Boom!
The gigantic white rat was blasted away like a cannonball, carving a hundred-meter trail through the forest. Trees toppled one after another, their trunks splintering beneath its massive weight.
Seeking a swift conclusion, Tahara Rokuro unleashed his non-renewable Nine-Tails chakra, using it to perform Shinra Tensei.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
His hand transformed into a claw-like shape, the immense gravitational pull yanking the massive white rat straight back toward him.
The beast was still disoriented, unable to react in time.
A sharp crackling filled the air—the sound of electric discharge—as Rokuro cloaked himself in his Lightning Armor, concentrating a surge of Lightning Release chakra into his right arm.
The instant the creature came within reach, Rokuro's hand chopped downward in a precise motion—a hand blade strike—and the rat's head flew clean off.
Bang!
The headless body slammed down behind the trio, while its grotesque head spun through the air for several seconds before crashing to the ground with a wet thud.
"Mom, Kei—those explosions must've alerted the village! Hurry, get back inside the lab. Seal all the equipment into storage scrolls—especially the computer with the experiment data! The rest, pack as much as you can, but move fast!"
Uchiha Ashikaga and Uchiha Kei sprinted into the laboratory. Rokuro turned toward the rat's massive corpse, intending to seal it away.
But as he got closer, his expression shifted. The creature's flesh was disintegrating—breaking down visibly before his eyes. When he reached out to touch it, the body crumbled beneath his fingers like rotten wood.
"This is… cellular collapse?!"
He turned toward the severed head—only to find it, too, was decomposing rapidly. Only its eyes remained intact.
Rokuro quickly pulled out a glass container filled with preservative fluid and carefully extracted the two large eyeballs from the bloody remains.
Each eye was now nearly the size of a human's, pure white like polished jade—eerily beautiful.
"This chakra signature… So the mutation's origin was the eyes."
As he spoke, his chakra sensor began to buzz—multiple signatures were racing toward them at high speed.
Without hesitation, Rokuro sealed away the Byakugan eyes and dashed back into the lab.
"How's it going?"
Uchiha Kei, drenched in sweat, shook her head anxiously.
"Half of the instruments are destroyed! Thankfully, the main computer's intact—otherwise, we'd have lost all our half-year's worth of data!"
"Good. We can replace the gear later. Konoha's ninja are already on their way—move!"
Grabbing his mother and Kei, Rokuro teleported them home instantly using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Moments later, a small squad of ANBU, led by Hatake Kakashi, arrived at the ruined lab.
With a signal from Kakashi, several masked operatives entered to secure the site. Once they confirmed it was clear, the team began investigating, while Kakashi approached what was left of the rat's body.
The corpse had completely liquefied into a pool of blood and tissue—unrecognizable.
"Another one of Orochimaru's secret labs, huh?"
Ever since Orochimaru's defection, Kakashi had been tasked with tracking him down. Along the way, he had uncovered several of the Sannin's hidden facilities—and nearly died from poison more than once.
"Captain," one of the ANBU reported, "we detected strong chakra residue inside. From the destruction pattern, it looks like something—possibly a summoning beast—broke free from containment."
"Any human remains?"
"None. Not even blood traces. Could it have been a failed experiment that went berserk?"
Kakashi didn't answer immediately. After a brief silence, he ordered them to secure the area while he returned to report to the Third Hokage.
Back in the Uchiha compound, deep within their home's underground chamber, Rokuro, Ashikaga, and Kei collapsed onto the tatami mats like three salted fish, utterly spent.
For a long while, no one spoke—until Kei finally broke the silence.
"Rokuro, what about the white rat? Did you bring its body back?"
Rokuro shook his head, explaining how it had disintegrated into nothing but blood and mush.
Uchiha Ashikaga and Uchiha Kei both sat upright in shock.
"Turned into sludge? Then… the experiment failed after all?"
Kei's voice carried deep disappointment. But Ashikaga, after a pause, slowly shook her head.
"Not necessarily. It did contain Kage-level chakra before breaking down, so we can't call it a failure. We just need more refinement."
Kei frowned.
"But with half the equipment destroyed—and the rest now under ANBU surveillance—it'll take time before we can start again. Six months of work, and all we've got left is a pile of data?"
Seeing the discouragement on both faces, Rokuro smiled faintly—and produced the glass jar containing the pair of Byakugan.
The moment the two women sensed the chakra radiating from the eyes, they jolted upright, their fatigue forgotten.
"This chakra… It's immense! Even the Third Hokage's chakra isn't this strong. We… we did it!"
As a member of the Sealing Corps, Ashikaga had met Sarutobi Hiruzen several times and knew well how powerful he was.
Kei activated her Sharingan to examine the eyes closely—only for her expression to twist in disbelief.
"No… this isn't just strong. The chakra inside feels denser than anyone's I've ever sensed—even stronger than the Hokage's. Rokuro, what do you think?"
Rokuro lifted the jar and focused his own Sharingan on the Byakugan.
"You're right, Kei. In terms of quality, this chakra surpasses even Hiruzen's. Hah… and not just the old man as he is now— even during his prime, he couldn't have possessed chakra of this caliber."
Ashikaga looked over in curiosity.
"Wait—when you say quality, not quantity?"
"Exactly. The total amount isn't that high. Chakra, after all, is a fusion of physical and spiritual energy. Once the body dies, the chakra loses its source—like a river cut off from its spring. But the quality of what remains… that's extraordinary."
Rokuro's eyes gleamed with feverish excitement.
"By quality alone, this chakra surpasses the Kage level—it's Sage-tier! That's why the rat's body couldn't handle it. Its cells collapsed under the pressure, even though I'd already reinforced its physiology with soft-body modification. Its physical strength rivaled that of elite jōnin, yet it still disintegrated."
"And don't forget—the chakra chains broke. Adamantine Sealing Chains can restrain tailed beasts, yet they snapped instantly against that creature. That tells us everything: the chakra inside that rat had already reached a higher order of power."
Seeing the two women still looking puzzled, Rokuro grabbed a small chalkboard and began scribbling diagrams.
"Alright, listen up—you two clearly don't get it, so it's time for a quick lesson."
He tapped the board, straightening like a teacher at the ninja academy.
"Chakra is born from the fusion of physical and spiritual energy. It can manifest as the five basic elemental natures—Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Lightning—as well as two higher forms: Yin and Yang Release."
"The five basics you already know. As for Yin and Yang—some of Konoha's clan techniques are rooted in them. The Yamanaka Clan's Mind Body Switch Technique and the Nara Clan's Shadow Jutsu are Yin Release. The Akimichi Clan's Body Expansion Jutsu falls under Yang Release."
"So in total, chakra has seven elemental attributes. Are we clear so far?"
Both women nodded. Rokuro continued, writing a few more notes on the board.
"But what most people don't realize… is that chakra can evolve beyond those seven."
END OF CHAPTER
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