Chapter 392: Investigating Uchiha Itachi

Mu Yue didn't draw immediately; instead, she went through a ritualistic incense bath before clicking to draw.

【Ninjutsu Draw Scroll·S consumed, acquired skill——Transform (Proficient)】

Seeing the name of the ninjutsu, Mu Yue was stunned for a moment. Fortunately, it wasn't followed by the word "technique," or Mu Yue's mentality might have been a little shaken—this was an S-rank ninjutsu draw scroll, and drawing one of the Three Body Techniques would have been too abstract.

With the completion of the ninjutsu draw, a large amount of memory related to the Transform skill flooded into her mind, and only then did Mu Yue learn the origin of this skill: Transform was a localized ninjutsu from the Pokémon world.

Simply saying the skill Transform might not ring a bell for many, but if one mentions Ditto or Mew's transformation ability, anyone who has watched Pokémon would recall something.

This Transform is different from the Transformation Technique in Naruto; it allows the user to employ the abilities of the transformed target, though with some limitations.

After organizing all the vast information in her mind, Mu Yue could only say that Transform truly lived up to being drawn from an S-rank ninjutsu draw scroll—it was practically a jack-of-all-trades ninjutsu.

With the Appraisal Technique, Mu Yue could be called "Intelligence Mu Yue," and the Transform skill could allow the practitioner to somewhat grasp abilities similar to the Appraisal Technique.

The activation of Transform has two stages. The first stage is scanning and recording the target's physical information.

If Mu Yue taught Transform to Jiraiya, it could truly create an "Intelligence Jiraiya," provided Jiraiya could actually learn it.

The second stage is copying the recorded information onto the user performing Transform. Once this stage is complete, the caster enters the transformed state and can use the copied abilities.

Mu Yue could say that Transform was the most complex ninjutsu she had ever seen. With her current reservoir of ninja knowledge, trying to understand the essence of the Transform skill felt like an elementary school student reading a college textbook.

Mu Yue even felt that Transform was somewhat like a Mangekyō Sharingan dojutsu—extremely powerful and incredibly hard to comprehend.

How to put it... the skill she drew was indeed very strong and functional, but it still didn't quite meet Mu Yue's expectations.

What Mu Yue wanted most was a skill related to clones, which would make it convenient for various arrangements and protecting her disciples.

Although Shadow Clone was passable, it couldn't refine chakra on its own, couldn't exist for long periods, and was very fragile—basically disappearing with a single hit.

But since she had drawn it, Mu Yue would at most complain about her luck for a moment upon drawing, then proceed to develop it without overthinking.

After all, if she didn't draw the ability best suited for her, then she simply didn't have it. It was better to focus on researching what she already had to break through the situation.

Aside from the system rewards, Mu Yue's biggest gain from her trip to Loulan was the successful development of Sun Breathing.

Naruto Uzumaki's specialness allowed Mu Yue to heavily farm Sun Breathing rewards, greatly accelerating her development speed.

However, in Mu Yue's view, the current Sun Breathing could not yet be considered a complete success, because it could only be used as single breathing, rather than the Sun-Fire fusion or Sun-Lightning fusion she had envisioned.

But this still counted as a huge step forward. If Mu Yue's conjecture was correct, Sun Breathing could also solve the future Mangekyō blindness problem for Obito and Shisui.

According to the original Naruto story, there are two ways to solve Mangekyō blindness. The first is to transplant a blood relative's Mangekyō Sharingan to evolve it into an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, as seen with Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Sasuke.

The second is to transplant Hashirama's cells. Obito, without an Eternal Mangekyō, was able to recklessly use Kamui because half his body was filled with Hashirama's cells by Uchiha Madara.

Why did Hashirama's cells have this effect?

After analysis, Mu Yue concluded that it was due to the strong life force—that is, physical energy—contained in Hashirama's cells.

Danzo's arm made of Hashirama's cells needed to be transplanted with as many as ten Three-Tomoe Sharingan just to balance spiritual energy and physical energy, which shows the immense physical energy contained in Hashirama's cells.

The effect of Sun Breathing is to strengthen physical energy; in theory, it could produce a similar effect to Hashirama's cells.

However, at the current stage, Mu Yue did not plan to have them learn Sun Breathing—it was too difficult. In the early stages, Sun Breathing couldn't effectively enhance combat power, and the effort didn't justify the gain.

