The first thing Gin did upon returning home was light three incense sticks, bowing respectfully before the photos.
Then, he turned to inspect the house. After all, there were still two mischievous creatures inside.
Despite being away for a long time, the house was spotless, surprisingly clean.
But why did the house feel bigger than usual? Was it because he had spent so long living in tents?
"Where are Shiro and Meowth?"
Gin searched until he reached the storage room. When he opened the door, he finally spotted the two culprits.
In the dim light, Meowth sat on Shiro's back, both looking at Gin with guilty eyes.
Meowth: (Ф﹏Ф) Shiro: (●﹏●)
Gin scanned the room, noting that the shelves were crammed with various items.
He narrowed his eyes at Meowth and Shiro.
"You two didn't cause any trouble, did you?"
This wasn't like their usual behavior.
Both Shiro and Meowth shook their heads vigorously.
Gin scanned the room once more, still sensing that something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. After thinking it over, he decided to leave.
As the door creaked shut, both Shiro and Meowth let out a sigh of relief.
The two summons glanced through the gaps in the shelves, where a small mountain of broken furniture lay hidden.
"Phew, he didn't notice," Meowth wiped sweat from its furry brow, its fur slightly damp.
"Didn't notice what?" a voice asked ominously from beside it.
"Of course, the furniture we wrecked in our fights!" Meowth sighed. Ever since Gin had been away, the entire house had turned into their battlefield, so broken furniture was par for the course.
But...
When had Shiro learned to speak?
Meowth turned suspiciously to Shiro, who shook its head furiously, even wagging its tail in denial.
Then Meowth froze, realizing something was wrong. Slowly, it turned its head the other way.
A pair of crimson Sharingan eyes stared right back at it.
"Meow!!"
Gin clapped his hands together, looking satisfied as he glanced up at the cat and snake now hanging from the ceiling.
"You two really don't know how to behave when I'm not around. Let's leave you hanging there for a few days."
No wonder the house had felt so empty—it turned out half the furniture was missing!
These were old items, ones he had planned to replace eventually, but being destroyed like this was a different matter.
Gin snorted. These little troublemakers seemed to have forgotten who the boss of the house was.
In the next instant, his figure dissolved into darkness, sinking into the floor.
He descended into the hidden laboratory beneath the house.
Looking around at the dusty equipment, he sighed in relief. It seemed that neither Shiro nor Meowth had discovered this place, or his research tools would have been in ruins.
These were all precious items.
Gin booted up his computer and began organizing his findings over the years, along with an analysis of his current combat abilities.
At present, no one in the shinobi world could match him in ninjutsu development.
Even Orochimaru and Tsunade, who had always been considered prodigies, were only just barely keeping up with him.
This had led to a problem: the materials he needed to develop new ninjutsu were insufficient.
As for Uchiha Madara...
Gin didn't sense much ninjutsu development ability from him. It seemed Madara's focus was elsewhere, as he hadn't even surpassed Orochimaru and Tsunade in refining his understanding of Basic Inner Technique.
Madara was the one who understood the technique the best, but he showed no interest in improving it.
Even the Cloud Village had modified Basic Inner Technique, which was absurd.
So, in order to grow stronger, Gin realized that besides needing more chakra, he would have to focus on advancing ninjutsu.
But with no existing materials to push him to the next level, he had no choice but to conduct his own research.
"As I thought, the ninja world's foundational knowledge in ninjutsu needs to improve," Gin sighed, watching the data scroll across the screen.
The entries read:
Demon God Technique (Dark Walker Version) Mastery
Six Powers (Yang Version) Power reduced by 10%
Breath of the Moon (All Versions) Mastery
Wood Release Mastery
Three Tomoe Sharingan Mastery
Three Forms of Haki Mastery
Shunpo Mastery
These were Gin's main combat abilities, covering everything from fighting to training, recovery, scouting, intimidation, pursuit, and escape.
His ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu were all maxed out.
Some abilities, like Reiatsu, had been discarded because they were temporary fusions of multiple attributes and held little real power now that Gin could only use water, earth, wood, and yin attributes.
The Six Powers techniques—Iron Body, Storm Kick, Paper Art, and Finger Gun—were now useless and had no place in his current skill set.
The only useful technique was Moon Step, but his physical strength still wasn't sufficient to use it effectively!
It was ridiculous—he had developed these techniques, yet he couldn't even use them.
At least Shave had evolved into Shunpo.
There were also Uchiha clan techniques like Izanagi and Izanami, but using them would mean sacrificing his eyes, which was far too costly.
He would only use those in the most desperate situations.
Moreover, with his Three Tomoe Sharingan, he could activate Susano'o, a fact he had learned from Madara.
However, activating Susano'o required a massive amount of chakra, as well as strong ocular power.
Gin's Demon God Technique increased his ocular power, and Wood Release also enhanced it. In terms of power, he could even rival a Mangekyō Sharingan.
The only thing missing was the Mangekyō's specific ocular abilities.
Unfortunately, he still couldn't summon the fully realized Susano'o.
Ultimately, it all came back to the same issue.
"I don't have enough chakra."
"When will my chakra increase...? I wish I could just seal a tailed beast inside me."
Gin scratched his head in frustration.
He could push his cells to force more chakra production, but he had no desire to do so.
It would shorten his lifespan.
While Basic Inner Technique did extend longevity, forcing his cells to overproduce chakra would still reduce his lifespan.
"So, I need to add chakra absorption to the Dark Walker Technique."
Both Wood Release and the Six Powers Thief allowed chakra absorption, but in the former, all the chakra was used to boost the power of Wood Release.
As for the Six Powers Thief, chakra absorption was only temporary. Only by eating could he absorb chakra permanently, and even then, it would gradually dissipate over time.
"I'll have to merge the Six Powers Thief and the Dark Walker Technique."
That would at least increase his combat strength.
In future battles, the longer the fight lasted, the stronger he would become.
However, the current state of knowledge in the ninja world wasn't enough to help him merge these two techniques.
"I'll have to figure it out on my own," Gin sighed.
It was a burden he had to bear.
As for the Eternal Life Sealing Technique he had given to Orochimaru, Gin could use it, but because his chakra was fixed to the yin attribute, he could only harness about 30% of its potential.
It wasn't powerful enough to be of much use.
(End of Chapter)
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