Chapter 41: Split Consciousness
"Huh…?"
Li Yao's current state was strange.
It seemed that the person had cut off a piece of flesh from his thigh. That flesh contained his chakra, and since his consciousness was fused with his chakra, a part of his consciousness had been taken away with it.
A portion of his awareness had split off!
This was something Li Yao hadn't anticipated at all.
Thankfully, it was only a small fragment of his consciousness that had separated—not his soul. Otherwise, the result might've been soul fragmentation and instant death.
Now, this fragment of awareness remained connected to his core consciousness and was still under his control.
Through it, he could faintly sense surrounding chakra using his chakra perception ability.
"That must be Danzo."
After some thought, Li Yao concluded that the one who had taken the tissue sample was Danzo.
There weren't many people in Konoha with chakra quality close to the Third Hokage's—especially not someone dwelling in a hidden underground base. Other than Danzo, Hiruzen's long-time comrade, no one else came to mind.
Plus, the chakra Li Yao sensed from Danzo's right eye surpassed even the Third's in intensity.
In the shinobi world, chakra of such quality concentrated in the eye could only mean one thing—one of the Three Great Dōjutsu.
Danzo's right eye was definitely a Sharingan. A Mangekyō Sharingan, no less.
If memory served, it should be Uchiha Kagami's Mangekyō at this point in the timeline.
"I wonder… would a Mangekyō-level genjutsu affect me?"
Li Yao suddenly found himself growing uneasy. He had no desire to find out the hard way whether he could resist genjutsu of that caliber.
For now, the priority was still strengthening himself and finding a way to escape.
Lab No.1.
Danzo approached a strange machine shaped like a hedgehog, with many long insertion ports. A thick cord trailed from its base.
He inserted the test tube containing Li Yao's flesh into one of the ports, pressed the switch, and the machine began to spin—faster and faster.
After three minutes, it stopped.
Li Yao's tissue had been broken down into individual cells and fully mixed with the green liquid, turning into a pale, blood-tinged green solution.
The original blackish fluid seemed to have undergone a reaction during the process, disappearing or transforming into something else.
Danzo carried the tube to another machine—a smooth, transparent glass surface with a white-glowing light panel beneath.
He dripped three droplets of the solution onto the surface, activated the light panel, and intense white light shone through.
He closely observed the reaction of the drops under the light.
Soon, under the bright white beam, the pale green solution gradually lost color, eventually turning completely transparent.
Danzo frowned.
"Not a special kekkei genkai cell."
Shinobi with kekkei genkai have unique cells. When exposed to high-intensity light on specialized glass, their cells display unique colors.
Only non-kekkei genkai cells turn colorless under this process.
This result confirmed Li Yao wasn't a kekkei genkai user.
So then why could his chakra resist even high-level genjutsu like the Darkness Technique?
There was only one possibility:
Li Yao—or his chakra—was constantly under the effect of some kind of special forbidden jutsu. That alone could explain why he could resist genjutsu even in a state of physical and mental collapse.
"No wonder Hiruzen asked me to investigate him. He must've suspected this as well."
Danzo smirked.
If this was a unique jutsu effect, its value was tremendous.
After all, kekkei genkai can't be copied—
Just like Wood Release. So many Senju had died, and still nothing could be replicated.
But if this was a jutsu—even a forbidden one—it could be studied, and potentially mastered by others.
He, Hiruzen, Root, and ANBU alike could learn it.
If it granted immunity to all genjutsu below the Mangekyō Sharingan, it would give Konoha a major edge—not only against the Uchiha, but against any genjutsu-using enemy.
It would be a strategic-level jutsu.
No wonder Hiruzen took it so seriously.
And no wonder he feared Li Yao ever escaping.
Still, Hiruzen didn't realize just how little time the boy had left. After that brutal torture, he might only have a few years left to live.
Danzo frowned again.
This boy wouldn't last much longer.
He had to extract the jutsu while Li Yao was still alive.
Danzo continued testing Li Yao's cellular solution through various machines, hoping to disrupt whatever jutsu effect his chakra maintained—or at least discover traces of how it worked.
But even after the entire test tube was emptied, he came up with nothing.
Danzo stepped out, heading back toward Lab No.2 to collect more tissue—
But halfway there, he stopped.
"Hiruzen didn't get anything out of him in six months. It's not going to be easy."
"And the kid wouldn't survive another round of torture."
Wanting to preserve Li Yao for future study, Danzo decided to postpone. He'd return to his Sharingan research for now and continue studying Li Yao later.
And so, the days passed.
Over the following days, once Li Yao confirmed that none of the chakra stored in his acupoints had been noticed, he resumed gathering chakra while continuing to think of ways to grow stronger.
Half a year passed.
Konoha Year 35, Winter.
As the Land of Fire began to respond, tensions among the Five Great Nations intensified along the outer borders.
In truth, the five countries didn't directly border one another—several smaller nations lay between them.
All the shinobi conflicts were taking place within these buffer nations. The mainlands remained unaffected, and ordinary civilians were unaware that the hidden villages were preparing for war.
It was the smaller nations—wedged between the giants—who bore the brunt of the destruction.
Among them, the Land of Rain—bordering the Lands of Earth, Wind, and Fire—suffered the worst.
Naturally, the Land of Rain became the most volatile battleground for the Hidden Villages of Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Konohagakure.
(END CHAPTER)
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