"In theory, it should work."
While her clone was explaining, Konome Taketori had already skimmed through the transferred memories and grasped the essentials.
Staring at the newly defined microscopic chakra particles born from Water and Earth, and the Yang link in the middle, she felt as if she had spent countless nights studying Wood Release herself. She could casually recite the ratio and structure like it was second nature.
"Water : Earth : Yang equals 3 : 6 : 2. The structure is pyramid-like. Yang Release is the central node. Three branches extend downward to connect Water Release. Then from each Water particle, Yang Release splits into two more branches, stretching outward to link six Earth Release particles.
It… doesn't seem that hard."
Konome frowned, confused.
"If Wood Release is assembled so simply, why didn't Hashirama Senju teach the ratio to the Senju Clan? Even if not everyone could awaken it, just knowing the key structural proportions should massively increase the number of Wood Release users."
The Yang Release clone shook her head lightly.
"Hashirama Senju's Wood Release awakened naturally. He probably never knew the exact proportions.
And this ratio is only approximate. You can't pin it down to two decimal places. In reality, everyone's chakra quality differs. Their baseline nature transformations differ too. When fusing, there are always tiny deviations.
No Kekkei Genkai has a perfectly identical ratio. And since ordinary people can't observe or control chakra at the microscopic level, the only way is to run countless ratio experiments and gamble on luck."
"No wonder naturally fusing a Kekkei Genkai is so difficult," Konome murmured.
Without the Byakugan's microscopic perception, she could never have analyzed Wood Release chakra to this extent. And if you couldn't see the actual structure, you'd never realize Yang Release was needed as the binding link.
If you just mashed Water and Earth together blindly, the end result would be nothing but a slurry of mud.
Even if someone guessed they needed Yin or Yang as an intermediary, chakra use was dynamic and macroscopic by nature. Without luck on their side, they might never stumble across the perfect ratio in their entire lifetime.
Kekkei Genkai didn't appear by accident. It took a brilliant mind and relentless effort, and then finding that ultimate chakra proportion through endless experimentation, before a true Kekkei Genkai could finally be fused.
And by then, many people were already worn out. The dazzling prodigy of youth became a dying old man. In the end, all they could do was carve the information of that Kekkei Genkai ratio into their chakra seed and pass it to the next generation.
Assuming they could still have children by that point.
"It's not just natural fusion that's difficult," the Yang Release clone continued. "I studied Tsubaki-hime's chakra and found that inheritance is just as brutally hard."
"Oh?" Konome's interest sharpened.
The memories in her head covered roughly half a year of research. She had only extracted the key points so far, and there was still plenty she needed to digest slowly.
The Yang Release clone waved at several Shadow Clones who were busy with other work. Two of them walked over holding glass bottles.
They were ordinary lab bottles, but inside were two chunks of flesh infused with chakra. One was clearly Hashirama's cells. The chakra signature of the other was also familiar.
Konome examined it for a moment.
"You sliced up Tsubaki-hime?"
"No," the clone said flatly. "I just extracted a bit of her flesh to preserve the chakra. That's not the point. Look at these two chakra samples. What do you feel?"
Konome activated her Byakugan and studied them carefully. At first she didn't see anything special, but then the memory fragments she hadn't fully processed surged up and answered her.
"Their chakra wave patterns are extremely similar!"
"Exactly."
The Yang Release clone snapped her fingers.
"Out of curiosity, I mapped Hashirama's chakra wave pattern. And I found it looked very similar to Tsubaki-hime's.
Then I specifically studied ninja subjects with blood relations. Sure enough, shinobi from the same clan have chakra wave patterns with similar traits.
Remember what I said earlier? Everyone's chakra is different, which changes the fusion ratio. So even if you know someone else's Kekkei Genkai formula, it's hard to replicate.
But within a clan, chakra wave patterns are similar. The more similar the chakra, the more similar the Kekkei Genkai ratio should be.
A Kekkei Genkai, at its core, is descendants inheriting an ancestor's chakra seed. Their chakra wave pattern becomes similar, or nearly identical, to the ancestor's. That allows them to use the optimal ratio the ancestor discovered through experimentation."
The clone's explanation looped around a bit, but Konome understood the conclusion.