Most importantly, given Obito's and Shisui's current ages and strength, they were still a long way from obtaining the Mangekyō.

Since the Transform skill had a certain range limitation, Mu Yue walked out of her house after organizing everything and started scanning random ninjas in the street to record them.

Mu Yue tested and found that the maximum scanning distance for Transform was about fifteen meters; beyond that, scanning was impossible.

【Transformation Technique, Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique…】

Powerful ninjas were rare. Mu Yue scanned several ninjas in a row, all of whom were chūnin or genin, and their abilities were all ones she had already mastered.

Nevertheless, Mu Yue used Flying Thunder God to return home, took off her glasses, and attempted to use Transform once.

Mu Yue could see through the mirror that her figure changed rapidly, instantly transforming into the unfamiliar chūnin she had scanned.

Mu Yue checked extremely carefully—there was not a single flaw on her entire body, a perfect 100% reproduction, and even Mu Yue herself couldn't see through it with her Byakugan activated.

Mu Yue tried using a ninjutsu and found that even her chakra had changed.

Each person's chakra is different, even more unique than one's appearance. In the world of sensory ninjas, sensing chakra is far more reliable than recognizing a face.

As far as Mu Yue could remember, in the Naruto world, only White Zetsu's Disguise Technique could mimic chakra, but White Zetsu's technique required absorption before mimicry, while Mu Yue only needed a single glance—far more advanced.

"If the Rinnegan can't see through transformations, then it would be easy to take Nagato as a disciple."

Muyue immediately thought of a plan to take Nagato as a student.

Becoming Nagato's teacher under the identity of Hanyu Muyue was too difficult. First of all, Nagato himself would resist Muyue's identity as a Konoha shinobi.

Then, because of Obito, Uchiha Madara likely knew some of Muyue's information and might not be pleased with Muyue getting close to his Rinnegan.

If Muyue weren't Hanyu Muyue, it would be much simpler; he had many personas in mind that could earn Nagato's favor.

For example, someone born in the Land of Rain who, due to war and displacement, wandered the shinobi world and ultimately returned as a strong patriot trying to change his homeland.

Or perhaps the last successor of the ninja sect from ancient times, who, seeing the constant war in the ninja continent and ninjas losing their original convictions, came out of retirement for the sake of peace.

Muyue quickly recorded the plan in his head. In the current ninja world, the best candidate for the quota of Muyue's fifth disciple was Nagato — not because of Nagato's potential, but because Nagato could bring Muyue huge chakra gains, covering Muyue's shortcomings and even turning them into strengths.

Next, Muyue continued testing the transformation technique.

【Body Replacement Technique, Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique, Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique...】

When scanning an Uchiha jonin, Muyue was surprised to find that bloodline limits like the Three-Tomoe Sharingan could also be recorded by the transformation.

Muyue returned home without making a sound and used the transformation technique again. This time, the transformation consumed more chakra than when he transformed into a chunin.

"If the Sharingan works, then other bloodline limits shouldn't be a problem either?" Looking at the crimson eyes in the mirror, Muyue was somewhat astonished.

The transformation's ceiling was higher than he had imagined — even the Sharingan could be copied.

While using the Sharingan, Muyue was certain that the transformation technique didn't just copy the appearance; at this moment, he truly possessed a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and his dynamic vision had been greatly enhanced.

Muyue's regard for the transformation technique increased by a level. Given the capabilities it displayed, it might rank among the better S-rank scrolls.

It was just that currently, no Uchiha in Konoha possessed a Mangekyo Sharingan. Otherwise, Muyue would definitely have gone to copy a set. If even Mangekyo Sharingan abilities could be copied, that would be truly powerful.

This transformation also allowed Muyue to identify a limitation of the technique: information consumption. After using the copied Sharingan for twenty minutes, it disappeared and could no longer be used.

Muyue tried canceling the transformation and then reusing it to become the Uchiha jonin, successfully activating the Three-Tomoe Sharingan again.

Next, Muyue went to Tsunade's house, had lunch with her, and discussed the development of techniques supporting the Yin Seal.

"Muyue, have you made any new characters recently?" Tsunade asked, bored with the old characters.

Tsunade was a bit addicted now, playing Ninja Slayer every day.

"I haven't, but I've been brainstorming," Muyue replied after thinking.

During his time in Rōran, he had no time to develop sealing techniques, let alone design Ninja Slayer characters.

