Sages and Learning

The Enzymes, which should originally have been colorless and transparent, now flashed with a dazzling blue glow, seemingly containing a strange energy.

"Is this Natural Energy? I never expected that even after leaving the human body, these Enzymes would remain so active and be able to absorb Natural Energy."

"Orochimaru, extract some of these Enzymes and cultivate them first. I’ll absorb the rest." Yota spoke directly to Orochimaru. After all, Orochimaru’s Cursed Seal had been improved using Jugo’s Enzymes. Yota had no intention of letting Orochimaru extract them from his own body, so he gave him a portion first and let him cultivate them himself.

Orochimaru licked the corner of his mouth, greed flashing in his eyes. Compared to his own, Yota’s extraction method was not only easier, but the Enzymes were far purer. He could hardly wait to cultivate them.

After giving Orochimaru part of the Enzymes, Yota used the power of the Munch-Munch Fruit to integrate and modify all the rest into his own body.

Almost the instant the modification was complete, Yota felt the boundless Natural Energy of the entire shinobi world constantly surging toward him. He himself seemed to become the eye of a whirlwind, endlessly absorbing this powerful synthesized energy. The Chakra within his body underwent an almost evolutionary sublimation because of it.

The Chakra within Yota’s body even surpassed Hashirama Senju’s. With every breath he took, Natural Energy rose and fell like the tides. Though Orochimaru and the others closest to him lacked the ability to sense Natural Energy, they still felt as though they were standing within a storm. The Natural Energy was simply too powerful, nearly affecting reality itself.

At last, Yota let out a long breath, and the raging Chakra in his body gradually settled. Only then did the people around him breathe a sigh of relief.

"This amount of Chakra… it’s practically no different from Grandpa’s. No, perhaps it’s even stronger." Tsunade muttered, unable to conceal the shock in her eyes.

What kind of person was Hashirama Senju? The title God of the Shinobi World said it all. At his peak, Hashirama Senju could crush everyone in the Five Great Shinobi Villages except Madara Uchiha!

Translated into the current Naruto World, that meant Yota alone could crush the entire shinobi world!

After all, Yota’s build was in no way inferior to Hashirama Senju’s—if anything, it was considerably stronger. He had Wood Release, a Sage Body, and Sage Mode, along with his own Dark Release, Haki, and an incomparably resilient body.

To put it bluntly, even if Hashirama Senju were resurrected now, Yota was still completely confident he could beat him to a pulp!

"This is truly unbelievable. The Chakra in my body has completely transformed. From the moment it is refined, it automatically merges with the Natural Energy outside and turns into Sage Chakra. There’s no need for me to absorb Natural Energy myself at all."

"Perhaps this can no longer be called Sage Mode. It should be called becoming a sage."

Feeling the changes in the Chakra within his body, Yota muttered to himself.

"In the Naruto World, aside from the Ten-Tails and the Tenseigan, there probably aren’t many things left that would be useful to me!"

Yota had originally planned to head to the Star Ninja Village to search for that meteorite from beyond the heavens, but now that he had subdued Orochimaru, he handed the task over to him.

Sara lacked experience and was kindhearted by nature, so she might not be able to handle something like this. Orochimaru, on the other hand, had done this sort of thing countless times. After hearing Yota’s words, he developed a great interest in the strange meteorite known as Star and immediately set off.

Yota told him that if he brought back Star this time, he would give Orochimaru a dual modification using Hashirama Cells and Jugo’s physique, which had the trait of absorbing Natural Energy, allowing him to become a sage as well.

It was hard to say much else, but after becoming a sage, his life force would at least be greatly extended. Just look at those Summoning Sanctums—anyone who became a sage lived for centuries, if not a thousand years.

This was completely different from Sage Mode, the ninjutsu that temporarily increased one’s power. For someone like Orochimaru, who sought immortality, it was an irresistible temptation.

Thus, after leaving behind orders for the people of the Sound Ninja Village to pledge their loyalty to Yota, Orochimaru departed for the Star Ninja Village in the Land of Bears with several subordinates.

Yota did not pay much attention to Orochimaru’s actions. Against Orochimaru, a mere Star Ninja Village had no ability to resist whatsoever. If Yota had not told Orochimaru to avoid killing people whenever possible, the entire Star Ninja Village would probably have been wiped out within days.

Yota now focused all his attention on Orochimaru’s experimental records. As the foremost expert in human modification in the entire Naruto World, Orochimaru’s materials were priceless treasures to Yota, a Munch-Munch Fruit user. They were enough to push the potential of his body to an even higher level.

In fact, bloodline fusion in the Naruto World was not much of a problem for Yota. All extraordinary bloodlines originated from the Ōtsutsuki, and the occasional exceptions came from the sage system, which could merge with the Ōtsutsuki clan. Therefore, Yota merely needed to continuously fuse more extraordinary bloodlines and regress toward the Ōtsutsuki clan.

However, developing the potential of the Pirate World was far more troublesome. Blackbeard, Yamato, Ace, Whitebeard, and a great many Devil Fruit users—each of their physiques had its own characteristics, yet they shared no bloodline connection. If he merely wanted to make do, it would not be much of a problem. Even simple stacked modifications could give Yota potential at the level of the Four Emperors.

But if he wanted to fully bring out their potential and integrate their advantages into one whole, then he needed profound knowledge of human modification. No matter how powerful the Munch-Munch Fruit’s modification ability was, if he did not even know the blueprint for the alteration himself, there was nothing he could do.

Therefore, during this period, Yota devoted nearly all his attention to the various human-modification materials Orochimaru had left behind. At the same time, he continuously made minute adjustments to his body’s structure so that it could possess even greater potential.

More than a month passed like this. Yota was so immersed in all kinds of knowledge that he could not pull himself away, and he felt that his rate of progress was no less than during the two years he had spent studying Root’s materials.

Orochimaru truly deserved to be the most outstanding human-modification genius in the Naruto World. Although he had the temperament of a mad scientist, for forbidden techniques like human modification, the crazier one was, the more likely one was to achieve results.

In a single month, Yota felt that his body’s potential had increased by at least ten percent! And this was additional potential gained after he had already possessed physical potential that ranked among the very best even at the level of the Four Emperors!