After the immense surprise came an even calmer calculation.
"The storage function solves the problem of concealing and carrying supplies, making it a powerful tool for stealth, secrecy, and even combat. The refining function, moreover, points directly to the source of power!"
He just didn't know how effective it would be in actual use.
He immediately took action to test it.
His gaze swept the room, locking onto the training Kunai and shuriken in the corner.
He got up, picked up the Kunai and shuriken, and with a thought, one Kunai instantly disappeared from its spot, appearing in the grey, one-cubic-meter space.
With another thought, the Kunai returned to its original position.
The process was silent and effortless.
Uchiha Hara thought for a moment, then placed the Kunai on the bed. This time, without touching the Kunai, he tried to retrieve it.
The Kunai remained on the bed, not moving at all.
"It seems I can only retrieve items that I am personally touching."
Next, he looked at the edge of the tatami mat, where there were a few inconspicuous small stones used to prop up a table leg.
He picked up one, communicated with the demon refining pot with his mind, and issued the "refine" command.
The stone in his hand instantly vanished. Immediately afterward, he felt the faint spiritual light within the demon refining pot space seem to flicker ever so slightly, and then it was over.
Was the demon refining pot repaired? He didn't know.
Had the space grown larger? It didn't seem discernible.
"It must be because dead objects have too little energy, but as long as it can refine, that's enough!" Uchiha Hara instantly thought of countless uses for the demon refining pot.
Without even looking far, this thing would be incredibly fast for digging tunnels and building underground structures.
Finally, the most important test.
His gaze fell on a small mouse hole in the corner of the room.
Although Uchiha Hara was young, he was a pre-Ninja who had already refined Chakra, so he naturally wouldn't be helpless against a mouse.
Mainly, being alone, he often felt lonely, so he didn't bother with the mice in his house, treating them as his little companions.
Not only did he not drive the mice away, he often fed them.
However, it was the original owner who liked mice, not the current Uchiha Hara; he wouldn't go easy on them.
He held his breath and waited patiently.
Before long, a scruffy grey mouse poked its head out cautiously.
Uchiha Hara's eyes narrowed, and with almost no hesitation, he subtly flicked his finger. A tiny shuriken blade, previously hidden in his sleeve, shot out and accurately pierced the mouse's head.
The mouse twitched twice, then stopped moving.
He walked over, picked up the still-warm mouse corpse, and once again communicated with the demon refining pot.
"Refine!"
The mouse corpse in his hand instantly disappeared.
This time, the changes in the demon refining pot were still not obvious, but the feedback was very clear.
A small, rice-grain-sized, dark red, slightly trembling gelatinous substance appeared in the center of the space, emitting faint life energy fluctuations.
At the same time, that information reappeared: Obtained blood essence (mouse)
This information stream was quite chaotic before, but now it was becoming clearer and clearer, even having the feel of a system notification.
He didn't know if it was because the demon refining pot had adapted to him as its master, so it used the notification method he was most familiar with.
"Such a large mouse, and after refining, it's this small?"
Uchiha Hara took out this blood essence and held it in his palm.
This thing was like jelly, yet a bit like a pill, soft when squeezed.
He could feel the vitality contained within it, but at the same time, he also detected a faint, non-human, frenzied and chaotic will, lingering like background noise.
"How can there be impurities? Can this be eaten?" Uchiha Hara frowned. As a dignified Innate Spirit Treasure, even if it was damaged, it shouldn't have impurities after refining a mouse.
Besides, even if there were impurities, couldn't it absorb them as inorganic matter?
Perhaps sensing Uchiha Hara's dissatisfaction, another stream of information gushed out.
Instantly, Uchiha Hara understood.
It turned out that this mass of impurities, while seemingly impurities, was not; it was the life imprint of the mouse, a characteristic that distinguished its species at the level of refining rules.
In an online game, it would probably be called: Mouse Bloodline.
However, after being refined by the demon refining pot, the Mouse Bloodline would not turn Uchiha Hara into a mouse; instead, he could gain some racial traits of mice.
As for what racial traits mice had, Uchiha Hara didn't actually know, but it would definitely be beneficial and harmless.
At this moment, he also understood the function of the demon refining pot: it could help people refine the essence of all spirits and transform them into divine beings.
If this were in the Primordial Era, if he refined tens of thousands of living beings, he might gain tens of thousands of innate divine abilities.
Unfortunately, this was the Ninja World, and Uchiha Hara didn't even know if he could find any living beings with innate divine abilities.
But even without innate divine abilities, it didn't matter. The agility of cats, the infrared vision of snakes, the farsightedness of eagles, the dynamic vision of frogs—these were all excellent racial traits that would be very beneficial when applied to a Ninja.
Moreover, even without this life imprint, the blood essence itself was an extraordinary treasure.
"Repair damage, enhance life origin"!
This body was currently most lacking in this!
The hidden injuries left by the original owner's cultivation, and long-term malnutrition, all needed fundamental life force to compensate.
He put the dark red blood essence into his mouth.
