Ice Release, in Uchiha Kiyo's understanding, is also a very powerful Kekkei Genkai.
By utilizing the water vapor in the air to condense ice crystals, the technique known as Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors allows the user to move freely within the ice, somewhat resembling the Rock Concealment Technique and the Hidden Mist Technique. However, in terms of practicality, it far surpasses both.
The Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors can be freely manipulated in shape and size according to the caster's will. Moreover, the ice crystals produced by Ice Release possess a unique reflective property. With strategic placement, this reflection effect makes it incredibly difficult for the enemy to determine the caster's actual position.
"The Three-Tails… There's a high probability it possesses Ice Release."
Uchiha Kiyo created a shadow clone, instructing it to extract a portion of the Three-Tails' chakra.
"Try to stimulate the Ice Release properties within the Three-Tails' chakra."
…
But how exactly does one stimulate it?
The shadow clone and the main body exchanged glances, an awkward silence lingering in the air.
"Uh… First, test whether Water Release and Wind Release can be activated separately. Then, mix your chakra into it and attempt to guide the Three-Tails' chakra into undergoing a morphological and qualitative transformation."
The shadow clone understood the implication—using his own chakra to guide the Three-Tails' chakra into change.
Without the direct control of the Three-Tails, it was possible that the chakra would respond to external stimuli and shift accordingly.
But how much chakra was necessary to guide it?
Would his 1-card of chakra influence 1-card or 10-cards of the Three-Tails' chakra?
This method proved inefficient.
It wasn't a simple 1:1 or 1:10 ratio—it was more like a 100:1 ratio.
In other words, for every 100 cards of his chakra used to manipulate Water Release properties, only 1 card of the Three-Tails' chakra would respond and shift accordingly.
The cost was absurdly high.
A shadow clone had a limited chakra reserve, only a few hundred cards in total, while attempting to guide the Three-Tails' chakra into Water Release consumed thousands of cards.
Still, the method worked.
"Next, let's try Wind Release."
The shadow clone converted his chakra into Wind Release, and sure enough, the Three-Tails' chakra shifted, adopting Wind Release properties.
"As expected, the Three-Tails possesses both Water and Wind attributes. Moreover, being able to guide its transformation this way proves that its affinity for these elements is incredibly deep. This further increases the likelihood of the Three-Tails possessing Ice Release."
Another Kekkei Genkai was within reach!
Moreover, it was a bloodline limit that combined Water and Wind attributes. Now, all he lacked was the final Lightning attribute.
When Uchiha Kiyo had initially decided to train in Lava Release, he realized his proficiency in Wind and Water Release wasn't sufficient. However, after four years of practice under Ma Jia and an additional two years of personal training—including the assistance of his Mist Clone—his mastery over Wind and Water Release had reached the level required for developing Kekkei Genkai, perhaps even surpassing it.
"Next step—guiding the Three-Tails' chakra into Ice Release."
Tailed beast chakra and ordinary ninja chakra were fundamentally different.
The chakra of a regular ninja was far inferior in quality compared to a tailed beast's chakra. It also lacked regenerative properties and didn't adapt as seamlessly to elemental affinities. While a ninja's chakra retained traces of their elemental training in their spiritual energy, their physical energy remained unaltered. This meant that their chakra wasn't fully inscribed with elemental properties.
As a result, a ninja's chakra couldn't be guided into elemental transformation the same way Uchiha Kiyo was doing with the Three-Tails' chakra.
This was why ninja-collected chakra from others remained unchanged—it retained whatever properties were already present. For example, Lava Release chakra could only be collected after the transformation was completed by the original user. Uchiha Kiyo wouldn't be able to study the transformation process itself.
Yet, despite this limitation, he had still managed to develop his own Lava Release from pre-existing Lava Release chakra.
Now, with the ability to repeatedly shift the Three-Tails' chakra from its base form into Ice Release, he had an invaluable opportunity to study the transformation process firsthand. This would be an immense help in developing his own Ice Release techniques.
"This confirms it—if one wishes to cultivate Kekkei Genkai, a tailed beast's chakra is the ideal medium. No wonder Jinchuriki often develop abilities similar to the tailed beasts they host. Even if the tailed beast is uncooperative, the host can still guide the transformation process themselves!"
A spark of hope ignited within Uchiha Kiyo.
Hope for mastering four or even five Kekkei Genkai.
Tailed beasts were truly mystical beings.
"Back to the issue—how do I actually extract Ice Release?"
He had no intention of freezing himself.
Uchiha Kiyo instructed his shadow clone to attempt using both Wind and Water Release simultaneously.
The result? The shadow clone exploded. Worse still, the returning chakra to the main body mutated, infecting surrounding chakra like a spreading virus. Fortunately, Uchiha Kiyo reacted swiftly, sealing and dissipating the rogue chakra before it caused a disaster.
"I nearly forgot—different elemental transformations can't be applied to the same chakra at the same time."
He smacked his forehead, annoyed at his oversight.
"Sometimes, I get too caught up in my research."
While ninja could use multiple elements in succession, they couldn't imprint multiple transformations onto the same chakra simultaneously. The conflicting properties could lead to disastrous results—including explosions or bodily harm.
Notably, those who inherited Kekkei Genkai could combine their elemental properties, but even they had limitations—only specific properties could be merged.
"If I can't overlay Wind and Water transformations onto the same chakra, how can I guide Ice Release?"
Before obtaining Ice Release, he could only experiment by casting Water and Wind Release together. But now, even that method was off the table.
"How about applying the transformations separately—one part Water, one part Wind?"
Hmm… Worth a try.
Uchiha Kiyo created another shadow clone and had it attempt a new method: channeling half of his chakra into Water Release while the other half focused on Wind Release.
The result? Half of the Three-Tails' chakra converted into Water Release, and the other half became Wind Release.
"Well… That's not quite right."
The atmosphere grew awkward again.
"Why is this happening?"
The Three-Tails' chakra splitting into two separate elements was understandable, but why weren't they merging?
Could it be an issue of quantity?
A shadow clone's chakra capacity was limited. Perhaps the conversion required a much larger chakra input to properly merge the transformations.
"So, I need to increase the chakra output or decrease the amount of Three-Tails' chakra used."
Uchiha Kiyo initiated another experiment.
He couldn't instantly transform limitless chakra—just like a tailed beast, he had limits on how much he could convert at once. Currently, he could only transform around 1 gallon instantly.
Thus, in his previous experiment, he had only used 100 cards of the Three-Tails' chakra.
If he halved that amount, he'd only be working with 50 cards, which seemed far too little to be effective.
"I need to use at least 100 cards to properly guide the transformation. Any less, and I won't be able to control the chakra effectively."
Realizing this, he decided to use another shadow clone to reinforce the process.
A simple Ice Release experiment was demanding two shadow clones and twice the effort—but if it led to success, it was worth it.
After multiple trials, under careful observation with his Sharingan, the Three-Tails' chakra slowly turned white, emitting an unmistakable cold air.
"It's working!"
Excitement surged through Uchiha Kiyo. The Three-Tails truly possessed Ice Release!
Now, beyond acting as an energy reservoir, the Three-Tails' chakra would also serve as an invaluable tool for his Ice Release development.
Moreover, Uchiha Kiyo had discovered something few ever considered.
Tailed beast chakra could assist in the cultivation of Sage Mode.
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