"Then hurry up and release some new characters. I already know the skill descriptions of these old characters by heart," Tsunade urged.

"Alright," Muyue nodded and agreed, planning to have his shadow clone design a few characters with skill descriptions as long as an essay for Tsunade to play — that should be more engaging.

Before leaving, Muyue scanned Tsunade's information.

When scanning Tsunade, Muyue could clearly sense that she carried far more information than ordinary shinobi. The information from Tsunade alone exceeded that of everyone Muyue had scanned before combined.

Muyue used a sealing technique to create an alert barrier around himself before using the transformation to become Tsunade.

He didn't want someone to accidentally barge in and see him — that would make him seem like a pervert.

By comparing the status panels before and after transformation, Muyue discovered that transforming into Tsunade consumed a full 15,000 chakra points.

After transforming into Tsunade, Muyue found that the Yin Seal, which he previously couldn't train, now felt accessible, and his status panel also displayed many high-level medical ninjutsu.

Since transforming into the Uchiha allowed him to use the Sharingan, Muyue tried to recover chakra while in Tsunade's form.

"So fast." Muyue felt as if he had upgraded from 3G to 5G — his recovery speed had greatly increased.

Next, Muyue found a way to meet Kushina and copied her information.

However, to his regret, copying Kushina didn't allow him to become a chakra monster. The Uzumaki constitution he copied couldn't increase his chakra, and the transformation couldn't copy the Nine-Tails sealed inside Kushina; it could only copy a bunch of sealing techniques.

After testing up to this point, Muyue had understood the basic effects of the transformation technique.

First, it could not increase chakra capacity. No matter how much chakra the transformed target had, Muyue's chakra capacity remained unchanged, and his physical strength did not change either.

Although it couldn't increase capacity, if the target had a special ability like the Senju physique, it could boost Muyue's chakra recovery speed.

Additionally, bloodline limits and secret techniques/ninjutsu were mostly copyable. Muyue copied all three heads of the current Ino–Shika–Chō clans.

Furthermore, the more information and the higher the quality of the transformation target, the more chakra is consumed to use it. After transformation, the chakra consumption for using ninjutsu is normal.

While in a transformed state, Muyue's skills have two types: one is Muyue's own skills, and the other is the transformation target's skills. Using the transformation target's skills consumes corresponding information. When the information is used up, that skill cannot be used. Canceling the transformation and transforming again refreshes the information.

If there are overlapping skills—for example, if the transformation target can use the Fireball Jutsu and Muyue can too—then which side's version takes precedence depends on skill proficiency. Muyue's higher proficiency counts as his own skill; the transformation target's higher proficiency counts as the target's.

Additionally, if the scanned character's skill proficiency exceeds the transformation skill's proficiency, it cannot be fully copied. Only part of the information can be copied. For instance, Muyue's current transformation skill is at proficient level one, so the skills he copies can at most reach that level.

Finally, there is a limit on storing information. Because Muyue copied too many ninja's information, he had to delete previously copied ninja.

Later, Muyue simply deleted all but Tsunade, Kushina, and the three clan heads of the Ino-Shika-Cho.

Muyue discovered that when using the transformation, it's best to take off his black-rimmed glasses, otherwise it might look strange—to outsiders, it would appear as Muyue's head on the transformation target's body.

If he matches the transformation target in body type and gender, it's fine; if not, it looks very awkward, as if someone photoshopped Muyue's head onto someone else's body.

Muyue also tried to use the transformation by visualizing the target's information out of thin air. In the end, he could only change his appearance, and the corresponding chakra consumption was also very low.

…

"Shisui, come here, I want to tell you something." When the afternoon training was almost over, Obito walked over to Shisui and spoke softly.

Obito, Kakashi, and Rin Nohara had discussed it and decided they could tell Shisui about the future.

Changing the future requires power. Shisui is also Muyue's disciple, and a genius among geniuses. He is a natural member of their history-changing team.

Shisui stopped training, let out a long breath, and followed Obito to the side.

"The Uchiha clan will be annihilated in the future." Obito said seriously.

"Why?" Shisui asked in confusion.

He felt that the Uchiha had major problems. If not resolved, they might cause a serious incident in the future, but he dared not say that the Uchiha would be annihilated.

After all, the Uchiha are Konoha's number one ninja clan, with many chunin and jonin among them, possessing deep foundations and formidable strength.

