The Road Ahead Is Long

A week later.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Three shuriken flew out in a triangular formation, colliding with one another in midair. Amid the scattering sparks, they shot off in different directions.

"Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!"

The shuriken embedded themselves in different tree trunks, each one precisely piercing a fallen leaf.

Shin'yu slowly lowered his hand, glanced at Uchiha Hikari beside him, and said softly, "Shuriken Technique is very easy for us Uchiha to master. I believe you'll reach this level soon enough."

Hikari's delicate brows furrowed slightly. "Can you be more specific? I don't understand."

Shin'yu blinked, as though he had been left speechless.

After Uchiha Hikari joined the team, he had discovered to his surprise that his fundamentals were not actually the worst in the group.

Compared to him, Hikari's fighting style was far more savage. Whether it was because she had been sealed away for too long or because her foundation had always been poor, she only knew how to use dojutsu. She did not even know the most basic Taijutsu forms, while her Chakra control, Shuriken Technique, and everything else were downright crude.

In that respect, she was much like Kawaki from the Original Timeline. He only knew how to wield the power of Karma, while his basic training was abysmally poor.

Even Lord Madara had shaken his head repeatedly when he saw it, leaving behind only one sentence:

'Leave this childish stuff to Shin'yu. Teach her yourself.'

Thinking of this, he cleared his throat and said, "Training in Shuriken Technique requires enough observational ability and physical coordination. You possess the Mangekyo Sharingan, so your observational ability naturally needs no explanation. What you need to do now is make your movements keep up with your thoughts as much as possible. As for the technique of throwing shuriken..."

After thinking for a moment, he raised one finger and said with a smile, "Do it however you like best. Whatever feels comfortable!"

Uchiha Hikari's face darkened as she listened. Speechless, she said, "Is that how Lord Madara taught you?"

"You may have misunderstood something. Lord Madara didn't train me." Shin'yu spread his hands. "To be honest, my fundamentals are poor too. I'm only a tiny bit better than you."

"You're lying."

She frowned, her tone calm. "You can precisely control the direction and landing points of hundreds of shuriken. Teach me."

"Well... it's practice accumulated bit by bit over time, along with sudden insights during life-or-death moments. Of course, the experience and guidance of comrades are also important."

Hikari tilted her head, confusion flashing through her eyes. "Life-or-death moments?"

"Hey, not everyone in the Warring States Period was like you, a decisive weapon who only appeared at the climax when it mattered most." Shin'yu shook his head. "As a regular soldier charging into battle, if you weren't good at killing enemies, you could only become cannon fodder. A person's potential is often forced out of them."

He picked up a shuriken from the ground. "On a chaotic battlefield, if your throws aren't accurate, you'll put yourself and the comrades around you in danger. Likewise, if you can't move freely across the Water Surface, you'll only be pinned down in the water and slaughtered by the enemy—"

With a whoosh, the shuriken cut through the air. It traced a graceful arc around the two of them, then, like a swallow returning to its nest, landed back in front of Shin'yu and spun rapidly on his fingertip.

"This... this is good. Teach me that, quickly." Hikari's beautiful eyes widened slightly, like a child who had discovered a toy she liked.

"Simple trajectory calculations. You also have to account for wind direction, Air Humidity, and so on. Then whoosh, and hey... anyway, it's just whoosh~ hey..." Shin'yu gestured twice, looking quite convincing.

Hikari clenched her small pink fist, Veins bulging on her smooth forehead. "If you keep brushing me off, I'll kill you!"

"Uh, do you have to be so irritable?" Shin'yu recalled the terror of being dominated by Amaterasu, and his expression turned rather unpleasant.

"This is the task Lord Madara gave you." She looked straight into Shin'yu's eyes and held out her small hand. "Teach me. Now."

"Put some effort into it," she added.

Shin'yu let out a long sigh. It seemed Madara was determined to be a hands-off boss.

"Looks like you're even more eager to become stronger than I am," Shin'yu said. "Do you also think the Eye of the Moon Plan is feasible?"

Not long ago, Madara had formally introduced his Eye of the Moon Plan to the two of them, including everything from the Rinnegan, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki to the world-destroying dojutsu known as Infinite Tsukuyomi.

According to Madara, all of it had been recorded on the Stone Tablet in the Underground Chamber of Naka Shrine. They were the ultimate secrets left behind by Indra, the ancestor of the Uchiha, and only the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan could reveal their full meaning.

Those words had solidified his conviction and pointed him toward the road he was meant to take.

Before that, however, Madara had decided to first examine the state of the world and determine whether Hashirama's methods had truly brought peace. If that peace was merely superficial, as hypocritical as the Hidden Leaf Village's acceptance of the Uchiha, then he would uphold his beliefs and immediately carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan.

"If Lord Madara says it can work, then it can work," Hikari said indifferently.

She's really confident to the point of not caring about anything... Shin'yu muttered inwardly.

He knew full well that the so-called Infinite Tsukuyomi Plan was nothing more than a conspiracy Black Zetsu had devised to revive Kaguya Otsutsuki. The contents of the clan's Stone Tablet had long since been altered by Black Zetsu, and even Madara had become a pawn for him to use.

What "ideal world," what "true peace"—it was all a complete and utter lie!

Black Zetsu—or rather, Kaguya's—true goal was to fortify her defenses after being revived in preparation for the arrival of the Otsutsuki Clan!

