Chapter 155: Divergence
To Aizen Sousuke, Konoha and the wider ninja world were fundamentally strange places.
On the surface, they praised bonds, friendship, and camaraderie. Yet at the same time, they carried an almost fanatical obsession with betrayal.
The existence of will within chakra in this world had already been confirmed as fact. Even so, Aizen remained skeptical. In his eyes, there were fundamental errors in how both the sciences and the humanities were treated here.
Ethics, morality, the humanities, these might look useless at first glance, but they were the bedrock of human nature. They shaped personality and quietly maintained the basic functions of society.
Only when ethics and morality existed could a normal social model be built.
When betrayal carried a real cost, the simple act of turning traitor inflicted invisible damage. Faced with that damage, many people would choose not to betray. This was not some lofty emotion, it was the binding force of ethics, the invisible chain that wrapped itself around a society and gave everyone a role and value.
Because of those roles and rules, people had built structured organizations, stable lives, and something that could be called prosperity.
But for one reason or another, perhaps because of the structure of the ninja villages, perhaps because of chakra itself, ninjas paid almost no attention to the humanities.
Or worse, their understanding of such things was twisted.
Distorted enough that it made Aizen wonder how an entire culture could adopt such a bizarre way of thinking and still function.
Take bonds.
Ninjas believed that the friendly ties between comrades were shackles, the foundation of any group. At the same time, those who chose betrayal seemed bound to go to extremes to justify it.
They did not simply leave.
They felt compelled to make their betrayal dramatic.
If one was going to abandon bonds, then, in this worldview, they had to kill everyone who knew them, inflict massive damage on the village, push an entire region into fear and despair. Otherwise, it was not considered a true betrayal.
In Aizen's eyes, it was insanity.
If you have chosen to defect, simply leave. That should be enough. But ninjas steeped in this culture of bonds needed ritual to validate their choices.
Kill former friends, parents, or clan members.
Sabotage a mission and plunge the village into crisis.
Destroy their own team.
Only after acting out such paranoid extremes did they feel their betrayal was real.
Predictably, this kind of thinking reshaped how everyone saw betrayal itself.
In a normal society, one would strengthen moral education to reduce the urge to defect.
Ninjas, instead, increased emphasis on bonds.
The result was that whenever a rogue ninja appeared, the scale of destruction was catastrophic.
In such a cutthroat world, mental breakdowns were everywhere. People snapped under pressure, lost control, and rushed toward extremes. One person defected, two more broke down, then came back to wreak havoc.
From Aizen's perspective, chakra certainly played a role, but the internal culture of the ninja villages was just as guilty.
After taking in these boys and girls, Aizen did not simply let them study and leave it at that.
He had gone straight to Tsunade, obtained detailed reports on the four children, and built a systematic psychological model for each of them.
The conclusions did not surprise him.
All four shared clear self destructive tendencies.
In this world, that was as normal as breathing.
Almost everyone carried some degree of extreme thinking. Mental instability was simply another part of daily life.
Yet their specific patterns differed sharply.
Haruno Sakura was the product of bond centric education and the fragile emotions of adolescence. She had an unmatched capacity for self sacrifice and self pity. If trading her life could bring back the Sasuke she clung to, she would likely step forward without a second thought.
Yamanaka Ino, by contrast, was obsessed with flowers and the theories attached to them. Compared to Sakura, who Aizen quietly labeled a suicide volunteer, Ino was almost healthy.
In this world, choosing to focus on a so called normal life already required a mental anchor to correct cognitive dissonance. But in comparison, she was still far more normal than the mentally twisted white collar workers Aizen remembered from the skyscrapers of his previous world.
Nara Shikamaru was a clever boy with a fractured sense of self worth.
He knew he was somewhat gifted, but not enough to be called a monster genius.
He had no drive to innovate, no hunger to push boundaries. He dreamed of a peaceful life where he could abandon the ninja profession and retire quietly.
Such thinking was, frankly, naive to the point of comedy in this world.
He lived in Konoha, at the core of the Land of Fire. There was no place where he could truly lie down and forget about everything, unless he chose to defect.
The Fourth Shinobi World War and every battle that followed were far more brutal than an adolescent could imagine.
