"Is this... a success?"
The speaker was Danzo, his voice revealing a slight tremor.
As a ninja who had witnessed the might of the god of shinobi firsthand, he understood the overwhelming power of the Wood Release.
And for that reason, he was certain that such power would suffice to support his inner ambitions.
Hearing Danzo's inquiry, Orochimaru responded slowly, "It's not yet possible to say it's a success. The current activation rate of the First Hokage's cells is only 30%. What will happen next? Who knows?"
As he said this, he injected a new cell inhibitor into the sustaining apparatus.
Watching the pale purple liquid flow through the tube into Bai Shi's body, Orochimaru licked his lips and softly said, "Come on, darling~! Let me see your limits…"
Seeing Orochimaru behave this way, Danzo frowned and said in a serious tone, "Orochimaru, I don't want him to die inexplicably, do you understand?"
As if he hadn't caught the warning in Danzo's words, Orochimaru casually replied, "You don't need to worry about the experiment."
With that, he moved directly toward the next experimental subject.
Danzo snorted coldly at Orochimaru's back before following him.
Over the past month, there had been a pattern of one experimental subject losing control every two to three days, and now only twenty-seven subjects remained.
Thus, it didn't take long for Orochimaru to complete his checks and inject the new cell inhibitors into all the subjects.
After finishing these tasks, he left the experimental area alongside Danzo.
Unlike before, Bai Shi did not awaken immediately. Instead, he stirred and opened his eyes a few hours later.
Taking a look around the empty experimental area, he let out a long sigh of relief.
Ever since he attracted the special attention of Orochimaru and Danzo, he no longer dared to pretend to be asleep in front of them. Instead, he calculated the timing carefully and evolved in advance.
This way, once his energy was exhausted, he automatically fell into a sleep state, avoiding the risk of exposure.
Returning his thoughts to the present, Bai Shi sensed the Hashirama cells in his body.
As he had anticipated, their activity had indeed increased.
"System, display my status."
With a thought, the familiar panel immediately appeared:
[Host: Bai Shi
Age: 2 / 59 ↑
---- Basic Attributes ----
Strength: 0.8 ↑
Agility: 0.7 ↑
Constitution: 1.5 ↑
Intelligence: 1.1 ↑ (3.0)
---- Special Enhancements ----
Cell Adaptability: II (10.1%) ↑
Chakra Affinity: Water: II (30.5%) ↑ Earth: II (31.1%) ↑
Wood Release: II (10.3%) ↑
---- Abnormal States ----
Warning 1: Unknown drug effect ongoing, foreign cell activity reduced by 60%, expected duration: 9 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes, 15 seconds!
Warning 2: Foreign cell erosion ongoing (24.9%), expected loss of control time: 921 days, 11 hours, 17 minutes, 51 seconds!
Warning 3: Foreign cell fusion ongoing (61.8%), expected time needed: 72 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes, 20 seconds!]
Due to the rising activity of the Hashirama cells over the past two months, the progress of cell fusion had been slightly slower than anticipated, reaching only 61.8%.
With the new injection of inhibitors, the activity of Hashirama's cells had risen yet again, indicating that the speed of fusion would likely decrease further.
This was evident in the system's calculated times; if he had continued with the previous inhibitor, it would have taken no more than a month to complete fusion, but now it required over seventy days.
However, this was not a concern.
Now, with the Hashirama cells at only 40% activity, they couldn't possibly cause him to lose control in the short term.
Without any worries, this was indeed a stable environment for development.
Glancing at the steadily rising attributes on his panel, Bai Shi focused his thoughts and initiated a new round of evolution.
As for the direction of his enhancements, it remained in [Cell Adaptability].
With each complete positive cycle, the rate of improvement in his [Cell Adaptability] increased rapidly.
Initially, when he first ascended to level II, it took eight days to increase by 0.2%, but now he was gaining about 0.3% each day.
