This sleep was longer than usual. Since his sleep ability had become a skill, Ishigami Hara had never slept for such a long time. In the past, it was only two or three hours at most.
Ishigami Hara frowned as he stood up, ignoring the voice in his mind, and carefully reflected on the dream from the previous night.
Everything in the dream had been so vivid, as if he were truly in the scene, traveling to another world. One particular dream stood out—every detail was laid bare under his scrutiny.
Those dreams were all pleasant. If they were truly the dreams of others, it could only mean that the people in that world were lost in their own blissful illusions, and this time, perhaps forever.
"Brat!"
The voice in his mind surfaced again, with even greater malice.
"What are you ranting about? Shut up."
Despite the oddness of the experience, Ishigami Hara wasn't surprised, as though he had anticipated it.
After all, with this panel, Ishigami Hara was prepared to accept any bizarre events. Mentally, he had been ready for something like this.
The voice fell silent for a moment before sounding again.
"Uzumaki brat, do you want to die?"
Ishigami Hara remained calm, getting up, washing up, and preparing his breakfast as usual, completely ignoring the ranting in his mind.
"What year is it now?"
"Where is this?"
"How long have I been dead?"
"Uzumaki brat, answer me!"
Ishigami Hara slowly wiped his mouth, and after cleaning up, he responded to the voice: "I don't want to talk to ugly ghosts."
Immediately, it was as if someone had grabbed the voice by the throat—it was furious.
"You little brat, die!"
As the words fell, an ominous chakra surged within Ishigami Hara's body.
This chakra was inherently dark and malevolent, like thick, undiluted blood seeping from within him.
Suddenly, the sensation from the previous night returned. Ishigami Hara felt his chakra ignite like gasoline catching a spark, rapidly intensifying.
Buzz!
A light red flame flickered on the surface of his body. Ishigami Hara felt an intense strain in his eyes. The latent power in his blood had fully awakened at that moment.
Without hesitation, Ishigami Hara rushed to the bathroom and stared wide-eyed into the mirror.
His reflection showed long red hair that moved as if blown by an invisible wind, with blood-red flames swirling around him.
The pupil of his right eye had also turned crimson, and, within it, the magatama began to appear one by one, forming a symmetrical triangle of three.
Meanwhile, the color of his left eye rapidly faded. The dark iris began to lose its hue, blending with the white surrounding it. Both the iris and pupil shifted towards a pale, colorless white.
The voice in his mind grew even more frantic upon witnessing the scene unfold, sounding as if it had just encountered something impossible.
"How is this possible? How could someone from the Uzumaki clan awaken the Sharingan of my Uchiha clan? And your left eye—there's no mistaking it—that's the Byakugan! Who are you, really, kid?"
Ishigami Hara closed his eyes once more, allowing the strange phenomena surrounding him to gradually fade. He ignored the voice in his head for a moment longer, then opened his eyes again.
Sharingan and Byakugan!
"So it's true!" he thought.
At this moment, Ishigami Hara fully understood the effects of his body's activation ability—it awakened his body's latent potential.
However, the bloodlines that were awakened surprised him. To think it would be both the Byakugan and the Sharingan. It was truly extraordinary.
"Kid, what's the meaning of this?" the voice demanded.
Ishigami Hara maintained his composure, showing no signs of distress at the sudden appearance of the Three Tomoe Sharingan. He accepted it calmly.
After reflecting on it, he understood what the dream from last night symbolized and what the power of the dream represented.
He had actually dreamed of entering the underworld and brought back the soul of someone!
"So, you're a dead member of the Uchiha clan?" Ishigami Hara asked.
The voice paused for a moment, seemingly trying to process everything it had witnessed. After a brief silence, it responded, "Yes, I am of the Uchiha clan."
"And what's your name?" Ishigami Hara inquired.
"Brat, remember this well—my name is Uchiha Izuna."
Ishigami Hara raised an eyebrow at the name. Sensing the subtle change in his expression, the voice asked, "Do you know who I am?"
Ishigami Hara nodded. "I do. You're the younger brother of Uchiha Madara and one of the Uchiha clan's most renowned prodigies."
"Hmph, at least you know something, kid."
Ishigami Hara smirked. "Unfortunately, you were killed by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, with the Flying Thunder God technique."
"You—!"
Ishigami Hara knew exactly how to provoke someone.
As expected, Uchiha Izuna flared up again, causing the chakra that had subsided to flare back up around Ishigami Hara's body. Once more, he felt the strain in his eyes.
At the same time, the dormant potential in his blood was triggered by this malevolent chakra, slowly becoming active.
But this time, the effect wasn't as powerful as before. Ishigami Hara only felt a slight increase in the strength of his pupil powers. The Three Tomoe Sharingan remained at the same stage, with no sign of evolving into the Mangekyō.
As for the Byakugan, its power also increased slightly, but the change wasn't significant.
