You Think It's Expensive? I Think It's Expensive Too!

Minato Namikaze quickly came to his senses and praised him sincerely. "As expected of Senior Hiruko. That's incredible!"

Minato Namikaze immediately thought of his pregnant wife.

If she had the power of Wood Release, then the day she gave birth would surely go much more smoothly.

With that thought, Minato Namikaze's admiration for Hiruko deepened even further.

As for Hiruko, he probably did not have any particular thoughts about it.

Otherwise, he would not have given up competing with Minato Namikaze for the position of Hokage. After all, quite a number of people in Konoha supported Hiruko!

And Hiruko himself was quite fond of Minato Namikaze.

He turned and walked to a hidden compartment in the laboratory, lightly pressing a button. A perfectly square, silver-white little box slowly rose up.

After opening the small box, Hiruko took one of the two emerald-green vials inside and handed it to Minato Namikaze.

"This is a drug I developed with Hashirama Cells as the primary material. After countless rounds of weakening and adjustments, it can allow jōnin-level ninja to awaken Wood Release," Hiruko explained.

"However, even after I weakened its power, not everyone can endure it.

"Below jōnin level, the risk of death is simply too high.

"Furthermore, based on my research, the more vigorous one's vitality and the stronger one's spiritual power, the higher the chance of awakening Wood Release with this drug. At the same time, the resulting Wood Release will be more powerful.

"The Senju Clan, Uzumaki Clan, Uchiha Clan, and Hyuga Clan have the best results."

"Even clans such as the Ino–Shika–Cho, as well as you, Minato, your disciple Kakashi, and his friend Might Guy, all have quite decent success rates," Hiruko said calmly.

However, Hiruko truly could not praise the power of these Wood Releases. Their performance had been genuinely disappointing.

Of course, Wood Release's special ability to absorb chakra was rather unique. It looked quite interesting, and there was definitely some connection between Wood Release and the God Tree's power.

Unfortunately, for ordinary people, this drug was not particularly useful. It was practically meaningless.

If their life force was insufficient and their chakra reserves had not reached the level of a tailed beast, then even ordinary Wood Release at Captain Yamato's level was already the limit for normal people.

Under ordinary circumstances, being able to create a Four-Pillar House was already impressive, let alone using it to fight tailed beasts. That was simply wishful thinking.

Hashirama Senju was so powerful because he was the sole special mutant among all generations of the Senju Clan.

He was a one-of-a-kind powerhouse, an Asura who could suppress Indra from beginning to end without relying on any tailed beast.

He could be called an atavistic humanoid miniature God Tree, possessing incomparable power. He had perfectly inherited the God Tree's chakra-absorbing trait.

Moreover, Hashirama Senju had mastered the ultimate Yang Release. With Asura's chakra possessing him, he could even enter Sage Mode instantly, absorb natural energy for his own use, and multiply the power of his Wood Release.

Even if ordinary people possessed Wood Release, they would find it difficult to ever catch up to him. They could never reach Hashirama Senju's height.

In the bloodline-supremacist world of ninja, this rule had never had an exception.

In this world, the closer one's bloodline was to Kaguya, the stronger one's power would be. This was an ironclad law beyond doubt.

That was why Hiruko was so obsessed with perfecting his technique, so that he could seize Kaguya's power when the time came.

Hearing this, Minato's thoughts became somewhat tangled. If that's the case, won't Wood Release flood Konoha?

Hiruko looked at Minato Namikaze and casually said, "Minato, that'll be one hundred million ryō."

"Ah! Senior Hiruko, isn't that far too expensive?"

"You think it's expensive? I think it's expensive too!"

Hiruko rolled his eyes at him irritably. "This is the power of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage!"

"With the power of Wood Release, Kushina will be able to suppress the Nine-Tails' power more effectively.

"At the same time, the power of Wood Release is linked to the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline. The fetus Kushina is carrying will benefit from it as well.

"In the future, he will surely possess extremely vigorous vitality. There is even a certain chance that he will be born with the miraculous power of Wood Release."

After hearing this, Minato Namikaze immediately decided to accept. Parents who loved their children planned deeply for their future.

If it could benefit Naruto before he was even born, then such an exorbitant price was not entirely unacceptable.

However, this also made Minato Namikaze less worried about Wood Release spreading throughout Konoha. At such a high price, ordinary people simply could not afford it.

After saying that, Hiruko stretched out his hand and looked at Minato with a beaming smile.

"Alright, Senior Hiruko. I'll transfer the money in a few days!"

Minato could not help finding it strange, so he asked, "Senior Hiruko, how did you know Kushina was already pregnant?"

"If I remember correctly, the elders did not allow anyone else to know about it, and Kushina has not announced it publicly either."

Indeed, Kushina's pregnancy was not an extremely closely guarded secret, but neither was it something everyone knew.

Hiruko rarely interacted with the outside world. He spent all day buried in the laboratory, focused on his research. How exactly had he learned of this?

Hiruko gave a light laugh and answered, "I guessed."

Hearing that, Minato looked at Hiruko helplessly. He can actually say something like that to fool a child?

Clearly, Hiruko had his own intelligence sources and channels.

However, Minato Namikaze did not pay too much attention to the matter.

Before this, Hiruko had already made plans to leave Konoha Village when the night of the Nine-Tails arrived, taking the opportunity to travel the ninja world and gather more research materials.

He looked forward to the day of the annular solar eclipse, when he could use these artificial bodies possessing bloodline limits to activate the Chimera Technique atop Mount Sumeru.

Then, in a single leap, he would become the legendary ultimate life-form, immortal and indestructible.

The Chimera Technique was a strange technique that fused biological genetic modification technology, the principles of devouring and fusion, and numerous mystical rituals.

Its core lay not only in genetic modification methods worthy of a mad scientist, but also incorporated elements of Western magical rites and Huaxia religious ceremonies.

The theories of heaven, earth, and man; yin and yang and the five elements; as well as certain astrological concepts had all been ingeniously woven into it, forming a hodgepodge where science and mysticism intertwined.

Yet in Hiruko's eyes, the Chimera Technique appeared complicated and disorderly, with an extremely slim chance of success.

He had no idea how Hiruko in the original story had managed to complete it. After all, that Hiruko's scientific knowledge was nowhere near the current Hiruko's.

The proper time had to be an annular solar eclipse for its power to manifest, while the ritual site had to be Mount Sumeru, unique to the ninja world.

As for the people required for the ritual, there was not much restriction on the five bloodline limit candidates. Whatever abilities one wanted could be adjusted accordingly.

As long as the five elements were compatible and the final ritual requirements of yin, yang, and the five elements were fulfilled, one could obtain that legendary immortal life.

Still, Hiruko had always harbored doubts about such a transcendent technique that allowed one to ascend in a single leap.

He had somehow picked this thing up at the Konoha Academy while learning ninjutsu. Just who had sent this thing to him?