Pain, like a tidal wave, surged forward madly...
After his constitution broke past the one-thousand mark, it was as if his body had unlocked some sort of restriction, touching upon an entirely different realm...
Accompanied by a muffled groan from Roy, a blood-red film could visibly be seen radiating from the youth's body... This film was unlike a [Nen Shroud]; instead, it looked more like an outward manifestation of overflowing [Blood Energy] bursting through his pores, which was enough to show...
Just what terrifying level the abundant blood energy inside Roy's body had reached at this moment!
"Sshk—" His fingers scraped against the wall, leaving deep gouges... Gotoh had just brought people to smooth and repair it a few days ago, and tonight it bore new scars. The young butler would inevitably have to bring his team for another trip...
"Pant..."
Ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds, one minute... Finally, the agonizing pain showed signs of subsiding...
Roy regained control of his body. Gritting his teeth, he steadied himself against the wall. As he stretched his frame, the joints all over his body popped and cracked like roasting beans...
The improvement this time was so massive that his height could no longer be suppressed, shooting up another two centimeters... He could probably reach Silva's eye level now...
"Phew." After a minute and a half, the pain completely vanished...
The rushing water washed down, cleansing the grime clinging to Roy's skin and revealing the firm, full muscles underneath... These muscles were different from before. Illuminated by the overhead light, they gleamed with a bronze luster. As Roy gently exhaled, they slightly bulged... The blue veins hidden beneath the surface resembled earth dragons turning over, exuding an extreme aesthetic of power.
Roy shifted his feet. An overwhelmingly dominant Nen formed into [En], radiating outward instantly with his toes as the epicenter... A radius of one hundred meters... one hundred and fifty meters... two hundred meters... two hundred and fifty meters, passing in the blink of an eye... until it reached three hundred meters!
Only then did the speed gradually slow down, finally stopping at a radius of three hundred and twenty meters... And this range had already surpassed the [En] that Zeno displayed in the original story!
"Tsk... How long has it been... Has it even been two days?" On the first-floor landing, inside that dim little room near the garden, Maha was enveloped by the [En]. He was amusing himself by rocking in his chair when, at a certain moment, he reached out a hand and pinched a [Heart Bug] that was trying to burrow into his mind. He drawled, "Kids shouldn't pry into adult matters..."
As he spoke, he flicked his finger, sending the [Heart Bug] tumbling away. It whimpered, turned around, and crawled back, raising its head to bare its long mouthparts as if complaining to Roy.
Roy opened a palm, cradling it in his hand, and softly comforted it, "It's okay, sooner or later he won't be able to defend against it."
"Gururu." Just as the youth finished speaking, another [Heart Bug] was flicked away by a finger, curling into a ball before dropping into Roy's palm with a soft patter.
"Getting cocky over a little progress... You are still far inferior to your grandfather, let alone your great-grandfather..." Silva's cold voice drifted over leisurely, trailing right behind the [Heart Bug]...
Roy nodded nonchalantly. "I know."
Three hundred meters was only because the villa where his father and grandfather had jointly assassinated Chrollo back then was only three hundred meters in area, not because... it was Zeno's true limit...
However, measuring the entire Zoldyck estate, aside from Maha and Silva, everyone else, including Tsubone, Scarface, and One-Eye... even if Illumi had reacted, he failed to pluck out his own [Heart Bug]...
At this moment, in Illumi's bedroom... The foolish little brother, disguised as his older brother as usual, had buried himself in a pit. He was sleeping soundly, hugging the [Divine Spear Wooden Nail] Roy had given him earlier. Sensing a fluctuation of Nen... he suddenly opened his eyes, looking through the heavy walls toward Roy's bedroom, and said flatly, "You don't need to peek. Whatever you want to know, I will carve out my heart and tell you everything."
Roy: "Shut up."
"Oh." Illumi obediently shut his mouth, closing his eyes along with it.
Suddenly... the [En] retracted... turning into a stream of Nen that returned to Roy's body...
The youth raised his hand and turned off the shower. With a thought, he separated a strand of Nen aura, attached [Scorching True Intent] to it, and instantly evaporated the residual water droplets on his skin... He then changed into his pajamas and stepped out of the bathroom.
He unwrapped the pills Gotoh had brought, crushed them into powder in his palm, and carefully comprehended the sensation... Gradually, a wave of drowsiness washed over him...
At ten o'clock at night.
Accompanied by Mike's wild wolf howl deep within Kukuroo Mountain...
Roy went straight to bed, crossed his hands over his lower abdomen, and slowly closed his eyes.
"Zzz..." A faint snore escaped... "Caw!" With a crow's cry, the Golden Crow spread its wings and dove right next to Roy's pillow, flapping its wings and rolling around to keep watch... The third leg hidden beneath its thick feathers faintly revealed a toe, which seemed... to have grown a bit longer...
