Chapter 26: Losing Control

Once Uchiha Aozora had vanished from sight with his Shifting Body Technique, he went back to running home normally. 

No one around—no need to show off. 

Even with his massive chakra reserves, he couldn't keep using the Shifting Body Technique for long. 

Thinking about how shocked his two companions had looked earlier, Aozora felt amused and satisfied. 

When he reached the Uchiha compound, he slowed down and walked like a regular person again. 

This was the Uchiha district—trying to leap across rooftops here would get you a broken leg. 

Taking a few steps forward, he noticed a group of Uchiha women carrying baskets gathered ahead. 

As he started to walk around them, he caught fragments of conversation: "compound," "relocation," and "compensation." 

Curious, Aozora moved closer. 

It turned out the relocation plan had already been finalized and posted on the public notice board in the district. 

The Uchiha ninja had more or less accepted the move after the family meeting, but Aozora wanted to hear what ordinary clan members thought. 

"What? The village wants us to relocate?" 

"Why? We're living just fine here! If we move to Nanaha River, shopping will take an extra half hour." 

"It's not free—they're offering compensation! The village will build houses for us at the new site and pay twice the local property value!" 

"...". 

Most of those gathered by the bulletin were housewives from different families. They weren't too happy about moving, but they clearly liked the idea of the generous payout. 

"Wow, that's quite a deal—I almost feel tempted myself!" 

Aozora moved to the front and glanced at the notice. 

To reduce resistance toward relocation, the village decided to build homes for the Uchiha first before requiring them to move. 

Move-in ready—just bring your bags and you're all set. 

Plus, the village promised hefty compensation. As long as the Uchiha agreed to the relocation, both the village and the Police Force would jointly survey the land and pay out twice the local property value per square meter. 

Aozora quietly calculated how much money he'd receive. 

"My house plus courtyard covers about 300 square meters. Local property prices should be around 9,000 ryō per square meter. That means I'd get 2.7 million ryō in compensation?" 

"That kind of life-changing cash wasn't too shabby!" 

"With Shisui gone, this money will fall entirely under my control." 

Thinking about it, Aozora couldn't help but grin. 

While the relocation itself might be annoying, the financial reward was seriously tempting. 

2.7 million ryō was an astronomical sum for an average Konoha household—it would be nearly impossible for most people, even within the Uchiha clan, to turn down such an offer. 

Of course, other Uchiha households might not have estates as large as Aozora's, but each family had their own private residence. Even the smallest among them covered at least 150 square meters, which meant total compensation worth over a million ryō. 

Faced with such a generous offer, Aozora believed most ordinary Uchiha would find themselves tempted. 

"But does Konoha actually have enough funds for this?" 

"Over a million ryō per household, and there are two to three hundred Uchiha families..." 

Aozora gave his head a slight shake and put those thoughts aside for now. 

Before the Family Meeting, he had considered uniting the clan to prevent the tragic fate awaiting them.

But after being immobilized by Fugaku Uchiha, he realized that in the ninja world, might always wins. 

So he no longer opposed relocating the clan grounds. 

After all, regardless of what happened, Konoha would inevitably end up at odds with the Uchiha. 

If agreeing to relocate earned him over 2 million in compensation funds, then he had absolutely no objections. 

Because he truly needed money—over 2 million would be enough for him to purchase Chakra-conductive Metal. 

When he returned home, Uchiha Aozora kept thinking about this matter, so much so that his attempt to convert chakra using Fire Release failed. 

Having lost control, the fire-type chakra ran rampant through his meridians like a wild horse. 

Left with no choice, Aozora circulated the chakra from his Dantian to intercept and contain it. 

After a while, Aozora finally regained control over the fire chakra, but by then, his meridians were already scarred and damaged. 

He turned his focus inward and saw that his entire network of meridians looked like they'd been scalded by boiling water. Some areas were even blistered from the burns. 

"What kind of situation is this? Am I actually experiencing Qi deviation?" 

"Breath Fire can't be cultivated anymore! If I keep purifying chakra like this, the next time things go awry, it won't just be minor injuries—it could burn me alive!" 

"My cultivation method has issues. The Three Internal Fires—essence, energy, and spirit—shouldn't be cultivated separately. How can I endure the burning of true flame without a strong physical body?" 

Aozora pondered briefly and quickly understood where the problem lay. 

"It's time I trained my physique!" 

"But how should I go about training? Could I use Gongde Droplets to improve 'Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work'?" 

As soon as the thought arose, Uchiha Aozora dismissed it. 

"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work shouldn't include any methods related to body cultivation; otherwise, Breath Fire itself would have already covered chakra refinement techniques." 

Recalling all the knowledge he had and the Divine Arts granted by the Heavenly Book, he surprisingly realized that aside from Dao Yin Lian Qi, he didn't possess a single skill involving physical cultivation. 

Wordlessly shaking his head, Aozora pulled out the wooden chest containing his collection of ninjutsu scrolls. 

After flipping through them quickly, aside from three sword techniques that slightly touched upon taijutsu, there weren't any other taijutsu scrolls present. 

"Out of twenty-three scrolls, not one talks about physical training?" 

"Don't they understand the body is the foundation of revolution? No wonder the Uchiha rebellion failed!" 

Annoyed, Aozora let out a bitter grumble without realizing it. 

Finally, he sighed deeply, locked the box again, and returned it to its original position. 

"Konoha's Taijutsu mainly consists of the Strong Fist Style and Gentle Fist Style." 

"Forget Gentle Fist. The Hyuga and Uchiha? Practically blood enemies. Yeah right, like we'd ever meet without coming to blows." 

"As for Strong Fist… Eight Gates?" 

Thinking of the Eight Gates, Aozora's heart grew eager. 

It wasn't the Eight Gates themselves that excited him—he had no interest in learning secret techniques that burned away one's life force. 

What interested him instead was Might Guy's body-forging secret arts. 

Ordinary people only saw the glory of Guy opening the Eight Gates, but Aozora knew just how powerful one's physique must be to open them. 

In fact, even without activating the Eight Gates, later on, Might Guy alone with pure Taijutsu was formidable enough to be considered an elite Jonin. 

Aozora believed the Might family surely possessed unique body-forging techniques of their own.

Sure, willpower and hard work probably helped Might Duy and Might Guy succeed, but those alone weren't enough. Without proper, scientific methods, even someone from the Uzumaki Clan might not survive training intense enough to make it into a manga.

"It looks like I need to kiss up to Guy. Luckily, passionate youths are easy to fool."

Uchiha Aozora could instantly think of one hundred ways to get close to Guy.

"Hmm, complicated methods might not work on Guy. Then I'll go with 'fight first, friends later!'"

"Start a fight, shake hands after, and then ask to train under him — mission complete."

With his plan for boosting his physical strength set, Uchiha Aozora sat cross-legged, stilled his mind, and entered the Spiritual Sea. Even though Droplets of Gongde couldn't boost his physical strength, Aozora didn't want them sitting idle inside the Heavenly Book forever. He knew money was only valuable when spent, and the same went for Droplets of Gongde.

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