Five Emperor Swords

"Can your mother and I watch?" Fugaku asked tentatively. He was also curious about how Hane controlled Chakra Metal.

Hane thought for a moment. "Of course." After all, the two people before him were his closest family. There was no chance of exposing his secrets.

Besides, even if he refined magical artifacts right in front of them, they would not understand due to the difference in their systems. In the end, they could only attribute it to a Kekkei Genkai.

After saying that, Hane glanced at Fugaku. "Father, can you make sure there are no other spies here?"

Fugaku's expression froze. He quickly spread out his senses, then nodded at Hane. "Hane, go ahead without worry. No spy has ever been planted in the Uchiha clan head's residence." He was quite pleased by his son's cautious attitude.

Seeing this, Hane said no more. He opened the large box Fugaku had placed on the table. The only difficulty now was that he had not expected to actually get one hundred jin of Chakra Metal after making such an outrageous demand, thinking he would never receive it. He had not expected his father to trust him so much.

This was one hundred jin of Chakra Metal. Normal Chakra Metal weapons were measured by the gram, and even good ones only used one or two jin. It was easy to imagine just how expensive Chakra Metal was in the Ninja World.

But since things had come to this, he could only refine it first. He would just make a few more swords later.

With that thought, Hane used spiritual energy to lift the Chakra Metal into the air. As Fugaku and Mikoto watched the floating Chakra Metal, their expressions turned serious. Both even activated their Three-Tomoe Sharingan, staring without blinking at Hane's movements.

Boom!

A cluster of Ao-green flames ignited in Hane's palm. Flowing like water, the flames swiftly wrapped around the Chakra Metal suspended in the air.

Seeing Hane's precise control over flames again, shock still appeared in their eyes.

Under the scorching heat, the Chakra Metal quickly melted into a magma-like liquid. Hane controlled the flames, rapidly stripping away its impurities.

As traces of impurities were melted by the high heat into wisps of gas and drifted away from the Chakra Metal, the spiritual energy in Hane's body was also being consumed at a rapid rate. Beads of sweat involuntarily appeared on his forehead.

Artifact refining was an auxiliary profession that consumed a tremendous amount of mental energy. It looked simple on the surface, but extracting impurities from an object required the cultivator to focus intensely and observe every change within the material.

At this moment, Hane felt slightly fortunate. If his recent improvement in cultivation had not greatly strengthened his mental power and granted him the ability to observe the minutest details, this artifact refinement might truly have failed.

Watching the multicolored elemental particles within the flowing liquid rapidly purify into pure Ao elements, Hane quietly sighed in relief. It seemed the first step, purification, had succeeded.

He then controlled the flames and divided the purified liquid into five portions. Next came the most important step: shaping.

As Hane's mind connected with the flames, the five sword blanks were gradually stretched out, slowly taking the form of the double-edged swords carried by swordsmen in his previous life.

The blades were long and slender. The flames erupted like explosions, hammering the newly formed sword blanks like countless small hammers of Nothingness and producing crisp and dull clanging sounds.

The material of the five longswords was continuously compressed, making them denser and sturdier. Layer upon layer of fish-scale patterns began to appear along the blades.

The entire process took nearly half an hour, and Hane's face grew increasingly pale, filling Mikoto's eyes with worry.

As the flames dispersed, five glowing-red longswords stood suspended in the air. Hane lightly formed a hand seal, and a mass of clear water appeared out of thin air. The water carried a faint chill as it swiftly wrapped around the five longswords under Hane's command.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

Thick white smoke rose up and spread through the entire room like mist.

When Fugaku saw Hane smoothly controlling Water Release, the shock in his heart became indescribable, beyond anything but Nothingness. He could not understand what kind of Kekkei Genkai his son had awakened. Not only could he freely control flames, he could even control water elements. But now was not the time to ask about it.

Naturally, he had noticed Hane's pale face and understood that using this power consumed a great deal of his strength. It was best not to disturb him lightly.

When the mist dispersed, five chilling longswords stood in the air. The swords possessed an ancient simplicity, without too many elaborate patterns. Their hilts were spiral-shaped, their blades long and slender, marked with rows of natural yet mysterious scale-like patterns.

Upon seeing the five swords, Fugaku and Mikoto could not help taking a step back. The sharp aura radiating from the blades made even them, standing four or five meters away, feel as though they were about to be cut apart.

"Hane, is the refinement complete?" Fugaku asked uncertainly.

Hane shook his head slightly, then hurriedly sat cross-legged to recover his spiritual energy and mental power. Seeing this, Fugaku, who had wanted to ask more questions, immediately closed his mouth.

After roughly half an hour, Hane slowly stood up again, his complexion much improved. Next came the most important part: imprinting Dao Art talismans onto the swords, granting them mysterious power.

