chapter 9: Departure

Regaining his focus, Baishi stopped pondering irrelevant thoughts and redirected his attention to himself.

Although Orochimaru had injected him with a more active extraction of Hashirama's cells in advance, it still posed no significant pressure for him.

At this moment, he felt as if he had merely caught a cold; he only felt weak all over and didn't experience the previous excruciating pain of his body being torn apart.

He could clearly sense that his cells were continuously devouring and merging with the alien cells that had invaded his body.

As this process continued, his Wood Release and Chakra affinity were rapidly increasing.

Without a doubt, this was the result of his Cell Adaptation evolving to Level III.

Since Level III Cell Adaptation was sufficient, he decided there was no need to waste too much energy on it any longer.

Considering the potential brainwashing and control he might face from the Root organization in the future, Baishi decided to change his evolutionary focus to mental resistance.

However, he currently lacked the capacity for this, so he could only start with Intelligence, then subjectively guide himself towards evolving mental resistance.

This was the strength of the 'system' and the fundamental difference between active and passive evolution.

Passive evolution required a foundation and external stimuli to progress, whereas active evolution did not rely on these at all.

What is 'foundation attribute'?

Foundation attributes are the most basic attributes.

Starting from the four main attributes of 'Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence,' any ability can ultimately evolve from these attributes, as long as the correct guidance is provided.

And this is what Baishi intended to do.

Having made his decision, Baishi no longer wasted time, firmly set his evolutionary target, and then initiated a new round of evolution.

At this moment, the entire experimental area seemed to lose its vitality, once again falling into a dead silence.

······

Time flew by, and quickly, nearly half a year had passed.

At this time, over a year had passed since the experiment began, and Baishi was the only one left in the experimental area.

As for Yamato?

Although he survived the '50% activity' threshold, his potential was ultimately lacking, and he barely managed to withstand the '60% activity' of Hashirama's cells.

Originally, Orochimaru wanted to continue the experiments, but was stopped by Danzo.

So, for the past three months, Baishi had been the only one left here.

Today was also a special day for Baishi.

What was supposed to be a process that could be completed in just over a day was dragged out for half a year due to Orochimaru's continuous injections of Hashirama cell extract.

Today, it was finally going to be completed.

Naturally, having taken so long had its benefits.

With a thought, Baishi opened the panel, and familiar text immediately appeared before him.

[Host: Baishi

 Age: 3↑／63↑

 －－Basic Attributes－－

 Strength: 1.7↑

 Agility: 2.1↑

 Constitution: 3.7↑

 Intelligence: 4.6↑

 －－Special Enhancement－－

 Cell Adaptation: III (0.1%)    *Mental Resistance: III (81.5%)↑

 Chakra Affinity: Water: V (52.1%)↑ Earth: V (52.7%)↑

 Wood Release: V (21.4%)↑

 (Note: Items with * are newly added.)

 －－Abnormal States－－]

Firstly, he noticed that all of his abnormal states had disappeared, indicating that his body was very healthy.

Secondly, due to merging with 100% active Hashirama cells, his Wood Release had jumped from Level III (42.5%) directly to Level V (21.4%).

However, when his Wood Release ability was upgraded to Level V, he realized that he had been somewhat presumptive.

Originally, he thought that having merged with 100% active Hashirama cells meant that his Wood Release potential would be on par with that of Senju Hashirama.

However, he had not considered that even though these were 100% active Hashirama cells, they were taken from the corpse of Senju Hashirama; how could they possibly compare to his living form?

Moreover, these cells had undergone multiple cultivations and reproductions by Orochimaru, making them considerably less potent.

Baishi estimated that Hashirama's Wood Release was at least two or three levels higher than his, making the gap in potential quite evident.

Fortunately, with the assistance of the 'system,' he could bridge this gap over time, and surpassing it wouldn't be overly difficult.

After discussing Wood Release, he turned his attention to the new special enhancement—Mental Resistance.

As expected, under his guidance, this ability successfully evolved.

Moreover, its level had reached Level III and was not too far from Level IV.

The primary reason for the rapid rise in this level was the abundant energy available.

No, to be more precise, it was the ample Chakra.

Thanks to Wood Release, all his basic attributes were on the rise, especially his Constitution, which had surpassed the average value for adults, reaching 3.7.

Thus, coupled with the rapid increase in Intelligence due to active evolution, his physical and mental energy were both plentiful, resulting in abundant Chakra.

Consequently, the speed of evolution was naturally unprecedented.

Additionally, with the hidden dangers of Hashirama's cell invasion having been eliminated, and since his own cells had merged with Hashirama's cells, his previously depleted lifespan had been replenished.

Not only that, but his life expectancy also surpassed its previous limit by two years, and it was still on the rise.

Feeling the vitality within him, Baishi tightened his fists, and just as he was about to shatter the glass in front of him, he suddenly had a thought.

Thus, he relaxed his fists, extending his right index finger towards the glass. Without any visible movement, a wooden spike emerged from his fingertip and "dinged" against the glass.

Immediately afterward, a piercing cracking sound echoed as spider-web-like fractures quickly spread outward from his fingertip.

Eventually, with a series of popping sounds, the cultivation tank shattered, spilling its nutrient liquid all over the ground.

Looking at his finger, Baishi focused his thoughts, and that wooden spike retracted back. This was not a technique but simply an instinct.

"No wonder some ninjas harm their friends or family when awakening their bloodline limits; it appears to be uncontrollable! However, I don't seem to have to worry about this issue."

With this thought in mind, Baishi allowed wooden spikes to emerge from various parts of his body, precisely piercing through the connecting tubes tethered to him, completely freeing himself from confinement.

With a splat, Baishi's feet hit the ground, splashing a bit of water.

After moving his body slightly, he headed straight for the door of the experimental area. At first, his body felt a bit wobbly, but he quickly adapted.

Baishi was eager to experience the outside world and breathe in fresh air; anyone who had been locked away in such a dark and isolated place for over a year would have similar feelings.

As for whether he would face suspicion for this, he wasn't worried for two reasons: first, he could attribute it to the instinct for survival; second, he now had the capital to be somewhat willful.

He did not believe that Danzo would abandon such a potentially limitless seed over a trivial matter.

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