"This isn't my speculation. It's something that is very likely to happen in the future if we don't intervene." Seeing that Shisui had misunderstood him, Obito quickly explained.

"Our mission this time was to go to Loulan to help the Queen investigate the Minister. During the mission, we encountered two ninja from the future…"

"Future ninja, time travel." Shisui looked at Obito in shock.

If it weren't for Obito's extremely vivid description and his very serious expression, Shisui would have suspected Obito was trying to prank him.

"Those two future ninja—one is Kakashi's disciple, the other is Kakashi's junior—but they don't know Teacher Muyue at all, and they don't know me or Little Rin either." Saying this, Obito's voice turned somewhat low.

Just thinking that such a future exists—even if it hasn't happened yet—made Obito feel terrible.

"They don't know Teacher Muyue." Shisui's eyes flickered, and an unpleasant guess arose in his mind.

As Kakashi's disciple, even if someone wasn't familiar with Muyue, they should have at least heard something about him. If they had never heard of him at all, then perhaps…

Shisui didn't dare think further and continued listening to Obito recount their Loulan trip.

"Based on the future intelligence, we inferred that it's basically certain that Teacher Muyue will die in the Third Shinobi World War if we do nothing." Obito said what Shisui least wanted to hear.

"Impossible!" Shisui instinctively retorted.

This was Teacher Muyue—that powerful and mysterious Teacher Muyue.

"I thought it was impossible too. Teacher Muyue is so strong—how could he die?" Obito wasn't surprised at Shisui's reaction.

He had felt the same way at the time. That was the all-powerful Muyue the Sage—who could possibly kill him?

"But this is a future that might come true. We confirmed it many times. They really are time-traveling ninja. There's no mistake about that." Obito said with a sigh.

Shisui fell silent, as memories of his time with Muyue kept flooding his mind.

To give him a birthday gift, Muyue, despite his busy schedule, taught himself to forge ninja tools and even hurt his hand, just to give him a good birthday present.

Whenever he felt lost, Muyue would always comfort and guide him, showing him the way forward.

"Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely cannot let that happen!"

Various emotions surged in Shisui's mind. Under the effect of this special chakra, Shisui unconsciously entered a Sharingan state. The tomoe in his bloodshot eyes spun rapidly, advancing from two to three.

"None of us want that to happen. So we have to work together to create the best future!" Obito said, clenching his fist.

He wanted to create a perfect future where Naruto Uzumaki isn't an orphan, Teacher Muyue lives to the end as a legendary ninja, and all of them become excellent ninja.

"I'll give it my all." Shisui took a deep breath and replied.

The future where Muyue died was definitely not the future Shisui wanted. He would prevent Muyue's death and stop the annihilation of the Uchiha clan.

"There's very little information about Muyue-sensei's death, but the Uchiha clan's annihilation is very clear. In the future, the Uchiha clan is wiped out by a ninja named Itachi Uchiha, who awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, which is stronger than the Three Tomoe."

After roughly recounting the journey to Loulan, Obito immediately told Shisui the relevant intelligence about the Uchiha clan's annihilation.

"Itachi Uchiha?" Shisui felt like he had heard that name somewhere before.

"Do you know him, Shisui? Is that guy incredibly gloomy, the kind who looks like a bad person at first glance?" Obito asked sarcastically.

In Obito's eyes, Itachi Uchiha was not human; his actions were simply the worst of the worst.

According to Yamato, not only Uchiha ninja but also the ordinary people of the Uchiha clan, even women, children, and the elderly who had no combat ability, were all killed, leaving only the one who carried out the annihilation, Itachi Uchiha, and his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha.

If Itachi Uchiha had suffered some injustice and killed only those who had wronged him, Obito wouldn't have hated him so much. But killing all the ordinary Uchiha was too much. Obito deeply detested such acts of killing the innocent.

After continuous effort, Shisui finally remembered where he had heard that name.

One day, while walking through the Uchiha clan grounds, he encountered Fugaku Uchiha holding a child, and the child Fugaku was holding was named Itachi Uchiha.

"Obito, are you sure it was Itachi Uchiha who annihilated the Uchiha clan?" Shisui asked, recalling Itachi's somewhat adorable little face.

"Of course. I confirmed such an important matter several times. The name is definitely right—Itachi Uchiha," Obito replied.

Shisui wore an incredulous expression. "I do know Itachi Uchiha, but he seems to have just been born not long ago."

