Deep within the Land of Rivers, the massive Gelel Stone lay silently hidden within the mountains, its vast energy tightly encased by a Sealing Jutsu meticulously set by Takuno.
Gazing at this extraordinary mineral deposit that still glowed faintly within the barrier, a trace of imperceptible satisfaction flashed in Takuno's eyes.
He skillfully performed Earth Release Ninjutsu, forcibly carving out a level and spacious underground chamber within the hard rock layers of the mineral vein.
This place would become the testing ground to witness a new stage on his path of Kekkei Genkai fusion.
Out of caution, Takuno was in no hurry to immediately use the third Chimera Technique to absorb a new Kekkei Genkai.
The Gelel Stone's influence on the Chimera Technique was unknown; he needed a successful 'warm-up' to confirm it.
However, he only had one chance, as the location of the Gelel Stone made it impossible for him to bring too much over at once.
He had also been trying for a long time before, and this time was just to slightly observe the impact of the environment.
Additionally, Takuno took out a scroll, and after getting everything ready, he began his research.
The entire process proceeded with unexpected smoothness.
Takuno felt both a hint of surprise and a sense that it was only natural.
In the previously sealed, man-made experimental base environment, although fusion was eventually achieved, the sense of obstruction and sluggishness during the process could never be eliminated.
However, in this core of the earth's leyline filled with Gelel power, all obstacles seemed to melt away like ice and snow. The conduction of power became smoother than ever before, and the fusion was completed as fluidly as flowing water.
He carefully observed the fused materials.
The most direct change was none other than those black blotches that symbolized fusion flaws and power conflicts.
Their area and number were actually far scarcer than the samples produced in the laboratory.
This startling contrast made Takuno narrow his eyes.
"I see," he mused to himself, "those black blotches are rooted more in the imperfection of the Chimera Technique itself! If it could reach a state of perfection, perhaps not only could these ugly marks be eliminated, but even the heavy bandages used to hide the blotches and restrict movement would no longer be needed—"
Thinking of this, Takuno couldn't help but sigh softly.
Pursuing perfection was certainly tempting, but reality was cruel.
Researching the Chimera Technique to the point of flawlessness? He simply couldn't afford the time and energy that would require.
Completing the fusion of just this third Kekkei Genkai had already cost him over a year of his life.
For the fourth and fifth ones further down the line, the difficulty would only increase exponentially.
He estimated that even if he settled for an imperfect 'usable' form, fusing up to the fifth Kekkei Genkai would take at least another four to five years, not counting the bottlenecks he might encounter midway.
Perfection? That was more like a mirage that would extend this timeframe indefinitely.
And he didn't have that much time!
A thought sprouted in his heart: if he moved the research experimental base to this Gelel Stone and utilized its peculiar energy environment, could he significantly shorten this long research process?
However, Takuno ultimately extinguished this tempting shortcut from his mind.
If it were merely to barely use the Chimera Technique, then he could indeed choose that, but he wasn't.
Despite the time pressure and his inability to pursue true perfection, he still chose to walk the existing path as steadily as possible.
Researching here at the Gelel Stone might be much faster than in the outside world, but its own assistance also masked many problems in the experiments.
This meant that research successful at the Gelel Stone might not necessarily be usable in the outside world, whereas research successful in the outside world would definitely be completed more perfectly at the Gelel Stone!
More importantly, he knew better than anyone.
Even if he risked achieving five Kekkei Genkai fusions now, it didn't mean he would possess the power to challenge the world's peak; he wouldn't even be able to reach the secondary Beyond Kage level.
After all, the gatekeeper of the Beyond Kage level was the famous Six Paths of Pain!
Unless there was some special bonus after fusing five Kekkei Genkai, it would be impossible to get past the Six Paths of Pain.
He currently saw no qualitative bonus that fusing five Kekkei Genkai could bring.
After all, one person being able to use five Kekkei Genkai, while indeed a lot, didn't seem like that big of a deal.
With his conviction firm, Takuno no longer hesitated.
He solemnly took out the rare Wood Release Kekkei Genkai material from the scroll.
Taking a deep breath to calm his mind, his hands rapidly formed seals, and a Shadow Clone condensed beside him; it would be an important monitor and assistant for this fusion surgery.
He sat cross-legged on an unfolded large Sealing Jutsu formula scroll, palms placed in front of his chest, as the final complex hand seal steadily took shape.
"Chimera Technique!" A low and powerful shout echoed in the underground space.
In an instant, the Uzumaki and Uchiha Kekkei Genkai already fused within his body suddenly flared to life.
Two Kekkei Genkai surfaced on his body along those black blotches, while the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, prepared beforehand, turned into a thick, strangely glowing liquid energy and merged into the Kekkei Genkai power on his surface.