"Dong..." The wooden grandfather clock in the corner chimed...
Roy's consciousness sank. As usual, he entered his cognitive world through deep sleep. With his hands behind his back, he walked through the colorful dream corridor. Entering his view was the azure Sea of Cognition, its tides ebbing and flowing, with numerous doors standing quietly within.
The youth rolled up his pant legs, letting the waves wash over his feet as he waded through the water. Along the way, he reached out a hand, brushing past the [Demon Slayer Gate], the [Dark Continent Gate], and... a door hanging with a [Hideous Ghoul] pendant. Finally, he stopped in front of the [Naruto Gate]. He looked up at the "eye pendant" before lowering his head to glance at the panel once more...
The panel prompted... [[Approximately... over 9,000 points of negative energy remaining to "Collect Negative Emotions" and unlock the "Mangekyou Sharingan"...]]
Roy remained silent... After a moment, he took the negative emotions stored in the [Unconscious Domain]—originating from Obito Uchiha, Old Mark, and Mrs. Nora—and injected them all into [Yin Release].
The panel prompted... [["Yin Release" Lv3: (941/10000) -> (2741/10000)]]
Roy murmured softly, "Third Shinobi World War, here I come."
He reached out and pushed the [Naruto Gate], his figure flashing as he vanished into the doorway...
"Pop." A sleep bubble burst at the tip of his nose... accompanied by a familiar sensation of falling...
When Roy opened his eyes again, he had already returned to the Naruto world, to that familiar home, the family of four belonging to Itachi, Fugaku Uchiha, and Mikoto Uchiha...
"Whoosh." The March wind blew, scattering cherry blossoms across the ground...
In the courtyard, the bamboo water fountain tilted, driving the winding stream with a pattering sound...
Roy shook off his drowsiness and opened his sleepy eyes. Through the slid-open wooden doors, he looked out the window. A small silhouette, holding a wooden sword, was dancing beneath the cherry blossom tree as petals drifted through the sky...
At a certain moment, the blade flashed... "Swish, swish," a few strikes landed...
The falling cherry blossoms were split in two, sliced perfectly along their veins. The sharpness of the blade and the precision of the observation showed that he had already grasped a hint of the essence of Flame Breathing...
"Your blade still isn't steady enough, and your heart still isn't calm enough. Out of 547 cherry blossom petals, you missed four... Itachi, you still need to practice..."
"Nii-san, you're awake." Itachi sheathed his sword, panting slightly as he turned to look back...
A gust of wind blew, bringing down a few more cherry blossoms...
Roy smiled and nodded at him. Forming his fingers into a sword, he raised his hand and traced a slash through the void... A dazzling blade light flashed and vanished. In the next glance, it brushed right past Itachi's ear... The young boy raised his head as all the cherry blossom petals were sliced straight down their veins—not a fraction more, not a fraction less—turning into a shower of even finer leaf fragments that rustled down...
In the blink of an eye, they covered his shoulders.
"Body like a sword, heart like a sword. To see a world in a wild flower, and a bodhi in a leaf, it is nothing more than this... nothing more than this..."
As his voice rang out, his figure drifted down. Like a phantom, Roy stepped with Grandmaster [Dark Step], which contained a hint of the rhythm of [Flash Step]. He flashed in front of Itachi, turning his back to the boy. With a single hand, he elegantly scooped up a handful of water from the bamboo fountain, tilted his head back, and drank it...
The sunlight was perfect today; it was worth a hearty drink.
"Nii-san, Mother told you not to drink unboiled water."
"Cough, cough..." Itachi's words nearly made Roy choke to death.
The youth reached out to wipe the water from the corner of his mouth, muttering to himself, "Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know. If I don't tell, and you don't tell, how would she know?"
"Your mother isn't blind yet!" Mikoto Uchiha appeared, hands on her hips.
Mikoto Uchiha rolled up her sleeves.
Mikoto Uchiha grabbed a certain someone by the ear.
And "escorted" him to the dining room...
"I haven't washed up yet." Roy glanced at Fugaku Uchiha, who had been waiting at the dining table for a while.
The man glared at him helplessly. He didn't know why this child could sleep so much. Itachi, who was several years younger, was already awake, yet he wasn't... Fugaku deeply suspected that even he himself, at that age, couldn't sleep as much as Roy. He snorted coldly and said,
"By the time you finish washing up, Minato will already be at our door!"
Today was the exact day Hiruzen Sarutobi had ordered him to report. Seeing that Minato's team was gathering at eight o'clock, and it was already half-past seven... Roy was forcefully pressed onto the dining table by Mikoto Uchiha. "Eat first, then wash up."
