As the Shadow Clone turned into a puff of white smoke, a large volume of memories simultaneously entered Vegapunk's mind.
Compared to Uzumaki Naruto, the simple-minded protagonist who developed the Multiple Shadow Clone Training Method, Vegapunk's clone belonged to the type of person who thought too much and was the least suitable candidate for the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Like Orochimaru, who only dared to split off one Shadow Clone while conducting research, fearing that too many memories would overwhelm him and turn him into an idiot—let alone Vegapunk, whose mental processing speed far exceeded that of ordinary people.
An ordinary person accepting even one of Vegapunk's Shadow Clones would likely be overwhelmed by the massive influx of memories and become a vegetable. Fortunately, Vegapunk possesses the Quantum chip, allowing him to easily accept all the memories and research of the Shadow Clone, though he still dares not split off too many.
"Hmm... it really does count as a certain level of achievement..."
Vegapunk's expression was subtle. How should he put it? His Shadow Clone, through research during this period, had developed a Sage Mode that was close to permanent residency.
It was actually quite simple. Orochimaru once had the concept of the Cursed Seal. Although it was not completely successful and was only used once on his student Anko, this method of automatically absorbing Natural Energy provided Vegapunk's Shadow Clone with a direction.
Through continuous refinement, Vegapunk finally modified the Cursed Seal into an external organ that could automatically absorb Natural Energy, permanently match spiritual and physical strength, and synthesize Senjutsu Chakra.
In other words, it allowed for the permanent maintenance of Sage Mode. According to Vegapunk's tests and estimations, permanently maintaining Sage Mode could indeed significantly increase a Ninja's lifespan, but the maximum age reached would only be close to 200 years.
This type of Sage Mode allows a person to live up to the theoretical lifespan limit, but how to break past that limit must be the secret known only to those Animal Sages.
"Those animals probably aren't very cooperative... but it doesn't matter. If necessary, dissecting them as test subjects should yield all the answers!"
Vegapunk had no goodwill toward the Animal Sages or the so-called Sage Technique Holy Lands. Ryūchi Cave, which Orochimaru contracted with, had long been regarded by Vegapunk as experimental material.
The reason Vegapunk had not gone on a killing spree against those great snakes was that Sage Technique Holy Lands like Ryūchi Cave held a certain degree of constraint over their contractors.
Leaving aside everything else, the Reverse Summoning Contract alone determined that if these Sage Technique Holy Lands truly wanted to kill someone, it would be almost impossible for the contractor to escape.
Although such incidents are rarely heard of, smart people can certainly think of these issues. Compared to Summoning Beasts automatically returning after being severely injured, the Reverse Summoning Jutsu does not have this function. It can be said that who holds the dominant power between the two parties can be determined by these two types of Ninjutsu.
Therefore, Vegapunk wouldn't even glance at the contract scrolls of the Sage Technique Holy Lands. He had no desire to sign a contract only to be Reverse Summoned to Ryūchi Cave immediately afterward and ganged up on by a group of great snakes.
After all, the Great Toad can predict the future. Who knows if the White Snake Sage possesses the same function? Or if there is any connection between the Three Great Holy Lands?
Of course, the current fully realized Sage Mode is still very useful. Vegapunk casually picked up a test tube placed on the table. Inside the test tube was a silver fluid—the improved Cursed Seal Potion.
As long as this potion is applied directly to the skin, it will form a miniature organ on the body that directly absorbs Natural Energy and harmonizes the user's Chakra to form Senjutsu Chakra. If the technology is updated later, applying another type of potion can disperse it.
"The only problem is the need for extremely precious materials. Wouldn't a single bottle of this potion be worth hundreds of millions? It seems manufacturing three to five bottles recently is already the limit."
After all, opening laboratory branches all over the world consumed a considerable amount of funds for Vegapunk. Moreover, every single one of his initial inventions cost a lot of money.
Therefore, even though he had gained the support of all the nations across the sea, he could not withdraw too much cash flow for the sake of future development.
"First, I'll make a batch for Hancock, Robin, and myself. Orochimaru can't be left out either. Tsk, research really is a money pit. For the time being, I should focus on developing some civilian goods to recover some funds!"
Resources in the Naruto World are not actually very scarce. In terms of civilian development, it is already close to modern society. Various modern machines had already been demonstrated to some extent in the original work and have begun large-scale application in the current era.
Aside from war technology, which developed slowly due to the presence of Ninjas, actual productivity is not low. The notion in some fan fiction that productivity relies on Ninjutsu, while not entirely baseless, certainly doesn't offer high cost-effectiveness.
While Ninjutsu is convenient, machinery is no less effective. Furthermore, the development direction of Ninjutsu has always been destruction, so the quality of construction work using it is generally poor.
For example, houses constructed using Earth Release, lacking proper foundations, can certainly withstand Ninjutsu damage when reinforced with Chakra. However, once the Chakra is withdrawn, they will completely collapse within a year or two.
Of course, some special Ninjutsu indeed have extremely high civilian value, such as Wood Release and Magnet Release, but ordinary Five-Element Ninjutsu does not have much value in developing civilian life.
"Perfect. Robin no longer needs to manage the Sea Ninja. I'll let her return to her old profession: managing my inventions and gathering funds."
He trusts Robin's capabilities in this area. Moreover, with Vegapunk's inventions serving as flagship products, making money will be very easy.
These thoughts merely flashed through his mind. In the early days of the One Piece World, he also used this method to accumulate wealth; it was his secondary pillar of support besides the World Government's funding.
Later, with the advancement of Vegapunk's technology, especially the emergence of the quantum brain, sufficient computing power led to the creation of a large number of autonomous machines. This resulted in Egghead Island and Dream Star possessing the capability for mineral extraction, replication, production, and resource collection, causing Vegapunk to care less about money.
Even with his experience, it will likely take Vegapunk a significant amount of time to restore the technology tree to its peak in the One Piece Era. Although the presence of Chakra makes technological advancement relatively easier in the Naruto World, it still lags somewhat behind the development of mechanical technology driven by the Devil Fruit abilities of the One Piece World.
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