Chapter 92: Eating Steel While Lying Down

At this moment, in the sea of consciousness of Uchiha Gin, Soichiro Yamanaka had locked his consciousness into a dark room. Uchiha Gin's entire consciousness was occupied by his spirit body, and Soichiro Yamanaka, laughing wildly, surveyed the sea of consciousness he had seized.

Everything here was the same as the people he had invaded before; Uchiha Gin's sea of consciousness was also a void. Indifferent, Soichiro Yamanaka prepared to manipulate Uchiha Gin's body to commit suicide.

Suddenly, he discovered something flickering in Uchiha Gin's sea of consciousness. Having never seen such a situation, Soichiro Yamanaka, driven by curiosity, pushed aside a cluster of mist there.

A strange, large gate slowly appeared before his eyes. The gate was pitch black and tightly locked by a large padlock.

Soichiro Yamanaka stepped forward to examine the padlock. The lock was bronze-colored but had no keyhole. On its surface was a pinwheel pattern, faintly emitting a reddish glow and carrying a trace of eerie attraction.

Encountering this for the first time, the elderly Soichiro Yamanaka, who possessed no small amount of curiosity, upheld a spirit of scientific research; he temporarily delayed Uchiha Gin's suicide plan and began to study the lock before him.

When his palm touched the lock, it was not as cold as he had imagined; instead, a scorching heat surged forth. Stroking the pattern on the lock, Soichiro Yamanaka was astonished to find several fine cracks on its surface.

As a member of the Yamanaka clan who specialized in mental secret arts, he could clearly perceive that someone had placed a seal within this Uchiha's mind.

"What secret is this seal hiding?"

Soichiro Yamanaka could not help but use his spiritual energy to pry into the cracked padlock in his hand.

The moment his spiritual energy touched the lock, a pair of scarlet eyes appeared out of thin air before him, and a tyrannical force surged from the pattern on the padlock, sending him flying.

The backlash of spiritual energy instantly fed back to his physical body. Soichiro Yamanaka, who had been occupying the nest, was shaken to his core by this blow and had to choose to flee Uchiha Gin's sea of consciousness.

In reality, the kunai controlled by Soichiro Yamanaka paused just before it was about to pierce the throat. After a brief struggle, the hand holding the kunai dropped powerlessly.

Nearby, the original body of Soichiro Yamanaka, which had been unconscious, suddenly jolted, his wide-open eyes full of shock.

"What on earth is in your head?"

"Huh?"

Uchiha Gin, who had suddenly regained consciousness, looked at the panting Soichiro Yamanaka, who was clutching his chest, with a bewildered expression.

Uchiha Gin, having just been hit by the Mind Transfer Jutsu, had only felt his vision go black and discovered his consciousness could not control his body, while his spirit body had been locked in a dark, sunless corner by Soichiro Yamanaka, who had acted like a god of war in the sea of consciousness.

He had been considering whether to use the Tsukuyomi trial card to give Soichiro Yamanaka's spirit body a big hit; if his spirit body were to face the Mangekyo genjutsu directly, the effect wouldn't just be doubled—it would be tenfold.

Uchiha Gin's consciousness could observe the movements of his own body. Just a split second before Soichiro Yamanaka controlled his body to drive the kunai into his throat, Uchiha Gin pulled out the Tsukuyomi trial card produced by the system.

Just as he was about to use it, he saw Soichiro Yamanaka stop his movements and walk alone into the depths of the void of the sea of consciousness.

After only a few breaths, Uchiha Gin, who was clutching the Tsukuyomi trial card and observing the changes, saw Soichiro Yamanaka, who had been so arrogant just a moment ago, get thrown out, slamming heavily onto the ground before bouncing away.

"No way, no way, it's over already? You old man, are you weak? How did you go limp halfway through the control?"

Having regained his freedom, Uchiha Gin's output remained stable; he was a master of sarcasm from the moment he opened his mouth.

