Under Aoba and Kakashi's watchful eyes, a massive amount of chakra surged within Karin. A golden chain then shot out from her abdomen, wrapping around both her and Yumi.
"That's..." Kakashi was stunned by the sight before him. He had a vague recollection of that golden chain.
"It seems to be called the Adamantine Sealing Chains. It's one of the Uzumaki clan's most powerful sealing techniques. It looks like it's not just a sealing technique but might be closer to some secret art, or even a bloodline limit."
True to its name, the Adamantine Sealing Chains forcefully suppressed Yumi's physical mutation, bringing her body into a state of forced balance.
Karin seemed to realize what was happening and desperately maintained the golden chain, keeping the balance intact.
After an unknown amount of time, Karin finally couldn't hold on any longer and fainted. The chain disappeared, but strangely, Yumi's body did not continue mutating. Instead, it began to show signs of contraction.
"Impressive, she seems to have started mastering her own body. It looks like the surgery might have been successful."
Kakashi opened his mouth, wanting to argue that this wasn't exactly success, but thinking it was Yumi's struggle at death's door, he said nothing and quietly agreed.
"Remarkable."
As Yumi's body gradually returned to normal, she finally opened her eyes. When she got up, Karin slid off her.
Instinctively, Yumi reached out, and a small tree on the ground sprouted, following her gesture to support Karin.
"What is this..." Yumi looked at her hands in disbelief.
"Wood Release." Kakashi was genuinely shocked.
"It's not just any Wood Release. She didn't even use hand signs."
"That's right. But..." At present, Yamato's roots had not been exposed, meaning Kakashi was unaware that Danzo's experiment had also succeeded.
But to Kakashi, performing a legendary technique like Wood Release without hand signs was somewhat absurd.
However, Aoba was very clear—Wood Release without hand signs was the real Wood Release. After all, Hashirama Senju was the type to make things happen with just a clap of his hands.
He had a hypothesis about this situation. Perhaps it was because Yumi's body was too weak, nearing collapse. Even with the neutralizing White Zetsu cells, she was still unable to merge with Hashirama's cells because her foundation was too thin to negotiate with them.
Thus, most of her cells had been consumed by Hashirama's cells, making mutation almost inevitable.
But at this moment, Karin's Adamantine Sealing Chains forcibly suppressed the mutation.
Not only was there this external force, but Karin's cries must have also brought unimaginable mental strength.
After all, it's hard to imagine what kind of power a mother might unleash for her child.
Thus, under various coincidences and the combined effect of maternal love, Yumi completed the fusion. This also meant she was now probably the person in the world with the physique closest to Hashirama Senju.
That's why Wood Release came to her almost instinctively.
Aoba approached and took Karin into his arms.
"Don't worry, she's just exhausted. She'll be fine after some rest. You know Karin's constitution; she won't have any problems. Also, she awakened the Uzumaki clan's Adamantine Sealing Chains.
So this experience will only benefit her, not harm her. But you, Yumi, how are you feeling now?"
"I? I feel... a power beyond description flowing within me, as long as I..."
As Yumi spoke, she lightly waved her hand. Aoba's heart tightened as he suddenly thought of something.
"Don't..."
But it was already too late.
With Yumi's movement, he felt the ground shaking. Countless vines, roots, and trees surged up, wreaking havoc. The rampaging trees destroyed the ground and the surrounding walls, triggering almost all of the defensive techniques in the area simultaneously.
Countless defensive techniques were activated at once. Scorching flames covered the entire laboratory.
He picked up Yumi while Kakashi grabbed Karin and swiftly escaped the laboratory.
"Kakashi, Water Release."
Aoba shouted, and Kakashi immediately understood. He performed a Water Release technique, flooding the ground with water to prevent the underground flames from burning too intensely or spreading out, thus preventing the destruction of the upper building.
Yumi: "..."
A few minutes later, everything calmed down. At this time, several Anbu ninjas arrived around Aoba's residence.
Seeing Kakashi and Aoba, the Anbu members relaxed. These two were top elite ninjas from Konoha, so it didn't seem like there was a serious problem.
"May I ask what happened here? The sensor team detected intense chakra fluctuations."
"Ah, I'm sorry. I was just having a sparring match with Aoba, and it got a bit noisy."
Kakashi had recently left the Anbu, and most of the members were his acquaintances. As an elite ninja and a prominent Konoha figure, Anbu ninjas generally gave him face.
"I see. As long as it didn't threaten the surrounding villagers, there's no issue. However, as elite ninjas, if you really want to spar, we recommend doing it outside the village."
"Yes, that's correct. We won't make this mistake again. We're sorry for causing you to come out here."
"No need to be polite. We'll report back now."
After the Anbu left, Aoba and Kakashi returned to the house to tend to the mother and daughter.
Everything that had happened just now made his heart bleed. He had put a lot of effort into obtaining the equipment from Orochimaru and setting up this laboratory.
Now, the entire lab was reduced to ashes, with not a trace left.
The only good news was that the White Zetsu cells and Hashirama's cells had been kept in sealed scrolls, carried with him at all times.
After all, these things were too sensitive. If discovered, explaining them would be impossible.
But the entire set of equipment and vast amounts of experimental data were all reduced to ashes, which made his heart ache.
"...Aoba, I'm s..."
Yumi realized something at this moment. However, Aoba wouldn't blame her for this.
As the head of the experiment, such situations should have been within his consideration. Now that a problem had occurred, it was naturally his responsibility as the leader.
"No, you did very well, extremely well. Really, Yumi. Do you know? From now on, you can be considered one of the very few people in the world who can grasp their own fate."
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Currently on Chapter 90 - Konoha's Crush: Their Respective Missions