14 Chicken blood?

I've decided that if any girl falls in love with one of the characters I'm just going to have him explain that this is simply a soul clone and that his real body is the owner of the clan or rather it's Itachi/Shuji.

The second is thinking of "killing" Itachi much like the original and then Shuji will show up as himself as the leader of the faction. This will probably be best because as I've said before Itachi's story basically stops being badass after it's told. I either have to kill him or really embrace being Itachi which I feel is kind of cringe. Looking back on this I somewhat wish that I didn't really make Xia Qingyue get too close for this reason. Do you guys think it's too late for this?

Anyways I still have no idea what I want to call the faction, so comment here as well.

(PS. I wrote this very late at night so there are probably some mistakes. I apologize in advance.)

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(Ace Pov)

Ace was currently following Elder Feng to the Phoenix trial. He was currently thinking about the way to meet Jasmine. Luckily this would most likely be in the far future. As they were walking they suddenly reached a simple temple that looked as if cleaned regularly. At this point, Elder Feng turned towards Ace and spoke.

"Senior, I know that you have already done a lot for me, but as the chief of our clan I ask you to please free our clan," he said while bowing as low as he could.

"Hey old man, get up will ya. I'll get it done for you so don't worry about it and go spend time with your daughter." Ace said while picking him up. After this Elder Feng thanked him before heading over towards the temple and cutting his hand a bit. Once the blood hit the floor he muttered some words until a door opened. He looked at Ace and said "Good luck…"

Ace smiled and gave him a little wave before walking in. Once inside he found himself in the completely black room before he heard a voice. "Human! It has been a long time since someone has taken my trial!" the voice said. "I am the remnants of the Ancient Phoenix. If you wish to gain my inheritance you must take my trials. Over 90% of challengers have failed and died trying. Do you want to try them?" it asked.

"Hehe… I never was one to run away and I promised that old man out there I'd get rid of that curse you put on them." Ace said with a grin. "So let's get this party started."

"Very well human. The first test consists of passing devil's purgatory!" the voice said.

Suddenly Ace found himself in an infernal wasteland. The temperature would be deadly for anyone not made of fire like himself. Everywhere he walked there was lava and fire with only bits of cracked stone in between. In front of him was a great wall of fire that he seemed to need to pass. For Yun Che who had the Fire Evil God seed, it was passed easily. For others, this was most likely impossible to pass. Luckily Ace was made of fire so he walked through while grinning.

The Phoenix who was overseeing the trial saw the man walking toward the wall of fire smiling. The Phoenix sighed at the thought that this courageous young man would die out of stupidity. It was the remnants of the Ancient Phoenix. Did it expect that the fire he created for the trial would be a simple fire? As he watched waiting for the man to die he suddenly did something the Phoenix never expected. The man suddenly burst into flames and walked through the wall of fire like it was nothing.

On the other side, Ace had rematerialized his body and was standing there with his hands behind his head. "That was easy! I hope the rest are like this!" he said excitedly. The Phoenix who heard this almost coughed blood. "Easy?! Do you know how many people have died trying to pass that wall?! You're just abnormal!" It thought to itself. After clearing its head for a second before saying, "Congratulations you have passed the first trial. The second trial is Phoenix's Arrows."

Ace suddenly found himself in a new room this time completely empty. Pushing his haki to the furthest he decided to try and temper himself with this trial. Several fire arrows were launched at him at high speed! He suddenly took a side step and then backflipped to dodge them. He looked down to the left only to see his coat was slightly burned. As the arrows continued to fire so did he continue to dodge. The Phoenix watching this was once again in shock. This trial was mainly supposed to test endurance as there should be no way to dodge every arrow but there was a human who was. Every time he moved it was as if he knew where the next arrow would be fired. Were his trials too easy? How could they not be if this human could dodge all of the arrows?

While the Phoenix was contemplating if his trails were too easy Ace was rapidly gaining experience for his Observation Haki. With the insane amount of arrows and the genuine thrill of battle, his haki was being tempered to the extreme. Ace was at the point where he was now on the cusp of future vision. Sadly just before he could grasp it the arrows stopped firing. Ace who saw this started pouting and stomping his feet like a child.

The Phoenix watching this took a doubletake at this human. Where was the human who with a face full of determination while dodging all of the arrows he fired like he could see the future a second ago?! This was clearly a child throwing a temper tantrum it thought. Sadly the rules of the trial were clear and had to let this child pass. "Congratulations you passed the second trail! Now the third and final trial," he said.

Ace's vision changed once again and he was now in his 10-year-old body out in what seemed to be a forest. Earlier knowing that the Phoenix would test his character he asked the system to modify the memory visible to be that of Ace's past. This way he wouldn't have the secrets of his reincarnation leaked to an entity like the Ancient Phoenix. He looked around only to see a young Luffy and Sabo.

"Ace!! Let's go play in the forest!" Luffy said.

"Hey Luffy don't bother Ace. He was training for when he leaves! You know that he will leave first!" Sabo told him.

While Ace was looking at them with a small smile he heard the voice of the Phoenix in his ear. "If you wish to pass this trial, kill them," it said with a heavy voice. Ace closed his eyes before saying "Impossible." The Phoenix tried to rouse him once again by saying "Are you sure? If you don't –" but was cut off by Ace. "Don't ask me again," he said.