If descendants were similar enough to their ancestors in chakra, they could directly use the special fusion ratio engraved into the chakra seed.
If the descendant's chakra differed too much, the ratio no longer worked. What you saw outwardly was simple: they failed to inherit the Kekkei Genkai.
That was why bloodline clans demanded purity.
The purer the lineage, the more similar the chakra wave pattern to the founding ancestor, sometimes even identical. That meant you could effortlessly use the fusion ratio passed down from your predecessors and inherit their accumulated wisdom.
Hashirama Senju was strong because his chakra wave pattern was closest to the progenitor, Asura.
Naruto was strong for the same reason, but he hadn't inherited Water and Earth affinity. Even if his chakra wave matched, he still couldn't activate Wood Release.
"So next, we just brute-force the possibilities until we find my ratio, right?" Konome asked, looking at her Yang Release clone.
These results were genuinely exciting. Compared to slamming your head into a wall blindly, having a pattern to follow meant the odds were far better.
"No."
The Yang Release clone shook her head again. Then she stepped up, placed both hands on Konome's shoulders, paused for a heartbeat, and suddenly smiled.
"I've already made Wood Release chakra."
"Really?"
Konome's eyes widened. She urgently searched her mind, only to find there were no memories about a completed Wood Release formula at all.
"Don't bother looking," the clone said with a mischievous grin. "I didn't transfer that part. Consider it a surprise."
Konome was shocked and thrilled at the same time.
Ever since the Yang Release clone finished parsing Kotoamatsukami, she'd been researching Wood Release in Root for years. Three whole years had passed in a blink. Konome had assumed Wood Release fusion would remain a theory for a long time yet.
But the clone had secretly produced a finished result.
"Lucky?" the clone corrected, clicking her tongue. "Don't insult me.
For three years straight, I studied ratios daily. I had massive Shadow Clone support for trial and error, plus the Byakugan's microscopic insight. That's why I succeeded in fusing Wood Release.
I've practically tested every viable possibility. If you convert that workload, an ordinary person couldn't reproduce it in an entire lifetime."
"Call it luck or skill, I don't care," Konome said, cutting her off. "Where's my Wood Release?"
She had no patience left for word games.
She wanted to feel the power of Wood Release with her own body.
"Kekkei Genkai automatically reshape the chakra seed," the clone said. "My chakra seed is only your projection, so it can't undergo that reshaping. If I recklessly transfer the chakra to you, it might be dangerous. That's why I called you here.
So…"
Purple chakra light rose between the clone's hands.
"Are you ready to receive your first attribute fusion?"
"Of course."
The crimson barrier around Konome shattered instantly, and an endless purple ocean erupted with blinding brilliance.
As she spoke, Konome removed the sealing layer on her body. Her terrifying physique and chakra unfurled without restraint.
A soundless gust seemed to sweep through the chamber.
The Yang Release clone narrowed her eyes. It felt like watching a tiger through glass in a zoo, only to realize the glass had vanished without warning.
Heat poured from Konome with every breath. And along with it came a creeping terror, something even a Shadow Clone couldn't completely suppress.
No one knew what kind of power it was.
Konome carried too many things, too many overlapping foundations. There was no system panel to label anything. Even she couldn't always say what came from where.
That heart-stopping aura spread through the underground room.
The other clones instinctively stepped back, putting distance between themselves and the unrestrained main body.
Fortunately, there were no outsiders here. Otherwise, they would already be collapsing in fear, helpless and humiliated.
Scrape, scrape.
Samehada lay on the ground, trembling violently. Its spikes rasped against the stone like a squealing brush. Even the Senju Tree sealed inside its glass column swayed slightly, as if protesting.
The Yang Release clone had no time to deal with them.
Her Byakugan pierced through Konome's soft, human-like disguise and stared straight into the inside.
Thread-thin blood vessels and chakra pathways intertwined into countless sealing-script patterns wrapped around her skeleton. Only a final layer of pale dead-ash bone membrane clung to the surface, barely shielding the monstrous muscle beneath.
Her enormous heart, dense with blood vessels, expanded and contracted with slow brutality. Just looking at it felt suffocating. Chakra thicker than the lightning plasma pool flowed out of that heart in steady, crushing tides.
