Chapter 68: God's Mask

For three consecutive days, Yuto seldom ventured outside.

Being a freelancer has its perks. Even if he disappears for a while, no one would suspect anything, with countless excuses at his disposal: healing, ambushes, intelligence gathering...

He had been in his underground base observing and recording, studying the piece of crimson "skin."

His stem cells, after devouring the concentrated essence of the Hyuga bloodline, had undergone such an exaggerated transformation. The smooth edges revealed a rough texture when observed at the cellular level.

Over three days, the skin fragment did not grow any larger, and the "Hyuga bloodline essence" in the large petri dish did not change in quality either.

The secondary development of the cells had concluded.

Realizing this, Yuto took out the oval piece of skin.

He weighed the remaining bloodline material and found that about half was left.

"The corpses of four Chunin and one Jonin are only enough to feed two pieces of this stuff."

He roughly calculated, then activated his Byakugan. In the gray-black world, the skin piece appeared as a mass of chaos.

His vision couldn't penetrate the mere 1mm thickness of the skin.

Yuto was not alarmed but delighted.

Next, he used various medical ninja techniques to repeatedly test the skin, and after confirming it was non-toxic, he carefully held it in his hand.

It felt cool, very light, and smooth, like a piece of peeled-off skin.

He stared at the red oval skin in his palm.

The meticulous effort to cultivate this thing was completely beyond his expectations.

Whether it was the fragmented biological knowledge he had seen before transmigrating or the medical ninjutsu taught by Tsunade in this life told him that, in vitro stem cell culture should not have resulted in this.

His original plan was to transplant the redeveloped cells back into his body, to awaken the deeply hidden Otsutsuki bloodline through repeated cycles.

However, it was evident that this oval piece of red skin was not suitable for transplantation.

He admitted his understanding of "chakra" was still shallow. In any world, once "superpowers" were involved, experimental results tended to lean towards uncontrollable unknowns.

But the facts were before him, and Yuto had no choice but to accept and overturn his initial assumptions.

In the silent underground chamber, the youth rubbed the skin, pondering what could have caused this.

In the past, someone from the Kekkei Genkai families must have conducted experiments to 'purify' their bloodlines, right? The Hyuga clan had existed for over a thousand years, and he couldn't believe not a single scientifically inclined and curious clan member had tried it.

Yet the Hyuga clan was still in decline, having produced no world-changing geniuses in years, suggesting that bloodline reversion, even if theoretically sound, wasn't feasible by conventional methods.

Yuto had actually tried it with a mindset of giving it a shot. If it didn't work, he had other methods, like taking a big risk to steal Hashirama's cells, which were known to be a cheat code in the Naruto world, though it came with a high risk of death.

However, his cells had undergone significant shape and characteristic changes during in vitro culture, which was rare enough to leave him stunned, unable to determine the cause of such mutation.

The steps for "Hyuga Blood Essence" was simple—extracting the essence of their blood, flesh, and bones to create a bloodline crystal, serving as nourishment for the cells' redevelopment.

So, was it due to the raw materials? His cells...

Yuto touched his chest, remembering that he was a transmigrator, his biggest secret.

But aside from the advantage of knowing the plot, being a transmigrator hadn't brought any other benefits. His talents were decent but not outstanding, likely not even surpassing Neji Hyuga, who would be born years later.

If there was something different from the natives, it must be hidden deeper, like... the soul.

Chakra is a supernatural energy formed by the fusion of physical and spiritual energies. If spiritual energy could be broadly categorized as "soul," then he indeed differed fundamentally from other shinobi, though drawing such a conclusion required extensive comparative experiments...

Yuto shook his head to stop overthinking.

He was a pragmatist, not one to get stuck in the dead end of exploring principles and processes. Since the cells had undergone a pleasing change, he would accept it and leave further considerations for later.

So now the key was... how to use it.

Yuto lightly weighed the skin.

Swallow it raw? Stick it on a ninja tool? Imbue it with magic or something?

He pondered for a while and suddenly realized that the piece looked very familiar.

The color, size, and shape...

An inspiration struck him. He took off his forehead protector and pressed the red skin onto his forehead.

This posture was very similar to that of Kaguya Otsutsuki when she awakened the Rinne Sharingan!

Like an ancient machine fitted with the most crucial gear, the incomplete body named "Hyuga branch family" came back to life at that moment.

The red skin underwent a peculiar wave, like water poured into a lake, disappearing into Yuto's forehead.

Chakra began to reconstruct, a new power forming within him, far surpassing his original strength, like comparing lead to cotton.

It was a power vastly superior to the Byakugan!

At this moment, the Caged Bird seal on his forehead disappeared, and the sealed "one-degree vision" returned.

The curse mark, perfected over millennia by the Hyuga main family, was completely suppressed by the overwhelming ocular power.

Yuto trembled, touching his forehead, like a bird finally breaking out of its cage.

Freedom, dignity, and the sense of security from having control over his own life made him so elated he couldn't think straight.

'I will be reborn in this world with a new form... My soul returns to me, no longer imprisoned by the Caged Bird seal.'

However, this joy of regained freedom did not last long.

At a certain moment, the red oval skin fell from Yuto's forehead, landing on the ground like a lifeless paper scrap, devoid of its miraculous power.

The Caged Bird seal returned to him, and the newfound power vanished.

A slave imprisoned for ten years had only breathed "fresh air" for three minutes.

Yuto, looking almost crazed, picked up the skin and pressed it hard against his forehead, even until his skin bled, but it had no effect.

At some point, the underground chamber returned to its usual tranquility.

Yuto lay on the ground, closing his eyes without sorrow or joy.

In his hand was a piece of red skin that had lost its mystical power.

It was the glass slipper of Cinderella.

Also known as the [God's Mask].

(End of Chapter)