Suddenly he found himself in a new area as Luffy and Sabo faded like an illusion. "Congratulations you have passed all of the trials," The phoenix said. In front of him were now three balls of light. "Your prize for passing this trial is as follows. First is three drops of Origin of the Divine Phoenix. The second is a part of the Divine Phoenix Soul Essence. Lastly is the Profound Art which only the heir of the Phoenix God can study. The World Ode of the Phoenix. You can only take one month to study the Profound Art." The Phoenix told him.

Ace decided to first look at The World ode of the Phoenix. As he looked at it and tried to comprehend it to see what it could do for him. The one the Phoenix gave him only included stages 5 and 6 because the first 4 were at the trial located in the Divine Phoenix Empire. After he memorized the contents he suddenly got a system prompt.

[Ding! Detected Profound Art that is extremely compatible with the host! Mera Mera no Mi's flame body has now been altered to Phoenix Flames!]

Suddenly Ace's body erupted into flames as he changed into his logia body. His flames started scorching the ground as they got hotter and hotter. His flames were now so hot it made the air slightly vibrate. The Phoenix who saw this was in shock and had no idea what was happening. It is understood that this human must have had some sort of Profound Art that transformed his body into flames but to take The World ode of the Phoenix and use it to further enhance his old Profound Art! He must be a genius among geniuses!

After the eruption, Ace looked towards the Origin blood and the Phoenix soul essence then pretended to take and ingest them. What he did was store them in the Sky Poison Pearl but the Ancient Phoenix didn't know this. After a second of nothing happening Ace looked strangely at the Phoenix and said "Can you give me the real blood now?"

The Phoenix almost coughed up blood! Can you give me the real blood you're head! Do you think that this stuff grows on trees?! It took a second to calm down before trying to think what had happened. Perhaps he is just exceptionally talented and his body needs more blood to activate it. He did comprehend the World Ode of the Phoenix and record time and then use it to upgrade his old Profound Art. Thinking of this the Phoenix looked toward Ace and said, "It seems you are extremely talented. I will grant you another drop of my divine blood. This should activate it."

In front of Ace was another drop of blood which he pretended to ingest once again. He once again stored it within the Sky Poison Pearl before looking at the Phoenix once again. After 5 minutes of nothing happening the Phoenix was starting to sweat a bit. It didn't understand what was wrong with this human. He was brought out of his inner musings when he heard the human's voice.

"Perhaps you accidentally gave me chicken blood?" Ace said with question marks above his head.

This time the Phoenix really did spit out blood. Chicken blood?! Do you think my divine blood is the same as a chicken?! He wanted to kick out this human that kept making him angry but his pride didn't allow him to do it. He had to give him another drop or it would forever tarnish his pride as the legendary ancient Phoenix.

"I shall give you another drop of blood. This one will activate your bloodline no matter what." the Phoenix said while trembling. This human that was only meant to get two drops was somehow about to ingest his fourth drop! Never had something like this happened?

Ace took the blood in front of him and repeated the process once again. He looked up again and said with a blank face "Just give me the real inheritance and stop messing around."

"MESSING AROUND YOUR HEAD!" the Phoenix yelled and then kicked him out of the trial. If it had to deal with that human anymore then it would die before could test any others.

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Outside of the trial Ace was laughing like crazy not believing that what he did really worked. Who would have guessed that the great Ancient Phoenix had never seen something like a storage ring? He guessed it might have been due to his supposed talent but he was very lucky either way. He went towards a small clearing in the temple and then took out three of the drops of blood and the soul essence. He felt that this would be enough for him and that he could sell the last drop of blood. He looked at it before he started incorporating it into his body. After taking the drops of blood and soul essence he felt his body starting to change. The blood of the Phoenix coursed through him purifying his body while the soul essence was increasing his mental strength.

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(Itachi Pov)

Shuji who was trying to cultivate a higher realm due to the Blue Wind Ranking Tournament coming soon suddenly felt a huge burst of Profound Qi coming through his soul clone. He hurriedly tried to guide and compress this Profound Qi towards his profound core. He was sweating and after a couple of seconds, there was a large boom.

[Spirit Profound Realm Stage 3]

[Spirit Profound Realm Stage 4]

[Spirit Profound Realm Stage 5]

[Spirit Profound Realm Stage 6]

It only stopped when he reached the First Stage of the Earth Profound Realm. He could feel a large amount of purification energy within the soul clone and worked to spread some of it to his body.

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While Itachi was trying to make use of some purification energy drifting off Ace's soul Ace suddenly heard a large crack within his body. This told him that the main body had broken through due to the large purification of his soul and flux of Profound Qi.

[Ding! The host has broken through to the First Stage of the Earth Profound Realm!]

[Ding! The System has detected a drop of Phoenix God Blood! Sell for 5000 CP?]

"Shishishi… Sell it system" Ace said while laughing.

[Ding! Transaction authorized! You now have a balance of 5645 CP!]

"Shishishi… All in a day's work" said Ace walking towards the exit of the temple.

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