At that moment, deep underground in the dimly lit experimental base.
The deranged Orochimaru was hunched over the operating table, frantically "working" on Natsume's body.
Natsume, whose soul had left his body through the Spirit Transformation Technique, watched him intently from nearby.
Separated from his body, Natsume had become far less sensitive to the passage of time.
He couldn't tell exactly how long had passed.
But it was probably already dawn outside.
And so, the seconds ticked by.
The transplantation continued.
At last, after who knew how much longer, Orochimaru burst into laughter beside the operating table.
"Hahaha! I was right! This is it! This is exactly how it works!"
"I see!"
"Hashirama Cells can ease the backlash from the Sharingan, while the Sharingan can stop Hashirama Cells from consuming the host with their aggressive vitality!"
"The power of Hashirama Cells and the Sharingan really does complement each other!"
"No wonder most of my earlier experiments transplanting Hashirama Cells failed!"
"They were missing the power of the Sharingan!"
Orochimaru laughed wildly.
He looked almost mad.
Finding a way to suppress the way Hashirama Cells consumed their host's vitality had long been an almost impossible problem to solve.
He'd once thought that using young children, with their abundant vitality and adaptability, would let them resist the cells' destructive effects.
He'd been wrong.
Out of dozens of test subjects, only Yamato had survived by sheer luck.
After that, Orochimaru had conducted many more experiments.
In the end, he'd relied on Shin's unusual constitution and deactivated most of the Hashirama Cells' vitality.
Only then had he managed to transplant them, albeit imperfectly, and create a right arm for Danzo.
Even so, it had only been a prototype.
The arm had possessed some impressive abilities, but it couldn't compare to the full potency of living Hashirama Cells.
At the time, Orochimaru had thought his success was nothing more than a fluke.
But now he saw the truth: combining Hashirama Cells with the Sharingan was the key to achieving a perfect fusion!
Even ordinary Sharingan fell short.
Only the exceptionally rare and powerful Mangekyō Sharingan could truly withstand the cells' effects and form a perfect balance with their power!
A few minutes later, the transplant was complete.
Natsume dispelled the Spirit Transformation Technique, and his soul returned safely to his body.
The moment he came to, he sprang up.
He pushed Orochimaru aside and went to the mirror beside the laboratory, taking a good look at himself.
He hurriedly checked to see if his appearance had changed.
Thankfully, his skin hadn't turned white.
He didn't have horns growing out of his head.
And Hashirama's face hadn't appeared on his chest.
Everything was normal!
"Phew—"
Natsume let out a sigh of relief.
Only then did he carefully examine the changes inside his body.
His first thought was that he'd gotten harder!
Not that kind of hard.
His whole body had become more resilient.
Thanks to the tremendous vitality of Hashirama Cells, his bones, tendons, muscles, strength, speed, and everything else had improved considerably.
By a conservative estimate, they'd at least doubled or tripled!
That might not sound like much, but Natsume's physique was already no match for taijutsu specialists like Might Guy.
Even so, he was definitely on par with an ordinary elite jonin.
For an average shinobi, increasing their physical capabilities two or three times over would take years of grueling training.
Yet these powerful Hashirama Cells had let Natsume surpass years of other people's hard work in a matter of moments.
And that was only one benefit of the transplanted cells.
From that alone, one could see just how powerful Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi, must have been, with his nearly perfect Sage Body!
No wonder people who came after him had treated even his cells as a cure-all.
His physical improvement wasn't the only change.
Natsume also discovered that, thanks to the cells' abundant vitality, his chakra reserves had skyrocketed.
They'd doubled!
From 35 cards to 70!
That made sense.
After all, chakra was created by combining the energy extracted from the body's cells with spiritual energy.
With his cells more active, his total chakra would naturally increase.
But what really thrilled Natsume was what happened next.
He immediately spent another 100 Gold Coins to exchange for one card of chakra through the system.
But then he realized something.
His total chakra had increased by two cards!
It was now 72 cards!
So, from now on, every time he exchanged for chakra, he'd get double?
Well, damn!
So Hashirama Cells had given him a permanent chakra-doubling buff?
That was incredible!
He'd only transplanted a small amount of Hashirama Cells, and the effect was already this absurd.
Once he saved up enough Gold Coins to exchange for a complete Sage Body—
Wouldn't he become unstoppable?
Now Natsume finally understood.
When the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, unleashed True Several Thousand Hands, he'd been able to grab the mighty Nine-Tails in his hand like a little chicken with just one slap.
Compared to Hashirama's vast ocean of chakra, even the Nine-Tails' chakra must have seemed like a small pond.
Of course, the improvements to his physique and chakra were only extra benefits.
What mattered most to Natsume was how Hashirama Cells had enhanced his Mangekyō Sharingan.
That was the most important thing!
The next moment, chakra surged through his eyes, and red light flared.
His all-seeing Mangekyō Sharingan appeared in an instant.
Orochimaru hurriedly looked away, not daring to meet Natsume's gaze.
And this time, as Natsume activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, he felt completely at ease.
The burning pain from fighting the Sharingan's side effects was gone.
It felt as though he could keep his Mangekyō Sharingan activated forever without the slightest strain!
The Hashirama Cells transplanted into his body really had suppressed the Sharingan's side effects!
It felt amazing!
From this day onward, for a long time to come, he wouldn't have to worry about going blind from overusing his Sharingan.
With his boundless Mangekyō activated, Natsume looked at his hands and clenched his fists.
The surge of power and the flood of ocular chakra made him want to bring out Susanoo just for fun.
But when he looked around at Snake Auntie's tiny laboratory, he figured activating Susanoo would probably wreck the whole place.
So he had to suppress the urge for now.
"Lord Natsume, are you satisfied?"
Orochimaru rubbed his hands together and asked with a fawning smile.
No one understood better than he did just how much power the ten-year-old boy before him had gained.
His many high-level ninjutsu, formidable physical strength, unparalleled divine artifact, and now those boundless Mangekyō Sharingan...
And, most intimidating of all, his age!
He was only ten, yet already so terrifying.
How powerful would he be at twenty or thirty?
By then, would the entire Konoha combined even be a match for him?
What a pity.
Such a perfect body, and I still can't take it over! What a waste...
Orochimaru marveled, then lamented.
"Very good! It feels great!"
"Good thing you didn't try anything funny."
Natsume praised him without reservation.
Orochimaru's advanced transplantation techniques were certainly impressive.
Of course, if Natsume hadn't been on guard, there was no telling whether Orochimaru would have behaved so well.
"Lord Natsume, have you noticed any side effects?"
"If so, please let me know."
"It would help me gain some experience for my future experiments."
Orochimaru asked earnestly.
Setting his ulterior motives aside, he was extremely dedicated to his experiments and research.
"Well... there is one side effect."
"Although these transplanted Hashirama Cells have fused with my body, their vitality is still highly aggressive."
"Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't be a problem."
"But if I run out of chakra, I might not be able to control the cells."
"In that case, they'll probably consume a large part of my body!"
Natsume paused for a moment, then explained how he felt.
A little trouble was only to be expected when it came to power gained through transplantation.
Even so, for most people, this would be a major problem.
After all, once a battle was over, no one could quickly replenish all the chakra they'd used up.
But Natsume was different.
He had plenty of chakra-restoring "Pills," so he had nothing to worry about.
Even if he ran out of chakra, he could just take a couple of pills.
There was no chance he'd lose control of the Hashirama Cells or let them turn against him...
Before you continue