Yamato had a flood of thoughts. The Chief, who was already mysterious enough, now seemed especially terrifying in his eyes. Wood Release experiments were forbidden secrets of the village—Konoha would never inform Sunagakure about them, nor conduct such tests here. The only explanation left was that the Chief harbored some hidden, clandestine relationship with Sunagakure.
At this moment, Yamato's first instinct was to escape.
But all he heard was a sigh, followed by the sudden appearance of a pair of Three Tomoe Sharingan in his mind—and then everything went black.
After placing Yamato into the experiment chamber, Anya activated her Sage Art power, pressing her hand against the glass container and closely monitoring Yamato's condition.
No one understood Hashirama cells better than her. During her body reconstruction phase, the Shadow Clone technique played a decisive role. The Hashirama cells within it had been decomposed using Sage Art, allowing her to study their vitality before analyzing and applying them for her own physical restoration.
In fact, back then, Anya could have easily absorbed those Hashirama cells from the clone for herself. Doing so would not only grant her control over Wood Release but also greatly shorten the time required for her physical transformation, combining the core strengths of two great bloodlines in one go.
Ultimately, however, she abandoned this tempting idea. No matter how good something might seem, if it wasn't originally yours, once a newly-formed body integrated Hashirama's Essence, while it would indeed offer rapid growth in the short term, ultimately it would become a form of imprisonment. Take Yamato himself—he had already reached the limit of his potential as a Jonin. He could never reach Hashirama's level. This was due to physical defects unrelated to effort or talent.
As the most compatible vessel for Hashirama cells, Yamato immediately began fusing with them upon entering the chamber. The more cells infiltrated his body, the more pain filled his face, and certain parts of his body started showing signs of wood-like transformation. If his internal organs became affected, death would be imminent.
Noticing this situation, Anya murmured softly, "Looks like this is all he can absorb for now. Yamato's body is still too weak—I guess I'll have to lend a hand."
Natural energy from Mount Myoboku flowed through the glass and into Yamato's body.
Yamato's body, which had stopped absorbing cells, suddenly trembled. A reddish-orange chakra enveloped him, restoring his normal skin tone where wooden features had formed, reigniting the absorption process of the Hashirama cells.
Keeping a close eye on Yamato's condition, Anya activated the Shikkotsu Forest Sage Art to gently nourish his body. So many years had passed—every single test subject before him had been wasted. Yamato was the only successful one; she couldn't afford to mess this up.
While Anya continued the experiment, Sasori grew restless.
Tenten had stopped Sasori without a word, simply staring at him intensely until he felt extremely uncomfortable—as if her eyes could speak volumes, now that she'd grown up.
Sasori thought for a moment before speaking first, "Do you know why ever since you were little, I always brought you to Sunagakure for a period of time?"
Just as Sasori was about to explain further, Tenten quickly nodded and blurted out, "I figured it out!"
"You figured it out?" Sasori asked, surprised and doubtful.
"Abduction, right?"
Tenten pouted and said, "Dad told me everything. He said you've been messing with him ever since I was little. Now that I've grown up, he's even more determined to lock me up, like some possessive old guy scared of losing his precious girl. The only reason he let me out this time was because it's a village-wide thing—the Chunin Exams."
Sasori stared in shock before gritting his teeth and saying, "Nian Nian, this guy..."
"So is it really true?" Tenten asked, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Sasori.
Sasori gave a bitter smile and nodded quietly.
Tenten's face lit up with understanding as she said, "So then, you really want me, huh?"
"Huh?" Sasori was completely lost, his face beginning to turn red. This girl—had she missed the point entirely?
"Hahaha!" Tenten laughed joyfully. "It's the first time I've seen you like this. If you like someone, just say so directly. Like me, I like you."
"But...don't you mind that I kidnapped you?"
"Why would I mind? What did you do after kidnapping me?"
"Um, feeding you milk, teaching you ninjutsu, taking you around to play, and..."
Before Sasori could finish speaking, Tenten took the initiative and hugged him tightly, saying, "From now on, don't ignore me like that again. I'll get angry, and when I'm angry, I'll ignore you too."
Holding her warmth and softness in his arms felt utterly different from handling puppets. Sasori truly understood Anya's words earlier. Indeed, if he lost Tenten and failed to cherish her properly, life would feel empty without her.
Thinking about this, a gentle smile appeared at the corner of Sasori's mouth, and the two embraced each other affectionately.
Perhaps neither Anya nor Nian Nian had anticipated that their persuasion efforts would backfire. Sasori chose to escape, while Tenten chose to face things head-on. Regardless of how things went, the current outcome was good.
Inside the experiment chamber, the original [Green Liquid] began bubbling. As more bubbles formed, the green color gradually faded. Large quantities of Hashirama's Essence poured into Yamato's body.
Although enhanced by two types of sage arts, there was still a limit to Yamato's physical endurance. Once beyond the protective range of the sage arts, excessive amounts of Hashirama's Essence would immediately begin devouring his original cells, causing permanent damage.
However, Anya was well-prepared. Activating his Hanno Sage Art internally, he stored the ingested Hashirama's Essence in the area where chakra concentrated most strongly, then froze it using Hanno energy, leaving a small opening for slow dilution.
If complete absorption wasn't possible right away, growth could occur through gradual assimilation. In time, as Yamato's power increased further, these Hashirama cells would slowly integrate into his body, becoming part of his strength.
When the [Green Liquid] inside the experiment chamber completely lightened to transparency, Anya withdrew his internal sage chakra and nodded in satisfaction. Yamato's current power had absolutely broken through the Jonin bottleneck. Although not reaching Kage-level yet, easily handling an Elite Jonin posed no problem.
Seeing that he remained unconscious, Anya left behind a scroll and departed.
Just outside the door, he encountered Sasori and Tenten walking hand-in-hand toward him, the affection between them evident on their faces.
Anya couldn't resist teasing, "Looks like you two had quite an enjoyable conversation."
Somewhat flustered, Sasori asked, "How did your experiment go? Was it successful?"
Anya nodded, speaking in a relaxed tone. "No problem. When he wakes up, hand him the village redevelopment plan we've prepared. We'll start construction based on the plans. However..."
Anya paused briefly.
Sasori quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
Anya reminded him, "After this lab, his strength in Sunagakure Village will rank just below yours, so you must keep a tight eye on him and make sure he doesn't escape."
Sasori replied confidently, "Don't worry. My spies are everywhere across the desert. Even if he leaves the village, he won't get far."
"Don't work him too hard either. Working seven days a week, from nine in the morning till nine at night, is way too tiring," Anya offered gently. "How about switching it to a 996 schedule—six days a week from nine to nine, giving him one full day off each week?"
"Fine," Sasori agreed readily.
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