Hane continuously formed complicated hand seals, muttering mysterious syllables whose meaning could not be understood. Dense clusters of five differently colored ancient seal characters flew from his mouth alongside the syllables and floated in the air.

When Hane slowly opened his eyes, he looked with satisfaction at the seal characters overhead. It was clear that the fiery red and ink-black characters were more complicated than the other three.

With a wave of Hane's hand, the five talismans flew toward different longswords. In an instant, the entire room was filled with five-colored radiance.

When the glow faded, five longswords appeared before the three of them, shining red, black, Ao, blue, and yellow.

Looking at the magical artifacts he had finally refined, Hane's lips curled into a relieved smile. Turning to his stunned parents, he revealed an excited expression. "Father, Mother, it's done!"

Those simple words instantly brought the two back to their senses.

"Hane, are these the Chakra weapons you refined?" Fugaku reached out to touch one of the enchanted swords, but it let out a sharp cry, and flames instantly surged around it.

Fugaku's pupils contracted, and he quickly withdrew his hand.

"Father, these swords are connected to my mind. Anyone who touches them will suffer their backlash." Hane explained as he looked at Fugaku, who had nearly been burned.

With a gesture, the five swords swiftly flew back to Hane's side and floated behind him.

"Hane, what abilities do these swords possess?" Fugaku asked in disbelief.

"Why not try them yourself, Father?" A teasing smile appeared on Hane's lips.

Fugaku nodded silently, and the two returned to the training ground in the backyard.

"Begin, Hane. Let your father see your new Kekkei Genkai."

"Father, be careful!" With that, Hane waved his hand, and the five longswords, carrying five different elements, shot toward Fugaku from different angles.

Shrill tearing sounds echoed across the backyard training ground.

Fugaku's Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly. So fast!

Before he could think further, Fugaku dodged one of the enchanted swords to the right, then swiftly bent backward, brushing past the blade as he prepared to evade the next attack. But to his alarm, the fiery-red blade suddenly ignited with fierce flames and transformed into a gigantic fire phoenix.

The intense heat rapidly scorched his hair and clothes. Without time to think, Fugaku's eyes spun rapidly, forming a pinwheel pattern.

Susanoo! A simple skeletal frame swiftly formed around Fugaku, protecting him.

Yet what horrified him was that the simplified Susanoo he had summoned could not block the scarlet flames created by the fire phoenix at all.

Before the flames even reached his body, the scorching heat had already caused the moisture in his body to evaporate rapidly, leaving him on the verge of dehydration. At the same time, the chakra-formed Susanoo was rapidly draining the chakra within him.

At this moment, the other three longswords also transformed into sacred beasts of different forms and attacked him: the Qilin formed by the lightning sword, the giant turtle formed by the earth sword, and the Azure Dragon formed by the water sword.

The three sacred beasts let out different roars and attacked him at incredible speed, pouncing, crushing, and biting.

Fugaku no longer dared to hold back. The slightly ethereal Susanoo rapidly solidified, and a half-skeletal Susanoo frame completely enveloped him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The powerful explosions echoed throughout the Uchiha Clan Grounds, and every Uchiha clan member sleeping inside looked uncertainly toward the direction of the blasts.

"Could it be an enemy attack?"

Numerous Uchiha clan members hurriedly put on their ninja gear, rushed out of their homes, leaped onto the rooftops, and looked toward the explosions.

They saw great clouds of dust rising from the direction of the clan head's home.

At the same time, Itachi ran downstairs in panic and hurried to the training ground.

At the training ground, the smoke and dust dispersed. Hane and Fugaku stood facing each other, and Fugaku looked slightly disheveled.

Though his body was uninjured, his lips were cracked, and his hair was slightly singed and curled.

"Father, how was that?" Hane stood atop one of the longswords, floating in the air as he asked calmly.

When Fugaku summoned Susanoo, Hane had promptly stopped his attack. Fugaku sensed the sharp aura of Nothingness that had been everywhere disappear and understood that this was not the time for an all-out battle.

He immediately took advantage of the dust cloud to withdraw the half-formed Susanoo. After all, if the fact that he had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan were exposed, it would certainly provoke Konoha's higher-ups into becoming wary again.

At least, this was not the time to reveal his strength. Fortunately, it was late at night, and few ninja were watching the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

"Hane! You are already a powerful ninja!" After saying this, Fugaku felt both gratified and disappointed. He was gratified that his eldest son was so outstanding, but disappointed that such an exceptional son had not been taught by him.

"What are these five swords called?" Fugaku asked in a deep voice.

Hane picked up the Fire Sword and gently stroked its blade. "Names? Let's call them the Five Emperor Swords."

As Hane's words fell, the five longswords instantly let out trembling hums.