Chapter 197: Pudding's Enhancement

Shin set aside his questions about the title he had been given and turned his attention to Pudding, who now stood before him, tense with fear and uncertainty.

"Are you afraid that I'll take your Memory-Memory Fruit? That depends on your choice," he said, his gaze steady on her.

He reached out, gently brushing back the bangs that hid Pudding's third eye. She felt a wave of embarrassment and vulnerability as he scrutinized her eye, but the weight of his gaze made her too nervous to resist.

"An impressive ocular ability… It has the potential to be nearly as strong as the Mangekyō Sharingan," Shin noted, studying her third eye with intense focus. "With the right training, it may even give you the power to read people's minds."

Hearing the seriousness in Shin's tone, Pudding felt a slight shift in her perspective. She had always viewed her third eye with a mix of inferiority and self-doubt, but she sensed a glimmer of pride for the first time.

After examining her eye for a moment, Shin injected a small amount of Yin chakra into her brain and the veins surrounding her eye. Immediately, Pudding felt a surge of energy as her third eye activated more fully.

"It seems I've found a method to help accelerate your awakening. The stimulation of Yin chakra is evidently far more effective than mere mental exercises."

Shin released her bangs, letting them fall back into place, and asked, "So, Charlotte Pudding, are you willing to be my subordinate?"

Pudding hesitated, her expression serious. "Aren't you afraid of my mother?"

Shin smiled, undeterred. "Why do you think I came to Whole Cake Island? My main objective is the Soul-Soul Fruit."

Pudding looked at him, uncertain. "How can I be sure you can stand against Big Mom? If I choose to side with you and you fail, my fate would be much worse."

Shin chuckled. "That depends on your decision. Somewhere inside, you must long for freedom, don't you?"

"As long as you stay here on Whole Cake Island, you're only a tool for the Charlotte Family. No matter how valuable your abilities are, you'll only ever be a slightly more important tool."

"Unless your strength reaches the level of a Sweet Commander, your fate will always be in someone else's hands."

"But if you follow me, I can guarantee you the chance to fully realize your potential. Who knows? You might even be strong enough to stand up to your mother someday."

Pudding laughed nervously at the notion, disbelief flickering in her eyes. But she couldn't completely hide a spark of hope.

Shin's words burrowed into her thoughts, stirring an inner conflict. She mulled them over for a moment before steeling herself.

"Fine, I'll join you!"

Shin grinned. "You won't regret it."

As soon as she spoke, Shin absorbed Pudding into the dark dimension, infusing the Uchiha bloodline into her physique and pumping a dose of Yin Chakra into her. Afterward, he ejected her out from the dark dimension.

Pudding felt a surge of warmth fill her, spreading a sensation of growth and renewal like the onset of spring. Her mind became sharper and more focused as if clarity had enveloped her.

After a moment, Shin gently pushed her bangs aside again and observed her third eye channeling another pulse of Yin Chakra into it.

Within seconds, Pudding's newly-formed chakra network responded, resonating with Shin's chakra to form her own Yin chakra—a uniquely pure kind.

"Your chakra's affinity is almost entirely aligned with Yin Release. The only reason it's not purely Yin chakra is because of the physical energy in your body. Otherwise, you might have generated the theoretical pure Yin chakra!"

"It seems your bloodline is highly compatible with the Uchiha clan."

As he watched, Pudding's three eyes began to change, taking on a blood-red hue with two tomoe appearing in each eye.

"Your growth rate is extraordinary. Even Indra himself might not have matched such innate potential," Shin muttered in astonishment. "An Uchiha of the Three-Eyed Tribe… I wonder how powerful you'll be once you awaken a Mangekyō Sharingan."

Pudding raised an eyebrow. "What are you mumbling about? Can you speak in terms I can actually understand?"

Shin let go of her bangs, allowing them to fall back over her third eye. "Can't you feel the changes in your vision?"

She hesitated. "Actually, my eyesight does feel a lot sharper… and my reflexes are much faster too."

"Somehow, it's as if everything I see is imprinted in my mind as images I can replay, almost like a recording. I can even replicate movements I've only seen once!" Pudding exclaimed, clearly surprised by the newfound clarity of her senses.

"That's the most fundamental level of observation and mimicry granted by the Sharingan," Shin explained. "The Sharingan originates from a unique bloodline called the Uchiha clan. Like the Three-Eyed Tribe, they too have ocular abilities that awaken latent powers."

"Unlike the Three-Eyed Tribe's third eye, the Sharingan doesn't involve reading minds or hearing the 'voice of all things.' Instead, it's purely honed for combat and survival."

"You've now awakened the two-tomoe Sharingan. Although there's no ninjutsu here for you to copy, you'll still find your chakra reserves and control have increased, allowing you to perform taijutsu moves with ease, as long as your physical strength can keep up."

"Your reaction speed will also be enhanced, giving you the impression that your opponents' attacks are moving slowly during a fight."

Shin explained the intricacies of the Sharingan's powers to Pudding, covering everything from the basic mimicry of movements to the greater potential the eye could unlock as it evolved.

"The two-tomoe Sharingan you currently possess is only the beginning," he said. "It can develop further into three-tomoe and even reach the Mangekyō Sharingan, which will give you a huge leap in power."

"Once you reach the level of the Mangekyō Sharingan, with your Three-Eyed Tribe bloodline, you may very well have the potential to challenge your mother Charlotte Linlin herself!"

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