Uchiha Yoru held Miwa Masayo in his palms.
Her body had curled into a ball. Her fur moved without wind, brushing back and forth across his hands.
Inside that small body, a force was erupting from deep within her bloodline.
At first, it had only been a trickle.
Now, it had become a mountain flood, and it was still growing.
But Uchiha Yoru knew this was only an illusion.
What emerged from the depths of her bloodline was only information.
The power itself was being squeezed from Miwa Masayo's body.
That stream of information was greedy beyond belief. It devoured everything without restraint.
Chakra.
Natural energy.
Even flesh and blood.
All of it was being transformed into the power represented by that information stream.
This power was agile, lively, confident, and independent. Clearly, it was a cat-related supernatural power. As it transformed Miwa Masayo's body, it continuously gathered at the base of the tabby cat's tail.
As everyone knew, genetic changes and expression had limits.
For example, a person whose bones had finished developing at 150 centimeters would not have the chance to grow to 180 centimeters even if some magical technique adjusted their genes to that height.
To break through the limitations of genetic expression, a stronger power was needed.
As more and more new energy gathered at the base of her tail, Miwa Masayo's body began to fail under the strain.
She was visibly growing thinner.
Her fur gradually became dry and messy.
But the information stream deep within her bloodline showed no sign of stopping.
At this rate, Miwa Masayo's life would be in danger.
However, Uchiha Yoru did not dare act.
He was worried that Miwa Masayo's evolution had to progress naturally. If external force interfered, it might cause unpredictable consequences.
It was like the pupation of a beetle.
Once external force interfered, the beetle was destined to emerge crippled.
So he gritted his teeth and endured, not daring to interfere.
Only when Miwa Masayo's muscles shriveled to the limit, and the information stream began turning its extraction toward her organs, did Uchiha Yoru finally lose patience.
He carefully sent in a bit of natural energy.
The moment the natural energy entered Miwa Masayo's body, the information stream turned around and devoured Uchiha Yoru's natural energy, clearly easing its extraction from her organs.
The situation went so smoothly that even Uchiha Yoru froze for a moment.
He immediately realized that his worry had been wrong.
Sufficient energy supply was the key to Miwa Masayo's successful evolution.
So he no longer held back.
He poured the natural energy he had accumulated into the tabby cat's body, feeding that information stream until it was completely full and overflowing.
A miracle happened.
The information stream that had eaten its fill began to overflow with energy. That transformed energy nourished her damaged organs and dried muscles, and the tabby cat's body rapidly recovered.
Greatly encouraged, Uchiha Yoru even tried gathering natural energy from the surrounding environment to reduce the amount of his own information mixed into it.
As the five-spirit natural energy gathered, milky-white light particles visible to the naked eye appeared around Uchiha Yoru.
That was the luminous phenomenon produced after the five-spirit natural energy fully mixed.
The gathered natural energy fell like snowflakes, drifting down and gathering into Miwa Masayo's body. Then it was absorbed and transformed by the information stream, slightly changing the tabby cat's bodily structure before condensing at the base of her tail.
At this moment, the riverside of the Naka River had already become a dangerous place.
The natural energy gathered by Uchiha Yoru had already manifested physically and could be easily absorbed into the body.
If an ordinary person were here, their body would absorb the manifested natural energy. At most, they would feel refreshed for a short time. There would be no greater benefit, but no harm either.
But if a ninja passed through this place and their body absorbed natural energy, it would become a major problem.
The evenly fused natural energy would first combine with chakra inside a ninja's body and transform into senjutsu chakra.
But this was not a good thing.
Most ninja only focused on cultivating one or two types of chakra. After natural energy entered their body and produced corresponding senjutsu chakra, the other kinds of natural energy that were forcibly separated out would lose control and reveal their destructive side.
Natural energy would follow its own properties and mutate the ninja flesh it touched.
It might turn into stone, a statue, wood—or simply liquefy.
Only a ninja who absorbed natural energy while being completely different, with all five nature transformations present in their chakra and an enormous chakra volume, could fully digest and integrate the natural energy and avoid mortal danger.
But misfortune and fortune depended on each other.
