This year's year-end festival is the worst one ever.
That was the genuine thought rising in Hakushi's heart.
The reason was the daughter that Ruri had given birth to for him.
It had been nearly two months since the birth, and when January of the coming year arrived, right on the night of the year-end festival,
Hakushi didn't go out to join the lively festivities, but stayed in the dull laboratory, locking his own daughter into a cage made of chakra metal for experimental observation.
Ruri and Ayane, who had just returned from the Land of Earth, were there with Hakushi—the former because she was worried, the latter because she was needed for her Byakugan.
Aside from them, there was also a Jonin from the Uchiha Clan and one from the Uzumaki Clan assisting, as there were some things to ask them about, too.
Locked in the cage made of chakra metal, the baby girl gripped the metal bars with her chubby little hands, crimson light flashing in her eyes—those were the Sharingan.
And not just any Sharingan, but the Three-Tomoe Sharingan at the ordinary limit of evolution.
Her mouth curled up in a smile that held both a touch of innocence and a trace of wickedness, altogether creating a brutally fierce impression.
One hand gripping the bars, she wailed and screamed madly, like a frenzied beast rather than a baby girl.
There was nearly no trace of rationality in her eyes; for some unknown reason, she had fallen into a state of abnormally intense frenzy.
Ayane activated her Byakugan, beginning to penetrate and observe the meridian system inside the infant's body, a grave expression appearing on her face.
"This amount of chakra is definitely beyond what a child should have—it's already far, far greater than what a normal Jonin possesses. It's practically like a newborn Tailed Beast."
That was Ayane's assessment.
She had personally used her Byakugan to observe Tailed Beasts, including the Fourth Raikage, who possessed Tailed Beast-level chakra, and had crossed paths with him several times over the past half year.
Therefore, her conclusion was that the amount of chakra this infant possessed exceeded ordinary shinobi understanding—a truly abnormal state.
If it were the Tailed Beast itself, that would make sense. But in front of them was no Tailed Beast, just a baby girl less than two months old.
It was the first time in twenty years that Ayane had felt she was seeing something right out of a ghost story.
Reluctant as she was to admit it, this baby girl already surpassed her in chakra amount.
It was no different from the tall tales in storybooks.
The Jonin from the Uzumaki Clan at the side also used Perception Ninjutsu to check, then spoke: "It's not just her chakra that's powerful. Our Uzumaki Clan's Perception Ninjutsu can distinguish each shinobi's chakra nature. Ichihime's chakra nature is the strangest I've seen. Calling it evil doesn't quite capture it, and it's not cold either—it's just pure, chaotic disorder. Normally, when chakra is this disordered, it bursts right out of the ninja's body and leaks into the air."
This was just like those who recklessly absorbed Tailed Beast Chakra without control—because the power is too wild for the body to handle, the berserk Tailed Beast Chakra will erupt out of the body, dispersing into the air and thus averting a physical crisis.
Yet this infant girl—Hakushi's daughter, whom he had named 'Chiba Ichihime'—harbored this incomparably chaotic chakra inside her without letting it burst forth, but instead used an even more violent method to keep the berserk chakra forcibly compressed within her body.
This method baffled the Uzumaki Jonin.
It was the first time he'd seen such a thing, and he had no way to explain a problem so far beyond his comprehension.
Likely, the abnormal Three-Tomoe Sharingan was also a result of this state of frenzied chaos leading to some unknown mutation.
"Ruri, has anything like this ever happened in the Uchiha Clan before?"
Hakushi frowned, asking Ruri if there had been any similar incident in the Uchiha Clan's history.
Ruri glanced at her daughter inside the metal cage, eyes filled with worry, and shook her head: "As far as I know, there's never been any abnormality like this with the clan's newborns."
To have awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan less than two months after birth—such a thing was simply beyond shocking.
And since the day of her birth, her chakra had been increasing at an abnormally fast rate every single day. By now, even if it couldn't compare to a Tailed Beast's yet, at this rate of growth, matching or surpassing a Tailed Beast would only be a matter of time.
Rather than feeling joy, Ruri was more worried that this abnormal state would cause enormous trouble for her daughter's future.
As for Hakushi, he had no good solution either.
Since her birth, his daughter Ichihime had been rapidly amassing chakra, and her temper was growing explosively fierce.
At first, Hakushi didn't pay it much mind, just thinking it was an exceptional talent from his daughter.
But a few days ago, when she suddenly awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and her chakra began surging out of control, Hakushi was shocked.
To avoid harming his daughter, Hakushi had to exert considerable effort just to contain her.
But simply restraining her movements was no solution.
There was one thing for sure: his daughter Ichihime possessed a talent unmatched by ordinary people. This abnormal rate of growth left both Hakushi and Ruri with the same unease.
"There's no helping it. For now, it seems we'll have to use medicine and Sealing Technique to control her. When she's old enough to understand, we can teach her how to direct this power within her."