Considering this rate of growth, Bai Shi estimated that he would reach level III in about three months, bringing him to a new transformation.
By then, not only could he handle the 40% active Hashirama cells, but even if they were at 100% activity, his body would be able to accept and adapt to them.
Once he fully fused with Hashirama's cells, all that would remain was to catch up with the first Hokage in terms of combat experience, ninjutsu, and chakra volume.
Among these, the chakra volume could increase as he aged.
As for the other two aspects, he believed Danzo would be more than willing to provide assistance.
······
In the dim experimental area, time flowed quietly by; apart from the decreasing number of experimental subjects, there were no changes.
Two months later, Orochimaru once again replaced the cell inhibitor. This time, the inhibitor could only suppress Hashirama's cells by 50%.
There was no doubt that this represented a watershed; subjects with insufficient fusion rates quickly lost control.
Conversely, if they managed to get through this round, they would not only be able to achieve complete fusion with Hashirama's cells, but they would also be less likely to lose control thereafter.
In his previous life, Yamato barely survived this stage but lacked subsequent enhancements, rendering his potential inadequate. As a result, his Wood Release was significantly weaker than Hashirama's, giving off a lifeless vibe.
But this time was different. Thanks to Bai Shi's presence, Orochimaru did not hastily declare the experiment a failure, which drew special attention to Yamato as a fortunate survivor.
Thus, both he and Yamato had become the last two remaining subjects in that experimental area.
······
Time quickly advanced to the eighth month of the experiment, one month after replacing the "50% activity" cell inhibitor.
Just as Bai Shi had anticipated, in the three months that passed, his Cell Adaptability once again underwent a transformation.
Just waking from evolution, Bai Shi opened the panel, and familiar text immediately surfaced before his eyes:
[Host: Bai Shi
Age: 2 / 60 ↑
---- Basic Attributes ----
Strength: 1.1 ↑
Agility: 1.2 ↑
Constitution: 2.1 ↑
Intelligence: 2.4 ↑ (3.0)
---- Special Enhancements ----
Cell Adaptability: III (0.1%) ↑
Chakra Affinity: Water: III (64.1%) ↑ Earth: III (64.8%) ↑
Wood Release: III (42.5%) ↑
---- Abnormal States ----
Warning 1: Unknown drug effect ongoing, foreign cell activity reduced by 50%, expected duration: 3 hours, 22 minutes, 41 seconds!
Warning 2: Foreign cell erosion ongoing (10.4%), expected loss of control time: ∞!
Warning 3: Foreign cell fusion ongoing (91.6%), expected time needed: 1 day, 5 hours, 26 minutes, 31 seconds!]
Watching the infinite loss of control time displayed, Bai Shi felt completely at ease.
At that moment, he felt an unprecedented lightness, as if a tremendous weight had finally lifted from his heart.
From now on, he no longer needed to worry about losing control.
The III-level [Cell Adaptability] was far superior to level II; had it not been for the fact that Orochimaru had just injected him with a dose of Hashirama cell extract yesterday, his cells would have likely eliminated the Hashirama cells from his body by now.
Even so, just one day's time had reduced the erosion from Hashirama's cells to 10.4%.
At this rate, if Orochimaru did not administer another dose of Hashirama cell extract today, it wouldn't be long before the Hashirama cells within him would be completely gone.
However, this was not necessarily a cause for celebration.
The reason was simple: so far, the Hashirama cells he had fused with were all diminished variants, thanks to the special inhibitors crafted by Orochimaru, which had destroyed some of their activity.
In other words, these Hashirama cells were subpar versions.
Thus, without further intervention, his Wood Release ability might end up being like Yamato's in his former life, only capable of "real estate development".
While it was true that he could gradually enhance his [Wood Release] through active evolution in the future, if he could gain it for free now, why bother to exert that effort?
Just as Bai Shi was contemplating this, the door to the experimental area was suddenly pushed open, and Orochimaru and Danzo walked in.
---
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*Thank you*