An introduction to Yin Release

Setsuna sat on the tower roof.

Sunlight poured down from directly overhead, warming him all over.

The tower was the tallest building in the entire Hagoromo Clan Territory, offering a view of the whole place. Since the breach at the Sixth Settlement had been sealed, the territory's barrier formation had been taken down.

Setsuna raised both hands toward the sunlight, interlacing his fingers and shifting their angles.

A lopsided rabbit appeared on the roof's wooden planks, followed by a dog, then a bird.

He gathered chakra, trying to pour that power into his shadow.

His focus was now level three.

As he understood it, that level of mental power should have been enough to sense Yin Release chakra.

Just as level two physical strength had let him lift the Fūma Shuriken, and level two recovery had let him run a kilometer without getting winded.

Every upgrade corresponded to a clear improvement in his abilities.

Focus alone had risen two levels with no changes beyond a slightly expanded sensory range.

At best, the edge of his shadow had merely quivered.

Setsuna frowned, staring blankly at his own shadow.

So focus wasn't the problem.

He could clearly feel chakra being refined in his lower abdomen and flowing through his chakra pathways to his fingertips, only to vanish without a trace once he poured it into his shadow, like a clay ox sinking into the sea.

The problem lay in the chakra itself.

When refining chakra, he used the standard ratio of half spiritual energy and half physical energy.

That was the basic fuel for all ninjutsu, neutral in nature and usable by anyone.

But Yin Release was different.

Yin Release chakra required a special ratio, primarily spiritual energy with physical energy as a supplement.

Genjutsu, the Nara Clan's secret shadow techniques, and the Yamanaka Clan's mental intrusion techniques were all built on that ratio.

He knew all the theory.

He had read plenty of discussion threads about the ninjutsu system on the game forums.

The problem was that knowing and doing were two different things.

Extracting spiritual energy from that mixed fuel, then recombining it with physical energy in a Yin Release ratio, was something he had never done before.

In the game, his Sharingan's use of genjutsu had simply been represented by a crude "Time Stop."

Asking him to figure out an entirely new chakra nature transformation from scratch was a little too difficult.

It would have been nice if Izuna were willing to teach him genjutsu, but Izuna was too busy to spare him any attention now.

He suddenly remembered a word that had always come up in the threads about practicing with Yin Release chakra.

Imagination.

Inoichi Yamanaka's exact words had been-controlling Yin Release chakra depended on exceptionally powerful emotions and imagination.

Whether through visualization, experiencing emotions, or using mental pressure to break through a certain threshold, the underlying principle was the same: intense mental activity increased the proportion of spiritual energy in chakra, strengthening its Yin Release nature.

Imagination...

He didn't have much of that.

As a game character, animals hadn't existed in his understanding of the world.

There had been a few birds programmed to fly in loops across the sky texture, and summoning beasts could be seen in their summoning animations, but beyond that, there hadn't been a single living animal in the entire game world.

He could make hand shadows of various animals not because he had seen them, but because those gestures were presets in the players' hand-shadow animation module.

Something related to animals... did Madara Uchiha's bunny girl skin count?

He immediately shook his head, banishing that horrifying image from his mind.

As for mental pressure...

Setsuna closed his eyes, trying to recall the instant Madara Uchiha had crushed him to death with Tengai Shinsei in the arena.

The meteor had rapidly swelled in his field of vision while his body remained trapped in his dodge's recovery animation, unable to move. His health bar had dropped straight from half to zero, and then Madara Uchiha, with that punchable face, had looked down on him and spouted all sorts of infuriating trash talk in that smug tone.

Fuck!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

That fire surged up from his chest. He felt his chakra churn inside him, and the edge of his shadow seemed to twitch half an inch.

This could work.

Every frame played on a loop in his head. The longer it played, the hotter his anger burned and the more agitated his chakra became.

He snapped his eyes open, his one-tomoe Sharingan glowing scarlet in the dusk.

All that fury caught in his throat, demanding to be let out-

"Madara Uchiha, fuck eighteen generations of your ancestors!"

The child's shrill voice exploded over the Hagoromo Clan Territory, reaching every corner and startling several birds from the distant treetops.

His hand naturally followed suit-his right middle finger pointed at the sky.

Nice.

Shouting it out really did feel good. Even the taut string in his mind finally loosened.

Then-

Whack!

A knuckle cracked down hard on the top of his head.

Whack! Whack!

