"Take me over there to see it." Minato also showed a serious expression and said.
He knew about the Sharingan, but what were those cells? Could it be—
Minato had some guesses in his heart. If that were truly the case, Danzo really... he didn't even know how to evaluate him anymore.
Soon, in that very tidy collection room, Minato looked at the Sharingan and remained silent for a while before approaching the cells and sensing the vitality within them.
To be able to survive solely as cells and possess such immense vitality, they were almost certainly the First Hokage's cells.
Minato was speechless at this point; the other party's crimes were far more numerous than he had imagined.
"Senpai, the matter concerning these cells must be kept secret," Minato said.
"That's why I didn't mention it over there." Takuno shrugged his shoulders.
Minato smiled upon hearing this. He was truly a trustworthy senior, handling everything with great prudence.
After collecting the Hashirama cells, he said, "Have the Anbu clean up the rest. Send the Sharingan back to the Uchiha Clan, and burn everything else directly. Once you're done with this matter, get some rest; it's getting late."
"Yes, sir!"
After speaking, Minato left. He needed to go to the hospital to treat his injuries; Danzo's attack had been quite severe. He had only given it emergency bandaging at the time, and now it required more detailed treatment.
After relaying the tasks Minato had assigned, Takuno departed, leaving the scene to the Squad Leaders.
He quickly returned to his home and used the Summoning Jutsu to enter the experimental base.
Then, he looked at the Wood Release before him, and the Hashirama cells stored nearby, lost in thought.
Before this, he had been agonizing over how to obtain the Wood Release and how to get the Hashirama cells, never imagining he would acquire both so easily.
Truly, plans never keep up with changes; everything fell into his lap effortlessly!
This genuinely exceeded his expectations. In his plans, acquiring these two items was estimated to take several years, perhaps even more than a decade—
But this was certainly a good thing!
Takuno wished for more good fortune like this. He still wanted more items, and if they could all be acquired this easily, that would be even better!
Soon, he suppressed the excitement in his heart and began to think.
Now that he had obtained these two items, should he change his plans? For example, fuse the Wood Release first, and then the Hyūga bloodline?
That was certainly possible, because even if he fused the Hyūga bloodline first, it wouldn't bring him any immediate benefit.
He definitely wouldn't fuse the most important part, the Byakugan. He would have to be crazy to walk around Konoha with what looked like cataracts—
Therefore, even when he fused it later, he would remove the Byakugan beforehand and transplant a pair of ordinary eyes for the host.
The Wood Release was different. Once fused, it would immediately allow him to develop many techniques that could serve as trump cards.
Of course, currently, he couldn't fuse either of them, as the third stage of the Chimera Technique had not yet been fully researched.
He hadn't expected that the research aspect would fall so far behind the collection progress; the Bloodlines he needed to fuse were already completely collected!
If Hiruko, who was probably hiding in some dark corner collecting intelligence, found out about this, he would likely be hopping mad.
Takuno chuckled lightly, looking satisfied with the Wood Release before him.
Unlike Danzo and Obito, who merely used the Wood Release by relying solely on Hashirama cells, the Wood Release before him—aside from its raw power—had truly inherited the First Hokage's Kekkei Genkai completely. He had used the Wood Release through his own strength.
The power of the Wood Release that relied only on Hashirama cells was limited; it depended on how many Hashirama cells were transplanted.
Only by making the Wood Release entirely his own could its power be fully unleashed.
This was the biggest difference!
As for the ordinary White Zetsu, their Wood Release was generally inferior to his.
Only the most famous special White Zetsu individual named Tobi had a Wood Release that truly surpassed Yamato's.
But even Tobi, relying solely on himself, could not use the True Several Thousand Hands during the Fourth Great Shinobi War; he still needed Yamato, who inherited the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, to serve as the core.
Therefore, if Yamato was given Tobi's Chakra configuration, he would naturally also have the possibility of using the True Several Thousand Hands alone.
Thus, for Takuno, the other party's strength was irrelevant; his perfect Wood Release Kekkei Genkai was the most crucial factor.
As for power, his Chakra reserves were more abundant than the other party's, and since he would later transplant Hashirama cells, he estimated he could achieve the True Several Thousand Hands that Tobi used during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, or even stronger. Therefore, he did not need to worry about power.
However, these were all matters for the future. The current him could not do it.
Takuno sighed and looked towards the Hashirama cells.
