The primary focus of the current research in the lab was the development of biological outerwear made from Hashirama's cells. Once this biological outerwear was applied to a ninja, it could instantly provide a massive boost in combat power.
For elite ninjas, this enhancement could even elevate their strength to a Kage-level combat force.
However, precisely because of its potential, Aoba had strictly prohibited the release of this technology. For now, it remained confined to the lab, undergoing constant refinement.
Currently, in all of Konoha, only Aoba, Kakashi, Sakura, and Tsunade had cultivated their own chakra outerwear.
Even main characters like Uchiha Sasuke were not afforded such treatment.
Beyond the chakra outerwear, Aoba's other primary area of focus was the study of Sharingan ocular power.
Unfortunately, this research was something others couldn't assist him with. He could only explore it bit by bit on his own.
After successfully analyzing the ocular power of the Sharingan, his next task was to isolate and purify it.
The complete ocular power of the Sharingan was composed of three parts: Yin chakra, mental energy, and spiritual force.
Yin chakra and mental energy formed the basic ocular power. This was the type of power consumed by the one- to three-tomoe Sharingan before reaching the Mangekyō stage.
As this ocular power accumulated over time, it would eventually reach a limit.
Upon reaching this critical threshold, the ocular power, when projected through spiritual force, would undergo a qualitative transformation. This transformation gave rise to the extraordinary abilities observed in the Mangekyō Sharingan.
What Aoba aimed to do now was isolate the spiritual force, leaving only the purest ocular power.
After months of testing and analysis, he finally arrived at a conclusion or rather, a hypothesis. Since he had no point of reference, everything was based on his own exploration.
He believed that the reason Sharingan abilities varied from person to person was due to differences in individual spiritual force. This explained why the abilities manifested in the Mangekyō Sharingan were so unique.
At the same time, he theorized that the Uchiha clan, for some reason, had flaws in their spiritual force, which accounted for the weakness of going blind with excessive Mangekyō use.
The original ocular power itself was uniform and theoretically capable of being combined. However, the spiritual projections unique to each individual made this impossible.
This explained why ocular powers couldn't easily be combined.
Yet, the Mangekyō powers of closely related bloodlines could fuse. This was a point Aoba had yet to fully understand.
Still, he had a rough hypothesis.
He suspected this was related to the physical body.
Since spiritual force couldn't exist independently—and, in fact, all these powers required a physical body as a medium—the body and spiritual power must be closely intertwined. The flaws in the spiritual force he had observed likely stemmed from defects at the physical or genetic level.
The fusion of Mangekyō powers among close blood relatives might involve some subtle form of genetic or physical complementarity.
This process would repair defects in both the body and the spirit, leading to the creation of the Eternal Mangekyō.
Now, Aoba's task was to extract the spiritual force from this pair of Sharingan, leaving only the pure ocular power.
The process itself wasn't particularly complex. The challenge lay in finding a way to interfere with the spiritual force.
After months of effort and testing within mental realms, Aoba finally managed to barely mobilize his own spiritual force to suppress the spiritual force within the Sharingan.
Once this was achieved, the entire process became relatively straightforward. After all, the target was just a pair of eyes, not a complete individual.
This allowed Aoba to successfully isolate the pure ocular power.
Sealing the ocular power into a scroll, he concluded this phase of the experiment.
The reason Aoba insisted on extracting pure ocular power was to prepare for his next stage of research.
He had always harbored a theory: Kekkei Genkai were not strictly bound by bloodline factors. In theory, they could be synthesized.
For instance, Wood Release could be synthesized from Water and Earth chakra natures. It was just extraordinarily difficult, to the point that few people could accomplish it.
Aoba's theory was that if Kekkei Genkai could theoretically be synthesized, then the ocular power of the Sharingan might also be synthesized. In theory, it should just involve the combination of mental energy and Yin chakra.
He had tried before but failed. His analysis revealed that the unique spiritual force of the Uchiha clan was the obstacle.
This force was clearly impossible to synthesize. Therefore, he chose to isolate it, leaving only the purest ocular power, which he then reanalyzed and attempted to synthesize.
But Aoba soon discovered that it wasn't possible.
Even after isolating the spiritual force and precisely determining the ratio of mental energy to Yin chakra, he still couldn't synthesize ocular power.
Simply put, the mental energy and Yin chakra he possessed couldn't fuse. This wasn't like fusing two chakra natures; it was the combination of two entirely different types of energy. Attempting it revealed that fusion was entirely unfeasible.
If even the basic ocular power couldn't be synthesized, more advanced powers like the Mangekyō ocular power were even further out of reach for now.
Aoba's research hit another impasse. However, this time, he wasn't impatient. He even had a feeling that he was very close to the answer. All he needed was a sudden moment of inspiration.
Taking a break from his research, Aoba left the lab to clear his mind.
Sakura had started participating in some of the lab's projects. It was worth noting that she was now officially a Chūnin.
Although she hadn't even taken the exam, her record of treating hundreds of wounded individuals earned her the promotion.
Ninja promotions weren't based solely on exam results but on the abilities demonstrated during the exam.
With Sakura's demonstrated abilities, being promoted to Chūnin was a mere formality. Of course, no one knew that her achievements were due to the chakra outerwear.
In fact, for a medical ninja, even those with Jōnin-level duties couldn't perform hundreds of Healing Hands in a single night.
Based on her achievements, she could have been promoted directly to Special Jōnin. However, due to her age and lack of experience, Tsunade decided to proceed cautiously.
"How's the progress?" Aoba asked Sakura as he approached.
"Ah, Sensei. Progress is still slow. The high activity of the chakra outerwear heavily interferes with sealing techniques. For now, we haven't been able to use seals to alter the chakra properties within it."
Sakura's current research topic involved chakra outerwear imbued with specific elemental properties.
This was because most people, or rather, the vast majority couldn't possess all five chakra natures. For example, Sakura only had the Water nature.
The Yang chakra in the chakra outerwear was something cultivated through training and enhanced by Hashirama's cells, which allowed flexible manipulation.
For medical ninjutsu, instant release wasn't necessary, so it wasn't a major issue. But for combat ninjutsu, the gap was significant.
Aoba's goal was to use sealing techniques to impose certain alterations on the chakra outerwear, enabling it to adapt its properties.
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