Scalding blood surged through her body with every beat. Simply sitting in front of her, the clone could feel the heat hitting her face.
That was not a body a human should have.
Even the Ōtsutsuki might not have a physique like this.
Her "body control" ability came from the mutated Byakugan and the Shikotsumyaku working together. The absurd weight of flesh and bone came partly from Shikotsumyaku and her grey eyes, but mostly from the exotic Sage Body she had developed herself.
This was a monster built from countless powers stacked together. Not something any single ability could create.
And now…
The Yang Release clone's eyes burned with excitement.
Once she injected her perfected chakra formula into the main body, Konome would gain another highest-tier bloodline, separate from Byakugan, Shikotsumyaku, Sharingan, and Sage Body.
A fifth bloodline.
"Begin," Konome said.
Her bloodflow accelerated. Steam even rose faintly from her mouth.
The flesh-and-seal patterns were not only meant to keep others from being harmed by her. They also kept her body in a low-frequency state. Otherwise, just maintaining her muscle would consume an absurd amount of energy every day.
If you converted that energy into food, she would need to fully digest two bulls daily, and that was with no combat at all.
If she hadn't drained the Death Forest of its life, she couldn't sustain this kind of baseline consumption. She would have no choice but to let her muscles decompose back down, returning to her former weaker state.
That was an outcome Konome refused to accept.
Once you'd tasted the security of a superhuman body like this, the reassurance outweighed any inconvenience. For this incomparable power, even if she eventually lost her human shape entirely, she would still accept it.
The Yang Release clone nodded cautiously, raised both hands, and gathered brown-yellow Earth and clear Water into her palms.
Then she slammed her palms together.
A dot of vivid green Yang Release chakra slowly manifested between Water and Earth, as if drawn from nothingness.
Konome's gaze sharpened.
This was the first time she had ever witnessed the fusion process of a Kekkei Genkai with her own eyes.
The bean-green Yang Release glowed brighter and brighter as it rose, then dropped thin threads downward to bind Water first. From there, it extended again to connect Earth, forming the same pyramid-like structure Konome had seen in memory.
And then came the real turning point.
Crack.
Without warning, it was like a seed splitting and a sprout breaking free.
The green light at the pyramid's tip seemed to inhale the water wrapped inside. The middle suddenly opened like a mouth.
Opening downward.
Strands of black roots slithered out, like snakes. They drank in moisture and crawled down the pyramid's surface, wet roots stretching longer and longer, until they stabbed into the bottom layer of "soil."
And it still wasn't over.
The roots inside the soil multiplied wildly, tearing through the hardened Earth chakra and forcing open countless seams. Then, as they threaded and crossed, they bound every piece of "soil" into a single whole.
Crack crack crack.
The green Yang core abruptly swelled. The chakra's mimicry effect activated, and it turned into a bright green seed in an instant.
The roots braced and heaved, lifting that Yang seed upward. A tender green sprout split the outer husk and swayed as it grew. In the blink of an eye, it formed a bud.
The bud bloomed.
A soft fragrance spilled into the air.
Creating life.
Watching the purple-red flower bloom in the clone's hand, Konome felt something stir in her chest. From a certain angle, this already belonged to the realm of sage power.
Yang Release inherited the tangible nature of Water and Earth and pushed it even further. From a microscopic view, this chakra plant was indistinguishable from a real plant.
The forest surrounding Konoha, the one said to be planted directly by the Senju clan through Wood Release, had remained lush and thriving to this day. Hashirama's title, "God of Shinobi," came half from his overwhelming strength.
The other half came from the awe people felt when they witnessed the power to create life.
The Yang Release clone saw the hunger in Konome's eyes. She didn't waste a second.
She seized the Wood Release chakra and drove it straight into Konome's heart.
Konome's body jerked.
Their chakra came from the same origin. This strange Wood Release chakra met no resistance, slipping straight into the chakra seed within her heart.
Buzz.
Konome's chakra seed, far larger than before, flared with light. In the thick purple glow, a single point of green appeared.
Boom. Boom.
The heartbeats echoed through the underground chamber like war drums, accelerating faster and faster.
The newborn Wood Release chakra was rewriting her chakra seed.
That sensation was shockingly similar to when she devoured a tailed beast.
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