After the ordeal, Kisame and the others looked at Zou Hyuga with lingering fear.
Zou Hyuga paid their looks no mind, mentally organizing the data he had just gathered and compiling the results.
The results differed little from the previous experiment. Kisame still showed the greatest adaptability, followed by Haku, while the other children were in an entirely different league.
This might have had something to do with both talent and kekkei genkai.
Haku had awakened the Ice Release kekkei genkai. Kisame's physique was not a kekkei genkai, yet it surpassed one.
Kisame's body possessed the same properties as Samehada, allowing him to absorb chakra to a certain extent. This was not merely useful for countering ninjutsu; it also offered some help in mastering Sage Mode.
Zou Hyuga had never expected Kisame and the others to master perfect Sage Mode. An incomplete version would be enough.
Even with the chakra he supplied and the abundant natural energy here.
Even so, Kisame still showed no sign of entering Sage Mode.
Zou Hyuga was not discouraged. If Sage Mode were that easy, wouldn't the Shinobi World be full of sages?
As far as he remembered, apart from the sages trained at the various Sacred Grounds, Jugo was the only other example.
And without Orochimaru's research, even Jugo would not have been particularly useful.
Zou Hyuga did not linger at the base near the Daimyō Mansion before returning to the Village. Though he was no longer in the ANBU, leaving too frequently would still invite unnecessary trouble.
Besides being a Konoha ninja, he was also a ninja of the Hyuga Clan, and had become something of a representative of their standing.
The representative of the other great clan was the Uchiha's elite jonin, Oto Uchiha.
Under the longstanding customs of the Hyuga and