Ring ring ring!
The urgent school bell echoed through the ninja academy, and the "little radishes" scattered around the classroom reluctantly returned to their seats.
Naruto, head lowered, quickly stuffed a whole box of strawberry heart-shaped cookies into his mouth. With practiced ease, he picked out a love letter covered in food crumbs and tossed it into the plastic bag inside his desk.
These were the clever tricks of Hikari's admirers.
Realizing she only accepted food offerings and not love letters, they started sneaking notes into boxes of snacks.
This made things tough for Naruto, who loved chomping down on food.
Every time he helped Hikari clean up her snacks, he had to be extra careful. Not only did they hide love letters in the treats, but they also slipped in little gifts or toys.
Pop!
Naruto puffed out his cheeks and spat out a tiny kunai.
The kunai, no bigger than his pinky, clattered onto the desk with a metallic clink. Who in the world thought this was a good idea?
Even if Hikari was a training fanatic, who sends a weapon as a gift?
He glanced over at Hikari beside him.
She was engrossed in a thick book, occasionally scribbling incomprehensible symbols on a piece of scrap paper.
Lately, she'd been like this, supposedly studying something about curse seals.
Wasn't she supposed to be blind and unable to read, so I'd have to take notes for her?
Ugh, I got played!
Turning his frustration into appetite, Naruto quietly opened another box of snacks under the desk.
Rustle—
At the ninja academy, Hikari flipped through a book on curse seals and sealing techniques borrowed from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
To ease the strain from her ash bones, her Yang Release clone was working within the Root organization to acquire Hashirama's cells. Meanwhile, she was searching for new leads.
If she could carve a powerful sealing technique onto her ash bones in the form of a curse seal, could it temporarily suppress the bones' devouring power, buying more time for her Yang Release clone?
Her fingers tapped the pages as Hikari carefully scanned each word for a breakthrough.
Ring ring—
The bell gradually faded.
The kids quickly settled into their seats. Iruka walked in with a textbook, tapping the chalkboard with his pointer to hush the lingering chatter.
"This class is on ninja history. Turn your history books to page 43. We'll cover the start of the First Great Ninja War."
Tap tap!
Chalk scratched across the board, outlining the dull history.
"Two years after the Battle of the Valley of the End, the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, passed away. In March of that year, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, took over. The Cloud and the Leaf…"
Iruka's droning voice filled the classroom as usual. Hikari, head down, continued studying curse seals, tuning him out.
Meanwhile, at Experimental Division Base No. 3…
Even the Sage Body can develop a bloodline disease?
Hikari's brow quirked at Chihaya To's words.
The bloodline disease from her evolved Bone Pulse was already driving her up the wall, forcing her to infiltrate Root to find Hashirama's cells as a cure.
But now, from what Chihaya To was saying, Hashirama's cells seemed to have their own issues. "A bloodline disease, as the name suggests, is a condition caused by mutations in a ninja's bloodline limit," she explained.
Thinking Hikari didn't understand, Chihaya To elaborated, "It's a terminal illness that only affects ninjas with awakened bloodline limits—and not just any ninjas, but the most exceptional, with powerful bloodlines. Only those geniuses qualify for this 'elite' disease."
"Oh, by the way, someone like you is the perfect candidate for this genius disease."
To make her point clear, Chihaya To used Hikari as a humorous example.
Hikari stared at her blankly, not saying a word.
"Haha—" The awkward silence made Chihaya To laugh nervously. "Don't worry, you're not that likely to get a bloodline disease—"
"Tell me about Hashirama's cells," Hikari cut in, her voice icy, echoing in the underground lab.
Suddenly, she understood why Ryoma Aburame always seemed so grim.
"Sorry," Chihaya To apologized quickly, then continued, "I told you when I was teaching you medical ninjutsu: life force is the most invasive and dangerous power in the world.
"Too much life force can cause terrifying mutations in a patient's wounds, even altering their genes, dooming their descendants to suffering.
"Hashirama's cells have a life force so potent it's beyond 'excessive.'
"These super cells, born from uncontrollable vitality, devour energy indiscriminately—friend or foe. They destroy everything around them, endlessly expanding, dividing, and converting chakra until even they can't handle the power. The only way to release it is through Wood Release, turning the user into a giant tree.
"Cell lignification. That infinite regenerative ability vanishes, and Hashirama's body dies.
"That's the truth behind the First Hokage's death."
The underground lab fell eerily silent.
Hikari stared at the giant tree. To be killed by an uncontrollable force—such a lavish way to die.
She'd consumed the chakra of the Three-Tails and Nine-Tails, yet still felt her own chakra was lacking. She couldn't imagine what it felt like to be overwhelmed by one's own chakra.
Still, it was probably better than being drained dry by her ash bones.
The Sharingan, Bone Pulse, and Sage Body—all evolved to a certain point, they develop bloodline diseases. By comparison, the Byakugan, considered the weakest, had no reported cases of such diseases.
As the saying goes: fortune and misfortune are intertwined.
The Byakugan is hard to master, with a high ceiling and a low floor, but its stability—no weird diseases—made it a top-tier bloodline limit.
Hikari quietly grew fonder of her Byakugan.
"A power even Hashirama Senju couldn't control is even harder for others to handle," Chihaya To continued.
"And that's the reality.
"We transplanted Hashirama's cells into many people. Aside from one lucky kid, no one could withstand their erosive power."
"There's a successful case, then?" Hikari asked, recalling the original storyline.
The "lucky kid" Chihaya To mentioned was likely Yamato, the sole survivor of Orochimaru's experiments. Code-named Kinoe in Root, he was defeated by Kakashi during an assassination attempt on Hiruzen Sarutobi and later joined the Anbu. The Leaf's only Wood Release inheritor.
