Half an hour later, on a massive boulder.
Uchiha Ci had memorized all the contents of the scroll.
Immediately, without any hesitation, he formed hand seals, spat out a ball of fire, and incinerated the scroll on the spot.
Then, he sat down cross-legged.
Closed his eyes,
Gradually focusing all his attention on his breathing. With each exhale and inhale, the whistling of the early spring cold wind quietly faded from his ears.
Gradually,
The sound of his heartbeat, thumping again and again, roared like thunder.
The full moon floated behind him, the wilderness stretching under the vast sky.
Under the cold light, Uchiha Ci suddenly opened his eyes.
Within the scarlet eyes, the dark magatama slowly rotated. Everything before him seemed to have been pressed into slow motion.
He stared intently at his own chest.
Under the Sharingan's gaze,
A wisp of fully transformed fire-nature chakra erupted from his heart!
The blazing flames instantly surged throughout his body.
Uchiha Ci felt as if he had returned to the moment he faced off against the Kumogakure ninja.
The instant the explosive tag ignited, tongues of fire scorched his body and mind.
The difference was, this time, the raging power was entirely confined within his body—like an ultra-compressed depleted uranium bomb, about to erupt into a mushroom cloud.
Sizzle, sizzle—
His body suddenly emitted a sizzling sound under the scorching fire.
A sharp, heart-clutching pain abruptly seized him!
Uchiha Ci's pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately cut off the chakra supply.
A line of text promptly appeared before his eyes:
[You have mastered Fire Release: Chakra Mode (Beginner, A-Rank, Extremely Dangerous)]
Whoosh—
Billowing steam rose from Uchiha Ci's entire body.
He couldn't help but take a deep breath, heart pounding with fear.
If he hadn't mastered Elder Uchiha Setsuna's exquisite Silk Shuriken Technique, giving him extremely high bodily control, allowing him to instantly sense something wrong and stop in time—
He would already be dead by now.
And dying like that would only count as suicide.
"Indeed, it's extremely dangerous. Moreover, this process is irreversible. Once fully ignited, the chakra will burn the chakra, causing a chain reaction akin to a nuclear explosion. In that case, there's no turning back."
Uchiha Ci, still shaken, waited for the heart-wrenching pain to subside before exhaling a long, condensed breath of white air and standing up with support.
With a thought, he opened his personal panel.
[Employee: Uchiha Ci]
[Title: Heaven-Sent Tough Guy]
[Talents: Heart of Steel (SSS), Sharingan (Single Tomoe, B+), Combat Intuition (Beginner, S)]
[Skills: Uchiha Style - Silk Shuriken Technique (Excellent, S), Super Death Combat Barrier (Mastery, S), Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique (Basic, C), Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu (Proficient, C), Fire Release: Crimson Spark Claw (Mastery, B), Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique (Beginner, C), Wind Release: Vacuum Great Wave (Proficient, B), Three Basic Jutsu, Rope Escape Technique, Basic Taijutsu (Proficient)]
[Special Skills: Fire Release: Chakra Mode (Beginner, A-Rank, Extremely Dangerous)]
[Heart of Steel Layers Stacked (Expandable)]
[Insurance Status: Unclaimed]
Seeing "Fire Release: Chakra Mode" solidified on the panel, Uchiha Ci's heart finally settled.
Besides this core forbidden technique, the scroll also contained a sword technique called "Halo Dance," but it seemed to require weapons made of chakra metal.
Alone, this sword style could only be considered B-rank. But combined with the Sharingan, genjutsu, a chakra metal ninja sword, and Fire Release: Chakra Mode, it formed the ultimate S-rank forbidden swordsmanship secret.
In the original work, Uchiha Shisui mastered this sword style, but perhaps because Uchiha Setsuna was already dead, Shisui never learned the core Fire Release: Chakra Mode.
But for Shisui, who could wield the Susano'o, this was negligible.
Uchiha Ci slightly raised his head, gazing at the full moon in the sky.
He took a deep breath, his eyes turning resolute.
Now that everything was ready,
All that remained was to head to the Evil God Cult's headquarters and raise hell!
But—
At that moment,
"Are you going to go alone like this?"
A familiar voice suddenly came from behind, carrying a tone of questioning and anger—
"Spout pretty words and then rush off to die alone?"
