I, Uchiha Yu, am solely focused on cultivating immortality

Chapter 3 The Most Miserable Alchemist

After cleaning up the mess from lunch and the playful fight, it was already afternoon. The sun was clearly setting, and the scorching heat in the summer air had subsided considerably.

Uchiha Yu set up a bamboo couch under the shade of a tree in his yard, and placed a watermelon soaked in well water on a low table.

He doesn't even need a knife; with a gentle snap of his hands, the watermelon is neatly divided in two, even more evenly than if cut with a knife.

Uchiha Yu held a palm-leaf fan in his right hand and a watermelon in his left, enjoying the cool, crisp, and sweet watermelon while watching the tabby cat Miwa Masayo meow and gnaw on the watermelon.

Watching her completely bury herself in the watermelon, getting her fur soaked, and watching her lie on the bamboo couch, unable to move, her belly round from eating.

As he watched, Uchiha Yu smiled.

His mind relaxed, and the tension from seven consecutive days of missions gradually dissipated.

This is not a time of peace. The Third Shinobi World War has begun, and the security situation outside the ninja villages is deteriorating day by day, making it very risky to go out on missions.

What was supposed to be a routine B-rank mission turned into an ordeal involving several groups of unidentified ninjas. Even without any actual combat, Uchiha Yu had to remain on high alert, going seven days without a moment's sleep before successfully completing the mission.

The tension wasn't just stemming from this mission.

After he was discharged from the garrison, he faced the possibility of being drafted to the front lines, which was a source of great distress for him.

[It's all Uchiha Setsuna's fault; he'll get what's coming to him one day.]

Only when he was with Masayo Miwa could Uchiha Yu truly relax and let peace and tranquility permeate his heart.

Lao Tzu said in the Tao Te Ching: "Attain utmost emptiness, hold fast to stillness. All things arise together, and I observe their return."

The general idea is that when the mind reaches a state of emptiness and clarity, it will be able to maintain its purity and self-control, thus seeing things that it could not see before.

With each steady breath, countless points of light appeared before Uchiha Yu's eyes, naturally gathering towards him with each breath.

This is natural energy, which Jiraiya used to become the leader of the Sannin, and which Orochimaru now craves as the foundation for Sage Mode.

Unintentionally or unintentionally, Uchiha Yu chose to absorb the red light particles into his body, while driving away the other dark yellow, cyan, blue, and light purple light particles.

The red light spots merged into the body, flowed into the meridians, and became one with the surging red torrent.

As the red torrent grew slightly stronger, a wisp of chakra flowing through the meridians was squeezed out, becoming as thin as a thread, and could break completely at any moment.

As a ninja, Uchiha Yu was not worried at all about his chakra flow being cut off. He calmly continued to absorb the red natural energy spots, gradually weakening his chakra.

Uchiha Yu began absorbing natural energy three months ago; the previous eighteen years were wasted due to his restless mind.

Time travel is a trend in the 21st century, but it's a nightmare when it happens to you, especially when you end up in a world plagued by war.

What's worse is that his surname is Uchiha, which means he's destined to die a violent death. Who could accept that?

But since I've already put this on, I have to survive no matter how hard it is. I can't just commit suicide to see if I can go back.

Besides, what's wrong with the Uchiha clan? The Uchiha have a ladder to heaven, the Uchiha men are handsome and the women are beautiful, and the Uchiha are a wealthy clan.

If I had some other talent or system, wouldn't I be set for life?

What kind of hellish night of genocide is that?

When I become invincible, I'll crush the Konoha F4 like ants, take down Kenji and Obito, give the senior dance king a few big punches, help Kuro liberate her mother, and make her pregnant with her fourth child...

Beautiful!

Unfortunately, the system doesn't have it.

His talent is that of an average, outstanding Uchiha.

He followed the crowd in his training, entered the Ninja Academy unremarkable, and graduated first in his class for four years without any excitement.

