Originally, Shinji had regarded this chance conversation as a mere interlude in his life, but suddenly, he felt a compelling urge to investigate the other party.
And so, the question "Where are you?" slipped out of his mouth.
But by the time he asked, his Jikibi had reached its limit, and the already faltering connection broke completely at that moment.
Mumei.
Shinji looked around in confusion, but the timid female voice was no longer audible in his ears.
"Why didn't I ask for more details earlier…"
He deeply regretted it.
Had he known it would turn out like this, he should have clarified her identity and location during their earlier casual chat.
Suppressing his emotions slightly, Shinji began to piece together their conversation.
"Who is she, exactly?"
"Why could she invade my Jikibi connection?"
"What did she mean by her final words about using Yachihoko to preserve my dojutsu?"
As he sorted through it, questions sprouted in Shinji's heart, leaving him restless for a long time.
What was certain was that the other party was also an Uchiha, and her situation was dire—likely trapped in some kind of sealing state.
"Ordinary people wouldn't need to be sealed; they'd just be killed. If she's sealed, it means her identity isn't simple, or her strength is formidable…" Pausing, Shinji mused, "Could she be an Uchiha who awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan? That's right—invading my Jikibi space isn't something an ordinary Sharingan could accomplish!"
Uchiha! Female! Mangekyo Sharingan!
Connecting these three key points narrowed the scope of investigation significantly.
"Checking the clan records should yield some clues! After all, those who awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan are rare, and the records should have at least a line or two about them."
Shinji had a plan.
His reason for starting with the clan records was his intuition that Mumei likely wasn't a contemporary Uchiha.
First, based on his memories from his previous life, after Itachi's clan massacre, the surviving Uchiha in the shinobi world were few and far between, and none were named Uchiha Mumei.
Second, during their earlier chat, he noticed that Mumei didn't even know about Hidden Leaf!
With a plan in mind, the gloom on Shinji's face dissipated somewhat.
Just as he prepared to leave the dark underground training ground, he suddenly imagined himself sealed in such darkness. He wasn't sure how long his sanity could endure.
Mumei… Has she been trapped in such darkness all this time? Shaking his head, Shinji murmured, "I must be overthinking it. She probably hasn't been sealed for long—she even laughed during our chat!"
If Shinji himself were sealed in such darkness, he was certain that no matter how funny a joke was, he wouldn't be able to laugh.
Besides, the joke he told earlier wasn't even that great!
After a brief pause, Shinji stepped forward, emerging from the darkness.
If Mumei was truly trapped in some kind of darkness, he would pull her out—no matter what. After all, he had told her his name was Lampbearer!
…
Leaving the dark underground training ground, Shinji arrived at the laboratory and reconnected the instruments to his body, beginning to record the physical data after activating his Rinnegan.
As expected, activating the Rinnegan didn't just enhance his dojutsu power.
Like Karin, who had awakened her Rinnegan before him, Shinji's physical stats had significantly improved after successfully awakening his own Rinnegan, especially the quality of his chakra, which was noticeably superior to before.
For most shinobi, chakra training focused on accumulating chakra quantity, with little opportunity to improve its quality.
Only by fully mastering a specific chakra nature transformation could one marginally enhance chakra quality.
Examples included Darui's Black Lightning from Hidden Cloud or Kakashi's Purple Lightning, developed after losing his Sharingan in the original timeline.
In the shinobi system, there were almost no methods to improve chakra quality. A shinobi's chakra quantity and quality were often determined at birth.
Even Naruto and Sasuke, the prophesied children who ended the Fourth Shinobi World War and resealed Kaguya Otsutsuki to restore peace, owed their critical transformations to the Six Paths Sage directly granting them the Six Paths Yang Power and Six Paths Yin Power.
Thus, every opportunity to enhance chakra quality was invaluable in the shinobi world.
Meticulously recording his physical data, Shinji removed the instruments. With a casual lift of his hand, a sudden repulsive force sent a notebook flying to a distant shelf.
Having already used Karin's Rinnegan, he was proficient with Almighty Push. But using his own Rinnegan to perform Almighty Push felt far more natural.
In truth, using his own Rinnegan versus controlling Karin's Rinnegan through Susanoo Tomoshibi was a completely different experience.
Comparatively, using his own Rinnegan consumed less dojutsu power and produced greater technique potency than when controlling Karin's Rinnegan.
For instance, with Almighty Push, when using Susanoo Tomoshibi to control Karin's Rinnegan, the cooldown was about six to seven seconds—slightly longer than Nagato's five seconds.
But with his own Rinnegan, the cooldown for Almighty Push was only four seconds, and he felt that with more practice, it could be shortened further.
Unlike controlling Karin's Rinnegan, activating his own Rinnegan granted immediate mastery over techniques like Almighty Push, Almighty Pull, Planetary Devastation, and even the ability to create black rods—none of which he could do when using Karin's Rinnegan.
The only regret Shinji had was that the unique space-time dojutsu contained in his Rinnegan hadn't fully awakened yet, requiring further development.
Hoo...
After familiarizing himself with his Rinnegan, Shinji exhaled.
Almighty Push, Almighty Pull, and Planetary Devastation—these Rinnegan dojutsu were immensely powerful and everything he'd dreamed of. Yet, he still missed his Jikibi, Wazunagi, Susanoo Tomoshibi, and the versatile Susanoo.
Without these dojutsu that had accompanied him from weakness to strength, he felt incomplete.
"Mumei, I will definitely find you!"