After finishing the final bundle of rice, Uchiha Aozora dispelled his shadow clones.A wave of double-layered exhaustion instantly crashed down on him, and he couldn't help collapsing straight into the rice field.
Inuzuka Aya's pet dog, Shiro, had long since reverted to his original puppy form. He lay sprawled on his back, four legs in the air, tongue hanging out as he panted heavily.
Inuzuka Aya herself no longer looked as energetic as usual. As she wiped the sweat from her face, her expression was complicated.
After a while, she walked over with a cold face and said,"A deal's a deal. What ninjutsu scroll do you want?"
She had already prepared herself for Uchiha Aozora to make some unreasonable demand.
Unexpectedly, Aozora simply smiled."Anything's fine. I'm not picky."
Then he added,"Just not Fire Release. And don't give me something that everyone has."
Aya looked at him with newfound respect.
C-rank ninjutsu varied greatly—some involved secret techniques, while others could be bought by anyone with enough money.
Aozora's request wasn't hard to fulfill at all.
"I'll get it to you as soon as possible," she promised.
After a brief pause, she continued,"You won again. But next time, I'll definitely beat you. Just you wait."
"Alright," Aozora replied with a smile."I'm looking forward to our next match."
Seeing the atmosphere between them was fairly relaxed, Gekkō Hayate walked over."Aozora, Aya—this mission really was thanks to you two."
Aya hurriedly waved her hands."It's nothing. We just cut a bit more rice, that's all."
Aozora nodded in agreement."Yeah. We're a team—we're supposed to help each other. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and each of us plays a different role. You're not suited for heavy labor, so we just do a bit more."
"Well said," came a voice nearby."Everyone in a team has what they're good at, and also their shortcomings. Teammates should support each other."
At some point, Aburame Shibi and the elderly farmer had appeared at the edge of the field.
Looking at the neatly bundled rice, the old man's eyes filled with emotion."Thank you all so much. I hope you'll come help me harvest again next year."
At those words, the smile vanished from Inuzuka Aya's face.Gekkō Hayate also fell awkwardly silent.
Uchiha Aozora, meanwhile, froze in place.
The Heavenly Book—normally silent and still—suddenly stirred.On its pages, a single drop of pale golden liquid appeared.
After bidding farewell to the solitary old man, Aozora and the others followed Aburame Shibi away.
Along the road, seeing Aozora looking distracted, Inuzuka Aya unexpectedly began to comfort him.
"Don't worry, Aozora. Sensei said we won't be taking this mission again."
"And besides, next year we might already be chūnin. There's no way we'd still be doing D-rank missions."
Aozora snapped back to himself. Seeing the concern in Aya's eyes, he felt a small sense of warmth.
This single-celled organism accepted her 'enemy' way too quickly.At this rate, she'd probably help someone count money after being sold.…No, with her intelligence, she probably wouldn't even be able to count it properly.
Though he was merciless in his inner thoughts, Aozora forced a smile and vaguely hummed in response.
Aya thought her comfort had worked and happily began playing with Shiro again.
After walking a while, night fully settled in. Aburame Shibi spoke up:"We'll submit the mission tomorrow. Let's disband for today—go home and rest well."
"Okay!""Thank you, Sensei!"
After three straight days of harvesting rice, all three of them were exhausted.
"Let's meet at the mission hall at eight tomorrow morning."
With that, Aburame Shibi parted ways with them.
The Uchiha compound lay in a different direction from his teammates' homes, so Uchiha Aozora said his goodbyes as well.
Once he was out of their sight, he quickly leapt onto the rooftops and hurried home.
Sitting down on his bed, Aozora didn't even bother catching his breath. He immediately calmed his mind and entered his sea of consciousness.
Without visualization, the ancient book pages showed no text—but a pale golden droplet was present, swimming across the page like a tadpole.
Uchiha Aozora felt both worried and excited.
He worried that the droplet might damage the Heavenly Book—or even destroy it entirely. The Heavenly Book was his greatest guarantee for rapid growth and reaching Kage-level strength. If he lost it, his chances of changing his brother's fate would grow slimmer and slimmer.
Moreover, the Heavenly Book resided within his sea of consciousness. If it collapsed, he couldn't guarantee that his soul or mind wouldn't suffer catastrophic damage.
As for his excitement—it was easy to understand.
Since discovering the Heavenly Book at the age of five, this was the first time he had ever seen something appear on it that wasn't text.
That meant the Heavenly Book was undergoing a new change—perhaps even unlocking new functions.
The pale golden droplet flowed freely across the page. Aozora felt as if it wasn't moving on the book at all, but instead running back and forth inside his heart.
In the end, curiosity overcame his fear of the unknown.
He decided to study it.
First, he attempted to sense the droplet.
The moment his mental perception touched it, he felt as though he were wrapped in warm water—his soul seemed to be soaking in a hot bath.
After only a brief attempt, Aozora withdrew his consciousness.
When he looked back at the Heavenly Book, he saw that the pale golden droplet had grown far more transparent, its luster almost completely gone.
"Judging by this, the droplet is beneficial rather than harmful. It seems to have a positive effect on mental strength."
Watching the droplet on the verge of disappearing, Aozora decided not to continue his "soul bath." Instead, he chose to test whether it had other functions.
He acted immediately and visualized "False Form."
He wanted to see how the droplet would affect divine techniques.
To avoid potential danger, Aozora chose the least important technique to him at present—False Form.
Among the divine techniques recorded in the Heavenly Book, Guided Energy Cultivation was the foundation for strengthening his body and refining chakra, Tool Control was a powerful offensive method, and Samadhi True Fire possessed enormous potential. By comparison, False Form ranked lowest in importance.
As he visualized it, the Heavenly Book quickly manifested the two gray ancient characters: "False Form."
The moment the characters appeared, the transparent droplet stopped wandering aimlessly and rushed straight toward them, merging into the ancient script.
Before long, the droplet completely vanished—and the words False Form seemed to shine just a little brighter.
When Aozora touched the characters with his soul, the sensation of sudden enlightenment washed over him once more.
After a while, Uchiha Aozora opened his eyes and burst into hearty laughter.
Not only had the droplet not damaged the divine techniques—it could actually perfect them.
Through this transmission, he discovered that False Form now contained additional knowledge about using chakra to alter meridians and bone structure.
This information went far beyond what Transformation Jutsu or Substitution Jutsu provided. He had never learned anything like it before—it was knowledge bestowed directly by the Heavenly Book.
That meant that as long as he could obtain enough of these droplets in the future, he could continuously refine the divine techniques within the Heavenly Book—eventually acquiring complete versions of Guided Energy Cultivation, Samadhi True Fire, and more.