A Sage's Pursuit of Power

According to Aoba's understanding, the fusion of the Sharingan primarily revolved around chakra, whereas the fusion of the Byakugan should be more focused on biological aspects.

This deduction wasn't made randomly, it was based on his observations of the various traits of the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.

However, verifying this idea was proving to be extremely difficult.

Aoba had previously attempted various methods, but neither the physiological structure of the Byakugan nor its hidden ocular power showed any signs of fusion.

If he weren't certain that the Byakugan could be fused, he might have already abandoned the research by now.

This time, however, Aoba had a new idea.

In theory, every Uchiha had the potential to evolve the Sharingan. But upon closer examination, it became clear that there were significant differences between different Uchihas.

To put it more bluntly, the reincarnations of Indra and an ordinary Uchiha were completely different existences.

Madara, the absolute prodigy of the Uchiha clan, had the innate talent and bloodline qualification to awaken the Rinnegan.

Yet in reality, it took him his entire lifetime, right up to his death to finally awaken it. Aoba speculated that this was because Sasuke had already been born, and most of Indra's power had already transferred to Sasuke.

There was another detail to support this theory: Madara's Rinnegan abilities were far inferior to Sasuke's.

Madara's unique Rinnegan ability was Limbo: Border Jail, whose core feature was that it was invisible and undetectable.

Yet Sasuke could see it, even though at that time, he had only one Rinnegan. Moreover, in terms of potential, Limbo: Border Jail was nowhere near Amenotejikara in terms of versatility or power.

All these details pointed to one conclusion: in the shinobi world, lineage determined everything.

Aoba speculated that the reason the Byakugan couldn't be fused wasn't because fusion was impossible, but because the Byakugan samples he had weren't special enough.

In the original story, Toneri Ōtsutsuki abducted Hinata and took Hanabi's eyes. This gave Aoba a new idea.

Perhaps the Byakugan didn't "fuse" in the conventional sense, it absorbed. And not just any Byakugan, but only a very select few, those with a bloodline closer to Hamura Ōtsutsuki, had the ability to absorb others.

This would also explain why the Hyuga clan had never discovered this secret. Because within the clan, the clan leader's lineage was the closest to the Ōtsutsuki bloodline.

And since the leader's bloodline was never subjected to experimentation, the truth remained unknown.

To test this theory, Aoba needed Hinata's cooperation. Of course, he wouldn't go as far as directly removing her eyes.

The technology of Konoha's research labs had advanced significantly. Many things that were previously impossible were now achievable. Even Orochimaru, who was at the forefront of biological research, might not be ahead of Konoha in this field anymore.

Currently, the lab had developed a way to conduct in-depth testing on Hinata's eyes without removing them.

This time, Aoba's experiment was simple: he wanted to determine if Hinata's Byakugan, specifically targeted by Toneri in the original story, was indeed the special type capable of absorbing others.

In fact, according to Aoba's memory, Hanabi's eyes were the most promising for this test. However, Hanabi was still too young, and Aoba had no reasonable excuse to convince Hiashi to let her participate in an experiment with potential risks.

For the experiment, Hinata's Byakugan was not directly connected to another Byakugan. Instead, Aoba used White Zetsu's cells to create a temporary link between them.

White Zetsu's cells were practically a universal reagent for biological experiments, whenever compatibility or connection was needed, White Zetsu's cells could usually make it happen.

After establishing the link, nothing happened at first.

Aoba waited patiently for a while, then instructed Hinata:

"Now, inject chakra and activate your Byakugan."

Hinata did as she was told, and Aoba simultaneously activated the experimental Byakugan. Still, nothing seemed to change, at least, not from a visible perspective.

After thinking for a moment, Aoba gave another instruction:

"Hinata, try stimulating that hidden ocular power within your Byakugan."

The Byakugan did contain an ocular power, but it was in a dormant state, making it unusable by the Hyuga clan.

However, after extensive training in spiritual energy control, both Hinata and Neji had reached the point where they could partially awaken this latent power.

Under normal circumstances, even after activating this hidden power, there wouldn't be any noticeable change, there was no enhancement to the Byakugan's vision, Gentle Fist, or any other technique.

But this time, when Hinata followed Aoba's instructions, something finally changed.

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Currently on Chapter 318 - Conversation with the Shinigami