Possibility

That night, inside Terumi Mei's command tent.

Under the dim light, Ao was reporting to Terumi Mei alone about what he had discovered while observing Uesugi Shinji and Kisame Hoshigaki with his Byakugan.

"My Lady, both Uesugi Shinji and Kisame Hoshigaki are undoubtedly rare experts within the village. If I were not extremely confident in the capabilities of my Byakugan, I would never have believed what I saw today," Ao said with a solemn expression.

Although Ao had long since recovered from his initial shock, his tone still carried a hint of amazement.

Upon hearing this, Terumi Mei raised an eyebrow and asked with interest, "Oh? Then please, Senior Ao, explain it to me in detail."

At this time, Ao had not been serving under Terumi Mei for very long. As an elite Jonin who already held a certain status in the village, Terumi Mei still maintained a great deal of respect for him in her speech.

As Terumi Mei's status continued to rise, and as they worked together for longer periods, the way the two interacted would gradually change.

Ao frowned and spoke slowly, "Inside Kisame Hoshigaki, I saw terrifying chakra; its volume is almost on par with the Three-Tails!"

Although Terumi Mei's expression remained calm upon hearing this, the flash of shock in her eyes betrayed her inner thoughts.

For a ninja who was not a Jinchuriki to possess an amount of chakra comparable to a Tailed Beast was something that absolutely subverted the normal understanding of a ninja.

"Can you tell if that chakra belongs to him?" Terumi Mei asked in a deep voice.

Regarding the inexplicably powerful chakra within Kisame, Terumi Mei had guessed two reasonable possibilities.

One possibility was that Kisame was also a Jinchuriki, but having grown up in Kirigakure since childhood, he never had the chance to become a Jinchuriki without anyone knowing. Moreover, until now, there had never been any news of a Tailed Beast controlled by any ninja village going missing.

The other possibility was that Kisame had used some sort of peculiar ninjutsu to seal a massive amount of chakra within his own body, which was the explanation Terumi Mei considered most reasonable.

Ao shook his head and said, "This chakra belongs to him; it is of the same root and origin as the chakra within his body!"

The Byakugan could distinguish the nature of chakra and some more subtle changes, just as Hyuga Neji could clearly distinguish the red chakra belonging to the Nine-Tails and the light blue chakra belonging to Naruto when observing him with the Byakugan.

Although some chakra might not be as clearly differentiated as that of Naruto and the Nine-Tails, Ao, possessing the Byakugan, could still distinguish them based on certain characteristics.

Terumi Mei trusted Ao's judgment implicitly. She lowered her head to ponder for a few seconds, then looked up and continued to ask, "I understand. Then what did you see in Uesugi Shinji?"

Ao frowned, "Uesugi Shinji is even stranger. I did not see a single trace of Ice Release chakra on him."

Upon hearing this, a trace of confusion first flashed in Terumi Mei's eyes, then her expression instantly turned to one of surprise and disbelief.

Seeing Terumi Mei's expression, Ao said slowly, "It seems you have also thought of that possibility, My Lady."

If a ninja possessed an innate Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, there would always be some Ice Release chakra remaining in their body; this was unavoidable. Furthermore, the more powerful the Ice Release, the more Ice Release chakra would be stored within the body.

For example, Senju Hashirama, whose Wood Release Kekkei Genkai had reached the pinnacle of human ninjas, had Wood Release chakra permeating his entire body! Once his body suffered any damage, the Wood Release chakra would automatically repair his body.

(Wood Release is a combination of Water Release, Earth Release, and Yang Release; the Yang Release contained within Wood Release possesses the life force to repair the body.)

"The reason there is no Ice Release chakra in his body is because Ice Release is not his innate Kekkei Genkai, but an ability he developed later on!" Terumi Mei's eyes narrowed slightly, looking very serious.

Ao nodded, "I only saw Water Release, Wind Release, and Fire Release chakra in his body, and Ice Release is precisely composed of Water Release and Wind Release."

Speaking of this, Ao's voice dropped a few degrees, "What concerns me even more is that if he can combine Wind Release and Water Release to create Ice Release ninjutsu, then is he capable of doing more than we imagine?"

The "more" that Ao referred to was whether Uesugi Shinji could combine Water Release and Fire Release to create Lava Release, combine Fire Release and Wind Release to create Light Release, or even go a step further and combine three natures of chakra into an entirely new Kekkei Tōta!

In the history of the ninja world, only one ninja was known to have developed a method to fuse different natures of chakra into a new Kekkei Genkai ability later in life.

This ninja, whose name would go down in history, was the Second Tsuchikage, Mu. He pioneered the method of fusing Wind Release, Fire Release, and Earth Release into the Particle Style Kekkei Tōta, and passed this method on to his disciple, the current Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.

And Particle Style was currently the only known Kekkei Tōta in the ninja world!

Looking directly at Terumi Mei, Ao said in a deep tone, "Although judging by his chakra volume, he does not seem as powerful as Kisame right now, this man possesses possibilities that I cannot predict!"