Hinata calculated silently.
The resources she currently possessed—whether it was the big dipper seven stars sword being nurtured in her Dantian, the uniquely functional heaven and earth primordial qi pot, or that seemingly unremarkable yet heavy-hitting brick—were already sufficient to handle most situations at this stage.
The urgent priority was to thoroughly digest her current gains and transform them into solid combat power, especially the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Hinata sat cross-legged, the seven blades of the big dipper seven stars sword floating around her like loyal guards, undergoing preliminary nurturing and attunement.
Her main focus, however, was immersed in exploring the mysteries of space and Clones.
The core of the Flying Thunder God Technique lay in precise positioning of spatial coordinates, the carving of seals, and spatial ability.
Back in the Foundation Establishment Stage, although her Divine Sense was strong, the quality and quantity of her spiritual power were insufficient to support such exquisite and high-consumption spatial operations, especially the construction of stable spatial channels.
Now, with her Golden Core newly formed, her spiritual power far exceeded her previous level in terms of quality, quantity, and control precision.
More importantly, space no longer seemed so difficult to master in her eyes.
She extended a slender finger, condensing starlight spiritual power at its tip to slowly sketch in the Void Realm, gradually forming a complex and profound rune.
Her Divine Sense acted like the most precise chisel, guiding the spiritual power to construct this temporary spatial coordinate.
This process was far more complex than simply releasing Ninjutsu; it involved the most rudimentary touch of the spatial Law.
During the first attempt, the moment the rune was about to be completed, it collapsed due to a tiny disharmony in the spiritual power output, triggering a slight spatial ripple that ground a nearby stone into fine powder.
Hinata's expression remained unchanged as she closed her eyes to reflect for a moment before starting again.
Failure, adjustment, then failure and adjustment again... Under the ten-fold time acceleration of the System's cultivation space, she had plenty of patience and room for error.
After countless failures, when dawn arrived once more, the improved version of the 'Flying Thunder God Formula' before her fingertip finally stabilized, rotating slowly like a miniature star vortex and establishing a clear, solid connection with another rune.
With a single thought!
Her figure suddenly vanished from the spot—no sound, no light effects, as if she had never existed.
In the next instant, she appeared in another corner of the courtyard at the position corresponding to the formula, her stance as steady as a rock, without even a ruffle in her clothes.
"Success."
A flash of joy appeared in Hinata's pure white eyes; although she could currently only achieve short-distance teleportation, this was undoubtedly a milestone Breakthrough, and progress would accelerate significantly from here.
This meant she had truly begun to master the power of space, possessing mobility that far surpassed a Ninja's Body Flicker Technique.
In time, as her cultivation improved and her understanding of space deepened, she would be able to go wherever she pleased.
Next was the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu. The principle of this technique lay in using massive amounts of energy to create physical Clones while equally dividing Chakra and physical stamina.
For ordinary Ninjas, Chakra volume and control were the biggest Bottlenecks.
Previously, she could only release two, but now she hadn't tried her new limits.
She shifted her thoughts.
"Poof!"
In an instant, solid figures split from her body like a copy-paste operation, quickly filling the entire courtyard! Ten... fifty spiritual bodies, identical to the main body with lively eyes and solid auras, stood quietly in the yard, looking in unison at Hinata's main body.
Hinata felt she hadn't reached her limit yet, but fifty was already quite sufficient.
Each Clone possessed the ability to think and act independently and could feed back cultivation insights and fatigue to the main body, which was already quite Heaven-Defying.
Hinata gauged her own consumption; about twenty percent of her spiritual power was gone, which was well within her tolerance.
With a thought, these fifty spiritual bodies immediately sprang into action—some began practicing Taijutsu, some sat cross-legged to meditate on the Circumference of Heaven Star Art, others picked up tools to tend to the courtyard, and a few even huddled together to research more uses for the heaven and earth primordial qi pot... The division of labor was clear, and the efficiency was staggering.
"With this technique to assist me, it will be extremely useful for cultivation, research, or handling chores."
Hinata nodded in satisfaction. This was the correct way to utilize the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, rather than just using it for combat.
While Hinata was immersed in the joy of mastering new abilities, deep within a mountain base far to the south, a different scene was unfolding.
"Bang!"
With a loud crash, a precious instrument on the experimental table was smashed to pieces by a furious Orochimaru! His slit pupils contracted into thin lines from extreme rage, the muscles on his pale face twisted, and his long tongue unconsciously licked his sharp teeth, making a hissing sound.
"Who?! Who the hell did this?!" he growled, his voice sounding like a venomous snake scraping against the ground.
Just moments ago, when he was preparing to continue his experiments with Hashirama cells, other Forbidden Jutsu, and the Sharingan, he discovered that the gloomwood box containing his most precious research Materials was gone! Along with it, the Edo Tensei media, Hashirama cell samples, and related core scrolls had all vanished into thin air!
The barriers within the base showed no signs of being forcibly broken, and the patrolling Otogakure Ninjas had found nothing unusual; only some rare research Materials and notes were missing.
Those things were as if they had been taken out of thin air by a ghost!
"To be able to infiltrate my base so silently and precisely steal the most core items..."
Orochimaru forced himself to calm down, his mind racing.
"Konoha? Impossible, they are still in a recovery period; how could they have such spare strength or means? Sunagakure? Kumogakure? No, they don't have the capability..."
His gaze gradually turned cold, finally locking onto his most suspected and logical target—
"Danzo... is it you, you old fox?"
Orochimaru's voice was like shards of poisoned ice.
"Only you are skilled in such underhanded tricks! Only you would covet my research results so much!"
He recalled previous "collaborations" and frictions with Danzo, remembering Danzo's almost obsessive desire for the Sharingan and Wood Release.
Yes, it had to be him! Taking advantage of his focus on Sasuke, Danzo must have sent someone to make a surreptitious move!
"Good... very good! Danzo Shimura!"
Orochimaru laughed in extreme rage.
"Do you think I can't do anything to you just because you're hiding in Konoha? Stealing my results... there will be a price to pay!"
He had no idea that the real "thief" was currently leisurely cultivating in Konoha and had just mastered the spatial technique he dreamed of... Hinata continued to Cultivate.
points could be earned again slowly, but knowledge and power had to be grasped firmly in her hands.
Her figure once again merged into the tranquility of cultivation.
[Successfully mastered and improved the basic application of the Flying Thunder God Technique. points gained: 8,000.]
[Indirectly triggered a conflict between Orochimaru and Danzo Shimura. points gained: 1,000.]
[Current point balance: 26,050.]
"Hmm? A conflict between Orochimaru and Danzo?"
Hinata was stunned for a moment, remained silent for a second, and then burst out laughing, guessing that Orochimaru suspected Danzo of stealing his things... "Hahaha, even an old dog like Danzo has a day of being wrongly accused. Oh well, in the Ninja world, as long as something bad happens and no one knows who did it, it's invariably attributed to Danzo."
"I shall call him..."
"The Scapegoat Hokage."
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