If a ninja truly survived the invasion of natural energy and was no longer in danger of death, they would also have a chance to comprehend senjutsu.
But how could Uchiha Yoru allow anyone to survive?
At this moment, the fully fused natural energy he had manifested was specially prepared by him to kill people.
If a ninja with all five nature transformations really barged in, he would immediately change the ratio of the natural energy and kill that person.
The milky-white light particles refined and harmonized from all five spirits would be filtered by Uchiha Yoru before entering Miwa Masayo's body, allowing only wind spirit and fire spirit to enter so that the tabby cat would not be harmed.
At the same time, by the riverbank one hundred and twenty meters away from Uchiha Yoru, three large trees creaked and groaned as they rose from underground.
The roots of one of the large trees even dragged out a white human face.
It was a White Zetsu active in Konoha, responsible for monitoring the Uchiha.
It opened its mouth full of sharp teeth and let out a meaningless scream, but the sound was quickly suppressed.
Its pale body also became completely woodified under the stimulation of natural energy, becoming part of the tree.
Uchiha Yoru had long ago discovered White Zetsu's monitoring.
Because the enemy was hidden while he was in the open, and he could not grasp Uchiha Madara's whereabouts, he tolerated the existence of these watchers.
He did not care if White Zetsu observed his political activities.
He could accept them monitoring part of his cultivation process.
He could even allow White Zetsu to occasionally watch his daily life.
But whenever Edo Tensei was involved, Uchiha Yoru would carefully choose times when White Zetsu was not nearby.
As for today, Miwa Masayo's unexpected breakthrough during their stroll had exposed secrets belonging to him and his Dao companion that absolutely could not be peeped at.
How could he possibly allow White Zetsu to see it?
Naturally, he had to kill it as quickly as possible.
Suddenly, the information stream inside Miwa Masayo's body vanished.
However, the energy flow driven by it suddenly accelerated, rushing almost without reservation toward the base of her tail.
Just as Uchiha Yoru was unsure whether he should continue interfering, the tabby cat suddenly opened her eyes.
Miwa Masayo's cat eyes had originally been extremely beautiful, but without anyone noticing, they had become even more beautiful.
Her gray-blue eyes sparkled with brilliant starlight, like a pair of lustrous blue gems.
Especially around the outer edge of her pupils, there was a faint, slightly orange-gold ring, making the blue eyes even more dazzling.
The awake Miwa Masayo moved her paws slightly and asked weakly, "Yoru, I feel awful, meow. Am I going to die, meow?"
By now, Uchiha Yoru could clearly sense that the changes inside Miwa Masayo's body were moving from chaos toward stability.
Clearly, this was an orderly evolution process.
As the orderly change extended toward the base of the tabby cat's tail, her life level rose step by step.
It was like…
It was like the instant after Uchiha Yoru completed his Foundation Establishment in daylight and stepped into the Foundation Establishment stage.
But when Uchiha Yoru broke through, although the change was intense, it did not involve direct physical transformation.
Meanwhile, the energy gathered in a specific part of Miwa Masayo's body was far too great.
The power this tabby cat had dug out from the depths of her bloodline would absolutely not cause only changes at the energy and genetic levels.
There would probably be an intense and direct change to her physical form.
The risk was too great.
All Uchiha Yoru could do was comfort Miwa Masayo properly.
He rubbed the little cat's head, then gently combed her fur from head to tail and encouraged her.
"Rika-chan, the critical moment is almost here. As long as you get through this, there will be no problem."
"But I feel so awful, meow…"
"Rika-chan, don't be afraid. This is your body. This breakthrough is the result of your hard cultivation. You have to have confidence in yourself."
"You cannot admit defeat. Gather your spirit. Try to control your body, control your energy, and control the breakthrough process."
"Yoru, I'll listen to you, meow."
"Very good. Before that, eat something first. Relying only on natural energy probably still isn't enough."
"Meow…"
With her Dao companion's comfort, Miwa Masayo's emotions stabilized.
Happily, after barely eating one dried fish, the tabby cat's appetite opened wide. In one breath, she ate several handfuls of dried octopus leg meat.
Other snacks such as beef jerky, chicken jerky, dried egg, and anything else Uchiha Yoru carried with him were all eaten clean.
