Fusing Hashirama Cells, My Perfect Sage Body!

The morning sunlight had yet to reach the canyon of Hidden Stone Village.

Uchiha Yoru had already sent away his two little shadows.

One was Deidara, clamoring to learn "Nuclear Peace Art."

The other was Kurotsuchi, holding a loving breakfast, her eyes filled with little stars.

Alone, he entered the deepest part of Hidden Stone Village—the underground research division with the highest security level.

Bang—

The half-meter-thick alloy gate slowly shut, completely sealing out all sounds from the outside world.

Inside the top-level sterile laboratory, A-01, cold white lights illuminated everything with crystal clarity.

"Lord Yoru, everything is ready."

Orochimaru's slightly hoarse, excited voice came through the speaker.

"Based on the formula you provided, I have adjusted the First Hokage's cell activity to its theoretical optimum."

"The fusion success rate is as high as 99.9%!"

Yoru did not answer.

His gaze was completely drawn to the test tube at the center of the laboratory table.

It contained a mysterious pale green liquid.

The liquid slowly flowed beneath the lights, radiating a vast, heart-pounding life force.

It was as though what lay sealed inside was not a collection of cells, but a vibrant primeval forest.

This was Yoru's "god-tier delivery."

Using the future Orochimaru's peak cloning technology, together with the First Hokage cell samples he had casually taken from Leaf Village during his defection—

After countless precise calculations and purification processes, it had finally been created—

Perfect Gene Fusion Serum!

This stuff was more than a hundred grades superior to the defective product on Danzō's arm.

"Begin."

Yoru removed his shirt, revealing a lean, well-proportioned upper body.

He picked up the test tube and, without hesitation, aimed its sharp needle at his left chest, directly over his heart.

"Hiss—"

The icy liquid slowly entered his body through the syringe.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

At first, he felt nothing.

But at the instant the final drop merged into his blood—

Boom!!!

A violent life force powerful enough to burst apart mountain ranges erupted within his body like a volcano that had slumbered for a thousand years!

"Urgh—!"

Yoru let out a muffled groan as veins bulged across his forehead!

Pain!

Indescribable pain swept through his entire body in an instant!

It felt as though hundreds of millions of ants were gnawing through his bone marrow and tearing apart his meridians.

The First Hokage's cells were like a horde of savage invaders, trying to devour and assimilate the Uchiha cells already within him.

This was the most dangerous kind of genetic war!

If he won, he would ascend in a single step, yin and yang becoming one.

If he lost, he would become an unconscious tree-man, just like those failed experiments under Danzō.

"Trying to devour me? You think you're worthy?!"

Yoru gritted his teeth until they nearly shattered, and his eyes instantly turned into scarlet Mangekyo Sharingan!

The purest and most domineering Yin Release power of the Uchiha Clan erupted, violently colliding with that berserk Yang Release life force!

"Sage Mode, activate!"

With an angry roar in his heart, Yoru forcefully circulated the perfect sage technique Naruto had passed down to him.

Vast natural energy intervened in this genetic war like an elite third-party army!

If Hashirama Cells were a raging flood, then Uchiha Yin Release was an unyielding dam.

And sage chakra was the perfect adhesive!

It forcibly kneaded together those two utterly opposing powers, carrying out the deepest level of harmonization and reconstruction.

The pain intensified.

Twisted branches and shoots even began growing uncontrollably from Yoru's skin.

Yet his gaze remained absolutely clear and calm!

This body might yield, but his soul—fused with the wills of powerful beings from two eras—never would!

"Fuse... for me!!!"

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

No one knew how long passed.

When the first ray of dawn shone into the laboratory through the ventilation shaft—

The violent clash of energies finally began to subside.

The Yin Release power of the Sharingan no longer resisted.

The Yang Release power of the Hashirama Cells no longer eroded him.

Perfectly harmonized by sage chakra, the two became like intertwined yin-yang fish, achieving an ineffable balance within his body.

Perfectly blended.

Yin and yang as one.

Yoru slowly opened his eyes.

They were no longer pure black.

Within those deep pupils, stars seemed to drift and turn, containing the ultimate mysteries of life and death.

The wounds on his body and the shoots that had grown from it had long since vanished.

His skin had become smoother than that of a newborn infant, radiating a faint, jewel-like glow.

"Whew..."

Yoru slowly exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

That breath actually condensed in midair without dispersing, becoming a white stream that left a shallow dent in the alloy wall ahead.

He slowly raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist.

An unprecedented and unfathomably vast power, like a boundless ocean, surged from deep within his dantian and spread through every limb and bone.

His chakra reserves had increased by more than tenfold!

Moreover, this chakra was endlessly self-renewing, as though it had become one with the entire natural world.

He could even clearly sense that no matter how severe his injuries were, this body could repair itself in an extremely short time.

This was the greatest physique beneath the Sage of Six Paths.

The perfect union of Uchiha and Senju, of yin and yang.

Perfect Sage Body!

"It worked."

Feeling the power within him, enough to destroy heaven and earth, Yoru's lips slowly curved into an incomparably confident smile.

He raised his head, his gaze seeming to pierce through the thick layers of rock and reach the distant Leaf Village.

"The current me..."

Yoru clenched his fist, feeling the explosive strength in his muscles, and murmured softly.

"Even without Susanoo, I could tear apart a tailed beast with my bare hands."