Although he had obtained the Hashirama cells now, it was impossible for him to use them immediately.
The Third Hokage had conducted experiments on this substance years ago. Ordinary people simply could not withstand the life energy of these cells; anyone who transplanted them would explode and die—
Although he possessed the Uzumaki bloodline and the Uchiha bloodline, theoretically, he was no longer an ordinary person.
However, faced with something as highly invasive as Hashirama cells, he dared not casually use his own body for experimentation.
According to his plan, he would only choose to transplant Hashirama cells after activating the Mangekyo Sharingan and mastering sufficiently powerful Yin Release.
Because the life energy contained within Hashirama cells was essentially extremely powerful Yang Release, naturally, powerful Yin Release was required to counteract that Yang Release.
Therefore, once he activated the Mangekyo Sharingan, transplanting Hashirama cells would minimize the risks involved.
"The Mangekyo Sharingan..." Takuno thought of that device. He hadn't used it a second time since developing it.
At this rate, it would still take him quite some time to activate the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Takuno couldn't help but rub his forehead; his progress was truly too slow compared to those two protagonists.
There was no helping it; how could a normal person compare to someone who cheats?
Fortunately, he could still see the path to becoming stronger, so he wasn't despairing.
As long as he continued moving forward step by step, he would definitely become even stronger!
Takuno's eyes held determination. He calculated the time; using that eye-activation assistance device was still unsafe right now. According to his plan, he needed to wait a bit longer.
In that case, he would continue practicing the Spirit Transformation Jutsu and the Eight Gates.
Also, the research on the Chimera Technique needed to be sped up!
Takuno stretched. Originally, after the Nine-Tails Attack, he had expected to have free time to cultivate, but unexpectedly, the incident with Danzo suddenly occurred, forcing him to be busy again for a period.
Although he wished for more incidents like this to happen.
However, there shouldn't be any more unexpected developments next. It was time for him to get back to intense training.
Compared to Hiruko's method of directly fusing Kekkei Genkai to increase immediate combat power, the most significant combat boost he would receive after fusing these Kekkei Genkai would likely come from the Wood Release and the Shikotsumyaku. The others weren't as obvious, merely enhancing his foundation.
How to unearth this foundation and turn it into his true strength would depend on his own efforts!
In the following days, just as Takuno had expected, no further unexpected events occurred.
The trial assembly for Danzo was held as scheduled. During this assembly, Minato presented Danzo's entire list of crimes to the public, backed by the testimony of those who had previously been imprisoned.
Some of them even still had their families!
With such strong evidence, almost everyone believed Minato and understood that the collapse of the Hokage Building was necessary to apprehend Danzo.
However, what Minato hadn't expected was that the Third Hokage still stepped forward during the proceedings.
He wasn't trying to defend Danzo. Seeing the high emotions of the villagers below and their hatred for Danzo, he knew nothing he said would be useful.
He merely apologized for failing to discover Danzo's actions during his time as Hokage, acknowledging that his own abilities were extremely limited.
He also decided to relinquish all his current duties and stop handling any official matters.
Minato wanted to stop the Third Hokage from doing this; he had never intended for the Third Hokage to abandon everything.
However, the Third Hokage seemed to have made his decision before arriving, and Minato's persuasion could not sway him.
Seeing the Third Hokage do this, Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu, standing nearby, moved their lips, but ultimately could not bring themselves to relinquish their power like the Third Hokage.
This made Minato breathe a sigh of relief. If those two had also resigned due to responsibility, he would have gone insane.
The logistics handled by the two of them were excellent. While he couldn't say they hadn't embezzled anything, at least when Konoha needed resources, the logistics department could provide them.
For instance, the smooth reconstruction of Konoha after the Nine-Tails Attack was due to their efforts, as they were the ones responsible for managing logistics.
Even during wartime, Konoha rarely experienced incidents where logistics failed to keep up.
If these two resigned and no one could take their place, the responsibility would ultimately fall back onto him. He was already swamped, and adding those duties would likely work him to death!
However, even though the Third Hokage's resignation exceeded Minato's expectations.
At the very least, this critical assembly was a complete success, allowing the villagers to accept the destruction of the Hokage Building, while his prestige in Konoha soared even higher.
Minato looked at all this. He was not a man who craved power; he simply believed that handling things this way was better.
He would inherit the Will of Fire of Konoha and continue leading the village forward in this chaotic ninja world!