Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

It turned out that the accumulation of a ninja village, especially a great ninja village, truly could not be underestimated.

The scrolls delivered by Raikage A numbered over five hundred alone.

Among them, Ninjutsu accounted for about eighty percent, while the rest consisted of Sealing Jutsu, Nintaijutsu, and some forbidden jutsu.

The Ninjutsu were incredibly diverse and comprehensive, encompassing all the known chakra natures in the ninja world... Lightning Style, Fire Style, Water Style, Wind Style, and Earth Style. All five basic nature transformations were present, and there were even a few Yang Style and Yin Style jutsu.

He casually picked up a scroll; the label read *Lightning Style: Lightning Illusion Flash Pillar*.

Unrolling it, the inside was densely packed with hand seal sequences and chakra circulation routes, accompanied by a simple diagram of the human meridian system.

He glanced at it for a moment, set it down, and picked up another scroll titled *Lightning Style: Lightning Combat Jutsu*.

This was a Nintaijutsu unique to Kumogakure. By coating the entire body in Lightning Style chakra and stimulating the nerves and muscles with electric currents, the user gained superhuman reaction speed and mobility. It was essentially the initial version of the Lightning Style Chakra Mode.

He picked up another scroll... *Sealing Jutsu: Lightning Sealing Formation*, a barrier sealing jutsu that used Lightning Style chakra as a medium, specifically designed to seal targets with massive amounts of chakra.

The next scroll was *Nintaijutsu: Raikage Armor*, a secret jutsu passed down through generations of Raikage. It condensed Lightning Style chakra into a suit of armor that covered the entire body, integrating both offense and defense.

He flipped through the scrolls one after another, becoming more engrossed and excited with each one.

Much of the content in these scrolls was something he had never encountered before, and some he had never even heard of.

Kumogakure had been established for decades. Through the accumulation of three generations of Raikage, the knowledge and experience within these scrolls were bought with the blood, sweat, and lives of countless ninja.

Now, they all belonged to him.

Yugito Nii stood to the side, watching him leaf through the scrolls in silence.

She saw the light in his eyes—a genuine, heartfelt excitement. She had never seen this expression on his face before. Even during the most intense battles, his smile always carried a hint of composure and nonchalance.

But now, he looked like a child who had just received his favorite toy, completely immersed in his own world.

Yugito Nii sighed softly, turned around, and returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

From that day on, Uchiha Taiga stopped going fishing.

He locked himself in his room every day, reading the scrolls from morning until night.

He would wake up in the morning, wash up, sit at the table, open a chest, take out a scroll, unroll it, read it, set it down, and then grab the next one.

At noon, when Yugito Nii brought him his meals, he would read while he ate. Sometimes, he would bring food to his mouth with his chopsticks only to lower them again, his eyes still glued to the text on the scrolls.

He continued reading through the afternoon and into the evening, sometimes staying up late into the night or even until dawn.

Uchiha Taiga was completely and inextricably immersed in this ocean of knowledge.

This was because it would be the greatest harvest of his growth thus far. The knowledge within these scrolls alone was enough to elevate his abilities to an unimaginable level.

The Ninjutsu he had learned previously were mostly figured out on his own or learned from the scrolls Orochimaru had given him. While the latter contained a fair amount of knowledge, it simply couldn't compare to the accumulated wealth of an entire village. The two were on completely different dimensions.

Now, armed with decades of Kumogakure's accumulation, many of the problems he couldn't figure out before gradually found their answers as he read.

Days passed one by one.

More than half a month later, Uchiha Taiga finally stepped out of the house.

He didn't return to the river to fish. Instead, he left Kumogakure and found an empty clearing outside the village to use as a training ground.

The clearing was located to the northwest of the village, near the foot of a mountain. The terrain was flat, with no trees or houses nearby. For hundreds of meters around, there was nothing but exposed rock and sand.

Standing in the center of the clearing, he looked around and nodded in satisfaction.

From that day on, various sounds would periodically ring out from the training ground.

Sometimes it was a thunderous roar that shook the very ground.

Sometimes it was a sharp whistling sound, like something slicing rapidly through the air.

Sometimes it was a dull thud, one after another, like someone smashing the earth with a giant hammer.

Occasionally, flames would shoot into the sky, dyeing half the heavens a vibrant orange-red.