Then his father died, dying in battle just before the dawn of the end of World War II.

Out of guilt, the father's captain took in Uchiha Yu, who had just graduated, into his team and protected him as a senior elite Jonin for two years.

Afterwards, Uchiha Yu left the team and joined the security forces, becoming a low-ranking patrol guard.

He did this for six years.

As Masayo Miwa entered Yuu Uchiha's life, he gradually rediscovered the feeling of his past life, the feeling of being an ordinary neighborhood police officer.

Within his territory, not only the Uchiha clan members but also ordinary Konoha villagers established good interpersonal relationships with him. Through these interactions, Uchiha Yu gradually became familiar with them, and this familiarity fostered a sense of security.

Home is where my heart finds peace.

The panic of being alone and helpless after transmigrating, and the madness after two years of fighting as a genin, were all eliminated by the peace of mind in my second hometown.

Uchiha Yu put aside his increasingly intense anxiety and stopped seizing every moment to train desperately, just so he could fight hard on the last night.

The despair of certain death ignited the fighting spirit of the Uchiha race. The crazed Uchiha Yu had only one thought in his mind: killing one would be enough, killing two would be a bonus.

Three months ago, Uchiha Yu sensed natural energy in Anning. Like a drowning man grasping at a straw, he began to absorb natural energy from then on.

In his worldview, cultivating immortality is always the strongest.

Uchiha Yu had no lineage of Taoist magic and had never studied Taoist scriptures, but he knew about the Five Elements cycle and the five attributes of chakra, thus dividing natural energy into five types.

It's not metal, wood, water, fire, or earth, but water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder, each corresponding to a chakra attribute.

The relationships of mutual generation and mutual restraint are all in disarray.

According to ninja knowledge, the relationships of restraint among the five elements are also cyclical: wind restrains lightning, lightning restrains earth, earth restrains water, water restrains fire, and fire restrains wind.

However, there is no synergy between them. It is unknown whether the ninjas have not yet understood this or whether the rules of the ninja world are special.

After experimenting, Uchiha Yu discovered that he could absorb red fire-attribute natural energy. After absorbing it, he experienced a mesmerizing sense of comfort and felt a strong positive feedback.

However, the other four types of natural energy must never be absorbed, otherwise there will be serious consequences.

Insufficient absorption can lead to symptoms such as twisted meridians and muscle spasms, and sometimes even intense phantom pain.

Excessive absorption not only exacerbates pain symptoms but also causes physical abnormalities, such as calcification, lignification, and even the growth of twisted scales.

On one side is comfort and strength, on the other is pain and weakness.

Uchiha Yu diligently absorbed the single natural energy, gradually strengthening the flow of natural energy within his body.

Sometimes I can't help but laugh at myself, thinking that I'm probably the most miserable Qi cultivator. I have nothing—no magic, no wealth, no companions, no place—and my cultivation relies entirely on pain and comfort for guidance. I don't know what kind of result I'll get in the end.

Another painful attempt is to mix tamed natural energy with chakra to create what is known as Sage Chakra.

This chakra is very powerful; it can double the power of ninjutsu out of thin air, triple the body's defense, and especially increase resistance to ninjutsu by more than ten times.

However, synthesizing Sage Chakra will cause pain.

Uchiha Yu is a formal ninja. The training he received from childhood gave him a high tolerance for pain, not to mention that the pain he felt was not intense.

However, in his comparison, he discovered that each time he created Sage Chakra, the extraction of chakra and the absorption of natural energy would slow down.

Therefore, it can be concluded that Sage Chakra would damage his physical foundation.

With his limited knowledge of Taoism, Uchiha Yu knew that the path to immortality prioritizes foundation building, and that foundation building requires purity and depth.

Damaging the foundation of one's body inevitably leads to the loss of potential and the destruction of one's future. From then on, he resolutely stopped synthesizing Sage Chakra and honestly absorbed natural energy.

(End of this chapter)