Some time had passed since the desert death match against Rasa, the candidate for Fourth Kazekage.
As returning caravans and shinobi spread the word, Shinji Uchiha's reputation as "Konoha's Evil Eye" and a near-Kage-level fighter gradually took root throughout the Shinobi World.
Yet Shinji himself did not bask in that reputation forged in blood and flame.
At that moment, he sat upright in a secluded training room deep within the Uchiha Clan Compound, reserved exclusively for him as a newly appointed elder.
The faint scent of incense meant to soothe the mind filled the air, but the subtle pulses of chakra around him lent that stillness an extraordinary weight and power.
Promotion to jonin, appointment as an elder, a death match at near-Kage level-these events had brought more than a leap in status and prestige. They had prompted a thorough examination of his entire framework of power.
During the fierce battle against Rasa in particular, which had nearly exhausted his chakra, his reserves and recovery rate-far beyond those of ordinary people and worthy of a "human tailed beast"-had become the decisive trump card, determining victory or defeat, and even life or death.
That immense chakra stemmed from the system's absolute purification of his Uchiha and Uzumaki bloodlines, bolstered by the rule-level talent "human tailed beast."
But deep within Shinji's soul, his thirst for discovery and instinct for logic would not let him settle for simply attributing it to "talent" or "the system."
He firmly believed that everything followed underlying principles, and chakra was no exception.
If he could possess it, then its form, patterns of growth, and operating principles had to leave traces he could follow.
During his several days of seclusion, he had not been developing some earth-shattering new technique. Instead, he had devoted most of his energy to