Yechen swept his Byakugan over his dantian. The energy within it had changed: one black current and one white current revolved around each other, inseparably intertwined.
"Yin-Yang..." Yechen was stunned, but a suspicion also arose in his mind. To improve his combat strength from now on, he would probably have to cultivate all three attributes together, without letting any one fall too far behind. If his yin and yang became unbalanced, his two bloodlines would fall out of balance as well.
Yechen could not imagine what would happen, nor did he dare try. Cultivating both energy and his body would be his path from now on.
Feeling the tremendous power surging through his body, Yechen believed he could kill an ox with a single punch. Plenty of Genin would be unable to withstand it either.
A strength of 13 equaled roughly 325 kilograms of punching force, short of the first revolution.
The first revolution meant 500 kilograms. At present, Yechen had roughly half a revolution's worth of strength.
Character panel: Host: Uchiha Ye Chen Realm: Genin Combat power: 3.7 Cultivation technique: Primordial Chaos Devouring Heaven Technique Strength: 13 Constitution: 10 Spirit: 14 Energy: 140 Bloodlines: Sharingan (One-Tomoe), Byakugan (first revolution) Talents: Energy Conversion, Amaterasu (level 1), Space Compression (level 1) Skills: Three Body Technique (level 10), Fire Release-Great Fireball (level 5) Evolution points: 0
Awakening both bloodlines had greatly increased Yechen's strength. Even if he encountered a Chunin, he was confident he could survive, or even turn the tables and kill them.
Though he was excited, Yechen was exhausted in both body and mind. He lay down and fell straight asleep.
Early the next morning.
Faint sunlight slipped through the gap in the window and into the room.
Yechen slowly awoke and instinctively checked his condition. At once, he broke into a grin he could not contain. Two bloodlines, with both the Sharingan and Byakugan awakened-who else in the shinobi world could claim that?
As long as he continued growing steadily, his dream would surely come true.
Then he remembered what Nakagawa Ichirō had said when they parted yesterday: they were to gather at the Hokage Building before eight today to officially begin taking missions. Yechen's mood immediately soured, and he trudged into the washroom with a sense of resignation.
Just as in the story, the village needed to give him some time to adjust. Rather than sending them straight to the battlefield, it would have them start with simple missions to gain some experience.
At the same time, this would teach them the importance of completing their missions.
So whenever Yechen thought about spending the coming days catching cats, finding dogs, and scooping up fish like the students before him, he felt a headache coming on.
Although this would familiarize them with mission procedures and the hardships of being a ninja, some missions were nothing but a waste of time-and time was precisely what Yechen lacked.
With that much time, they might as well give him a few days off so he could cultivate without distractions.
But these were the village's rules, and part of the process. No matter how reluctant Yechen was, he still had to do it.
After washing up and eating something, he arrived at the Hokage Building. Abe Rō looked excited. Ninja missions offered both pay and a chance to train himself, and he had long wanted to experience them.
Yet once they actually accepted a mission, Abe Rō became utterly listless.
Under Nakagawa Ichirō's guidance, the three of them each carried a bamboo basket on their back as they fished rubbish out of a small river on the outskirts of the village.
For Abe Rō, who was determined to become Hokage, this was unbearable. The mission was boring and did nothing to help his training, so he complained as he picked up rubbish.
Ito Miyuki, on the other hand, was much calmer and more composed. Despite her usually carefree personality, she understood many things about the village better than anyone.
Every Genin went through missions like these, so what good would complaining do? It was better to finish quickly and build up their mission record so they could accept more difficult assignments.
Nakagawa Ichirō remained on the bank, watching all three and recording their performances one by one.
Yet his gaze kept returning to Yechen, and he nodded from time to time.
Abe Rō was complaining, while Ito Miyuki was diligently collecting rubbish. Only Yechen had turned the mission into training-an ability every elite ninja needed.
Nakagawa Ichirō grew increasingly pleased with Yechen and even began considering taking him on as a disciple.
A teacher merely imparted knowledge and skills. A true disciple was different: he would pass down everything he himself had learned. That was the distinction between a disciple and a student.
But remembering Yechen's background, Nakagawa Ichirō shook his head with a sigh.
How could Jonin like them fail to notice the higher-ups suppressing the Uchiha Clan, sometimes openly and sometimes subtly? Once the war settled down, there was no telling what might happen.
Nakagawa Ichirō did not want to get dragged into it, so he had to keep his distance from the Uchiha as well.
What drew him to Yechen was the determination he saw in him. The others treated this as a mission, while Yechen was using his surroundings to hone himself.
Anyone watching carefully would notice that as Yechen moved across the river collecting rubbish, his feet never touched the riverbed. Instead, he stood on the surface of the water.
Only a ninja with sufficiently proficient chakra control could accomplish that.
Even many experienced Genin had yet to master this skill, which ordinarily only Chunin could grasp. Yet Yechen had only just become a Genin and already possessed chakra control at this level. Naturally, Nakagawa Ichirō could not help appreciating his talent.
Yechen had no idea Nakagawa Ichirō was watching him the whole time. He was fully immersed in his training.
As for why he had thought of using Water Walking to practice chakra control, any Naruto fan knew the principle behind it.
What surprised him was that he succeeded on his very first attempt at Water Walking. Afterward, he grew increasingly proficient, to the point that he could even run across the water, almost as though he had been born with the ability.
Yechen did not think he was particularly gifted. His ability to do this might have something to do with his cultivation technique-and he also had two bloodlines.