In the laboratory, the pungent smell of disinfectant mixed with a faint scent of blood, making the air heavy as lead.
Takuno was currently holding his breath and focusing, mobilizing Wind and Water nature Chakra. He carefully guided them into the subject's body to begin the fusion.
He wanted to replicate the path of fusing Ice Release within Haku's body; that time, the fusion of Wind and Water attributes had been exceptionally smooth.
However, this time, with just a tentative contact, a mountain-like resistance suddenly emerged.
Wind and water clashed violently at the intersection, constantly trying to escape his mental control and hindering every step of the fusion.
Takuno's brow furrowed; he knew where the problem lay.
The subject was not a carrier of Kekkei Genkai genes. The fusion of a Kekkei Genkai is itself a transformation deep within the genes. The experience for Haku, who had already undergone this transformation, was naturally completely different.
For a non-bloodline user who has not yet transformed, every step is like dancing on a knife's edge; one could lose their life at any moment!
Even though he had experienced Ice Release within Haku's body before, he could not escape this fateful shackle.
At this moment, Takuno couldn't help but sigh. He had only guessed before, but now that the actual fusion had begun, he truly realized the difficulty of fusing a Kekkei Genkai.
Concentrating all his focus, he keenly perceived every fluctuation of the Chakra. The moment wind and water fused, if there was any sign of losing control, he would decisively stop and look for another path.
But even with such extremely cautious testing, he could not avoid all mistakes.
Suddenly, Takuno's original body snapped his eyes open, a hint of gloom in them. He failed again.
He reflected on the process just now, summarizing the reasons for failure. When two different Chakras fuse, the internal organs are torn apart by the Chakra's impact, leading to a loss of vitality and fusion failure.
A cold shadow flickered in Takuno's eyes. The cruel truth of fusing Kekkei Genkai told him once again the cost of a mistake: a single error meant the price of a severe injury!
However, he had no intention of giving up.
In the shadow of death, he used Medical Ninjutsu to stop the hemorrhaging and temporarily stabilize the condition within his body, his movements swift and indifferent.
After all, these were the fruits he had worked hard to collect in secret; once one was used up, there would be one less.
This failure also revealed another ruthless fact: fusing Kekkei Genkai was definitely not something a Shadow Clone could do on his behalf.
It required mental energy to be as tight as a harp string, needing to precisely control the minute details of the Chakra, distract himself to suppress the subject's struggling consciousness, and even more so, withstand the violent waves of energy during fusion.
The mental energy of a Shadow Clone could not bear such a mental burden.
To fuse bloodlines, he, as the original body, could only experiment step by step.
Taking a deep breath, Takuno performed the Spirit Transformation Jutsu again and began his second attempt.
Intense pain inside the body surged like needle pricks; internal organs felt crushed, and Tenketsu felt like they were being burned by fire.
But Takuno's heart remained unruffled.
Pain? That was merely a superficial itch.
He thought of the days training the Eight Gates, breaking through the body's limits time and again, moments when sweat mixed with blood soaked his clothes.
Such torture was but dust in his life.
A cold fire burned in his eyes as he whispered, "This is the price that must be paid for fusing bloodlines!"
Immediately, he initiated the collision of Wind and Water Chakra once more.
The experiment continued in silence, time and again, until all preparations were completely exhausted and he finally stopped.
Takuno stood before the lab bench, his fingertips pressing against his aching temples.
Perhaps because it wasn't his own body, he felt that fusing a Kekkei Genkai was even harder than he had imagined.
Based on this estimation, it would probably take him several months, or even longer, to truly master Ice Release.
And that was assuming no interruptions; in reality, he couldn't stay in the lab all the time to fuse Kekkei Genkai!
The reason it required so much time was that the Spirit Transformation Jutsu itself consumed quite a bit of mental energy.
Not to mention that the process of merging two Chakra natures was an extraction of mental energy.
He not only needed to experience the problems encountered during the nature merge and then wait until the next time to solve them, but he also had to use his spirit to suppress the riots caused by the fusion of the two Chakra natures.
Because of this, he had to keep himself in a relatively good state.
Otherwise, continuing in a fatigued state would only result in more mistakes and a waste of resources.
This also made it impossible for him to conduct experiments without stopping for a moment.
He could only choose to rest and recover his mental energy once it was consumed to a certain extent, but this caused the time consumed to increase dramatically!
However, if others knew that Takuno was confident in safely fusing Kekkei Genkai and yet was complaining about wasting time, they would probably want to curse him out.
To them, being able to safely fuse a Kekkei Genkai was already a godsend.
If one could safely fuse a Kekkei Genkai, even five or ten years would be absolutely worth it for many people!
Unfortunately, Takuno was different; he didn't have that much time.
His ambition was bottomless; he had to personally experience the fusion of all attributes—Wind and Water, Earth and Fire—
Only by clearly understanding the process and methods of fusion between the five Chakra natures, and figuring out all Kekkei Genkai and even Kekkei Tōtas.