These disturbances naturally attracted a lot of attention.

The ninja of Kumogakure stood in the distance, gazing at the clearing from afar, watching the boy's silhouette faintly appear and disappear amidst the flashes of lightning and fire.

No one dared to approach and investigate; they could only observe from a distance and discuss in hushed whispers.

Yugito Nii once again arrived at the Raikage's office.

Raikage A sat behind his desk. Seeing her arrive, he looked up at Yugito Nii, his gaze filled with inquiry.

"What has he been doing lately?"

Standing before the desk, Yugito Nii replied, "He goes to that training ground every day. It seems he is developing new jutsu."

Raikage A frowned slightly.

"Can you confirm what kind of new jutsu?"

Yugito Nii shook her head.

"I can't be sure, because there are too many. He isn't just developing one jutsu, but many."

Raikage A's face twitched. He couldn't even imagine such a scene.

For an ordinary ninja, developing a single original jutsu was already an incredible feat, requiring years or even decades of research and refinement.

Yet that boy was developing multiple jutsu simultaneously.

But on second thought, when it came to Uchiha Taiga, such a thing somehow seemed perfectly reasonable.

Reasonable or not, Raikage A still found it hard to accept.

He took a deep breath and was about to say something when he noticed Yugito Nii's lips move, as if she were hesitating.

"What is it?"

Yugito Nii remained silent for a moment before speaking up. "A few days ago, he asked me for some of Matatabi's chakra."

Raikage A's expression changed drastically.

"You gave it to him?"

Yugito Nii bit her lip and nodded.

Raikage A rested his forehead in one hand, massaging his brow with his fingers as if trying to suppress his emotions.

"Why did you give it to him? You know the importance of Tailed Beast chakra."

Yugito Nii lowered her head slightly, her voice very soft.

"He asked for it."

Raikage A's voice rose a few pitches.

"He asked for it, so you just gave it to him?"

Yugito Nii raised her head and looked at Raikage A, her gaze calm.

"What else was I supposed to do? Could I refuse?"

Raikage A was left speechless.

He opened his mouth to say something, but found that he couldn't utter a single word.

It was true; she couldn't refuse.

Who would dare refuse that boy's demands?

If she had refused, the boy might have grown suspicious, he might have become dissatisfied, and he might have done something entirely unpredictable.

Raikage A fell silent for a moment, deciding not to dwell on the issue any longer.

"Pay close attention to his movements. Make sure to keep an eye on him."

His voice returned to its usual calmness.

"After all, in the entire village, you are the only one in a position to do so."

Yugito Nii nodded.

"Yes."

She turned around and walked toward the door.

When she reached the door, her footsteps paused for a second, but she ultimately didn't look back. She opened the door and walked out.

Raikage A sat behind his desk, staring at the closed door. He sighed softly, unsure if this decision was truly the right one.

As Yugito Nii walked back to the residence, her mind was a bit of a mess.

She thought about the conversation in the Raikage's office just now, about the moment she had hesitated, and how she had almost concealed the fact that Uchiha Taiga had asked for Tailed Beast chakra.

Why had she hesitated? Why had she wanted to hide it?

She bit her lip and shook her head, tossing those thoughts out of her mind.

But she didn't even realize that her attitude toward Uchiha Taiga had unknowingly begun to shift.

It seemed she had started to consider things from his perspective, to cover for him, and to hesitate when deciding whether to report his actions to the Raikage.

And she herself had yet to notice this change.

At the training ground.

Uchiha Taiga stood in the center of the clearing, the surrounding ground littered with craters and scars.

Some spots looked as if they had been struck by lightning, left completely charred. Some looked as if they had been scorched by fire, the surface vitrified into glass. Others looked as if they had been smashed by something heavy, caved in to form shallow pits.

He lowered his head, looking at the palm of his right hand.

Hovering above his palm was a small piece of matter.

The object was very small, only the size of a fingernail. It was irregularly shaped, dark red in color, and had a faint luster on its surface.

It slowly rotated in his palm, pulsing slightly as if it were breathing.

Uchiha Taiga's eyes shone as brightly as two stars. Looking at that small piece of matter, the corners of his mouth curled up into a smile.

"The God Tree of the Otsutsuki clan... it must have started from something like this, right?"