The Future Was Already Chaos

Performing a transplant on himself carried risks. But Aoba understood that transplanting Hashirama Cells could never guarantee a one-hundred-percent success rate.

He had already gathered the three necessary conditions: Hashirama Cells, White Zetsu Cells, and Natural Energy as a balancing agent.

For him, Natural Energy served a somewhat similar function to the Sharingan.

Danzo also had Hashirama Cells in his body. But his transplant could actually be considered a failure. He had merely transplanted ten Three-Tomoe Sharingan into his arm, barely managing to suppress the Hashirama Cells in his right hand.

In Aoba's view, Danzo's approach was far too crude.

Hashirama Cells and the Sharingan represented Yang Release and Yin Release respectively. Their proper relationship should have been the convergence of Yin and Yang, mutually generating and restraining each other.

But that bastard Danzo only knew how to force things. Unable to withstand the Hashirama Cells, he forcibly suppressed them with the Yin Release power of the Sharingan. That left only mutual restraint between Yin and Yang, with no mutual generation. It was truly an inferior path.

Aoba did not have the Sharingan. But he had White Zetsu, a special fusion agent capable of neutralizing the erosion of Hashirama Cells. At the same time, he had previously discovered by accident that Natural Energy could also produce a neutralizing effect during the fusion process.

That discovery was actually the greatest gain from the entire experiment.

Danzo had failed to discover it for so many years because too few people in this world could control Natural Energy. Root probably did not have even one.

In fact, based on this discovery, Aoba had deduced quite a few things. Orochimaru's various human experiments had become increasingly outrageous in his later years. It was highly likely because of Jugo.

Jugo possessed an innately incomplete Sage Body. But regardless, it involved Natural Energy. That was probably why Orochimaru's biological experiments had always succeeded. Natural Energy seemed to possess some special effect, acting as an adhesive when different biological systems fused.

Aoba classified this discovery as top-level intelligence. It coincided perfectly with a secret deduction he had made long ago. But for now, neither his technology nor his strength could reach those fundamental truths. So he could only seal it away for the time being and restart the research when the opportunity arose.

Watching Aoba's back writhe, Kakashi still found it hard to believe.

"How exactly did you do it?"

"It's complicated. Put simply, you can understand it as my having mastered a method for transplanting First Hokage Cells. The success rate is around fifty percent."

That fifty percent referred to the odds without Natural Energy. Aoba did not want to expose that secret yet. Besides, without personally mastering Natural Energy, relying on external assistance during the fusion process would be useless. Outsiders could not precisely grasp the condition of the transplant recipient's body.

Therefore, to use Natural Energy for neutralization, one had to master Sage Mode personally. If he did, the success rate could reach around seventy to eighty percent.

What Aoba had not expected was that the fusion process would be far slower than he had imagined. According to the descriptions in the original story, whether it was erosion or fusion, both should have happened extremely quickly.

But for him, the fusion had become incomparably slow. Still, that was not necessarily a bad thing. After all, he remembered that even Madara Uchiha, after directly fusing with Hashirama Cells, had developed Hashirama's face on his chest.

That showed there had to be flaws in that kind of rapid fusion.

In contrast, Aoba's slow fusion should mean that his body was thoroughly absorbing and assimilating the Hashirama Cells. It would combine the strengths of both and reconstruct an entirely new body.

That was also why Aoba had stayed cooped up at home. The process was not only slow, but throughout it, he could barely mobilize his chakra.

That was right. All the chakra in his body was participating in this qualitative transformation. That also meant that before the fusion was complete, he could not use ninjutsu.

Of course, he could still use taijutsu. In fact, he could already feel his physical abilities improving. High-intensity exercise was also beneficial for accelerating the fusion, so he had been training like mad these past few days.

"So this is your secret. You independently completed the First Hokage's cell transplant. What can it give you? Wood Release?"

Why transplant Hashirama Cells? Naturally, it was for Wood Release. That had been Konoha's reason for launching human experiments back then.

"Heh. Kakashi, believe it or not, I don't actually yearn for Wood Release that much. What I truly desire is the First Hokage's powerful regenerative ability and chakra reserves vast enough to rival a Tailed Beast. Those are the things I lack.

"As for combat methods, I am confident that mine will not be inferior to any ninjutsu."

"So you conducted such an experiment just to increase your strength? Nothing more?"

Kakashi found it hard to believe. Experimenting on himself and transplanting First Hokage Cells, all just to become stronger? Aoba did not seem like the sort of person who would become hysterical over power.

"That's right. The basic idea is to become stronger. But why I want to become stronger is the real key."

Kakashi's spirits lifted. He had a feeling that the coming conversation was the true crux.

"Who do you want to deal with? The Third Hokage?" Kakashi knew Aoba disliked the Third Hokage.

"Heh, forgive my bluntness, but the Third Hokage is not worthy of such planning from me. The enemy I want to deal with is ten, even a hundred times more dangerous than him."

"Impossible. How could the Shinobi World contain such a powerful existence? Even though the Third Hokage is old now, his strength is still absolutely not to be underestimated. How could..."

"That only proves you understand too little about this world, Kakashi. This Shinobi World is far more complicated and far more dangerous than you imagine. The enemy I foresee is far more terrifying than any so-called Kage."

Aoba had one doubt: Konoha's higher-ups had not actually questioned him about Sage Mode.

That left only one possibility: Jiraiya had not reported the matter. At the time, Jiraiya should have been the only person present capable of sensing Natural Energy. If he did not report it, then naturally no one else would know.

What puzzled Aoba was that he had expected Jiraiya to contact him privately and talk to him about something.

But in reality, after the Cloud Shinobi incident, Jiraiya had vanished without a trace. He had not returned to the village, had not reported Aoba's Sage Mode, and had not contacted Aoba. It was as though nothing had happened.

That was what confused Aoba the most.

Meanwhile, at Mount Myoboku, one of the Three Great Sage Regions, Jiraiya sat before the Great Toad Sage, preparing to hear a brand-new prophecy.

But what the Great Toad Sage said was difficult for him to accept.

"The future has become a mass of chaos. I can no longer see the future."