Then, the singular energy formed by the fusion of these three Kekkei Genkai once again poured violently into his body!
His body was instantly swallowed by unspeakable pain and an extreme sense of energy expansion.
The immense pressure brought by the fusion process even made the space itself seem to vibrate.
The newborn Wood Release power, carrying vibrant life, even affected the outside world; the space carved out by his Earth Release, which was fundamentally unsuitable for plant growth, was now covered with trees full of vitality.
The Shadow Clone beside him focused intently, not daring to slacken in the slightest.
It not only monitored the subtle changes in Takuno's main body's vital signs in real-time but also, at the moment those ominous black blotches tried to stubbornly grow and expand, guided the auxiliary Sealing Jutsu formula on the scroll to intervene precisely and suppress them.
Finally, the violent energy storm began to subside.
The Shadow Clone stared tensely at the main body's form, its eyes filled with disbelief.
The number and coverage of the black fusion blotches that finally emerged were actually far less than when the second Kekkei Genkai fusion was completed last time!
After confirming the key indicators were stable and that the original body had opened its eyes, the Shadow Clone satisfiedly dispelled itself.
As the memories flowed back, Takuno slowly opened his eyes.
Feeling the new power of the three Kekkei Genkai, Uzumaki, Uchiha, and Wood Release, flowing ceaselessly within him, he couldn't help but smile.
Then he looked down at his body and found that the information transmitted by the Shadow Clone was entirely correct; those ugly flaws had indeed been effectively suppressed to a minimum.
The corners of his mouth curled up in an uncontrollable arc.
"The Gelel Stone can actually bring such a significant effect!"
At this point, having overcome various difficulties, Takuno had finally successfully stepped onto the third stage of the Kekkei Genkai fusion path. Soon, Takuno closed his eyes to feel the special power surging within him.
He didn't master any Wood Release Ninjutsu, but in fact, some powers don't necessarily require knowing specific hand seals to be used.
His figure stood there for a long time without moving; he wasn't doing nothing, but rather familiarizing himself with that power.
After a long while, he suddenly leaned down and pressed his palm against the rocky ground.
In an instant, Chakra poured into the ground like a tide, and the entire space emitted a low hum.
Amidst the sound of rock layers splitting, countless gnarled giant trees burst from the ground, their trunks rising and stretching at a speed visible to the naked eye. Tender green buds bloomed rustlingly on the branches, and the moist scent of vegetation instantly filled the entire laboratory.
Seeing this scene, a look of satisfaction appeared in Takuno's eyes.
Even though he hadn't mastered many Wood Release Ninjutsu yet and it was just the simplest application, its power was already far greater than Yamato's.
A Kekkei Genkai is just a tool; how much power it can exert depends on the user.
And currently, possessing the Uzumaki Kekkei Genkai and having trained for a long time, his Chakra volume had become terrifyingly vast, something the Yamato from the original story couldn't compare to.
Of course, if compared to another Wood Release user, the First Hokage, Takuno was still far off.
One could say that while both Hashirama and Takuno could be considered to have Stamina 10.
The gap in Chakra between them was even larger than the gap between Takuno and Yamato!
Hashirama was just that unreasonable.
Even when Naruto had activated Kurama Mode, he was only on par with Hashirama in terms of Chakra volume!
Only after completing Sage Kurama Mode and the further Sage of Six Paths Mode did Naruto's Chakra volume surpass Hashirama's.
Although at that time, Naruto only had half of the Nine-Tails inside him.
From that, one could tell that Hashirama's Chakra volume was approximately equal to half of the Nine-Tails plus the entire Naruto's Chakra volume!
Terrifying indeed!
With this kind of Chakra volume, even without using Wood Release and only using ordinary techniques, the power would be absolutely incredible.
Just like Madara's Fire Release, its power was clearly much greater than the Fire Release of other Shinobi!
So, currently, Takuno's Wood Release power was in a state where it was better than those below but couldn't compare to those above.
However, unlike the original Yamato, whose strength had basically reached its peak and was even regressing afterward, he was still constantly improving! And he would continue to improve!
Takuno showed a slight smile, then pressed his hands on the ground once more, making all the trees created by Wood Release shrink back.
Later, he would also need to slightly explore Wood Release Ninjutsu; the techniques in his memory basically relied on the characteristics of Wood Release itself, so the difficulty wasn't that great.
After the experiment was finished, Takuno packed up this temporary laboratory and walked toward the interior of the Land of Rivers; he still had one more thing to do.
However, since there were no mirrors here, he didn't discover that his appearance seemed to be slightly younger than before.
The Shadow Clone might have seen it, but its focus had always been on the safety of the original body; after seeing that there were no problems, it disbanded and didn't notice these things either.
If Takuno knew, he would probably have a bit of a headache; becoming younger is a good thing, but also not a good thing.