After fiercely replenishing her strength, Miwa Masayo's condition became even more stable.
She closed her beautiful eyes and tried to control her body.
The tabby cat let out a rumbling purr.
The vibration began in her throat and spread through her entire body. When the vibration reached the base of her tail, it was like the final condition that had long been waiting.
The most violent change began.
At the base of Miwa Masayo's tail, where the sacral vertebrae met the caudal vertebrae, a small bone lump suddenly formed.
When Uchiha Yoru noticed the bone lump on the left side of her sacrum, it was already rapidly growing thicker and larger, pushing the original tailbone toward the right.
The bone lump's rapid growth and the displacement of the tailbone tore the original flesh and joint capsules apart.
Pain was naturally inevitable.
But compared with this direct, straightforward pain, the strange, indescribable feeling brought by newly born nerves rapidly growing out from the sacral spinal canal was far more unbearable.
It was painful and itchy at the same time, complex beyond description.
Miwa Masayo could not help letting out howling screams.
When the bone lump grew to the same thickness as the original tailbone, it cracked into twenty-one sections of varying sizes, then began to grow violently like bamboo shoots.
In an instant, it pierced through Miwa Masayo's skin and emerged outside her body.
Without a doubt, this was the second tail brought by her breakthrough.
A bone tail wrapped in translucent fascia.
Under the translucent fascia, red blood vessels and pink muscles could be seen wriggling and rapidly growing.
The fascia itself quickly thickened and stopped being transparent. As strands of fur sprouted out of its surface, the tail completely became the familiar shape Uchiha Yoru knew.
As the second tail fully formed, the remaining energy suddenly reversed and rushed back, sweeping from the branching point of her tail through every cell in her body.
In an instant, Miwa Masayo was activated.
The little cat immediately recovered her spirit.
No, it would be more accurate to say she went wild.
She leapt down from Uchiha Yoru's arms and began bouncing wildly on the ground. Her two tails swung with whooshing sounds like two soft short whips.
When they struck small trees as thick as an arm, they broke them in a single blow.
The power was truly considerable.
And these two tails could even trigger senjutsu.
Every swing of the left tail triggered a wind blade, sending grass, branches, and leaves flying everywhere. It could even split a large tree trunk down the middle.
Every swing of the right tail released a spray of blue-white flame. Thin grass stems and fine branches were instantly burned to ash, and even a tree thick enough for one person to hug could be ignited in an instant.
Not only were these two types of senjutsu extremely powerful, they were also instant, hand-seal-free techniques.
Before activation, there was not even the slightest warning.
Even Uchiha Yoru, careless for just a moment, was brushed by the blue-white flame.
Although his reaction was fast enough and his dodging speed even faster, half his hair and eyebrows were still scorched.
Seeing her own creation, Miwa Masayo immediately laughed with a meow.
Even so, the tabby cat still could not control her body.
She could only apologize to her shovel officer while bouncing around like a spring.
After several more minutes, Miwa Masayo could finally control her body and stand firmly on the ground.
However, before she could relax, the power that had activated her body began leaking outward.
It vented out of her paws, mouth, eyes, tails, and other places in the form of flames and whirlwinds.
At this moment, Miwa Masayo was like a fire god reborn.
Wherever she touched, flames ignited.
Everywhere she passed, sparks appeared.
Even when she landed on the surface of the Naka River, the flames could not be extinguished. Instead, they soon boiled the river water, filling the river surface with rolling white steam.
In any case, at least no new fire spots were appearing.
Uchiha Yoru seized the chance to use Water Release, extinguishing the burning points on the riverbank one by one.
Just as Uchiha Yoru and Miwa Masayo thought the danger had passed, flashes flickered inside the white steam.
Suddenly, a muffled thunderclap erupted.
The entire river surface became covered in ghostly blue flames.
In just an instant, several hundred meters of both riverbanks were ignited at the same time.
The great fire stirred the wind, and the wind helped the fire spread.
Soon, both banks of the river had become a massive fireground.
Fortunately, this place was extremely remote. Everything ignited was ownerless vegetation. There were no residents or buildings nearby, so it would not cause any loss of life or property.