Left with no choice, he could only instruct Itachi to squeeze the toothpaste for him, which suddenly earned him a few eye rolls from Mikoto.
Fugaku waved his hand, signaling Mikoto to let it go... Itachi obediently ran to the bathroom to squeeze the toothpaste. He had clearly been shaped by Roy's influence, letting him be as willful as he pleased...
"Eat."
Fugaku shot Roy a sideways glance and picked up his chopsticks.
Breakfast was miso soup paired with fried eggs and the sushi Mikoto had wrapped and refrigerated last night. It was somewhat bland, but... forcing himself to eat it, Roy considered it a way to cleanse his stomach. With a clack of his teeth, he swallowed it straight down...
Seeing this, Fugaku took a sip of miso soup and said unhurriedly, "I have already secretly discussed this with the clan elders. I've assigned Tekka and Inabi to follow you in secret... The two of them are also on the roster. They have both awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan now, so they can help you out somewhat..."
"Oh."
Uchiha Tekka and Inabi were indeed the most talented individuals of the younger Uchiha generation right now, aside from Obito and Shisui... Although they were still far from being "geniuses," calling them "excellent" wouldn't be an overstatement.
Roy took a bite of the sushi. There was too much vinegar on the cloth; the taste was even worse than the sushi his master, Urokodaki Sakonji, made back at Mt. Sagiri.
His Adam's apple bobbed as he forced it down into his stomach.
"Here." Fugaku picked up the fried egg from his own plate and stuffed it into Roy's, then said in a deep voice, "Remember, when you go to the battlefield this time, you must prioritize your own safety. Try your best not to let yourself fall into a situation where you are entirely alone."
"What about the mission?"
"You can leave it uncompleted."
"What about my comrades?"
"Who are your comrades?"
"Obito, Kakashi Hatake, Rin Nohara..." Roy looked at Fugaku and slowly uttered the three names.
Fugaku Uchiha looked back expressionlessly. "Is their surname Uchiha?"
Roy: "..."
He fell silent.
Seeing this, Fugaku continued on his own, "When a person dies, they have nothing left, including... comrades!"
"Jin," the man put down his chopsticks and looked at him deeply. "Not to mention Minato's students, even among the Uchiha, anyone can die, except... you!"
'That's right... I can't...' Roy thought of Old Mark and Mrs. Nora, who had been single-mindedly seeking death. The courage they had to willingly give up their lives for Little Matty was not something ordinary people possessed...
"I understand." Roy nodded silently.
Fugaku breathed a sigh of relief. He secretly exchanged a glance with Mikoto beside him, his tone lightening up. "You shouldn't belittle yourself either. No one knows your true strength better than I do... As long as you don't encounter any exceptionally strong Jonin, I believe you'll still be able to handle it..."
"Yeah." Roy expressionlessly glanced at his own panel.
And the massive list of "Abilities," "Applied Techniques," and "Ninjutsu" beneath it... He continued to remain silent...
"Alright, we're eating, why bring all this up?" Mikoto Uchiha shot Fugaku a look. Stretching out her hand, she passed over another piece of sushi and said, "Jin, when you go to the battlefield, you have to listen to your Uncle Minato. Mother has already spoken to him through your Aunt Kushina Uzumaki. He will watch over you and bring you back safely."
Mikoto Uchiha then smoothed out the wrinkles on Roy's collar and said with a beaming smile, "After all, when it comes to running away, no one is faster than Minato..."
"That's right," Fugaku deeply agreed, his voice muffled. "Minato's space-time talent is very strong. As of right now... he is the only one who has mastered the [Flying Thunder God Jutsu] inherited from the Second Hokage."
[Flying Thunder God Jutsu]: A type of [Body Flicker Technique]. The caster leaves a Flying Thunder God formula on the target in advance, and then uses the [Mark] to complete instantaneous teleportation... In essence, it is a manifestation of "space-time talent"... highlighting "suddenness" and "high mobility"...
This point was actually somewhat similar to his own [Swamp Space]. The difference was... the [Flying Thunder God] still required a mark, whereas [Swamp Space] did not; it was driven entirely by Roy's will. It was just that... the teleportation distance might not be as far as the [Flying Thunder God]...
Roy took the sushi Mikoto handed him, took a bite, and mumbled, "I know."
"If push comes to shove, I'll just learn from Uncle Minato and use [Space-Time Ninjutsu] to run away..."
"Hmm... Hmm?!!" Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto Uchiha glared at him simultaneously... Just as Itachi came out with the squeezed toothpaste, he saw the scene of his parents staring wide-eyed at his older brother...
His small head was filled with massive confusion...
'What happened?'