Chapter 396: Body Memory

Chapter 396: Chapter 396: Body Memory

"Huff... huff..."

Sprawled on the ground, Hyuga Kagami’s chest heaved violently like a bellows. Sweat had completely soaked his long hair and clothes, making him look as though he had just been fished out of the water.

Despite being overwhelmed by exhaustion and weakness, a faint smile lingered on his face.

After the experiment just now, he had confirmed that his previous speculation was correct. If he forcibly used Blaze Release after exhausting his ocular power, the hidden potential within his body would be forcibly drawn out, compelling his body to actively adapt to the changes in chakra nature required by Blaze Release—the Fire-nature and Lightning-nature transformations—and thereby improving his mastery of Blaze Release.

Simply put, just as prolonged training could develop ’muscle memory,’ using Blaze Release under extreme conditions could similarly develop a kind of ’body memory.’

Of course, there were prerequisites: one had to possess the bloodline of the Uchiha Clan and ocular power at the level of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Naturally, training in such a reckless manner would damage the body.

But compared to the results, this degree of damage was entirely within an acceptable range.

After all, the body’s mastery over chakra nature transformation would only improve and never regress. As long as he carefully controlled the frequency of his training and gave his body enough time to recover from the damage caused by each session, mastering Blaze Release would merely be a matter of time.

Propping himself up, Hyuga Kagami slowly sat upright and muttered inwardly, "The Uchiha Clan really is something else..."

For ordinary people, an excessively extreme personality or physical condition was incredibly dangerous and something that needed to be avoided at all costs.

But the Uchiha Clan, who possessed the Sharingan, were precisely the opposite.

Extreme emotions or extreme physical conditions often triggered the power hidden deep within their bloodline, allowing them to easily obtain terrifying strength that ordinary people could spend an entire lifetime training and still never attain.

"The more extreme they become, the stronger they get—and the stronger they get, the more extreme they become!"

As Hyuga Kagami continued developing his Fire Release clone, his understanding of the Uchiha Clan grew deeper and deeper.

In fact, judging by the proportions within the clan as a whole, there weren’t actually that many Uchiha who were so extreme that they became impossible to reason with.

The problem was that, without exception, every lunatic the Uchiha Clan produced was a top-tier powerhouse capable of stirring up storms throughout the shinobi world at will. They were always standing beneath the spotlight, constantly appearing before the eyes of the public.

Despite there being only a handful of them, they had completely distorted everyone’s perception of the Uchiha Clan as a whole.

In reality, many members of the Uchiha Clan were perfectly normal people. They weren’t even shinobi, had never awakened the Sharingan, and simply lived ordinary lives like everyone else.

Perhaps it was precisely because they were so normal and so ordinary that they possessed neither strength nor a voice of their own. As a result, they were reduced to little more than background characters, completely overlooked by the public.

Yet in terms of population, these ordinary Uchiha were actually the overwhelming majority of the Uchiha Clan!

After reflecting on this for a moment, Hyuga Kagami left the training room and entered the laboratory. He then withdrew his soul from the Fire Release clone and returned to his truebody.

Placing the Fire Release clone on the examination table, Hyuga Kagami activated his Byakugan and carefully inspected it.

He quickly discovered that his previous training had indeed inflicted considerable damage on the meridians within the Fire Release clone.

However, none of this damage was irreversible or permanent. Based on his experience, if he submerged the Fire Release clone in nutrient solution, it should make a complete recovery within a week at most.

After recalculating all of the Fire Release clone’s various data and recording everything one by one, Hyuga Kagami removed the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan from the clone’s eye sockets and placed them inside the small storage container he carried with him.

He then placed the Fire Release clone inside a large nutrient tank before turning around and leaving the air fortress.

Half a day later, Hyuga Kagami rendezvoused with his subordinates from ANBU Team 7 along the eastern coastline of the Land of Fire.

Seeing Hyuga Kagami return safe and sound, Kurenai and the other two finally let out long sighs of relief.

For them, these few short days had been truly agonizing.

After exchanging a few words, Kurenai immediately asked, "Kagami, did you succeed?"

Hyuga Kagami shook his head.

Hayate coughed lightly twice before saying, "Captain, the failure of this mission was our responsibility. It had nothing to do with you!"

Kurenai lowered her head.

"Yeah. We were the ones who held you back."

Yugao chimed in as well, "Captain, don’t worry. We’ll personally report the situation to the Hokage."

Hyuga Kagami smiled. "The circumstances of the mission have changed. I’ll explain everything on the way back."

On their journey back to the village, Hyuga Kagami briefly recounted what had happened in Kirigakure, only leaving out the part about how he had secretly brought the Fourth Mizukage under his control.

When the three members of Team 7 learned that the Fourth Mizukage had been controlled by Akatsuki and reduced to their puppet, they reacted exactly as Shisui had before, staring in utter disbelief.

After recovering from her shock, Kurenai said excitedly, "The Hokage’s orders were for us to take advantage of the chaos caused by Kirigakure’s coup and assassinate the Fourth Mizukage if the opportunity arose, since he was suspected of colluding with Akatsuki. But now we’ve confirmed that the Fourth Mizukage was merely a victim of Akatsuki rather than their accomplice, and he’s already broken free from their control. Doesn’t that mean our mission can be canceled?"

Hyuga Kagami smiled.

"Exactly!"

For ANBU shinobi, failing a mission not only left an unsightly mark on their personal record, but depending on the consequences of that failure, they could also face varying degrees of punishment.

Under Root, back when it had been controlled by Danzo, failure on a mission could even result in execution.

Therefore, aside from Hyuga Kagami, who had never taken the mission’s failure too seriously, the other members of Team 7 had actually been rather uneasy about it.

A few days later, ANBU Team 7 returned to the village.

As Team 7’s captain, Hyuga Kagami immediately went to the Hokage’s office and reported everything that had happened in Kirigakure to the Third Hokage.

After listening to Hyuga Kagami’s report, the Third Hokage’s brows knitted tightly together. He silently took a puff from his pipe and remained quiet for a long time.

Hyuga Kagami continued, "Now that the Fourth Mizukage has broken free from Akatsuki’s control, he’ll undoubtedly hate them to the bone. That’s why I chose to abandon the assassination mission."

"Your decision was the right one." After nodding, the Third Hokage stared at Hyuga Kagami and asked, "Given the current situation in Kirigakure, do you think the Fourth Mizukage can continue serving as Mizukage?"

Hyuga Kagami shook his head. "That’s not something I can determine."

The Third Hokage said wearily, "You’ve worked hard. Go home and get some rest."

Hyuga Kagami said nothing more and quietly left the Hokage’s office.

After walking out of the Hokage Building, Hyuga Kagami pondered for a moment before heading toward the Uchiha Clan compound.

Upon arriving at Shisui’s home and confirming that no one was watching them, Hyuga Kagami said, "I still need a day or two to take care of a few things and prepare the equipment for the transplant surgery. We can begin the operation in two days."

Shisui took a deep breath. "I’ve already requested a month’s leave from the Hokage under the pretext of poor health. I can undergo the transplant surgery at any time during this month!"