Chapter Ninety-Three: Recovery and Change

For the past two years, he had been carefully conserving his ocular power and had not even once called upon Shisui. Aside from the occasions when he needed to enter Terra, he had not used his Eternal Mangekyo at all. Yet little by little, his Mangekyo ocular power had still nearly reached its limit.

During this period, when he looked at objects, ghostly double images would sometimes appear before his eyes. Uchiha Li knew all too well that the time left to him was running out.

And experiments such as this, even after tens of thousands of simulations, or with Orochimaru personally carrying it out, could not be said to have a one hundred percent chance of success.

So this time, after confirming it again and again, he no longer intended to keep waiting.

"With success already within reach, why should I fear?"

Uchiha Li looked at the syringe in his hand, and his expression gradually returned to calm.

After making sure he was lying properly, he bound his own hands and feet. This was a safeguard against losing control. After all, human injection could be counted as a first for him as well, and even he had no idea what it would feel like.

Swallowing down his thoughts, Uchiha Li held the syringe and drove it hard into his shoulder.

With a soft hiss, the needle pierced the flesh. Uchiha Li pushed the plunger with force, sending all of the extracted cellular fluid into his body.

He closed his eyes and began to wait quietly for the changes.

Very soon, the changes came. Uchiha Li could only feel the veins all over his body bulging violently.

It was as if something were crawling through his blood vessels, surging straight toward his eyes. The sensation was terrifying.

Then the crawling itch began to fade, and what replaced it was pain.

"My eyes..."

Almost at the same moment, Uchiha Li let out a miserable cry.

Pain.

It hurt too much.

His eyes and his entire body were being stabbed through with searing, bone-deep agony at the same time.

Having been a shinobi for so long, Uchiha Li believed he had an exceptionally high tolerance for pain.

Even if he were struck directly by a kunai or some other weapon, that kind of pain would never be enough to frighten him.

But now, Uchiha Li finally understood that pain could reach such a level.

Unknowingly, under the torment of that intense suffering, his Sharingan activated on its own.

The three tomoe quickly linked together into the Mangekyo, and the pain intensified once more.

Yet that still was not the end. Uchiha Li could actually feel the chakra within his body beginning to be melted away by the First Hokage's cells.

"Damn it!"

He cursed inwardly, feeling that the situation was slipping out of his control.

With no other choice, Uchiha Li hastily mobilized the little Mangekyo power he had left to resist the First Hokage's cells within him.

But as the Mangekyo power began to fail him, Uchiha Li only felt the world go black before him, and he no longer had the strength to struggle.

With the Mangekyo's suppression gone, the First Hokage's cells grew active again. Uchiha Li felt something break through his skin.

Saplings sprouted from his body and began to grow rapidly.

Just as the chakra throughout Uchiha Li's body was about to be completely drained, the trees stopped growing and began to wither.

Realizing this, he let out a breath of relief, but could no longer endure the pain and fainted.

No one knew how long had passed before Uchiha Li awoke from unconsciousness and his awareness slowly began to return.

He opened his eyes slowly. The blindness he had feared most had not appeared; instead, light filled his vision.

"Did it succeed?"

Uchiha Li asked himself once, and then quickly fell into a dazed silence.

The scene before him was still, of course, the experimental area, though everything around it was already a complete mess.

The entire workbench had been reduced to scrap metal by his unconscious destruction, and traces of withered bark were scattered everywhere.

Getting up from the bed, Uchiha Li walked slowly toward the mirror in the distance.

Without hesitation, he directly activated his Mangekyo.

Soon, three tomoe appeared and rapidly linked together, forming the familiar diamond pattern.

But this time, Uchiha Li noticed something different in the mirror.

His eyes, which had originally grown dull from excessive expenditure of ocular power, were now clear and translucent. Even without using any ocular power, he could still feel the surging vitality within them.

"The ocular power is still recovering. So this is the Mangekyo after transplanting First Hokage cells?"

Looking at the Mangekyo in the mirror, Uchiha Li could not help but be captivated by it.

That feeling was truly impossible to describe.

If he had to put it into words, it was like a person who had been nearsighted for many years suddenly undergoing laser surgery and being able to see everything clearly again.

After a long while, when Uchiha Li had calmed down, he discovered other changes as well.

Aside from the recovery of his Mangekyo's ocular power, his body had also undergone some changes.

Through the mirror, Uchiha Li could clearly see that his skin had become somewhat fairer.

This kind of whiteness was healthy, the sort that hinted at a rosy flush beneath the surface, proof that the skin was in good condition.

Before, however, he had been pale, looking as though his body were very frail.

The two were completely different.

"The effects of the First Hokage's cells really are terrifying, but thankfully the changes aren't too great."

Uchiha Li sighed softly, then ignored the mess in the experimental area and headed for the Apostles' Hall.

After integrating the First Hokage's cells, he felt that he could once again awaken the Apostles and let someone take their place.

And this time, he could awaken not one Apostle, but two.

A double blessing. Naturally Uchiha Li was pleased, but he knew very well that he had already been in Terra for a long time.

He did not know exactly how much time had passed, and he needed to return quickly, lest some accident occur.

Activating the teleportation array, Uchiha Li returned to the room in the real world and opened the door, preparing to step outside.

But just as he opened it, he saw Yao raising her hand, clearly about to knock.

Seeing this, Uchiha Li felt relief and greeted her with a smile. "What is it, Yao?"

Yao tilted her head and said with a serious expression, "I should be asking you that. What time is it, and you're still asleep?"

After a brief pause, her eyes narrowed slightly. "Don't tell me your body has gotten even weaker?"

Uchiha Li hurriedly said, "Don't talk nonsense. My body is in great shape. I've already recovered completely."

As he spoke, he pointed at himself, signaling for Yao to look carefully.

Yao examined him closely from head to toe, and then a trace of joy appeared on her face. "You've actually really recovered!"

For these past two years, Uchiha Li had always maintained that weak and feeble appearance.

And because he stayed in his room all day, he only looked even worse.

She had thought his body had suffered some irreparable mishap, and that was why he had given up on himself like this.

Because of that, Yao had almost despaired.

But to her surprise, after just one night apart, Li had actually recovered completely.

And not only that, the current Uchiha Li seemed to give her a faint sense of pressure.

Seeing Yao's astonishment, Uchiha Li glanced at the medicinal soup outside and laughed. "All right, Yao. My body has recovered completely, so I don't need to drink that soup anymore."

Yao had said before that once his body improved, he would no longer need to drink that heavily nourishing soup.

Yet he had drunk it for a full two years, and during those two years, one could say he had been constantly suffering from internal heat.

Fortunately, as a shinobi, his physical condition was excellent, so at most he only occasionally had nosebleeds and walked about with his head held high every day.

But now that he no longer had to drink that stuff, it was truly wonderful.

However, what Uchiha Li had never expected were Yao's next words:

"It must be because you've been drinking that medicinal soup for so long that it's finally taken effect. Otherwise, how could your body have become healthy again?"

Hearing this, Uchiha Li trembled inwardly and was just about to object.

But Yao's cheeks had a faint flush, and she said with unwavering determination,

"In that case, you should keep drinking it from now on. It's good for your body..."