He had run into Fugaku only a few months ago. It was questionable whether Itachi was even a year old now.

"Ah, he's still that young?" Obito scratched his head.

"No, I still need to see him in person. Maybe this guy is naturally evil."

Due to preconceived notions, Itachi Uchiha had already hit rock bottom in Obito's mind. Even if he was just born, Obito felt he was no ordinary person.

"Then I'll go with you. It should be fine to visit the clan leader's house under the pretext of asking for training advice," Shisui said after thinking.

He wasn't comfortable letting Obito investigate alone, so he decided to act together with him.

Because of his outstanding performance in the Chunin Exams, Obito's reputation as a genius in the Uchiha clan now even surpassed Shisui's. With their achievements, Fugaku Uchiha would surely welcome them.

"Mm, that's a good idea. I was thinking the same thing." Obito silently discarded his original investigation plan and said.

Obito had planned to buy some lollipops and other snacks, loiter around Fugaku Uchiha's house, and then lure Itachi out with the candy to investigate.

The two first returned to their respective homes for dinner, then gathered again and went together to Fugaku Uchiha's house.

"Uncle Fugaku, good evening." Shisui greeted Fugaku Uchiha very politely.

"Clan Leader, good evening." Obito greeted him alongside Shisui.

"Uncle Fugaku, do you have time now? Obito and I have encountered some points we don't understand in our training," Shisui continued.

Fugaku Uchiha nodded and welcomed them in.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw Itachi Uchiha sitting on the veranda outside the house, staring blankly into space.

Fugaku Uchiha thought of something, smiled, and waved at Itachi. "Itachi, come here. Meet some excellent seniors from the clan."

Hearing Fugaku's voice, Itachi Uchiha looked curiously at Obito and Shisui, then walked over to Fugaku.

"This is my child. His name is Itachi Uchiha." Fugaku patted Itachi's head and briefly introduced himself.

"Call them Shisui-nii and Obito-nii. They are the most talented young ninja of the Uchiha clan. Shisui even touched your face last year."

"Shisui-nii, Obito-nii." Itachi Uchiha obediently greeted Obito and Shisui following Fugaku's instruction, speaking somewhat haltingly, probably because he had just learned to talk not long ago.

"Good evening, Itachi." Shisui's expression remained unchanged as he replied, simultaneously elbowing Obito, who was absorbed in observing Itachi.

Shisui was glad he had come along. Obito's behavior was comparable to a human trafficker's.

Realizing the situation, Obito quickly greeted Itachi as well.

"He looks so dazed. How could someone like him annihilate the Uchiha clan?" Obito wondered inwardly.

He suspected that the Uchiha clan had suffered severe damage after the Third Shinobi World War.

Fugaku Uchiha didn't pay much attention to Obito's behavior. In his eyes, Obito was just a slightly older child.

To avoid arousing Uchiha Fugaku's suspicion, Shisui came prepared—he had genuinely prepared two questions about training in Fire Release, one for him and one for Obito to ask.

After all, Uchiha Fugaku was an old Fire Release ninja who had trained in it for decades; after brief thought, he answered Shisui and Obito's questions fluently.

"To have this level of understanding of Fire Release at your age—if Itachi has two-thirds of your strength when he reaches your age, that would be enough to call him excellent," Uchiha Fugaku remarked with admiration.

He could gauge their training progress to some extent from the questions they asked. Uchiha Fugaku could only describe Shisui and Obito this way—the Uchiha Twin Prodigies.

In Uchiha Fugaku's view, the revival of the Uchiha clan over the next few decades would most likely depend on Obito and Shisui—provided they grew up normally without dying prematurely.

"Uncle Fugaku, you flatter us. There are heavens beyond heavens and people beyond people. It's possible that Itachi's ninja talent surpasses ours," Shisui said modestly.

Uchiha Fugaku smiled. If that were truly the case, then the revival of the Uchiha would be just around the corner, and returning to the peak of the Warring States Period would not be a dream.

Perhaps because Obito had shown strong interest in Uchiha Itachi, after they finished discussing training, Uchiha Fugaku took the initiative to leave space for the three of them to talk.

"Itachi, you should learn more from these two seniors." After saying this, Fugaku temporarily left the living room.

Obito's eyes lit up—he had been waiting for this opportunity. Uchiha Fugaku being here was too much of a hindrance; there were many things Obito couldn't say.

He agonized over the settings for a long time, so in the end he only wrote 6k words.