Three blows in succession, perfectly rhythmic, each landing on the exact same spot.

Ding! Rebellion points +2!

Setsuna collapsed onto the roof, clutching his head with both hands, tears threatening to spill. Holding the three overlapping lumps on his crown, he slowly looked up.

Izuna bent down and grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"Uchiha Setsuna, insulting the clan leader-" Izuna gritted his teeth, a vein twitching at his temple. "What punishment do you deserve?"

That face, so similar to Madara Uchiha's, drew very close, his three-tomoe Sharingan gleaming coldly.

I'm done for.

Setsuna thought he had shouted his insults too loudly.

Still, the upside was that those two rebellion points brought his total to sixteen, enough to raise either physical strength or recovery to level three.

Setsuna quietly spent fifteen rebellion points on recovery, hoping the three lumps Izuna had given him would shrink faster.

Izuna lifted Setsuna up. "Once we're back in the clan territory, you'll scrub floors for a month and reflect on what you've done."

"No way!"

Setsuna struggled and kicked, but Izuna's hand clamped around the back of his collar like an iron shackle. No amount of twisting could free him.

Ignoring his struggles, Izuna leaped straight down from the top of the tower with him.

"Waaaaah-!"

Wind roared past his ears, flattening his sea-urchin hair backward and distorting the flesh of his cheeks.

For a five-year-old body, this height was still far too much.

The instant they landed, Izuna bent his knees slightly, absorbing the impact.

Setsuna's heart was still pounding in his throat.

"You're too rough!" Setsuna shouted.

Izuna's expression didn't change. "Bad children who insult the clan leader have no right to demand gentle treatment."

With that, he carried Setsuna toward the territory's entrance.

"Wait, wait, wait-" Only then did Setsuna register that Izuna had said "back in the clan territory." "Where are you taking me?"

Izuna kept walking. "The First Settlement. I told Toshihi to wait there. You'll go back to the Uchiha with him."

Setsuna panicked. "They still need me here! Hagoromo is still under the Senju's tyranny!"

"We're in negotiations now. The fighting has clearly grown less intense." Izuna didn't look back. "We don't need your sneaky schemes."

"You're burning the bridge after crossing it!"

Izuna stopped.

He lifted Setsuna to eye level, fixing him with Sharingan so much like Madara Uchiha's, his expression unusually solemn.

"You're only five and a half. You still have room to grow. I don't want you exposing yourself to danger too early."

Setsuna fell silent.

Izuna tucked him under his arm and continued walking. "Besides, the ceremony to name you the clan heir is already on the agenda. You still have plenty to learn."

Setsuna froze for a moment, then pointed at himself. "Me? The clan heir?"

"Hmph." Izuna snorted. "Provisionally."

Setsuna quickly recalled his game character card-the description had only said "the Uchiha's number one rebel" and "died after a failed attempt to assassinate the Second Hokage with a three-tomoe Sharingan." It had never once mentioned "clan heir."

None of this had been in the game.

"My brother is twenty-five and still has no children," Izuna continued. "The first and second elders want to name you the clan heir. After observing your performance, I voted in favor. My brother abstained. That means, barring anything unexpected, you'll be the clan heir."

Setsuna blinked.

Then something occurred to him, and he began to chuckle.

Seeing his smile, Izuna assumed he was getting smug and threw cold water on him. "Don't think it's set in stone. If you commit any offenses, you can still be removed."

"That's not what I mean." Setsuna waved a hand, his smile growing increasingly twisted. "I mean, Madara's already twenty-five and still doesn't have any kids-"

He leaned closer to Izuna and lowered his voice, as though sharing an earth-shattering secret. "He's gay, isn't he?"

Izuna's brows drew together sharply. He didn't understand what "gay" meant, but his instincts told him it wasn't anything good.

"What I mean is-" Setsuna drew out his explanation. "Does Madara like men? Like Hashirama Senju next door? Hashirama and Madara are a really popular ship, you know."

The instant the words left his mouth, Izuna let go.

Setsuna was dropped onto the ground.

Then a knuckle cracked down hard on the top of his head.

Ding! Rebellion points +5!

Setsuna clutched the fourth lump on his head, baring his teeth in pain, but a triumphant smile still lingered at the corners of his mouth.

Five points.

Worth it.

His face dark, Izuna bent down and picked him up again, forcing the words through gritted teeth. "When we get back, you'll be scrubbing floors for two months instead."