"Kushina, it's like this..."
"Enough already, Monkey! If we keep chatting, Konohagakure will be destroyed! The Impure World Reincarnation has no time limit—there will be plenty of time to catch up after this is over!"
Tobirama's sharp rebuke cut off Sarutobi Hiruzen's words.
"Yes, Third Hokage, the Second Hokage is right. Although I have many questions, now is clearly not the time for chatting. Let's focus on the task at hand. Please give me instructions on what needs to be done."
Kushina clenched her fists as her red hair fluttering slightly.
"The four of us will use the Four Red Yang Formation to encircle this tree root. Then I'll place Flying Thunder God marks on those inside the barrier. If anything goes wrong, I'll have my shadow clones use Flying Thunder God to teleport you outside the formation instantly."
The Second Hokage explained his plan.
The living people inside the barrier—namely Nagato and Uchiha Hikari, who needed to absorb Chakra—plus Makoto.
Makoto didn't care either way, since he could always "phase through walls."
The Four Red Yang Formation couldn't stop him.
"Wait! Can that Flying Thunder God mark be removed?"
Uchiha Hikari took a step back and asked urgently, looking at Tobirama with deep suspicion.
"No, the Flying Thunder God mark is permanent. But if you don't let me place the mark, you'll definitely die if something goes wrong. Once trapped inside the Four Red Yang Formation, you'll bear the full brunt of the explosion—even Susanoo can't withstand it."
Tobirama paused briefly, then smiled faintly as he answered Hikari.... clearly enjoying her dilemma!
"I'd rather choose death."
Hikari decisively uttered the classic Uchiha mindset line.
Better dead than marked by a Senju!
In response, Tobirama wore an "I knew this would happen" expression and glanced at Makoto.
His meaning was clear: "Aren't you going to talk some sense into this brat?"
"It's fine. If anything really goes wrong, Second Hokage, just use your Soul Possession Jutsu to restrain her soul and wait for me to fix it later."
Makoto was referring to the forbidden technique from the original story where the Second Hokage restrained Sasuke's soul, keeping him in a suspended state until Kabuto could rescue him.
"Suit yourselves. Just hope she doesn't get blown to smithereens by then."
Seeing both of them shared this stubborn attitude, Tobirama didn't press further.
After placing a Flying Thunder God mark on Nagato's clothes, he signaled to the other three Kage-level ninja.
Temari and Gaara, along with Orochimaru, as unrelated parties, all moved to the periphery for safety.
"Four Red Yang Formation!"
With a unified chant, a deep crimson cubic barrier rapidly rose, sealing the area.
"Summoning: Gedo Statue!"
With a rumble, Nagato simultaneously summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
"Then, let's begin."
Makoto flew into the air and pressed his hand against the massive roots of the Dragon Vein.
As gravity reversed, the sturdy shell that even Temari's wind scythes couldn't scratch earlier instantly ruptured, tearing open a large hole.
BOOM!
Torrents of Chakra began to surge out wildly and Nagato began to formed hand signs to absorb the Dragon Vein's Chakra using the technique originally meant for sealing Tailed Beasts.
Makoto stopped Uchiha Hikari, who was also preparing to absorb it.
"There's no problem for now, hold off."
Makoto didn't deliberately control the size of the tear he made to be small.
This thing was like the Ten-Tails inserting a tuning fork into the earth, then accidentally breaking it off.
Normally, breaking it would mean the energy dissipates, but then a kind passerby (Minato) sealed this tuning fork in the earth's hardened steel, stabilizing it under pressure.
Now that it's torn open, if the tear is too small, the impact force of the jet stream would be extremely powerful.
If the tear is too large, the amount released per unit of time would be overwhelming.
So the tear couldn't be too big or too small.
However, Makoto didn't know the total amount of Chakra contained within the Dragon Vein, so he could only make an estimate.
For now, it seemed there were no issues.
"When fluctuations appear, you can help absorb then," Makoto instructed.
"Okay."
Hikari activated her Eight Thousand Spears ability, and the mark left on the Dragon Vein began pulsing, ready to draw in Chakra.
