, I understand. You may return first."

Uchiha Yuan then went to find Madara and Izuna and informed them of the matter.

"Damn Senju! We didn't beat them up before the New Year, and now their skin is itching again. Big brother! Let's hurry over and give them a beating!"

"Wait first. We know nothing about how many people they sent or what their objective is. We cannot act rashly."

"Then what do we do? Send people to scout? What if they keep pushing their luck? The area around that mineral vein is full of rare ores."

Madara pondered for a moment. He could not quite understand Hashirama's move either. Even if they intended to fight, he should have sent word in advance, right?

In truth, Hashirama had wanted to send word too, but Tobirama had kept such a close eye on him that he could not find the slightest chance to slip away.

"How about this! Izuna and I will take half the clansmen over to see what the Senju want. With how powerful we are now, they cannot possibly be doing something this foolish. Yuan, you... you aren't still a Shadow Clone, are you?"

"Uh... the original left a couple days ago."

The Shadow Clone scratched his head. Naturally, he pushed all responsibility onto the original.

"Hurry up and call him back. Izuna and I will head over first."

"Mm, alright."