Because it was remote enough, no Uchiha ninja from the Police Force patrolled here, and Anbu ninja did not move around here either.
But such a large fire would definitely alarm the lookout posts. The alarms from the Hokage Rock and the Forest of Death watchtowers were transmitted very quickly.
It would not take long before ninja from all sides gathered here.
Ignoring the scalding heat of the little cat's body, Uchiha Yoru grabbed the dumbfounded Miwa Masayo, stuffed her into his arms, and directly used the Flying Thunder God Technique to leave the scene.
The Police Force ninja who rushed over quickly were all Uchiha.
Facing the fire, they skillfully used fire to extinguish fire, rapidly burning out firebreaks. Then they used the Great Fireball Technique to create explosions and blast out the burning flames.
The Anbu ninja who arrived afterward had all received the fire alarm, so many of them were ninja skilled in Water Release.
The two sides cooperated, and soon extinguished the fires on both banks.
However, after the flames on the shore were put out and the brightness at the scene fell, they finally saw the Naka River blazing with blue flames.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Water Release raised great waves on the river surface, but those waves were actually burning.
Fire Release blasted water sprays into the air, but those water droplets crackled and burst like sparks, scattering blue flames everywhere. As a result, the fireground on the riverbank was ignited again.
Now no one knew what to do.
So the intelligence began to be reported upward, and more and more powerful ninja gathered at the Naka River.
About half an hour later, the great fire was still burning.
Finally, Orochimaru and the Third Hokage both arrived.
The Third Hokage looked at the ghostly blue flames with a solemn expression and asked, "Orochimaru, what do you think is going on?"
Orochimaru bent down and extended his left hand, scooping up a handful of burning river water. He watched the burning river water flow from his hand back onto the river surface.
Only after the last drop of water had flowed away did he pull off his burned skin like a glove, revealing fine, fair new skin underneath.
"Truly astonishing. This is actually not a nature transformation of Water Release chakra. The water has not become oil or alcohol."
"Oh? What kind of ninjutsu caused this effect?"
"It is Wind Release. Wind has split the water apart, turning it into two different gases that can combine and burn, yet they are restrained by Wind Release and flow like water."
Orochimaru's explanation made the Konoha ninja cry out in surprise.
"It's actually Wind Release?"
"That's too astonishing. How powerful must the control be to restrain wind into water?"
"Too terrifying. This kind of ninjutsu blurs the boundaries between Wind Release, Water Release, and Fire Release."
"Burning Wind Release… how are we supposed to deal with that?"
Orochimaru looked at the surrounding ninja and saw that they seemed rather shaken. He said to the Third Hokage, "Sensei, for this kind of Wind Release that flows like water, the most suitable ninjutsu should be Earth Release."
"You understand me. I am not skilled in Earth Release. Please demonstrate the power of Earth Release ninjutsu for Konoha's ninja."
The Third Hokage's eyes immediately lit up when he heard this. He quickly formed hand seals and cast a technique.
Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld.
The soil on both banks of the Naka River suddenly began to flow. Like a mudslide, it surged toward the river channel and covered the river water below.
In an instant, the entire river turned into a river of mud.
Just as Orochimaru had said, when the mud covered it, the Wind Release chakra hidden in the river water was scattered. The river water was no longer decomposed, and without further supply, the blue flames quickly went out.
Seeing the Third Hokage solve the problem easily as soon as he acted, the morale of Konoha's ninja immediately returned to its peak.
They shouted loudly, "Long live the Third Hokage!"
"The Third Hokage is the strongest!"
After Shimura Danzō's death, Sarutobi Hiruzen's reputation had suffered repeated blows. It had been a long time since he had heard voices praising him.
His heart surged with emotion. Habitually, he waved to acknowledge Konoha's ninja, triggering even louder cheers.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was intoxicated by the cheers of Konoha's ninja. Feeling their long-lost love and trust, even his eyes reddened slightly.
He could not help saying to Orochimaru, "Orochimaru, good. Very good."
Orochimaru responded with a smile, "Sensei, this is only what I should do."
Master and disciple smiled at each other.
The atmosphere was unexpectedly harmonious.
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