Plans for the Future

Though the process of returning his soul to his body had been tense, it had ended without incident.

Uchiha Yuan raced against the time limit, passing straight through the cargo ship's cabins and drifting into a sealed barrel-shaped coffin.

In the darkness, he swiftly took out the Demonic Statue Fragment and pressed it against his left arm.

Once his soul returned to his body, the remaining Sealing Technique formula began to erode his flesh.

His entire left arm went numb. Harusame's Sealing Technique was vicious, and it was already too late to seek Danzo or Orochimaru to undo it.

Fortunately, Uchiha Yuan still had the Demonic Statue Fragment.

This thing welcomed all Chakra, but when it attached itself to the Chakra within the Sealing Technique formula, its absorption was exceptionally slow.

Uchiha Yuan simply transferred the Chakra he had traded with Isobu and Saiken into the statue fragment.

After using the Spiritualisation Technique, the soul could carry a vast amount of Chakra and even replenish Chakra for others.

The Chakra traded by the two Tailed Beasts was equally extravagant.

Uchiha Yuan made a rough calculation. Together, it amounted to roughly two hundred and forty Kakashis' worth.

Compared to the Chakra in the Sealing Technique formula, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path clearly preferred Tailed Beast Chakra. Its absorption rate was astonishing!

In only about half a minute, the Tailed Beast Chakra was devoured clean by the statue fragment. Along with it, most of the Chakra from the Sealing Technique formula was absorbed as well, leaving only several strange, solitary runes flickering faintly on his arm.

"Sure enough, absorbing the Chakra in a Sealing Technique formula isn't that simple. But what are these runes? The statue fragment is clearly hungry, yet it can't absorb them?"

For the tiny amount of Chakra contained in several runes, the statue fragment claimed its teeth were bad and it could not eat them.

This forced Uchiha Yuan to reassess Harusame's Sealing Technique. Perhaps Danzo's claim that he had only grasped the superficial aspects of Uzumaki Sealing Technique was inaccurate.

Fortunately, those few runes could not form a complete formula. The skin where they remained was merely numb and hard as wood. Uchiha Yuan's life was no longer in danger.

He rubbed his face to wake himself up, then excitedly began exploring the statue fragment.

Back then, after it had devoured just a few traces of Nine-Tails Chakra, his hand-sign-free self-healing ability and the power of his Ninjutsu had both improved considerably.

This time, it was more than two hundred Kakashis' worth of Chakra.

Uchiha Yuan controlled the statue fragment and sent Chakra into his body.

In truth, after fusing with the statue's genes, Uchiha Yuan himself already possessed Chakra of all seven attributes. Combined with his rapid learning ability, he could master the nature transformations of all seven Chakra attributes whenever he wished.

In other words, Uchiha Yuan could already use Yin, Yang, Water, Wind, Fire, Earth, and Lightning Release—the seven basic attribute transformations.

After absorbing the Tailed Beast Chakra, the feedback from the statue fragment made Uchiha Yuan realize a new possibility!

Kekkei Genkai!

Besides possessing Wind and Water attributes, Isobu also possessed the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, which fused the transformations of those two attributes.

Beyond its inherent Water and Earth attributes, Six-Tails Saiken also possessed the Lava Release Kekkei Genkai, which fused the transformations of those two attributes.

Without the relevant Ninjutsu or secret techniques, Uchiha Yuan did not believe he could use Kekkei Genkai Ninjutsu.

Yet in his perception, the affinities between the Wind and Water Chakra, as well as the Water and Earth Chakra within his body, had become closer.

This had never happened before.

Beyond that, Uchiha Yuan could also clearly sense that the Chakra of five basic attributes within him—Wind, Water, Earth, Yin, and Yang—had become more active.

That meant the Water Release Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and hand-sign-free self-healing ability he had mastered had all been further strengthened.

But there was currently no way to test the extent of those improvements. Uchiha Yuan simply closed his eyes, focused his mind, and considered his plans for the future.

The mission was over, and he would soon return to the Hidden Leaf Village.

The half of the Nine-Tails in the Mask Storage Temple was Uchiha Yuan's foremost target.

Next, he would steal from Obito—or rather, inherit the Ninjutsu legacy left behind by his ancestor Madara.

Uchiha Yuan intended to learn all of it. You could never have too many skills; they might come in handy someday.

Moreover, in the days to come, the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and the Konoha Higher-Ups would become irreconcilable.