But as time passed, the Chakra outflow seemed to become increasingly violent.
"I'll help!"
Below, while maintaining the Four Red Yang Formation, Hashirama created a Wood Clone, entered Sage Mode, and pressed his palms together.
"Sage Art: Gate of the Great God!"
Several massive red Torii gates descended from the sky, embedding themselves around the tear.
Like locking rings on a pressure valve, they controlled the rate of Chakra outflow physically.
"The Chakra absorption is about done. Transfer it into the Gedo Statue for storage."
After the rate slowed and Hikari stopped absorbing, Makoto spoke.
"Okay."
Hikari didn't ask why, directly activating the Eight Thousand Spears mark left on the Gedo Statue to transfer the Chakra she had just absorbed into it.
This was the feeling of trust.
If it were an untrusting Uchiha, they would definitely start suspecting whether you were trying to help or trying to drain their power.
Makoto had good reason for doing this.
Chakra quantity was indeed important for Hikari.
As long as she had enough Chakra, she could bypass the need for an Eternal Mangekyo and awaken the Complete Body Susanoo, regardless of eye power degradation.
Moreover, having sufficient Chakra could dramatically reduce the physical toll of using ocular techniques.
It served a similar function to Hashirama Cells.
But this also brought about a problem: the body would have to withstand too much Chakra.
First, Hashirama Cells are quite miraculous. To say Hashirama was a "regressed God Tree" would be an understatement.
Obito and Madara use Hashirama Cells to enhance their control over the Ten-Tails, and transplanting Hashirama Cells could grant a bunch of super buffs.
One could only say that Otsutsuki cells aren't even that incredible; if Hashirama is a genetic throwback, it would have to be regression to the Otsutsuki God.
According to unofficial histories (fan theories), the nine Tailed Beasts originally had evenly distributed Chakra amounts.
The Sage of Six Paths didn't distribute them unevenly.
The "truth" is, after Hashirama married Mito Uzumaki he tirelessly "dual cultivating" with her day and night.
Inside Mito, the Nine-Tails acted like a greedy little cat, secretly absorbing large amounts of "Hashirama Cells" via osmosis, which allowed it to gain far more Chakra than the other Tailed Beasts combined.
However, no matter how you look at it, there's one unavoidable hurdle: Hashirama's untimely death.
It might not be accurate to call it "untimely," since he was already a grandfather by then.
But compared to the miraculous properties of Hashirama Cells and the renowned vitality and longevity of the Senju and Uzumaki clans, his death simply doesn't add up.
Explanations like "cell division has its limits" might work for ordinary people, but in the face of the extraordinary Hashirama Cells, such a thing shouldn't have happened.
Consider Uchiha Madara, who transplanted just a tiny amount of Hashirama Cells onto his body, only for it to grow into an entire face on his chest.
That isn't Hashirama Cells—it's Tomie Cells!
With such rampant division, how could there possibly be an upper limit to cell replication, leading to death once that limit is reached?
Fortunately, the novel Sasuke Retsuden offers a plot point that resolves this mystery.
In Sasuke Retsuden, Naruto contracts a strange illness that leaves him extremely weak, unable to mobilize his Chakra, and in critical condition, with death looming at any moment.
Investigations reveal that the Sage of Six Paths also once suffered from this same illness.
In both cases, the cause was the same: their bodies were overwhelmed by an excessively massive amount of Chakra, causing the body's systems to fail.
Unfortunately, unlike the Sage of Six Paths and Naruto who traveled to the Land of Redaku to find a cure, Hashirama simply... die.
To prevent such a fate for Hikari, Makoto must carefully control the amount of Chakra within her body.
After all, if she needs to use Chakra, there's always the Gedo Statue—a massive external battery bank—to rely on.
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"Tomie cells" refer to the regenerative cells of Tomie Kawakami, the central character in Junji Ito's horror manga, possessing a terrifying ability to regenerate and create new Tomies from even the smallest fragments, like a piece of skin, blood, or a transplanted organ, making her effectively immortal and leading to endless, malevolent copies.
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