If Kaguya were successfully revived, all Humans in the world would be transformed into White Zetsu by the God Tree. If the Otsutsuki from beyond the heavens successfully invaded, then all humanity would become nourishment for the God Tree and be completely Devoured by the Otsutsuki Clan...

No matter which side succeeded, it would mean destruction for the world.

The current ninja world appeared peaceful, tranquil beneath the suppression of the two great gods, Hashirama and Madara. In truth, however, who knew how many dangers lay hidden beneath the surface?

The mysterious Evil God...

Black Zetsu, manipulating everything from the shadows...

Hamura's Descendants on the moon...

The Sage of Six Paths, watching the world from the Pure Land...

And Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, who had possessed the monk Jigen's body, lingered on for over a thousand years, and harbored ambitions far beyond anyone's imagination...

There were simply too many uncertainties in the ninja world...

Yet even though Shin'yu knew all this in advance, he could not speak of it. No one would believe him even if he did, and it might instead place him in danger.

For now, he could only quietly grow stronger by Madara's side, wait for the right opportunity, then become the one moving the pieces and seize complete control of his own fate.

So-called keeping a low profile while developing—bah! A gentleman keeps his tools close and acts when the time is right. That was the principle.

"These aren't things I should be thinking about right now," Hikari suddenly said. A melancholy light flickered through her eyes. "I only know that if I can't become stronger, I'll just be a burden, and I'll definitely be abandoned."

That afternoon.

Uchiha Hikari placed one foot against a tree trunk. After gathering Chakra beneath her sole, she took a breath and placed her other foot against it as well, her body perpendicular to the trunk at a ninety-degree angle.

She was training her Chakra control and balance.

From directly above, Shin'yu's voice came down.

"For a ninja, walking on trees or the Water Surface is merely one way of operating Chakra. The principle is to use Chakra to alter the physical properties of the fiber molecules in contact with the soles of your feet, affecting how hydrogen bonds work and thereby increasing the tree trunk's adhesion to your feet. The difficult part is continuously changing the state of Chakra concentration while walking..."

Hikari kept a straight face and struggled to take two steps, but she still fell.

Rubbing her backside as she stood up, she looked up at the figure in the tree, her gaze somewhere between speechless and envious.

Up in the tree, Shin'yu was standing upside down. His feet clung firmly to the underside of a branch, each strand of black hair hanging straight down. With his relaxed posture, he looked like an utterly unhurried bat.

Holding a scroll, he replied absentmindedly, "You're focusing too hard. My suggestion is to control Chakra in whatever way feels most comfortable to you. Imagine yourself walking on flat ground and gradually turn it into an instinct..."

Uchiha Hikari took a deep breath, her expression serious as she resumed trying.

Shin'yu paid her no attention. His gaze never left the scroll in front of him.

"Spiritualization Technique: A Ninjutsu that separates one's Mental Energy from one's physical energy, materializes the Mental Energy into a stable Spirit Body, and uses it for combat. Its effects have already exceeded the usual concept of Ninjutsu.

"The Spirit Body possesses the caster's consciousness. It can fly at high speed, pass through terrain without restriction, and ignore all physical attacks. It can possess an enemy, causing their mind to collapse from within and killing them, or enter another person's Mental World and forcibly control their body.

"Once this technique is mastered, the soul becomes specialized and develops an enormous range of perception. It can sense the souls of others. Regardless of distance or whether the user's location is known beforehand, once transformed into a Spirit Body, it can reach the other person's body immediately.

"Depending on the situation and the user's intent, it can accomplish many things, such as transmitting intelligence, confirming whether someone is alive or dead, or providing Chakra to another person.

"However, it has one fatal weakness: when the Spirit Body leaves the Physical Body, the body is extremely vulnerable to attack. If the Physical Body is lost, the Spirit Body will quickly dissipate and perish."

"This is practically the legendary Astral Projection!" Shin'yu nodded repeatedly as he read, becoming even more determined to train in the technique.

The reason it was an S-Rank Ninjutsu was because the Spiritualization Technique had an extremely high threshold for training. The practitioner needed high-quality Yin Release Chakra, and soul separation itself was an exceptionally dangerous matter. Anyone without immense Willpower would not even have the courage to train in it.

Just then, a figure landed on the branch, causing both of them to look up.

Black robes fluttered around him, his Long Hair reaching his waist. With a Gunbai and sickle strapped to his back, it was none other than Uchiha Madara.

"How is your training going?"

"Not very well." Hikari raised her palm-sized face, pointed at Shin'yu, and reported without hesitation, "He can't explain it properly."

What?

Damn it, miss, you look all innocent and adorable, yet you're tattling on me right in front of my face!

Shin'yu was stunned. Hooking one foot around the branch, he swung himself upright onto it. "Um... Lord Madara, her Shuriken Technique has improved greatly. If we're only considering one shuriken, she's already achieved perfect accuracy. It's just that her Chakra control still needs improvement."

"He's lying. I can't learn his methods at all," Hikari continued, apparently determined not to stop until she said something shocking.

Cold sweat poured down Shin'yu's back.

"Teach her properly." Madara gave him an indifferent glance.

"Of course, of course." Shin'yu nodded guiltily.

"More importantly..." He hurriedly changed the subject. "Did Lord Madara gain anything from this trip?"

"I merely paid a simple visit to an old friend." Madara revealed a faint sneer. "Examining the people's livelihood is destined to be a long process. We still have a long road ahead of us."