Given that he had already inherited the Nara clan's secret techniques, if he did defect and was captured, torture would be unavoidable. The enemy would tear the secret art from him and turn it into their own trump card.
Even so, Shikamaru ignored the precarious situation around him and chose to slack off.
Aizen understood that, too.
Deliberate blindness was a very human form of self protection. As long as the truth was not forced on them, people could live a long time pretending not to know.
Of course, the real heavyweight among the four was Aburame Shino.
Among all types of people, Aizen respected only one group unconditionally.
Those who burned themselves out for research.
Those who were willing to offer everything, body and soul, to the pursuit of truth.
Shino clearly leaned in that direction.
While the other Aburame upheld clan rituals and outward appearances, Shino genuinely loved insects and the secret techniques of his clan. He did not care in the slightest that his body was literally an insect nest.
Going through his records, Aizen had come to a clear conclusion.
Shino was already trying to turn his own will into a stable chakra signal for the insect swarms, then anchor and evolve that will within them.
If Aizen had not explained that chakra signals without a strong personal imprint would be quickly eroded by the natural environment, Shino might already have begun preparations for full hive transformation.
Even with that warning, his inhuman qualities were gradually emerging.
Neither Sakura nor Ino felt the slightest trace of adolescent interest from him.
Girls were very sensitive to being watched. Even if a boy did not like a specific girl, hormones alone ensured the occasional wandering gaze.
But Shino's attention did not waver in that direction at all.
After receiving all the reference material from Aizen, he had thrown himself entirely into insect experiments and chakra mutation studies.
That was why Shikamaru caught so much criticism when he finally emerged. All three of the others were true researchers now. He alone had held back. In those conditions, being looked down on was natural.
Yet, to Aizen, the truly worrying part lay deeper.
The children of this village, shaped and warped by its environment, had developed an astonishing obsession with power.
Even in Aizen's original era, even during the Fourth Shinobi World War, that level of fixation had not been so obvious in the younger generation.
In a period that was supposed to be relatively peaceful, the new generation of Konoha children carried a morbid hunger for strength.
Aizen did not care for that.
Research driven by practical necessity was acceptable, but what he wanted was research driven by a longing to transcend, to grow beyond one's limits, to become something better as a person.
Measured against that standard, the current situation was disappointingly ordinary.
Tsunade, reading his report, disagreed completely.
"…These children all have their own beliefs and ideas," she said. "So let them walk their own path. Ninjas must go through suffering to grow."
The woman who now wore the Hokage cloak, once a pure medical ninja, glanced over the documents Aizen had submitted with a calm expression.
"If harsh training lets them get what they want in the future, then no level of harshness is excessive. Only by going through that can they take hold of their own fate."
She flipped another page and continued.
"Sakura is actually a very thoughtful girl. She has her own views on ninjutsu development. She just cannot fully use that talent because of Sasuke. If you can correct her thinking just a little, that will be ideal."
"Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru are part of the Ino Shika Cho trio. Dividing this generation's trio caused some unrest among the shinobi. If either of them does not want this life, or if it is only Shikamaru who dislikes it, they can come to me and I will send them back.
"This method is not suitable for everyone."
"As for Shino Aburame, there is no problem as long as he likes what he is doing. This child may not stand out at first glance, but in terms of mental stability, he is the most mature of the four. He has his own views and will not be easily swayed.
"The fact that he chose this path means it was his own decision, not something forced on him. That is enough."
Where Aizen saw a program that bordered on torture, Tsunade saw nothing unusual.
This was the ninja world.
And what was the ninja world
Children went to battle at five or six years old, died on the frontline at seven or eight. That was normal.
The village system had been built to reduce the chaos of ninja wars. In the end, it had simply focused and amplified it.
Most ninjas were already content with, or numb to, that reality.
The Third Shinobi World War had hollowed out an entire generation. The constant upheavals afterward pushed even idealists to the edge of despair.
If there had been idealists during the Third Shinobi World War, a few years after it ended, there were none left.
Even Tsunade, once devoted entirely to healing, had become disillusioned with reality.
Naruto had rekindled a few sparks of hope in her, but only a few.
She understood the chaos of the current world all too well.
