Chapter 107: The Limit of a Mortal
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed since Masahiko had gone into seclusion to train.
By the seaside, Masahiko wore a grave expression, as if gathering his strength.
"Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation)!" With a loud shout, the surrounding earth trembled and condensed, and a stone sphere about five meters in diameter appeared in the air in front of Masahiko.
"Whew..." Masahiko's face was flushed red. He let out a breath, and the stone sphere fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.
Masahiko shook his head with a bitter smile. "What kind of Chibaku Tensei is this? Forget about capturing Tailed Beasts; it's a struggle just to trap a person."
Calling it Chibaku Tensei was a stretch; Masahiko hadn't actually obtained the Rinnegan. It was just that his Earth Release and Lightning Release had both reached Level 8. By combining them and manipulating gravity and magnetism, he could briefly emit a force field.
Masahiko could simulate Rinnegan skills like Bansho Ten'in (Universal Pull) and Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push) somewhat decently, provided the enemy was within twenty meters. Apart from consuming a lot of chakra, there was no five-second cooldown side effect. But something like Chibaku Tensei was completely unworkable and far inferior.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Masahiko gasped for breath a few times, formed seals again, and released a most basic ninjutsu.
Although it was clearly a Great Fireball, the range of the release almost rivaled Uchiha Madara's Majestic Destroyer Flame. A large patch of the sea surface in front of Masahiko was evaporated dry.
This was the effect of Masahiko's Level 8 Fire Release and Wind Release working together, greatly enhancing the jutsu's effect. Moreover...
The Great Fireball raced a hundred meters across the sea surface, then suddenly changed direction and shot high into the sky.
This was another effect: using Wind Release to set a direction change for the Fire Release in advance. Although it could only be set once, it could play a huge role at critical moments.
"Actually, it's not that useful. Level 8 Lightning and Water allow me to use Storm Release (Ranton)." Masahiko sighed.
As for the Level 8 Water Release, Masahiko found it the most useless. It allowed him to move underwater at high speeds, no different from moving on land.
"What's the use of this ability? Keeping it to fight Kisame?" Masahiko muttered. "However, it's been less than two years since my five natures reached Level 8. Maybe there are things I haven't discovered yet..."
Over the past ten years, to save Witness Points, Masahiko had endured for a full eight years, finally saving up about fifty Witness Points...
The key was Masahiko's age. Being over sixty really wasn't suitable for training; making any progress was good enough.
Masahiko almost couldn't resist reducing his age directly, but heaven knew when he would get another chance to earn Witness Points.
"These fifty-plus points weren't saved in vain. The Valley of the End only gave me fifty points. Isn't it just wasting a little time? The thing I lack least is time."
Masahiko looked at his status bar.
Name: Uzumaki Masahiko
Age: 56 (-)
Nin: 3000 (+)
Tai: 986 (+)
Jutsu: 8000 (+10) (Convertible)
... (omitted)
Dust Release: LV8 (3,000,000/15,000,000) (+)
Water Release: (Fusible 1/2) LV8 (1,000,000/5,000,000) (+)
Lightning Release: (Fusible 1/2) LV8 (1,000,000/5,000,000) (+)
Sealing Jutsu: LV8 (1,000,000/5,000,000) (+)
Yang Release: (Fusible with Yin) LV8 (1,000,000/5,000,000) (+)
Yin Release: (Fusible with Yang) LV8 (1,000,000/5,000,000) (+)
Special Talent: ... (omitted)
Overall Evaluation: SS
Witness Points: 150
"Only 150 points left?" Masahiko sighed, feeling it wasn't enough.
Two years had passed since Masahiko's seven chakra natures reached Level 8. Level 8 attributes didn't give him the desired four-nature or even five-nature fusion; they only greatly enhanced his control over ninjutsu.
For example, before, he could only make himself fly, or make people or objects in direct contact with him fly. But now, he could make most things within twenty meters fly.
"However, I still feel like I did something stupid..." Masahiko shook his head helplessly.
Since his five basic natures reached Level 8 two years ago, Masahiko had used them quite a bit, but they hadn't improved at all.
Masahiko had always thought that as long as a ninja had enough talent and lifespan, they could reach an extremely strong level through training. Ninja cultivation wouldn't be like Xianxia novels, where there were bottlenecks.
However, over the past two years, Masahiko discovered that limits did exist.
For instance, the limit of Masahiko's constitution was Level 8 for the five basic natures. This might even be because he was an Uzumaki and had the influence of Level 8 Yang Release.
"The limit of a mortal?" Masahiko laughed bitterly. "Without Witness Points, I'm afraid that no matter how long I live, I can only reach this level. No, maybe..."
Masahiko suddenly remembered Orochimaru's various human modifications, Kekkei Genkai transplants, Hashirama cells...
"Doing that might turn me into something neither human nor ghost, but perhaps it could break the human limit..."
"Fortunately, I shouldn't need to use such methods."
Masahiko muttered, feeling somewhat fortunate.
"What a pity. If I had known this earlier, I wouldn't have used Witness Points before. Even if it took another twenty or thirty years to grind all of them to Level 8, I would have had time..."
"Forget it. All five natures at Level 8, and my rating finally reached SS. And if my guess isn't wrong, the human limit can be broken. Once my Yang Release reaches Level 9, I should be able to obtain a Sage Body like Hashirama's..."
"So, the key now is where to find the missing 250 Witness Points. Er, 250?"
Just as he thought this, a line of Chinese characters flashed before Masahiko's eyes: "Witnessed and slightly participated in significantly changing a Naruto world Main Story: The First Great Ninja War. Received 50 (/8) (*8) Witness Points."
"Such a good thing?" Masahiko's face froze, then broke into a wide smile.
"I only participated in the beginning, so the Witness Points were divided by eight. But because I saved Tobirama, the course of the war changed significantly, so it was multiplied back. So it's still fifty points."
"Also, the First Great Ninja War has finally ended."
Over the years, Masahiko hadn't slacked in gathering news about the ninja world.
Saving Tobirama indeed made the First Great Ninja War somewhat different. With Mito's deterrence, Sunagakure didn't dare to act rashly. In Year 14 of Konoha, Tobirama took the initiative to launch a war against Kumogakure. If Kumogakure hadn't released the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails at the end, posing a stance of mutual destruction, Konoha might have really annexed Kumogakure, turning the Five Great Villages into four.
Even so, Kumogakure ended up compensating Konoha with countless resources. In Masahiko's words, their economy was set back 20 years.
This was only Year 16 of Konoha. Masahiko thought the ninja world should have calmed down by now. After all, the war between Kirigakure and Iwagakure had gradually subsided after the two Kage killed each other. Masahiko had even regretted forgetting to settle the score with Mū at the time.
Unexpectedly, however, the small nations launched a "final resistance."
Amegakure wanted to replace Kumogakure's position, and Takigakure united with Kusagakure to replace Iwagakure's position, aiming to become new Great Nations.
"But obviously, they failed..." Masahiko sighed. Amegakure didn't suffer much loss; after all, Kumogakure had been beaten so badly by Konoha, and Hanzo was there. But Takigakure was nearly wiped out by a few shots of Dust Release from Onoki, who had finally mastered it not long ago. The wars continued intermittently and had only thoroughly subsided now.
"So it's still the Five Great Nations. Aside from Konoha being stronger than in the original story, the general situation hasn't changed much. But the most troublesome changes are in a few places in Konoha. I don't know where the plot will go."
Masahiko sighed. Losing his foreknowledge left him somewhat unsure of where to get Witness Points.
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