With the Fourth Great Ninja War officially declared, the Allied Shinobi Forces were quickly assembled. Undoubtedly, this was a war concerning the survival of all mankind in the shinobi world.
And not just shinobi. After all, between the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Obito—who held the power to upend the entire world—Uchiha Madara, and Kabuto, who was manipulating an army of powerful Reanimated shinobi, this was a threat on an unprecedented scale.
In the Land of Iron, General Mifune was mobilizing his most elite samurai to join the alliance.
Neji, who had followed the old Sword Saint in bitter training for years, had finally been rewarded with the gift of the Breathing Art.
His talent was undeniable, and with the added boost of his Byakugan, he'd managed to climb even higher.
In just a few short years, Neji had already begun to touch the threshold of the Ultimate Meaning of Swordsmanship.
And thanks to the Uchiha Kirin's early teachings on the essence of the Breathing Art, refined further under the guidance of the old Sword Saint, Neji had now gained complete mastery over his body and spirit.
Even if he were to give up using chakra and fight only with his body and sword intent, he'd still be far beyond what a typical jōnin could handle.
But Neji's strength wasn't limited to swordsmanship. As a descendant of the Hyuga Clan, he had once viewed the cursed seal branded upon him by the Main House as a source of shame, a reminder of his father's unjust fate.
And yet, he had come to view Gentle Fist in a different light. Gentle Fist was just a style. The Hyuga Clan was just a name. He would not abandon the style he had trained in.
Instead, he would complete the missing pieces of the technique through his own efforts, and then—fair and square—crush the Main House who stood high and mighty simply because of their bloodline and old traditions.
He would shatter their pride and force them to pay for his father's death.
But before that, he had to follow the Sword Saint's path and break the shackles within himself.
Only then could he surpass the limits of the human body—and acquire strength beyond what any human could possess!
This challenge, however, was something that no previous Sword Saint—not even Uchiha Kirin—had managed to accomplish despite risking their lives again and again.
And so, Kirin himself had come in person to observe Neji's breakthrough. If necessary, he was prepared to intervene to save Neji's life.
The breakthrough began.
Neji held his breath and focused all his energy, raising his breathing to its peak. He then summoned both his sword intent and fist intent from within his will. The two intertwined, resonating with one another, forming a phantom aura built from spiritual power that wrapped around him.
Then—crack—a crisp, ringing sound echoed.
A heavy chain upon Neji's forehead—the strongest shackle of all—was torn apart.
For hundreds of years, the cursed mark branded on the Hyuga Branch House had bound their Byakugan, their potential, even their lives.
Now, it shattered completely.
Not a single trace remained on either his body or soul.
But at the same time, Neji's body grew extremely weak. The abundant life force he once held drained from him in an instant.
And in that vacuum, he instinctively began to absorb all the surrounding natural energy and chakra into his body.
In that moment, it felt as if Neji had formed an inexplicable connection with heaven and earth.
But the price was steep. His body, having burned through all its internal reserves, fell into a severely depleted state.
He had broken his shackles.
To witness someone shattering their chains so methodically and flawlessly stunned Uchiha Kirin.
Could it be... because of the Caged Bird Seal? Or was it because Neji possessed two Ultimate Meanings at the same time?
Countless thoughts raced through Kirin's mind.
He then sent a beam of divine light, rich in life force, directly into Neji's body.
Neji's strength recovered instantly—and he merged with the world around him.
Heaven and man became one. His aura blurred and deepened.
But Kirin could tell: Neji had already surpassed the level of a Kage... and was still climbing.
It wasn't until the energies of the world filled every corner of his body that the growth finally stopped.
This was undoubtedly beyond-Kage-level power.
Just breaking one shackle had elevated his strength by two whole tiers.
And yet Kirin himself had never managed to break his own internal chains, no matter how hard he tried.
As he struggled in thought, the elderly Sword Saint also began his own breakthrough.
He succeeded too, shattering his inner shackles.
However, due to his age, his condition was much worse than Neji's.
Still, with Kirin's reinforcement, he recovered, and upon regaining his strength, reached a high-level Kage-tier power.
The old Sword Saint succeeded after timely assistance!
But even then, his power was far inferior to Neji, who possessed Hyuga blood and the advantage of youth.
"I was wrong," Kirin muttered. "The key to breaking shackles isn't the Caged Bird Seal... and it has nothing to do with the number of Ultimate Meanings one possesses."
In that moment, Kirin came to a sudden realization:
The so-called shackles, the so-called bindings—they are the body and soul themselves.
And the stronger one is, the harder it is to break through those shackles using sheer will alone!
The more he operated and refined his Breathing Art, the more he merged different powers into it.
The stronger he became, the more the Breathing Art raised his upper limits.
Similarly, as he refined and altered his bloodline, he only grew stronger.
But the growth of his Ultimate Meaning of Swordsmanship lagged far behind the increase in his actual power.
Naturally, it became nearly impossible to break through the shackles.
Moreover...
This revealed two completely different—and even opposing—paths:
One was to integrate all forms of power into the Breathing Art. By unifying the chaotic system of power through frequency, the body could continuously draw strength from the world, achieving leaps in the level of life itself.
This was the path Uchiha Kirin had taken.
The other might be the original path of the Breathing Art:
To tune one's body and soul to the same frequency, then harmonize that frequency with heaven and earth.
And finally—using the Ultimate Meaning forged by one's will—to shatter the barrier between self and nature, resonating with all existence.
By dispersing all internal power and merging a part of oneself with the world, one could convert the power of heaven and earth into their own.
Of course, since each person had different limits, the strength they could bear also varied.
Thus, breaking one shackle would result in different power levels for different people.
At first glance, it seemed similar to Kirin's path of integrating all powers into one.
But they were fundamentally different.
One was like a bottle, gradually enlarged to hold water from a lake.
The other was like a fishing net submerged directly in the water.
The water represented the power of the world.
Making the bottle bigger to carry more water was certainly possible—but the process was far more grueling than weaving a net of the same size.
The fishing net could easily hold a large amount of water—but it could only function while immersed in rivers or lakes. Once removed, its true limitations would be exposed.
In Kirin's eyes...
One approach exchanged time and repeated trial-and-error for a higher ceiling.
The other sacrificed long-term potential in exchange for greater immediate power.
And so, Uchiha Kirin decided—for now—not to pursue breaking his own shackles.
Instead, he chose to walk his path to the end.
To fill the bottle with water.
Though the process was painful and slow, it would allow him to carry that water to even the most barren lands.
In time, the bottle could become as large as the net.
And for someone like him—who had the Simulator and could constantly accumulate trial-and-error—
This was the more reliable path toward transcending the world.
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