"That kid somehow merged his cells with Hashirama's. The new cells lacked that terrifying vitality and couldn't break human limits. He only gained the Wood Release bloodline limit—far from a true success.
"One of my highly talented partners gave up on Hashirama cell experiments after that failure and parted ways with me."
Chihaya To's expression carried regret as she mentioned her former partner.
"You mean Orochimaru," Hikari guessed.
"Yeah, you probably haven't heard of him. He's sort of your… senior, I guess."
"Why did you two split?"
"Differing ideals. Let's… not talk about him."
Not wanting Hikari to learn too much about Orochimaru and risk messing up Danzo's plans, Chihaya To steered the conversation back.
"The Hashirama cell experiments spanned decades.
"Subjects ranged from elderly ninjas to newborns, from talentless grunts to elite Jonin with bloodline limits—even clansmen related to Hashirama himself. None could handle that bizarre power."
Chihaya To's hand rested on the glass.
Beneath her palm, a writhing mass of flesh and struggling limbs told the story of the experiments' grim outcomes.
"You even used the Senju clan for experiments?" Hikari was shocked. Chihaya To's madness exceeded her imagination.
"Not me," Chihaya To corrected, shaking her head.
"The Hashirama cell experiments have a decades-long history. When I was just a kid in medical ninja training, like you, Danzo, the Third Hokage, and even the Senju clan themselves were already secretly conducting cell transplant experiments.
"We just inherited their data and results."
Hikari let out a heavy sigh.
The power of the "God of Ninjas" was undeniably tempting. It's why she joined Root, why Orochimaru turned against his mentor and cut ties with lifelong friends. It made sense that the Senju clan, having witnessed Hashirama's power firsthand, would be more obsessed with it than anyone.
Looking at the massive base of pale flesh, a horrifying thought struck Hikari:
"What were the results of the Senju clan's experiments?"
"I told you, they all failed," Chihaya To replied.
Her malnourished face pressed close to the glass pillar. Under the harsh fluorescent light, her reflection merged with the struggling faces in the fleshy base.
"I mean the Senju—"
"They're all here."
"What?" Hikari's eyelashes trembled.
"The Senju, who dominated the Warring States era, allied with the Uchiha to end the chaos and found the Leaf Village, then mysteriously vanished…
"They're pretty much all here."
Through the smudged glass, Chihaya To stared at the massive fleshy base beneath the giant tree. Her dark eyes were like twin voids, eerily calm.
Gurgle, gurgle!
The flesh writhed in the nutrient fluid, emitting grotesque sounds, like a beast chewing its prey.
Hikari slowly raised her head.
Her Byakugan gazed at the giant tree in the glass. Faces with varied expressions sprouted from the trunk. The lush tree swayed gently, its green glimmers surging like an ocean tide of vitality.
This… this is too much!
Dark clouds gathered in the sky, whipped by fierce winds. Occasional flashes of light pierced through.
Crackle!
Thunder roared.
Hikari's main body, practicing Lightning Release chakra mode at home, paused her training. Standing in the center of the training ground, she closed her eyes, pressing a hand to her heart.
In the void, a double-helix chain linked her heart to an unseen distance.
Two streams of chakra spiraled within, exchanging memories, knowledge, and images between her main body and her clone.
Hashirama's cells, bloodline diseases, the Senju, the giant tree—images flooded her mind. By the time the transfer was complete, she felt a faint exhaustion.
The information was overwhelming.
Hashirama died from a bloodline disease tied to his Sage Body.
The Senju clan didn't fade into the Leaf Village as per Hashirama's will. Instead, brutal human experiments killed eighty percent of their ninjas, leaving the remnants to bury their clan's glory.
According to Chihaya To, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo, and the Senju leaders were all involved.
During a critical period when the Leaf was under attack by other ninja villages, the three parties, desperate to recreate Hashirama's divine power, launched a massive human experiment campaign.
Back then, medical ninja training wasn't as advanced, and practitioners were scarce.
As a child, Chihaya To's medical ninjutsu teacher was one of the many researchers involved, so she knew plenty of insider details.
At first, the Senju were restrained, using only elderly subjects. Then it escalated to adults, teenagers, and, in their desperation, even infants.
That decision severed the Senju clan's roots.
The only result was a near-infinite vitality tree, with no other gains. The famed Senju clan destroyed itself.
What a tragedy.
Thinking of the fleshy base made of countless people, Hikari's emotions were hard to describe.
She felt sorrow for the Senju's reckless demise, yet her own desire to transplant Hashirama's cells wasn't so different.
The path of transplanting Hashirama's cells seemed like a dead end.
Chihaya To later provided Hikari with medical ninjutsu data, experiment reports, research directions on Hashirama's cells, and issues encountered during transplants.
The more Hikari read, the more her resolve to pursue the transplant wavered.
It was grim.
Truly horrific.
The thick experiment reports were filled with death lists. Even the rare survivors became half-human, half-tree monsters, useless for research and tossed beneath the giant tree as nutrients for new cell growth.
With such a high mortality rate, Hikari didn't want to bet on that one-in-a-thousand chance.
"Gamblers never end well" wasn't just a saying—the Senju's fate proved it.
Most critically, even if she won the gamble, she likely wouldn't gain a Sage Body's vitality.
Yamato only gained Wood Release, not a Sage Body. Others in the original story who received Hashirama's cells didn't achieve his level of vitality either.
Danzo and Obito used the cells as a battery for their Sharingan and a launcher for Wood Release. Madara used Hashirama's chakra to awaken the Rinnegan. The White Zetsu were weak plant-like clones.
Not a single person truly inherited Hashirama's godlike vitality!