An idea for Yin Release

The soft morning sunlight blurred the edges of Setsuna's hand shadows.

Under cover of night, Kagami and the other children had followed Toshihi and Tetsukawa back, traveling with a few messenger shinobi.

Without their burdens, the return journey was a little safer than the trip out. The little children who had crowded the tents the night before were all gone before dawn.

Setsuna sat alone on a rock at the edge of camp, a grass stem between his lips. His one-tomoe Sharingan shone as his fingers formed one shadow puppet after another in the morning light.

A dog, a bird, a rabbit, over and over. He was trying to inject chakra into the shadows.

Unfortunately, he just couldn't get the hang of it.

First, he molded chakra in his lower abdomen. Second, he guided it through his chakra pathways to his fingertips. Then came the third step... except there was no third step.

The shadows didn't react at all.

No matter how he adjusted the amount of chakra or changed the rhythm of its release, the hand shadows cast on the rock remained utterly still. Their shapes stayed exactly as they should, separated from his chakra by a barrier he couldn't break through.

He tried using his ocular power to analyze the chakra flowing within the shadows themselves.

But through the Sharingan, a shadow was still just a shadow, without a trace of chakra.

Setsuna bit through the grass stem in frustration.

He knew where the problem lay.

Genjutsu-or rather, Yin Release-had been represented far too crudely in the game.

The developers had never intended to explore how genjutsu worked. They had simply reduced it to a "time stop."

When a character was caught in genjutsu, their screen turned gray, they froze for half a second, and they took whatever hits came their way.

As a result, all the Uchiha Clan's genjutsu-focused characters had been crippled in the arena.

Now that he had ended up in this world, those lazy game mechanics had become very real gaps in his knowledge.

He didn't know how to extract yin release chakra or separate spiritual energy from chakra.

He was also still too young. The Uchiha wouldn't teach genjutsu to a five-and-a-half-year-old, even if he had already awakened his Sharingan.

Suddenly, a name leaped into his mind-Tobirama Senju!

Even Setsuna thought it was absurd.

Tobirama Senju, the Uchiha Clan's mortal enemy and a master of forbidden techniques.

But he had to admit that the white-haired man's talent for developing ninjutsu ranked among the best in the entire history of the shinobi world.

Take the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, for example. That genjutsu had been developed specifically to counter the Sharingan, and it worked by depriving the target of sight and creating a space of absolute darkness.

And that technique was, at its core, Yin Release too.

If the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique used Yin Release to create darkness, then within that darkness, shadows were everywhere.

The principles behind the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique were crucial to the Ten Shadows Technique he wanted to develop.

If he could figure out how Tobirama Senju used Yin Release to create darkness, perhaps he could work backward to deduce a way to give shadows form and life.

Of course, Tobirama Senju hadn't developed the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique until after he turned twenty.

The white-haired man's golden years of research had been between twenty and thirty-five. Before that, he had merely been a master of swordsmanship and Water Release.

But Setsuna didn't want to wait until he was twenty to start developing his own technique.

Kakashi had developed Lightning Blade at eight. He, Uchiha Setsuna, was at least an Uchiha who had awakened his Sharingan. Developing a Ten Shadows Technique shouldn't be that hard.

He took that for granted.

From a distance, Izuna spotted Setsuna sitting on a rock, a grass stem between his lips and his Sharingan active, making shadow puppets with a solemn expression.

The morning light fell on his little face, still round with baby fat, making its fine hairs glow. Paired with his attempt to look profound, it was rather cute.

Even when Izuna walked right up to him, the boy didn't react.

"What are you thinking about?" Izuna asked, his voice unusually gentle.

"Tobirama Senju," Setsuna answered without looking up.

"Ding! Mentioned Tobirama Senju to Uchiha Izuna-rebellion points +2."

Along with the notification came a hard rap on the top of his head.

Setsuna clutched his head and looked up. Only then did he notice Izuna.

Madara Uchiha's younger brother stood before him, his face as dark as the sky before a downpour. A vein at his temple twitched.

Looking at Izuna's thunderous face, Setsuna felt not the slightest shame for touching a nerve. Instead, he declared indignantly, "You ambushed me. You're a despicable, shameless bastard."

"Ding! Rebellion points +1."

Izuna's expression turned utterly foul.

Only after seeing his reaction did Setsuna belatedly remember that "despicable, shameless bastard" was a title generally reserved for Tobirama Senju during the Warring States era.

His last remark had landed squarely in the same minefield.

But Setsuna was secretly pleased.

He had earned three rebellion points in a single morning. Added to the one he had left over, that made four-almost halfway to the ten he needed to upgrade his focus.

He had the pattern completely figured out now: mention Tobirama Senju to Izuna, gain two points; insult Izuna with the words used to insult Tobirama Senju, gain another.

So Izuna's the easiest one to farm rebellion points from. All I have to do is mention Tobirama Senju a few more times.

He ventured, "You and Tobirama Senju are so alike, you might as well get married."

Thump! Another rap on the head.

This time, however, his mind remained quiet. No "ding," no points.

Setsuna clutched the two overlapping lumps on his head and pursed his lips.

So the same trick couldn't be used twice. Or rather, the same line wouldn't provoke a strong enough emotional response the second time.

Apparently, farming rebellion points required strategy too. One trick wouldn't work on everyone forever.

Or perhaps, while Tobirama Senju could easily stir Izuna's emotions, Izuna could also suppress them just as easily. Otherwise, getting hotheaded on the battlefield over a single name would leave him far too vulnerable.

After all, Izuna wouldn't have been the Warring States' Greatest Swordsman otherwise. Practicing swordsmanship also required training the mind; when drawing his blade, he had to remain as calm as still water.

Izuna gave a cold snort, his expression returning to indifference.

That face, so similar to Madara Uchiha's, was like a sheathed blade once he reined in his anger.

"The Hagoromo Clan Leader is your maternal grandfather. I'll take you to the Hagoromo Clan Territory to pay your respects shortly. Don't disgrace the Uchiha."

With that, he turned and headed toward camp, jerking his chin for Setsuna to follow.

Setsuna hopped off the rock and brushed the dust from his trousers.

Interesting. All he had known before was that his mother had married into the clan from the Hagoromo Clan as part of a marriage alliance, and that after his parents died, he had become the clan leader's line's sole remaining child. No one had ever told him that his maternal grandfather was the Hagoromo Clan Leader.

This marriage alliance carried far more weight than he had thought.