"Uchiha Ci, the deserter?"
"Do you want your ideals to end in this remote, backwater place called the Land of Hot Water?!"
"Huh?! Answer me!"
Uchiha Ci suddenly turned his head.
Immediately, he saw a young fist flying straight at his face!
The combat instinct ingrained in his body made him subconsciously turn his head to dodge the blow.
Then, he saw Hidan's furious face behind the fist.
He couldn't help but look dazed, his guard dropping.
Seizing the opportunity, Hidan leaped up, grabbed the bandages on Uchiha Ci's neck with both hands, and shoved him against the nearby boulder.
Thud!
His back hit the boulder with a muffled sound.
Hidan's eyes were red as he cursed angrily:
"Bastard, talk to me!"
"You—" Uchiha Ci was stunned for a moment.
Unexpectedly, after telling Hidan to return to his hometown and stay put, the little brother hadn't listened at all and had caught up to him again within an hour.
And he looked ready to beat up his big brother.
"What are you doing? This uncle is really annoying!"
"You've gone too far! Uchiha Ci!"
"Without me leading the way, could you even find the Evil God Cult's headquarters?"
Under Hidan's reminder, Uchiha Ci couldn't help but feel speechless.
A serious question suddenly occurred to him:
Right,
Where is the Evil God Cult's headquarters?
Uchiha Ci frowned, his body trembling. He picked up Hidan with one hand and set him down properly, then scolded with a cold face:
"Stop messing around, Hidan!"
"Even without you, as long as I capture an evil cultist and interrogate them thoroughly, I can still learn the location of their headquarters."
After saying that, Uchiha Ci shook his head righteously:
"But you came just in time."
"You only need to tell me the location of the Evil God Cult's headquarters, and your mission will be complete."
"I'll reluctantly count you in on the credit for annihilating the Evil God Cult."
"That way, when you return to your hometown, you can boast to the Hot Water ninja: 'Back in the day, I fought side by side with the future ruler of the world, Lord Uchiha Ci.'"
"How about it? Feeling like you've struck gold?"
Hidan looked at the righteous Uchiha Ci, blinking in shock as if he'd seen a ghost.
There are such shameless people in the world!
If you don't know, you don't know. Yet you actually try to trick the information out of me with this child-deceiving method?
Where was the good big brother image that enlightened me an hour ago?
Give back my touched feelings!
"You bastard!" Hidan gritted his teeth, pushed Uchiha Ci's hand away, snorted angrily, turned around, and said:
"I'm going with you!"
"Tsk." Uchiha Ci suddenly felt a headache. "You kid, why won't you listen to advice?"
At that moment, he understood how Uchiha Setsuna felt when he refused to let him take missions.
Ahead lay mountains of swords and seas of fire;
The kid before him had no insurance. What if he acted recklessly?
Hidan shook his head, saying firmly:
"I must go with you!"
"Uchiha Ci, I want to watch you. I must see with my own eyes—"
"Are you qualified"
"To become my evil god!"
Hidan took a deep breath, his eyes determined.
The light that Uchiha Ci had shattered seemed to shine brightly in his eyes again!
"Isn't it just as you said?"
"What I want is the evil god I need!"
"Whether it's you or the guy from the Evil God Cult, it doesn't matter at all!"
"I want to end the chaos in the Land of Hot Water, drive all the great ninja villages from this land, and become the next 'demigod' of the ninja world!"
"This is my master's ninja way!"
Hidan suddenly stopped speaking, looking at Uchiha Ci with high spirits.
"Then first, let's start by cutting out the cancer that is the Evil God Cult!"
Uchiha Ci took a deep breath, looking at Hidan in silence for a moment. Though he felt somewhat moved,
Reason told him that if Hidan went to the Evil God Cult's headquarters, history would likely repeat itself.
Or become even worse.
Just as he was about to reject Hidan,
A sweet, silver-bell-like voice suddenly sounded from behind.
"Then let him follow, Hidan."
"I grant permission on his behalf!"
Uchiha Ci was stunned for a moment and turned his head.
There he saw—
The girl with clear green eyes stood with her arms crossed, looking tall.
She stood in the clear light of the falling moonlight, a faint smile like a spring flower blooming on her lips.
Then, she slowly parted her lips and declared loudly:
"Besides, I'm going too."