After going through all the documents, Uchiha Shien felt completely satisfied.
Compared to the basic materials stored in the Ninja Academy's library, the texts preserved by the Uchiha Clan were on an entirely different level—advanced knowledge.
Digesting these would bring him tremendous benefits.
But for now, the most urgent matter was power.
In the past, he'd been content to "lay flat," not in a rush to grow stronger. But now that Danzo had his eye on him, there was no longer any room for complacency.
Having a top-tier powerhouse like Namikaze Minato as his squad leader didn't mean he could just sleep easy.
In the end—a man must rely on himself!
Otherwise, he might end up like that future ungrateful "white-eyed wolf" — the moment his teacher wasn't there, everything collapsed.
If we only spoke in terms of talent, Uchiha Shien wasn't what you'd call a gifted ninja. Compared to the heirs of noble clans, he was completely outclassed in every way.
But that didn't mean he couldn't grow stronger.
He had learned the Summoning Jutsu through sheer effort, yes—but being able to actually use it at his current level of chakra was a result of his own painstaking research.
It was precisely through such study that he had managed to raise his chakra reserves to the average level of clan-born genin.
Don't underestimate that achievement!
When he had first taken over this body, its chakra capacity had been barely a third of what it was now. It wasn't until six months ago that his experiments began to yield results, and in just half a year, his chakra output had tripled.
Only now had he finally caught up to the average clan graduate. That's how wide the gap between clan-born and commoner ninja truly was.
Uchiha Shien carefully lifted a potted mulberry tree, about half his height, placing it gently on his workbench.
This was something he'd cultivated himself—grown from cuttings of two mulberry trees in his courtyard.
A real treasure.
If anyone knew the true value of this tree, they'd be utterly shocked.
Because his chakra growth—and even the creation of Taiyi—were all thanks to this very mulberry.
And how did he make such a thing?
The answer lay in his blood.
Yes. He didn't have a system or an RPG-style status panel like most transmigrators. But the blood flowing in his veins carried a unique effect:
It granted adaptability.
In other words—it allowed perfect biological compatibility.
It was somewhat similar to the future experiment known as "Shin", one of Orochimaru's test subjects, whose body could freely accept transplanted organs without rejection.
That same principle had allowed Danzo's grotesque right arm—infused with Hashirama's cells and Sharingan—to exist at all, thanks to Shin's flesh as a stabilizer.
Uchiha Shien's blood, but was even stronger. More complete. More refined.
It didn't just allow fusion—it perfected it. As if what was fused had been aged and tempered by time itself, rather than cobbled together by crude experimentation.
For example: hybrid rice requires countless generations of crossbreeding and selection. But using Uchiha Shien's blood, that entire lengthy adaptation process could be skipped— the final "optimized" product could be created instantly.
The exact result depended on how much blood and what materials were used.
Take seaweed, for instance—a byproduct with an inherent ability to "grow rapidly." By infusing it with his blood, he had magnified that property exponentially, creating an extract with remarkable healing potency.
Simple in concept—but in practice, it had cost him considerable time, effort… and blood.
If his blood weren't limited, he could've created many more miraculous things by now.
That mulberry tree, for instance, had taken him over a year to cultivate. And by now, it could slowly absorb traces of natural energy.
That was precisely why he had devoted himself to nurturing it—it had already become something extraordinary.
A true sage could glance at it once and see what it really was.
Thankfully, there were no sages within the Uchiha clan—otherwise, he'd have been exposed long ago.
Taiyi's unusually large body was also due to its long-term presence around this mulberry tree, passively absorbing that same natural energy.
And natural energy, of course, represented one of the highest tiers of power in the ninja world—
Sage Mode.
Most had to rely on the Three Great Sage Lands to attain it. But once this mulberry matured, Uchiha Shien might be able to achieve Sage Mode through it alone.
His current chakra increase came from a serum he'd concocted using the tree's wood as base material— a medicine that allowed him to merge filtered, faint traces of natural energy into his own body.
Normally, raw natural energy was chaotic and deadly—one touch meant instant death. But after passing through countless adaptive evolutions within the mulberry's tissues, it became far gentler. Not harmless—but no longer fatal.
The pain and discomfort were worth it.
His chakra rose because the natural energy strengthened his cells, allowing him to draw more power from them.
To put it simply— his blood's unique nature was the key that made his scientific route viable.
Otherwise, even with his knowledge as a transmigrator, true results would've taken years—decades, even.
And that was why Uchiha Shien still had countless "bold ideas" about what else his blood could do. He'd just lacked the tools, facilities, and a safe environment to test them—so he'd kept a low profile.
The chakra-enhancing serum he'd developed, he named the "Essence of Nature".
It didn't sound very ninja-like, but since he invented it himself, he didn't care about style points.
"Looks like I'll have to pause my research for now,"
"Looks like I'll have to pause my research for now," Uchiha Shien sighed softly, brushing a smooth mulberry leaf between his fingers.
"Focus on strengthening myself first… though that'll give me a chance to gather more materials, too."
After all, his two greatest advantages—a transmigrator's knowledge and his unique blood— both required vast amounts of raw material to truly shine.
Crack!
With a pained grimace, he snapped off several thick branches. Within the break, one could faintly see golden-red, gemlike fibers—evidence of the mulberry's growing mystique.
Refining the Essence of Nature was a far more delicate process than creating healing serums.
It needed not only many auxiliary ingredients, but also his blood as a stabilizing catalyst.
His blood's fusion and evolution properties neutralized chemical conflict and balanced the entire mixture.
In simpler terms—when his tech couldn't reach the standard, his blood made up for it.
If someone like Orochimaru or Tsunade were doing this, they could've perfected the formula scientifically. But Uchiha Shien didn't have that luxury—so he simply skipped the hard parts, using blood as a cheat.
After several dozen minutes, two crimson vials of serum gleamed in his hands.
Despite its name, the "Essence of Nature" wasn't green. The red hue came from the unique properties of the mulberry itself.
Holding them carefully, Uchiha Shien made his way down to a training chamber— a few hundred square meters of reinforced space built beneath his home.
It wasn't unusual for ninja to build underground dojos—privacy was survival.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof!
With a cloud of smoke, Taiyi appeared—a sleek, black-and-gold avian summon, its feathers glinting faintly in the dim light.
If they were still in his old rented apartment, Taiyi might've found the place cramped. But here, even if Taiyi were ten times its current size, there'd be room to spare.
"All right,"
"All right," Uchiha Shien said, holding up one vial.
"I'm going to inject you with this serum. Try to endure it."
"Gua!"
Though Taiyi didn't understand the details, its instincts told it that whatever Uchiha Shien was holding would be very good for it. It nodded eagerly.
So far, Uchiha Shien had only ever produced three bottles of the Essence of Nature. The first had brought his chakra up to par with clan-born genin.
The two new ones—crafted from a more mature mulberry—would be far more potent.
Without delay, Uchiha Shien inserted the needle and injected one full vial into Taiyi's body.
The change came almost instantly—
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