Only then would he have enough confidence to more easily step toward the final Kekkei Mōra after completely mastering Yin and Yang Chakra.
While he was thinking, a Wood Clone silently delivered new fusion materials.
Takuno let out a long sigh; refining the first Kekkei Genkai was already this difficult, he really didn't know how long he'd have to wait for the chance to fuse the Kekkei Mōra.
He could only force himself to stay focused and continue with the experiments.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step; he knew he could only walk forward step by step until he achieved his ultimate goal!
Some time later, he sighed again and waved his hand, instructing Fubuki Kakuyoku to take back the remaining subjects.
Takuno noticed the decline in his Chakra control; every manipulation was not as precise as the first. Continuing would just be a waste of materials.
The experiment came to an abrupt halt, leaving the room filled with emptiness.
"It's really hard," he murmured softly, tapping his fingertips on the table.
While resting, he couldn't help but start pondering over all the combinations of Kekkei Genkai and Kekkei Tōtas he knew.
Earth Release + Water Release = Mud Release or Wood Release; Earth Release + Fire Release = Lava Release; Earth Release + Wind Release = Magnet Release; Earth Release + Lightning Release = Explosion Release? Steel Release?
Fire Release + Water Release = Boil Release; Fire Release + Wind Release = Scorch Release, Dark Release?
Fire Release + Lightning Release =?
Lightning Release + Water Release = Storm Release; Lightning Release + Wind Release = Swift Release?
Wind Release + Water Release = Ice Release; Earth Release + Wind Release + Fire Release = Dust Release; Five Natures + Yin-Yang Release = Kekkei Mōra. There are still many uncertainties among Kekkei Genkai, especially the three bloodlines fused by Hiruko, and the Explosion Release unique to Gari of the Hidden Stone.
Furthermore, among the Kekkei Tōtas that could be combined in as many as 10 ways, only Dust Release appeared in the original work.
The four-nature and five-nature fusions above it are all blank; perhaps it's truly because they cannot be balanced, leading to the inability to continue fusion.
Above that is the Kekkei Mōra formed by the fusion of seven natures!
Takuno had already calculated his path for fusing Kekkei Genkai.
Admittedly, highly potential combinations like Swift Release and Dark Release had a strong attraction for him; however, their fusion possibilities were still in the speculative stage, full of uncertainty.
Therefore, he selected Ice Release as the starting point for his fusion experiments.
This choice was not a whim; he had a unique advantage.
Thanks to Haku's Ice Release, Takuno was able to personally feel and comprehend this Ice Release formed by the perfect fusion of Wind and Water nature transformations.
This precious "experience value" was incomparable to other attribute combinations.
With Haku's existence, mastering the secret of Ice Release fusion seemed to him like a much simpler path.
Moreover, his choice of Ice Release was not just for the present; his plan was much more long-term.
Successfully fusing Ice Release for the first time would be significant not just for gaining a new power, but because it would provide experience for future bloodline fusions.
Once he overcame the first major hurdle of Ice Release and accumulated valuable experience and control techniques, the difficulty of subsequent attempts to fuse other Kekkei Genkai might be greatly reduced.
For the future, Takuno had already prepared a detailed blueprint.
Wait Ice Release fusion was successfully completed, he would immediately start experimenting with those "uncertain combinations."
He knew there was immense value in them; if he could successfully replicate the incredible speed advantage of Swift Release, and especially if he could successfully fuse the heaven-defying ability of Dark Release, it would definitely be an incalculable power.
The core value of Dark Release was particularly prominent in Takuno's eyes.
It granted the user an ability that could be called the "natural enemy of techniques."
Not only could it directly absorb Ninjutsu attacks released by opponents, but it could also exquisitely transform this absorbed energy into pure Chakra and store it within oneself.
Of course, any powerful ability has its limits; if the absorbed attack energy exceeds the user's control limit, Dark Release will fail. This was the reason Hiruko could not absorb Naruto's Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
However, Takuno had no worries about this; that was Hiruko's weakness, not his.
He even believed that with his control over Chakra, even when facing the devastatingly powerful Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, he had full confidence in absorbing and steadily controlling it!
Another core advantage of Dark Release made it surpass the simple absorption of the Rinnegan's Preta Path.
It could not only neutralize attacks but also transform and utilize them.
This gave the user the ability to "seize the blade and strike back" instantly in battle.
The original work also proved the feasibility of this point; Hiruko had once used the power of Dark Release to seize Kakashi's signature Lightning Blade and make it his own!
The tactical value of directly taking an opponent's famous ultimate technique for one's own use was a unique advantage that the Rinnegan's Preta Path could not hope to match.
Compared to Samehada, which can only absorb pure Chakra, Dark Release can directly absorb Ninjutsu and transform it into Chakra for one's own use. Compared to the Rinnegan's Preta Path, which can absorb Chakra and Ninjutsu, it can also absorb and use the opponent's Ninjutsu to counterattack!