However, considering the difficulty of cultivating the 'Twelve Palaces' and the need for secrecy, there were not many test subjects Shinji could actually pull in to cultivate with him.
"Haku, Karin, Yakumo, Sasuke, Neji, Kimimaro, and... Shion?"
Thinking back and forth, Shinji only thought of these few.
Subsequently, he frowned again, feeling some were not suitable.
For example, Haku had invested a lot of effort in the cultivation of 'Breathing Styles', and now he was only a paper-thin layer away from the highest realm of 'Breathing Styles', the 'Transparent World'.
Under these circumstances, disrupting his cultivation plan and making him switch to cultivating the 'Twelve Palaces' might not be a good thing.
In addition, Karin was actually not very suitable for cultivating the 'Twelve Palaces' either.
This was not to say Karin couldn't learn the 'Twelve Palaces', but with Karin's current strength, her need for the 'Twelve Palaces' was no longer high.
For taijutsu secret techniques like the 'Twelve Palaces', it wasn't the more you learned, the stronger you became.
Any kind of taijutsu, even the most basic ones, possessed the ability to develop physical potential. It was just that high-end taijutsu secret techniques were more efficient in development.
If human potential was compared to 100%.
Then Tsunade's 'Heavenly Foot of Pain' (Chakra Enhanced Strength), Might Guy's 'Eight Gates', and the Fourth Raikage's 'Lightning Release Chakra Mode', these taijutsu secret techniques, were all top-tier ones capable of developing human potential by more than 80%.
Shinji believed that his 'Twelve Palaces', because it specialized in developing human potential and with his continuous improvement, might have surpassed those top-tier taijutsu secret techniques above, reaching a development rate of over 90% for human potential.
This was basically the limit. Even if Shinji additionally cultivated 'Heavenly Foot of Pain', 'Eight Gates', or 'Lightning Release Chakra Mode', it would be difficult to have new breakthroughs.
By the same token.
Even if Tsunade, who had already mastered 'Heavenly Foot of Pain', additionally cultivated the 'Twelve Palaces', her taijutsu strength couldn't leap significantly again.
Because the human body has limits!
And Karin's situation was very special. Possessing the Sage Body of both Uzumaki and Senju clans, like the First Hokage before, she instinctively possessed 'Heavenly Foot of Pain' unknowingly. This was also the reason why she could easily resist Yakushi Kabuto's taijutsu attacks in 'Sage Mode'.
Her development of physical potential had already reached over 80%. If she additionally cultivated the 'Twelve Palaces', she could indeed improve a bit more, but the room for progress was already very limited.
For her, who mastered 'Rinnegan', 'Wood Release', Uzumaki clan's 'Sealing Jutsu', and many other means, putting precious energy into the cultivation of various dojutsu, ninjutsu, and sealing jutsu would obviously be more significant for improving strength.
Yakumo's situation was similar. Having followed Tsunade to cultivate 'Heavenly Foot of Pain', she had already mastered a very brilliant taijutsu secret technique. Turning to cultivate the very difficult 'Twelve Palaces' would have little significance!
Kimimaro was cultivating 'Eight Gates', and Neji was cultivating the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist.
Both were also very brilliant taijutsu. Relatively speaking, the Gentle Fist mainly coordinating with Byakugan was slightly less efficient in developing the body, so Neji could actually try cultivating the 'Twelve Palaces'.
It was just that currently, both Kimimaro and Neji were nourishing the 'Tenseigan', and Shinji didn't want to create side issues.
After excluding Haku, Karin, Yakumo, Neji, and Kimimaro, Shinji found that the only remaining test subjects suitable for cultivating the 'Twelve Palaces' were Sasuke and Shion.
"Sasuke's taijutsu is a system of its own, and he is also developing his own 'Chidori Current'..."
Shinji shook his head and excluded Sasuke as well.
In terms of ninjutsu and taijutsu, Sasuke was also a genius. Rather than interfering with Sasuke, it was better to let nature take its course and see what exactly Sasuke could come up with.
"Shion..."
This way, it seemed that only Shion, the Miko-sama of the Land of Demons, was left suitable to cultivate the 'Twelve Palaces' together.
On second thought, Shion's situation was actually somewhat similar to Mumei before cultivating the 'Twelve Palaces'. They both possessed extremely strong chakra but lacked guidance in taijutsu, resulting in insufficient development of their own potential and being in a state of severe imbalance in skills.
If Shion was allowed to cultivate the 'Twelve Palaces' and develop the powerful potential belonging to the Miko, maybe it could add a confidence boost for her fated duel with Mōryō later.
Hidden Leaf Anbu Building.
Leading Ryuzetsu and Chino into the building, Kakashi said: "Don't be nervous, we just collected some intelligence recently and need your assistance in analysis."
Ryuzetsu nodded, feeling vaguely uneasy in her heart.
After all, she knew very well that the Ninja Village Alliance was investigating everyone and everything related to the Akatsuki organization, and she was a member of the Akatsuki organization, so she was afraid of being investigated by the Hidden Leaf and implicating the Hidden Grass Village.
Chino was carefree, not caring at all, and even had the leisure to look around the Hidden Leaf Anbu Building.
Not long after, the three arrived at a small conference room.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, the Third Hokage, Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, as well as Yakumo, Shizune, Asuma, Kurenai Yuhi, and other village executives and Jonin were gathered in the room, studying the battlefield investigation report on the internal strife between Akatsuki's 'B' and 'D' that Jiraiya just brought back from the southern coastline.
Seeing this lineup, Ryuzetsu became more uneasy, but Chino stretched her neck and looked at the investigation report on the coastal battle on the conference table.
"Eh!?"
When seeing several battlefield pictures reconstructed by the Intelligence Division through the oral description of the patrol team Chunin captain, she couldn't help but utter a surprised sound.
Because in several pictures, there happened to be scenes of Akatsuki's 'D' swinging a blood blade dozens of meters long, slicing off a section of the high cliff on the coastline.
Tsunade looked at Chino: "Chino, you should be very familiar with this scene, right?"
Chino hurriedly asked: "What is drawn here? Why can this person manipulate blood like me?"
Jiraiya said: "These pictures are the reconstruction by the Intelligence Division of the battle scenes during the internal strife between Akatsuki's 'B' and 'D'. The person in the picture is Akatsuki's 'D'! So we also want to know very much, why can 'D' manipulate blood like you?"
"What!?"
Ryuzetsu and Chino were both startled.
They were surprised not because 'D' could manipulate blood, but because 'B' and 'D' actually had internal strife.
They knew very well that 'B' was their Hidden Grass Village leader Karin.
Thus, Ryuzetsu asked subconsciously: "Who won?"
Tsunade stared at Ryuzetsu: "Currently undetermined! But according to witnesses at the scene, 'B' should have gained the upper hand."
Realizing she lost her composure a bit, Ryuzetsu hurriedly shut her mouth.
Chino thought secretly: "Is 'D' my clansman? That's not right, never heard Leader mention it!"