Chapter 40: Learning the Darkness Technique
Root's Underground Base.
Danzo's Office.
Danzo opened a drawer and pulled out the file Hiruzen had handed him when the boy was first sent over.
He hadn't looked at it back then. Now, he intended to see for himself what was so special about this boy that Hiruzen still hadn't forgotten him.
At first, Danzo hadn't remembered who Hiruzen was referring to. Then it hit him—and his curiosity followed.
If he remembered correctly, it was because of this boy that Hiruzen had been humiliated by two little Uchiha brats. That humiliation had nudged Hiruzen into agreeing to the formation of Root in the first place.
"Hiruzen even secretly researched him for over half a year before handing him over to Root."
Recalling that detail, Danzo's expression grew increasingly serious. Clearly, this child held a secret—a threat too great to be allowed to leave alive.
"Hm… Yamanaka's Mind Body Disturbance Technique didn't work, even with his chakra sealed?"
"The Second's genjutsu—Darkness Technique—also failed? Even with chakra sealed?!"
"That's impossible!"
Danzo, who had initially been rather dismissive, now looked grim.
If the reports were accurate, the child's abilities went far beyond simple genjutsu immunity.
Danzo had assumed Hiruzen was referring to some kind of special kekkei genkai.
But if the child could resist both mental and visual genjutsu even with his chakra sealed, then this was far beyond what a typical bloodline limit could do.
He read on. The file detailed the brutal torment Li Yao had endured, and how Hiruzen had continuously attempted genjutsu on him during that time—without success.
At the end, Hiruzen left a warning:
If you can't uncover the secret of his chakra, then kill him. Do not, under any circumstance, allow him to leave the lab alive.
Though Hiruzen didn't explicitly say how dangerous Li Yao was—
Danzo could read the heavy sense of dread between the lines.
Someone with that kind of innate resistance likely had incredible potential in genjutsu as well.
Just like the Uchiha, whose resistance to genjutsu went hand in hand with their supremacy in using it.
If Li Yao ever learned genjutsu, he'd be on a completely different level—an existential threat to Konoha.
Letting someone like that walk free was clearly unacceptable.
That threat alone revealed how terrifying Li Yao's resistance really was.
"No wonder Hiruzen still cares so much. If all of this is true, that kid is even more dangerous than I thought."
After finishing the file, Danzo took Li Yao's threat seriously.
He put the file away and headed toward Lab No.2.
"Hm, someone's coming."
As Danzo stopped outside Lab No.2, Li Yao—who was in the middle of reverse-engineering the chakra nature of the Darkness Technique—immediately sensed it through his chakra perception.
He halted his chakra fusion process, stopping the blending of physical and mental energy.
Ever since confirming he could store chakra in his acupoints, Li Yao hadn't stopped accumulating it. By now, it had become as natural to him as breathing, requiring almost no effort.
But this time, he stopped deliberately.
He didn't know who was coming—or whether they had chakra-sensing abilities.
For Li Yao, this was a crucial test—could his acupoint chakra storage really go undetected by a powerful shinobi?
At this point, the chakra within his acupoints had surpassed his dantian reserves by more than a hundredfold.
It was nearly on par with the four ANBU who once guarded him.
Now, he'd find out if it had gone unnoticed.
As Danzo opened the door, the first thing he saw was Li Yao floating silently in nutrient fluid inside the transparent tank.
Li Yao's body had grown to the size of a nine-year-old, but his appearance had aged even more. Wrinkled skin, mostly white hair—he looked like a hunched, fifty-year-old man.
"Hiruzen really had a ruthless side, after all."
Danzo muttered, then paused and twitched at the corner of his mouth.
"This kid won't last long without my help. At this rate, his body's aging ten years for every one. Give it four or five more, and he'll die of organ failure."
"If the nutrient fluid were removed, he'd collapse within a year."
Danzo shook his head. In his view, Hiruzen was worrying for nothing—Li Yao posed no threat anymore.
The torture had worked too well.
Though Li Yao's body appeared simply aged, this rapid aging meant his time was short.
Li Yao himself understood his condition—but he didn't dwell on it.
His only focus was escape.
Everything else could wait until he got out of Konoha.
Otherwise, it was all meaningless.
Danzo's slight head shake didn't go unnoticed. Though Li Yao couldn't hear sound, his chakra perception picked it up. He didn't know what it meant—
But Danzo's next move was clear.
"Genjutsu—Darkness Technique!"
Danzo, ever the schemer, was no different from his childhood friend Hiruzen. The first thing he did was cast the Darkness Technique.
Li Yao smiled inwardly.
This shortened his learning curve dramatically.
Instead of needing two months to reverse-engineer it, this time it would take far less.
As Danzo's genjutsu chakra passed through the tank and tried to infiltrate Li Yao's system—
Li Yao immediately sensed its unique nature and form transformations.
With a thought, a strand of illusory chakra appeared in the Gate of Life acupoint—it was the Darkness Technique chakra.
Compared to the chakra of the Eight Trigrams Seal, this was far easier to reproduce.
Or perhaps, as his chakra reserves grew, his perception abilities had strengthened significantly. Especially upon direct contact, he could now instantly analyze and replicate chakra attributes and structure.
Once he understood its characteristics, duplicating it was a matter of course.
Danzo had no idea that Li Yao had already learned the A+—maybe even S—rank genjutsu from a single encounter.
Danzo frowned slightly, then relaxed.
Hiruzen had been right. This child's chakra was… strange. Even his genjutsu chakra couldn't penetrate it.
"What's the cause…?"
Danzo mused, stepping toward the control panel. He began extracting the nutrient fluid, then flattened the tank and opened it, pulling Li Yao out and placing him on a surgical table.
"What's he doing now?"
"Another torture session?"
With only chakra perception to rely on, Li Yao could only guess from the physical sensations and movements.
He knew he was lying on a table.
And the person was preparing to do something.
Li Yao tensed, ready. If things went wrong, he'd strike first.
Even in death—he'd make noise.
Danzo picked up a glass vial filled with greenish liquid, along with a scalpel and tweezers.
Slice!
He cut open Li Yao's thigh, revealing raw red muscle.
Li Yao sensed a rupture in his leg's chakra field and almost reacted—but restrained himself.
It seemed more like a sample collection, not an attempt on his life.
Danzo used the tweezers to remove a tiny piece of flesh and dropped it into the green nutrient vial. Then he closed the wound with basic treatment and walked off with the sample.
(END CHAPTER)
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