Comprehensive Enhancement

In the woods by the river, Sasuke once again finished his training, panting heavily. He felt somewhat frustrated because he still had not mastered instantaneous Nature Transformation.

Even though Aoba had already emphasized that even many Jonin found it very difficult to complete this kind of training within such a short time.

Yet he still felt unwilling. For he always had a feeling that if it were that person, he would definitely be able to do it.

That was right; although Sasuke hated Itachi to the bone, he also had to admit that Itachi Uchiha was a terrifyingly formidable enemy. Ever since he was little, he had followed Itachi Uchiha and was well aware of just how terrifyingly fearsome all of this older brother's abilities were.

Thinking back now, from a very young age, Itachi Uchiha had already been fully developed in the three categories of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Moreover, every single area was at an impeccably top-tier standard.

If it were him, he would surely be able to complete this kind of training even faster, right?

Sasuke looked at his trembling right hand, once again secretly hating his own incompetence. He truly and deeply yearned to learn that ninjutsu called Lightning Release: Flash.

Aoba had once demonstrated the effects of that technique for him. Extreme high speed and piercing power. This was an impeccably fierce and powerful ninjutsu.

As long as he struck, he even believed that it was nearly impossible to dodge this ninjutsu. That indescribable, ultra-high-speed trajectory gave him hope of killing Itachi Uchiha.

It was just that this technique was simply too difficult. So difficult that he had not even entered the doorway yet.

"Hey, Sasuke, still practicing here? Tomorrow is the weekend, and I invited Shikamaru and the others to go eat grilled fish together. Right by the river, we'll catch the fish ourselves."

Naruto's voice was always so full of vitality.

In this timeline, Aoba had taught Naruto some simple ninja skills in advance, greatly boosting the other party's actual combat capability.

Other things aside, Naruto's physical stamina was astonishing. His chakra volume was something that could only be described in terms of gigachakras. As long as he learned to utilize this point even slightly, these brats at the academy would find it very difficult to defeat him in actual combat.

It was just that a poor student remained a poor student. This fellow's theoretical classes and ninjutsu were as terrible as ever, and he still couldn't learn the Three Basic Techniques.

The Konoha Ninja Academy graduation exam required the Three Basic Techniques, choosing one randomly at the time. The absurd part was that Naruto wasn't proficient in any of the three.

Following this plotline, Aoba estimated that the opening scene of Naruto would probably still be unavoidable.

Truthfully, Konoha's design in having Naruto learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique could be considered a brilliant move.

No one was more suited for this ninjutsu than Naruto. With massive chakra, he could support more clones; with thick nerves, he could withstand more mental feedback.

Without a doubt, Multiple Shadow Clone should be the result of research by Konoha's higher-ups. This showed that they still paid a great deal of attention to Naruto.

This was also the reason why Aoba rarely contacted Naruto afterward. Contacting Sasuke was still barely acceptable above board, but contacting Naruto was simply a bit too stimulating to the nerves of those old fellows.

After probing a few times, Aoba, who did not intend to completely fall out with Konoha, ultimately chose to take a step back and simply focus on grooming Sasuke.

Of course, his target from the very beginning had actually been Sasuke. After all, Naruto's style completely clashed with his own, and it was utterly impossible for Naruto to learn that set of his.

Aoba's laboratory. The fifth month after the Hashirama Cells transplantation.

"Test number forty-one begins."

Aoba once again conducted a comprehensive examination of his body.

Ever since the transplantation of the Hashirama Cells, because the fusion progress had been exceptionally slow, Aoba had not dared to lower his guard. Every few days, he would carry out a thorough checkup on his body.

However, the feedback had always been positive. His body was undergoing a comprehensive enhancement.

Muscle strength, cell activity, chakra volume—all attributes were soaring rapidly. As the official cheat item of Naruto, the effects of the Hashirama Cells were truly immediate.

Yumi and Kakashi joined forces to give Aoba a detailed examination, ultimately arriving at a conclusion.

"Aoba, according to these results, your body and the Hashirama Cells have completely fused. Furthermore, judging from the current results, your body has not shown any adverse rejection, nor any abnormal mutations. This is a flawless fusion process. How are you feeling right now?"

"Extremely well."

Aoba extended his right hand, and a mass of lightning gathered in his palm. This was the prerequisite condition for releasing Flash. Based on his previous chakra, he could only use this technique three times consecutively in total.

If he forced himself to squeeze it out, he could use it about five times.

And now, he felt that he could use it approximately... one hundred times. In other words, purely in terms of chakra volume, he had currently increased it by over twentyfold.

This was merely the test right after the fusion. In fact, along with his own continuous cultivation and extraction, his total chakra volume would continue to rise, and it was estimated that it would eventually stop at around forty to fifty times his original amount.

How should he put it? This amount of chakra was already more than enough to handle routine battles in the Shinobi World, and even wars.

Yet for Aoba, this level was merely barely usable. That was right, it was barely usable. It was still somewhat far from the Tailed Beast-level chakra that Aoba desired.

However, this was merely the first step of his plan, and it could be considered successfully accomplished.

Moreover, aside from chakra, the changes to his physical body were the greatest.

It was no exaggeration to say that Aoba now possessed a constitution comparable to the Uzumaki. The reason he didn't say Senju was because, apart from Hashirama, the rest of the Senju clan had no one comparable.

He could feel that his raw physical strength had increased by about twofold, and his stamina had increased by more than threefold. This could also be considered a signature physical trait of the Uzumaki.

The comprehensive enhancement of strength, physique, and chakra, coupled with his Wind Release acceleration effect, meant Aoba's speed had also shot straight upward.

A more intuitive description was that if he encountered the Raikage now, he would be able to keep up with the other party's speed without entering Sage Mode, and he completely didn't need to pursue a quick victory like before.

Plentiful chakra and stamina allowed him to entangle with the Raikage for a long time. Under such a premise, if he entered Sage Mode, he would even have around a seventy percent certainty of defeating or even killing the Raikage head-on.

Without mincing words, after this surgery, Aoba had truly and genuinely become a Kage Level combatant.

The only thing that left Aoba somewhat regretful was that although he had completed the fusion of the Hashirama Cells, for some reason, he had not yet unlocked the potential for Wood Release.

Fortunately, he hadn't had any special pursuit of Wood Release in the first place, so he didn't mind it much. Kakashi, however, looked somewhat disappointed.

As a native-born Konoha person, Kakashi's sentiments toward Wood Release were obviously higher than Aoba's.

Yet Aoba quickly discovered another change in himself, and this change was even more important to Aoba than Wood Release.

For he found that after fusing with the Hashirama Cells, the affinities of his brand-new body had been basically completed.

That was right, the present Aoba simultaneously possessed all five conventional nature transformations of earth, fire, wind, water, and lightning, as well as Yang Release. The only one that remained uncompleted was Yin Release.