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After settling the matter of Lightning Release, Uchiha Kiyo himself felt a strange sense of unreality.
Did I really complete it in just one day? Am I dreaming?
Simply by improving the conventional method of developing chakra attributes and modifying it to better suit his own needs, he achieved such remarkable results—something he hadn't expected.
Sure enough, cultivation is a deeply personal endeavor.
Blindly imitating and copying others' paths is ineffective. Making suitable adjustments to one's training can yield incredible benefits.
Now that Lightning Release was successfully incorporated, the next step was the crucial one:
Bloodline Limit.
Uchiha Kiyo had been studying it for two years without success.
This was the first time since he began cultivating that he had spent such a long time researching something without achieving a breakthrough.
But now, the moment was near.
With proper references, the process could be significantly accelerated.
It wasn't that no one had ever studied the nature of fusion chakra before—many had—but their research hadn't yielded anything substantial.
This wasn't because studying fusion chakra was useless, but because their research had lacked depth.
Melt Release was valuable for their studies, yet none of them had been able to fully harness it.
If the research progress was represented as a percentage, most of those individuals had begun studying fusion chakra when their understanding was below 50%. Their progress had then skyrocketed, but they were never able to reach 100%.
They were overly reliant on pre-existing data.
Uchiha Kiyo was different. His research progress had already surpassed 90%, leaving him only one step away from successfully developing Melt Release.
With a real reference for Melt Release, this remaining 10% could be completed quickly.
Extracting the Melt Chakra
Taking out the scroll that contained the lava released by Roshi, Uchiha Kiyo filtered out the chakra and sealed it into another scroll separately.
Repeating this process multiple times, he extracted and sealed the chakra that continuously seeped from the lava. He only stopped when new molten chakra no longer escaped.
In the end, some lava still remained. This was the residual lava infused with Roshi's chakra, which maintained its existence. Additionally, Uchiha Kiyo had used sealing techniques to preserve the lava in its high-temperature state, preventing it from cooling.
The True Nature of Chakra Fusion
"When cultivating the chakra nature of an element, everyone must focus on different aspects. A ninja can't possibly train every aspect of an elemental nature to the extreme.
But when it comes to shape transformation, the transformed matter embodies all properties of that element.
For basic elemental attributes, this is understandable. But what about Kekkei Genkai?"
"The Bloodline Limit is formed by fusing two chakra natures. But why does the resulting substance from the shape transformation of a Kekkei Genkai exhibit properties beyond just those two elements?"
This was the most pressing issue Uchiha Kiyo identified from Roshi's lava.
"The fusion of two chakra natures creates an entirely new property, and the transformed material possesses characteristics unrelated to the original two elements."
With a solid theoretical foundation, Uchiha Kiyo quickly formulated a hypothesis.
"The world operates on fundamental rules. The five basic chakra natures—Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Lightning—each have corresponding laws that govern them. Similarly, Kekkei Genkai must have their own governing principles.
For instance, Melt Release must adhere to the rules of magma.
Regardless of how deeply one develops an attribute, touching upon its fundamental law means interacting with the entire system that governs it."
"The two chakra natures initially fused serve merely as a key—a way to access that system.
Once the door is unlocked, all properties of magma become available at once."
Breaking Through the Boundary
Developing a Kekkei Genkai requires simply knocking on the door of its governing law.
Since Uchiha Kiyo aimed to develop Melt Release, he had several choices for his key.
Any fundamental property of magma could serve as a stepping stone. He needed to fuse it with the appropriate Earth and Fire Release properties to fully unlock Melt Release.
And the process of merging these properties was essentially the process of prying open the door to magma's governing law.
Thus, the more fundamental and essential the quality, the easier it was to "knock" on the door.
Uchiha Kiyo chose magma formation as his foundation.
This was the very essence of magma.
Though he had previously given only a theoretical explanation for magma's formation, he now believed he could derive a practical answer.
With real magma in hand, Uchiha Kiyo could thoroughly analyze its formation process.
For the next three days, he focused entirely on studying the properties of magma.
Revising His Understanding
Until now, Uchiha Kiyo had believed that Earth Release could be transformed into magma simply by applying high heat.
However, his experiments proved this assumption wrong.
By studying real magma, he discovered that its composition was quite hard in nature.
So, heating a hard type of Earth Release resulted in true magma transformation.
Thus, the two chakra natures that needed to be fused were:
1. The hardened nature of Earth Release.
2. The high-temperature nature of Fire Release.
By replicating the real-world magma formation process, Uchiha Kiyo resumed his fusion attempts.
He felt he was very close to success.
The Future of Melt Release
While cultivating Melt Release, Uchiha Kiyo also began considering the future applications of its jutsu.
Since Roshi could create chakra armor, then why couldn't he develop a Gundam?
Melt Release formed tangible matter, making it possible to construct a massive battle construct.
As long as the enormous structure could be maintained and controlled, it was entirely feasible in theory.
By the later stages of the Naruto world, combat was almost entirely dominated by Susanoo.
No massive battle construct? Then you're out of the game.
How could someone without a Gundam-level defense withstand a single punch from Susanoo?
This realization inspired Uchiha Kiyo to develop a magma-based battle construct.
Not for himself, but for his clone.
Uchiha Kiyo could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan in the future, giving him access to Susanoo.
But his clones?
Shadow clones couldn't share abilities like Susanoo.
Developing a Melt Release-based Gundam would be too time-consuming for him personally. Since he had no need for it, it would be a waste of his time and energy.
Thus, he decided to delegate this task to one of his clones.
Among his clones, the most suitable candidate for mastering Melt Release was Tsuchi (Earth Stone).
Konoha – Securing an Identity
While Uchiha Kiyo's main body traveled the world, setting up plans and unlocking bloodline abilities, his first clone was busy solving an important issue—securing a legitimate identity in Konoha.
Operating without an official identity was too restrictive.
Previously, his clones had been limited to gathering surface-level information from villagers' conversations.
To move freely, his clone needed an established identity.
But without a reliable power backing him in Konoha, acquiring a legal identity was difficult.
Left with no other choice, the clone turned to Orochimaru for help.
After all, Orochimaru was once his teacher—he wouldn't refuse such a minor request.
Thus, the clone secretly visited Orochimaru's lab and made the request.
Since Orochimaru was unaware of the clone's true nature, and the main body wished to keep the secret, the clone always presented itself as a subordinate trained by Uchiha Kiyo.
Orochimaru, being as resourceful as ever, secured the clone an assistant position.
With this identity, the clone could now move freely in Konoha, simply stating he was Orochimaru's assistant to avoid suspicion.
Though this favor would need to be repaid in the future, Uchiha Kiyo felt it was a worthy exchange.
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