The atmosphere in the laboratory grew slightly heavy.
Hyuga Yu raised his head and looked at Hiruko's face, haggard yet exhilarated, waiting for him to continue.
Hiruko turned and walked deeper into the laboratory. From a locked safe, he took out a thick stack of experimental records, flipped to a page in the middle, and handed it to Hyuga Yu.
"This is the comparative experimental data from Fusion Groups 017 through 028."
Hyuga Yu accepted the notebook, his gaze falling on the densely packed figures.
"These were all failed cases, but they revealed another possibility," Hiruko explained from beside him. "They were all fusions of Hyuga and Kaguya cells, but the sources differed. Groups 017 through 022 used cells from ordinary clan members, with a success rate of 3.7% and a post-fusion stability rate of 41%. Groups 023 through 025 used cells from elite Jonin-level subjects. The success rate rose to 11.2%, while stability reached 68%."
He paused, waiting for Hyuga Yu to turn the page.
"Groups 026 through 028 used the cell samples you previously left with Root, along with samples from Kaguya Washiro, the Kirigakure elder you brought back from Kirigakure. His Shikotsumyaku awakening was highly developed."
Hyuga Yu saw the figures.
Success rate: 47.8%.
Stability rate: 92%.
"Forty-seven percent," Hyuga Yu murmured.
"Exactly." Hiruko's voice suppressed a certain excitement. "The same technique, the same conditions, and merely because the 'quality' of the cell sources differed, the success rates varied by more than a hundredfold!"
"Just as you said before, these two bloodlines may have originated from a higher-order bloodline. The more powerful the bloodline, the greater their similarity—almost like... two sides of the same coin!"
Hyuga Yu raised his head and looked calmly at Hiruko. "But every fusion you attempted failed."
Hiruko shook his head. "That was