Kill or be killed.
That was all.
If such training could give her people the strength to protect themselves and others, then it was a blessing.
As for whether something was wrong with their minds, or whether this would cause problems later, the average life expectancy of a ninja was around thirty or forty.
On the battlefield, that number plummeted to twenty.
By the time future problems arose, the people in question would already be dead several times over.
What was the point of worrying about it
It was a cruel way to think, soaked in apathy, but it was also the truth of this age.
The ones in power now had all seen the carnage of the Third Shinobi World War. They understood what lay beneath the surface of that desperate conflict.
That was exactly why Tsunade was not fully satisfied with Aizen's criticism.
"If something that extreme can give them power to protect themselves, they will not resent it," she said. "Without power, no one listens to your story. Only after you have power does reason matter."
"I do not entirely agree," Aizen answered. "But you are not completely wrong. Perhaps I am just not used to this version of the ninja world."
One hand in his pocket, he studied Tsunade with his usual calm.
"The matter of cultivating children is only one part of the problem. On the other side, have you reached any conclusions about the Mind Portrait Blade and the natural environment spirit particle technology I gave you"
"Not yet," Tsunade replied. "This technology is too foreign to us.
"Many people are hesitant to absorb natural energy directly. There are also serious concerns about the Mind Reflection Blade. The shadow of the Uchiha clan is too large."
"Oh"
"Even if it carries the name of Zanpakuto, ninjas are very resistant to anything that reflects their hearts."
Tsunade kept her expression steady, arms crossed as she spoke, as if she truly had reservations about the technique.
"It is not that the method is bad. For us, it feels like cutting open our thoughts and putting them on display for others. That is a heavy taboo."
"Stop, Lady Tsunade," Aizen said softly. "We have already worked together. You know I can tell when you are lying.
"More importantly, I have already detected six ninjas in Konoha whose spiritual energy has begun to show Zanpakuto traits, and more than eight with clear Mind Portrait signatures.
"The Seireitei cannot fail to notice a power that takes shape this quickly."
"Are you monitoring us now"
"If something is standing right in front of your eyes, would you call it surveillance" Aizen smiled faintly. "I would not."
He looked down at her with that same gentle, merciful expression he gave everyone.
Like an adult watching an unruly child.
Like someone quietly pitying a lower life form.
That was what made Tsunade's teeth grind.
No one wanted to be seen as inferior. No one pitied themselves.
When Aizen looked at her that way, some shapeless anger crawled up from her chest.
There was no clear reason for it.
Maybe it was because she often saw her own younger self and Dan when she walked the streets of the Seireitei.
Maybe it was because she had learned Zanpakuto techniques, had been forced to face her own inner world, and could no longer run from it.
For many reasons layered together, Tsunade had no intention of giving Aizen unreserved cooperation.
Yet having her secrets laid bare as if they were childish pranks still filled her with shame.
"There is no need to keep doing such pointless things, Lady Tsunade," Aizen said quietly. "As I told you before, I still have feelings for Konoha.
"I want to spread my techniques and the trajectory of a better world to you.
"This is not for myself alone.
"It is for you.
"This endless cycle of killing should have ended long ago."
Looking at Tsunade as if she were a stubborn child, Aizen shook his head and sighed.
"I want my theories to propagate. You learning them benefits you and extends my influence.
"Why treat that as something secret
"We are not enemies. The more we exchange, the better it is for both sides."
"…Then how about a practice match" Tsunade said after a moment. "Call it an exchange, like you say."
"Who will be fighting, and in what format"
"It will be an internal Konoha training match. We may be allies, but if you want your theories to spread, you need your disciples to take the stage. This match is the perfect opportunity."
She kept her tone relaxed, as if she were genuinely looking out for him.
"Neji Hyuga, Tenten, and Rock Lee are all in the village. They are an ideal benchmark for your students to be measured against.
"Those three are walking examples of what many would call an ideal state of growth.
"It is a perfect platform for your promotion, is it not
"Your training program will end in about a month. That is when their results should show."
"That is reasonable," Aizen said. "Let us do it. I am looking forward to it."
He glanced once at Tsunade, whose face gave nothing away, then gave a small nod and a pleasant smile.
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