Uchiha Izuna, not being foolish, quickly calmed down after his initial outburst. After observing Ishigami Hara's behavior through his perspective, he quickly formed a suspicion.
"Did you do that on purpose?"
Ishigami Hara didn't answer but instead shook his head slightly and sighed, as if in disappointment.
"What a pity," he muttered.
"Brat, what do you mean by that?" Uchiha Izuna snapped, his voice still seething with anger.
Ishigami Hara had done it deliberately. The stimulation from Uchiha's chakra had successfully triggered the activation of the Three Tomoe Sharingan, which helped him understand the effects of his body's ability. This experiment made everything clear to him: the skill allowed him to unlock the latent potential within his body.
In essence, under this ability, his physical talent had reached a critical point. A small, specific trigger—like Izuna's chakra—was enough to awaken the power hidden in his bloodline.
This was what people commonly referred to as a 'kekkei genkai' awakening.
The two recent attempts had already yielded results, showing him the true potential of his abilities.
In the ninja world, bloodlines carry immense power, and Ishigami Hara was well aware of this. With his newfound understanding of his active body skill, he knew that his time had come.
"My name is Ishigami Hara," he said, addressing the deceased Uchiha within him. "Although I don't fully understand how I ended up with your presence inside me, it seems we're stuck with each other now, so we'll have to get along."
Ishigami Hara lied. He had no intention of revealing the full truth, as he knew the importance of keeping certain secrets tightly guarded.
"Ishigami?" Uchiha Izuna's voice carried a tone of disbelief. "The family that sells stone?"
Ishigami Hara's mouth twitched slightly, but he nodded. "Yes, the family that sells stone."
Upon hearing this, Uchiha Izuna's tone became even more peculiar.
"Your red hair is a trait of the Uzumaki clan.
The middle part of your face is slightly curved and wide, much like the Taketori clan.
You've got the good looks of an Uchiha.
And that forehead... it's wide, just like those fools from the Hyuga clan. They seem to take great pride in their foreheads," Izuna scoffed.
He paused briefly before continuing, incredulous: "No wonder you can activate the Byakugan. Could it be that the delusion of your Ishigami clan actually succeeded?"
'Delusion?' Ishigami Hara inwardly sighed, not particularly interested in answering that. But as ridiculous as Izuna's comments sounded, there was truth in them.
The surname Ishigami was indeed common in Konoha, and the clan was generally regarded as part of the civilian class. This reputation was due to the Ishigami clan's dedication to being a hokage-protecting faction.
When the Senju clan integrated into civilian life, the Ishigami clan loyally followed suit, aligning with the same principles.
The only distinction between them and the Senju was that the Ishigami clan chose to retain their surname, nothing more.
On the surface, the Ishigami clan seemed ordinary, a small and insignificant ninja family. And in most ways, that was true.
However, if one were to look back several centuries, the surname Ishigami held more significance in the ninja world.
In the Warring States era, the Ishigami clan wasn't a ninja family at all—they were a merchant family.
At that time, the world was embroiled in constant wars between ninja clans. The Ishigami family, which had made its fortune by selling stone materials, found themselves feeling weak in the face of such powerful clans. Envious of the strength ninjas possessed, they began seeking ways to improve their own bloodline.
So, the ancestors of the Ishigami clan came up with what they thought was a brilliant plan—propose marriages to the major ninja clans! They had wealth, and they were willing to offer substantial dowries to make it happen.
The Ishigami ancestors were realistic about their own standing. They knew they were a weak family and didn't dare aim for the core members of the powerful ninja bloodlines. Their focus was clear: they sought to marry into these clans, even if the individuals they married weren't capable of awakening their bloodline limits. Simply getting the family name and a connection to the bloodline was enough.
Over the centuries, the Ishigami clan's ancestors married women from the Uzumaki clan, blind members of the Uchiha clan, members of the Hyuga, Taketori, and Inuzuka clans, and even from the mystical families like the Ino-Shika-Chō.
Through this relentless pursuit, the Ishigami clan gradually transformed from a simple merchant family into a small ninja clan that could use chakra and ninjutsu.
The Ishigami clan never sought power beyond maintaining their stone business. Because they didn't pose a threat and offered something valuable—stone supplies to the Warring States ninja clans—their family remained relatively untouched during the chaotic Warring States era.
After all, a clan with no real ambition for power, obsessed only with becoming ninja, and providing resources all the other clans needed wasn't seen as a target. The Ishigami clan knew their place and stuck to it.
In some ways, the Ishigami clan was considered a joke during the Warring States period, laughed at by the major ninja clans for their unorthodox methods and ambitions.
Yet, what most didn't realize was that this very obsession allowed the Ishigami clan to survive the Warring States era without much trouble and smoothly integrate into Konoha when the time came.
'You laugh at Ishigami's madness, and Ishigami laughs at your stupidity.'
That was the core of the situation. The Ishigami clan's seemingly foolish plan had allowed them to thrive in a world where most others would have been crushed.