Chapter 200: Vision

Chapter 200: Chapter 200: Vision

In Hyuga Kagami’s plan, a qualified clone had to meet at least two requirements.

First, it had to be highly compatible with his soul, without even the slightest trace of rejection.

Second, the clone’s strength had to approach—or even reach—the level of his Yin Release original body.

As for the first requirement, Kagami had already more or less figured out how to achieve it.

Simply put, there were two methods.

Either he could put in the painstaking effort and slowly accumulate compatibility over time, or he could engage in frequent, intense battles, using the pressure of combat to rapidly improve the compatibility between the clone and his soul.

As for the second requirement, his development of the Water Release clone had also given him some insight.

In Kagami’s view, the simplest and most effective way to increase a clone’s strength at present was to use that clone to develop a Kekkei Genkai suited to its chakra natures.

Take the Water Release clone, for example.

Before Kagami mastered Ice Release, its strength had been far inferior to that of his Yin Release original body.

But after using the Water Release clone to master the nature transformation fusion of Water-nature and Wind-nature chakra, thereby developing the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai with Water-nature chakra as its primary component, the strength of the Water Release clone had increased significantly.

It was already showing signs of approaching the level of his Yin Release original body.

"It’s about time I started considering clones of the other chakra natures..."

At that thought, Kagami began contemplating the next stage of his experimental plan.

By now, the Water Release clone was already approaching perfection in virtually every aspect. All that remained was some painstaking refinement over time; there were no longer any major technical hurdles left to overcome.

Therefore, it was time to put the next clone project on the agenda.

And now that he had the experience of developing the Water Release clone, Kagami was in no hurry to decide the primary chakra nature of his next clone. Before doing so, he first needed to plan out the Kekkei Genkai that would branch off from that primary nature.

The Water Release clone’s primary nature was Water, and the Kekkei Genkai derived from it was Ice Release.

Following that example, if the next clone’s primary nature were Fire, then Kagami would need to decide in advance which Fire-dominant Kekkei Genkai he intended to develop from it.

A few days later, Shisui came to see Kagami, acting unusually mysterious.

The moment Kagami saw the determination in Shisui’s eyes, he knew that Shisui must have made his decision. Without showing any urgency, he invited Shisui inside.

After they sat down, Shisui said, "Senpai, I’ve chosen the targets!"

Not particularly surprised, Kagami casually asked, "Who did you choose?"

"Uchiha Ryota and Uchiha Hideki!" After a brief pause, Shisui took a deep breath and continued, "They’re biological brothers, and both of them belong to the clan’s radical faction!"

Kagami had heard of Uchiha Ryota before.

He was said to be one of the strongest elite jōnin in the Uchiha Clan and held a very high-ranking position within the Konoha Military Police Force.

In terms of rank, his position was almost equivalent to that of the commanders of the Barrier Team, Sealing Team, and Medical Team. Even among all the command-level personnel in the village, he belonged to the upper echelon—someone with both considerable status and formidable strength.

As for Uchiha Hideki, Kagami wasn’t particularly familiar with him.

After pondering for a moment, Kagami asked curiously, "Why did you choose those two?"

Shisui hesitated for a while before finally sighing and explaining, "Ryota isn’t just one of the most extreme radicals in the clan. He’s also the clan’s foremost operative when it comes to assassination missions. His hands are stained with the blood of quite a few comrades from our own village..."

Kagami nodded lightly. "Oh, so he’s the one who handles the Uchiha Clan’s dirty work."

Prominent shinobi clans were inevitably entangled in all kinds of interests, so it was only natural for them to have one or two clan members specifically responsible for handling dirty work.

The Hyuga Clan was no exception.

At the thought of Ryota, Shisui couldn’t help but frown. "He has an extremely violent temperament. And lately, I don’t know what’s happened to him, but there’s always this faint, almost imperceptible scent of blood around him. It gives me a very bad feeling. I even suspect that those ANBU who were monitoring the Uchiha Clan and recently went missing were secretly killed by him."

Kagami lifted his teacup and took a sip. "What about Uchiha Hideki?"

"Hideki is Ryota’s older brother. He hasn’t committed nearly as many atrocities, but..." Shisui sighed again before continuing, "He’s responsible for stockpiling war supplies for the clan. If we can take him out, we can significantly delay the clan’s preparations for war!"

Kagami said, "Looks like you put a lot of thought into choosing these two targets."

One was an elite jōnin who handled the Uchiha Clan’s dirty work.

The other was a jōnin responsible for stockpiling the clan’s war supplies.

As long as those two were eliminated, the radical faction within the Uchiha Clan would inevitably suffer a serious blow.

Shisui, however, merely lowered his head and remained silent.

Plotting against members of his own clan like this—even knowing full well that it would benefit both the clan and the village—still filled Shisui with unbearable shame, as though he were doing something terribly wrong.

Kagami glanced at Shisui and more or less guessed what was going through his mind. With a faint smile, he asked, "By the way, surely you’re not the only dove in the entire Uchiha Clan, are you?"

Shisui answered somewhat awkwardly, "Most of the jōnin in the clan... most of them support the rebellion. But among the chūnin and genin, there are still quite a few who oppose it!"

Kagami stared at Shisui. "So only some of the chūnin and genin share your views?"

Under Kagami’s stare, Shisui grew even more embarrassed. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he blurted out, "Itachi opposes the rebellion too!"

"Uchiha Itachi..."

Kagami shifted his gaze away from Shisui and said thoughtfully, "Then are you confident you can bring him over to our side as well?"

Shisui froze for a moment before shaking his head. "That’s impossible. Itachi is the clan head’s eldest son. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he’ll become the next head of the Uchiha Clan. So he’s different from me. There’s absolutely no way he would ever raise his hand against his own clansmen!"

Kagami looked at Shisui with an exceedingly strange expression.

Seeing his reaction, Shisui hurriedly explained, "Senpai, I’m telling the truth! Anyone in the Uchiha Clan might turn against the clan, but Itachi never would!"

The reason Shisui spent his free time guiding Itachi was precisely because he hoped that, by influencing Itachi—the future head of the Uchiha Clan—he could change the increasingly tense relationship between the Uchiha and the village.

And through their everyday interactions, Shisui had also come to understand that Itachi was an extremely gentle person.

Because of that, he firmly believed that Itachi could never do anything that would harm his own clansmen.

Looking at Shisui, who spoke with such absolute conviction, Kagami was completely at a loss for words.

In the original timeline, the person who personally destroyed the Uchiha Clan was none other than Uchiha Itachi—the very man Shisui claimed would never raise his hand against his clansmen.

Kagami couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Shisui’s judgment of people was truly atrocious.

Kagami even began to suspect that perhaps the heavens themselves had felt they owed Shisui far too much in this regard, and had therefore bestowed upon him Kotoamatsukami—the power to rewrite another person’s will...