He could get involved, stay out of it, or even defect.

With so many Forbidden Jutsu under his belt, he absolutely had the right to choose.

That... was true enough.

But Uchiha Yuan understood that, not long ago, his knowledge of Ninjutsu had only been at Chunin level.

With his rapid learning ability, mastering those Ninjutsu in the short term would not be difficult. But to turn them into actual combat power, he needed practical battle experience.

Fortunately, after rapidly learning Ninjutsu, Uchiha Yuan had always had the good habit of reviewing the details of what he had learned.

But when it came to lacking combat experience, there truly was no good solution.

During the Third Shinobi World War, Uchiha Yuan's first priority was to keep Orochimaru from discovering his secret and to stay alive.

But afterward, there would be a relatively peaceful period. Uchiha Yuan planned to take on more missions and accumulate combat experience.

Beyond that, the most important matters were developing his gene fusion ability and the statue fragment.

After the statue fragment devoured the Tailed Beast Chakra, Uchiha Yuan could feel his gene fusion ability stirring restlessly.

After fusing with the statue's genes, the ability that had lain dormant for a short time was now awakening.

As for what genes to fuse next, Uchiha Yuan wanted to see whether he could awaken the Sharingan for himself, perhaps even evolve it into the Mangekyo.

As for how to develop the statue fragment, Uchiha Yuan already had some ideas.

The research materials left behind by Old Madara were quite detailed. He would need to study them carefully before making further plans.

After repeatedly considering his future plans from every angle, Uchiha Yuan's gaze grew solemn.

The shinobi world was cruel and dangerous. On top of the irreconcilable conflict between the Uchiha Clan and the Konoha Higher-Ups within the Hidden Leaf Village, there would be future shinobi wars, and even the Otsutsuki Clan descending to destroy the shinobi world.

Rather than place his hopes on the protagonists whose stories he knew to save the world, Uchiha Yuan felt it was better to rely on himself to stay alive.

He would rely on his gene fusion ability to return his Otsutsuki bloodline to its ancestral state.

Only after confirming that there were no further oversights in his plan did he push open the simply sealed coffin lid.

For now, he first needed to figure out exactly what the runes on his left arm were—the ones the statue fragment could not devour.

Fortunately, the encyclopedia known as Orochimaru was nearby.

After briefly moving his body, Uchiha Yuan opened the cabin door.

The Hidden Leaf Village shinobi he encountered along the way had no idea what had happened during Uchiha Yuan's mission.

So, they did not know that the young man before them had "come back from the dead."

Following the Chakra signatures he had sensed earlier, Uchiha Yuan quickly found Orochimaru's room.

When he saw that his student had "come back to life," surprise flashed across Orochimaru's face before disappearing.

He still had that familiar emotionless voice and that smile devoid of warmth.

"Yuan-kun, you've surprised me once again."

Uchiha Yuan deliberately froze for a moment before explaining.

"Sorry, Sensei. I failed to complete the mission, but I was lucky enough to escape and return."

"No explanation is necessary. Your written report on this mission will surely make for an excellent account."

Orochimaru was in a good mood, and the chilling pressure he gave off silently dissipated.

Uchiha Yuan nodded. After all, he had tangled with the Hidden Mist Sealing Master for so long.

The Konoha Higher-Ups probably wanted to learn about the abilities of Hidden Mist's only Sealing Master as well.

"By the way, Sensei, could you help me see what this is?"

After following Orochimaru into the room, Uchiha Yuan rolled up his left sleeve and revealed the several stubborn sealing runes.

He then described the scene when Harusame had used the Sealing Technique.

As Orochimaru listened, he gripped Uchiha Yuan's left arm and examined it carefully. After a long while, he clicked his tongue in wonder.

The usually composed Orochimaru became excited.

"Yuan-kun, it's wonderful that you survived and brought these back to me."

"Though I don't know what role these runes play in the Sealing Technique, one thing is certain: they are related to Sage Art."

Sage Art!

On the surface, Uchiha Yuan looked surprised, as though he were hearing the term for the first time.

But inside, enormous waves had already risen in his heart.

If these few runes were composed of Sage Art Chakra, then things became interesting.

Old Madara's research materials showed that Sage Art Chakra had likewise been part of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's original "diet."

But strangely, why could the statue fragment in his possession no longer absorb Sage Art Chakra?