"Uchiha brat, cease your arrogance! I have not yet used my full strength. My next move will surely grind you to dust!"

Soichiro Yamanaka had been injured by the backlash, but he was a veteran master of secret arts after all and could minimize the damage of the backlash in a short time.

"As expected of a senior of the Yamanaka clan, you have great spirit! I, Uchiha Gin, am willing to call you the strongest at mind-control ninjutsu! This junior bows to your superiority."

Uchiha Gin changed his tone, giving a thumbs-up with a face full of admiration.

"???"

He had expected the Uchiha brat before him to spout some outrageous, vulgar language, but he hadn't expected the other party's attitude to do a 180-degree turn. The intense contrast caused Soichiro Yamanaka to lose his breath; overcome with sudden anger, his vision went black, and he fainted.

"Host failed, obtained Heart Energy *10. You may unlock the Heartsteel chest reward after three more battles. (Current accumulated Heart Energy: 10)"

The wonderful system prompt sounded. Uchiha Gin nodded with satisfaction, went over to retie the unconscious Soichiro Yamanaka, and hummed a happy little tune as he closed the cell door.

"Today is a good day to eat steel~"

He greeted Uchiha Tiedan, who was standing guard, and having finished today's Heartsteel daily, Uchiha Gin had no desire to linger here any longer.

He prepared to skip work like yesterday, but he didn't expect to run into someone unexpected halfway there.

"Elder Miao, good morning."

Seeing a familiar, withered figure from afar, Uchiha Miao, with his indifferent face, had actually come to the dungeon. He wondered what for.

Since they had bumped into each other, it wouldn't be right not to greet him, so Uchiha Gin took the initiative to step forward and say respectfully,

"Uchiha Gin?"

Uchiha Miao was also surprised to run into Uchiha Gin here. "What are you doing here?"

Uchiha Gin briefly explained the ins and outs of his transfer to the dungeon to organize files. After listening, Uchiha Miao pondered for a moment and said,

"This job is indeed suitable for you; it avoids going out on missions and you don't have to interact with the clansmen."

He had heard a little about Uchiha Gin's notorious reputation. Even he felt a trace of disgust toward this Uchiha who looked harmless to humans and animals, though he was deep enough not to reveal it easily.

"Your eyes, do you feel any discomfort?"

Suddenly thinking of something, Uchiha Miao stared at the other's eyes and asked.

"Not at all, I've awakened the Sharingan, my eyesight is super-duper great!"

Uchiha Gin boasted to him.

"The Sharingan, is it? If you have time, come to the laboratory and I will examine you."

Dropping this sentence, Uchiha Miao walked toward the depths of the dungeon without looking back.

Uchiha Gin was somewhat confused. He had learned from Uchiha Yao that the eyes he currently had were not the originals, and the person who performed the surgery was most likely the Uchiha Miao who had just left.

He should know the situation of his eyes like the back of his hand; why then did he show curiosity about his eyes?

Uchiha Gin, lost in thought, left the dungeon. Not far away, Uchiha Miao, who had been watching him disappear at the dungeon entrance, revealed his figure from the darkness.

"I clearly instructed Yan to take a pair of ordinary eyes, so why did they awaken the Sharingan?"

Filled with doubts, Uchiha Miao prepared to find Uchiha Yan, the provider of the eyeballs at the time, to ask clearly.

"I wonder if that brat Senju Itama has woken up yet. I'll go back and give him the gift later; it should make him feel better."

Senju Itama's life was tightly linked to his own. Uchiha Gin could not rest easy for a single day until he sent him back to the Senju clan grounds. He cooked for him for fear that the brat would starve himself to death, and he prepared gifts for him for fear that he would commit suicide out of depression.

"I really am a great Uchiha philanthropist!"

Thinking of this, Uchiha Gin nodded with extreme self-approval.

"Cousin! Why are you wandering around here instead of going to work?"

(End of chapter)