The blood essence melted instantly upon entering his mouth, turning into a warm current that flowed down his throat and then spread throughout his limbs and bones.
An unprecedented sense of comfort spread through him, as if parched land had received the nourishment of sweet rain. The feeling of weakness in his body was dispelled considerably, and the lingering chill was replaced by warmth.
He could even feel some subtle hidden injuries slowly being repaired.
However, at the same time, some extremely fragmented and chaotic images and sensations flooded his mind: the wariness of moving in the dark, the greedy craving for food, the fear when facing natural predators... This was the instinctive information of a mouse, brought by the life imprint.
He frowned. He found that the blood essence was absorbed and integrated very quickly, almost in an instant, but this life imprint didn't seem to end as quickly and needed some time to digest.
Fortunately, it wouldn't take long; he estimated it would be gone by tomorrow.
"Effective! And remarkably so!" Feeling the tangible changes in his body, Uchiha Hara's heart settled.
The life imprint needed time to digest, but it wasn't a big problem.
The strengthening of the life origin brought by the blood essence would rapidly enhance Uchiha Hara's basic physical attributes.
A Ninja's Chakra is formed by the fusion of physical energy and spiritual energy.
The Uchiha Clan naturally had strong spiritual power. As a person who had lived two lives, his spiritual power was stronger than that of an average Uchiha, and now he had a way to rapidly strengthen his body.
Therefore, his strength growth rate would become very fast!
Perhaps the kind of Jonin at six years old and Hokage at eight years old, as seen in novels, might not be impossible?
Although this golden finger was not a system, the boost it brought to its host was definitely no less than most systems.
"With this golden finger, why would I care about the Uchiha Clan?" Uchiha Hara instantly overturned his previous idea of relying on the Uchiha.
Before, relying on the Uchiha was out of necessity. Now that he had the ability to stand on his own, why bother with the Uchiha?
Who would want to hang out with those arrogant, morally questionable Uchiha?
Of course, even though he had a golden finger, it didn't mean he could act recklessly.
On the contrary, he still had to lay low.
Laying low wasn't because he was afraid, but because Konoha had a unique political ecosystem: it was extremely unfriendly to geniuses.
There were two old schemers here: one holding the position of Hokage, and the other eyeing the Hokage position.
Once they discovered a genius, they would either recruit them for their own use or kill them if they couldn't be recruited.
If they couldn't kill them, they would use various official means, such as missions, and work them to death.
The more capable you were, the more endless work you would have.
When they found that a genius's strength and reputation had grown powerful enough to threaten the Hokage, they would secretly move to kill him.
Oh, you say your strength is so great that Sarutobi and Danzo can't do anything to you, and you can become Hokage?
Then you'd have to face the heartless villagers of Konoha Village and the various clans with extremely selfish motives.
In any case, being a genius seemed to mean endless trouble. It was better to implement the excellent experience passed down for thousands of years by the Chinese nation: quietly make a fortune!
Playing weak during the day and being dead last, then hunting mice and rabbits at night to increase life origin with blood essence—isn't that great?
Wait!
Uchiha Hara suddenly thought of a question.
Could the demon refining pot only refine animals?
Could it refine humans?
Mainly, the Ninja World never lacked human corpses, and human corpses had Bloodline Limits, ocular Ninjutsu, and Ninjutsu. By all accounts, the benefits of refining humans would be greater than refining animals!
This thought flashed through his mind, and he immediately suppressed it.
It wasn't that he had a moralistic streak, but this was Konoha Village, the risk was too high, and it was easy to get exposed.
Besides, at five years old, there weren't many people he could beat.
At this stage, small animals were the safest and most suitable 'nutrients'."
He walked to the blurry mirror again, looking at the pale but undeniably handsome little face in the reflection.
In those black eyes, there was no longer the innocence of a child, but instead, a deep, calm gaze like a still pool, and hidden within, a sharp glint like that of a hunter.
"This won't do. Such eyes would expose me instantly, wouldn't they?"
Uchiha Hara frowned, then relaxed, and began to adjust his expression, posture, thoughts, and psychology.
Then he realized, somewhat speechlessly, that it was surprisingly difficult for him to return to the stubborn and naïve demeaner of a five-year-old child.
"No way, I have to report to the Ninja Academy tomorrow. Won't I be exposed the moment people see me?" Uchiha Hara frowned. Because he had come in last place in the daytime test, he was sent by his clan to attend classes at the Ninja Academy.
As for those who performed well, they naturally received their education within the clan.
So, having just decided to be an undercover agent in a secret organization, how could he be exposed the very next day?
"Oh?" Uchiha Hara thought of something, and his eyes subtly adjusted, instantly transforming into a dull, naïve, yet somewhat lively look, like a hamster whose fate had been seized by the throat.
His eyes weren't exactly 100% like a normal child's, but at least 99% similar.
This demeaner came from the mouse's life imprint, which Uchiha Hara named: Short-sighted!
"I didn't expect the mouse's life imprint to have this function?" Uchiha Hara chuckled, then nodded: "Then I'll use this demeaner to meet people tomorrow!"