Chapter 156: Transformation
In truth, Aizen did not particularly enjoy power politics, not when they could be avoided.
He disliked talking to people while wearing a mask, and he despised those who were polite on the surface yet rotten underneath. If it were possible, he would rather the world did not become so false and suffocating.
But there was no helping it.
While Aizen Sousuke could have used his overwhelming power to simply force people to learn, oppression only strangled true invention.
Discovery required curiosity. It required people who wanted to understand, who enjoyed thinking, who were willing to question.
Otherwise, all they would ever do was patch old frameworks and fill in gaps. That was not exploration. That was account keeping.
To explore, one needed courage and conviction.
Humans were strange creatures.
They knew full well when something was wrong. They often understood the consequences better than anyone. Yet they still chose to hide, to cover up, to turn away, all for a bit of short term gain.
Was that because life was too short, or was it something carved into the core of their nature
Aizen leaned toward the second answer.
Even Shinigami made the same mistakes. Sooner or later, they fell into the same cycle.
Since there was no way to change that from the outside, he had chosen to work from within.
He had taken apart many of their systems, studied their inner workings in detail, and carved a channel into them under a simple name.
Expected benefit.
In the end, everything came down to interest.
Some benefits were immediate. Others were long term expectations.
Once you divided things into these two categories, many problems became simple.
Take the technologies involving death and spiritual power.
They did not yet know what short term rewards they would bring.
But looking at the early results, it was obvious that the long term payoff would be massive and tangible.
So naturally, powerful factions wanted to hide those results.
They dreamed of quietly building strength in the shadows while the rest of the world lagged behind.
At that stage, it became necessary to break those fantasies and demand open implementation.
From Konoha's point of view, their current situation was a mix of sweetness and pain.
Their own authority was slowly being cut apart by Aizen, and their sense of self was dissolving.
His techniques would inevitably create a new, small scale political sphere inside the village, one that everyone would have to acknowledge.
That was something the old guard could not accept.
The training match Tsunade had proposed was, in essence, a demand that Aizen present a justification that everyone could see, and at the same time a way to force the die hard factions to accept reality.
As Hokage, Tsunade welcomed technological progress.
But many of the ninjas who had benefited from the old systems could not accept that this new technology might threaten their positions as keepers of secret arts.
Those who could see further ahead chose to accept first, understand the core, then innovate and rebuild on top of it.
Those who lacked that vision chose to oppose everything.
Back in his original world, Aizen could have handled such a situation with ease.
But this was not his world.
This environment was similar, yet different in too many subtle ways.
Copying his old approach here would be clumsy and wasteful.
In reality, he held the current ninja world in high regard, and his feelings toward it were complicated.
On one hand, he wanted to use chakra resonance in this world to build a bridge back toward his original one.
On the other, this was a rare, uncontaminated branch of the chakra based ninja world, twenty years further along in its own evolution.
Just by observing Konoha as a control group, comparing its original state with his present changes, he had already discovered countless fascinating anomalies.
Developing new technology was one task.
Preserving the original structure as experimental data was another.
Trying to do both at once created contradictions that even he found amusing.
He believed his actions were consistent and reasonable.
Others, however, thought he was insane.
A man with power who chose not to use it.
A man who could change the world yet stayed out of the light.
They whispered that he must have some serious illness, or some secret motive he could not reveal.
That kind of speculation was also why Konoha had begun to move in the shadows, each faction probing to test his reactions.
Aizen understood all of it.
He knew this was simply part of human nature.
He had no intention of becoming angry over something so trivial, no desire to flex his power just to silence them.
If he did, it would distort his experiments and cripple the value of his control groups.
For now, this was the best progression he could ask for.
Annoying, but tolerable.
The experiment continued.
If everything went the way he projected, then after this so called training match was over, he should be able to open a channel of communication with his original world in the near future.
There was only one problem.
Aizen's script was brilliant.
The actors refused to follow it.
With the exception of Nara Shikamaru, who remained buried in basic theory and had made no dramatic breakthroughs, only altering his methods and patterns of action, the other three voiced clear, unified opposition.
"Huh What do you mean they are not giving us stamina talismans and stamina pills anymore"
"A month is nearly over," Aizen said. "You should already have a basic grasp of the nature of chakra and natural energy. From here on, you will have to explore and develop further on your own."
Yamanaka Ino looked as if she had just suffered a deep betrayal. Tears shimmered at the corners of her eyes.
"You have been studying here for a long time," Aizen continued gently. "Your families and friends are surely worried.
"Next, we will prepare for a training match to test the results of your work and the ideas you have built. After that, you can successfully leave my care."
In theory, there was nothing wrong with that.
The agreement had always been for a one month teaching period.
In a month, the early results could be judged, and their mental states should not be too distorted.
That was, however, only theory.
Aizen's methods were extreme compared to normal education.
He preferred to let his students discover the joy of study for themselves.
When they learned that every effort, every attempt, brought concrete feedback, that sense of joy surpassed almost anything else.
Like an ordinary person receiving a system.
Even if that system did nothing more than record each day's training, some people would still call it perfect.
To be able to see your growth plainly was comforting and addictive.
The trouble came when habit and joy collided head on with an unfamiliar future.
Change became hard to accept.
"I do not want to leave I do not want to" Ino shouted. "My flower techniques are not finished yet, I have to see how my children turn out with my own eyes
"Aizen sensei, please, just push the match back a little. One hundred twenty hours is enough. No, one hundred fifty hours.
"I want to see if my children can grow quickly in a vacuum environment without chakra stimulation. I am so close."
"This is Lady Tsunade's order," Aizen replied. "I also do not want you to become people who only know research and nothing else."
"I understand." Ino's voice trembled. "I could go back. I could pretend nothing happened and live like before.
"But those children, the ones in the lab, they need me.
"They cannot live without me.
"Wait Sakura, what are you doing"
"Huh"
Sakura, who had been quiet at the side, blinked at her.
As Ino pleaded with Aizen, the pink haired girl simply reached into the pocket of her white, slightly tattered lab coat and took out two test tubes.
Pale blue liquid filled the glass.
When she tilted them, a faint fluorescent glow danced inside.
Facing Aizen and Ino's stunned stares, Sakura gave a small, satisfied smile and tucked the test tubes back into her chest.
"I will just take the results of this project with me and carry out field tests," she said. "This special chakra sensing fluid can self replicate and expand in the natural environment.
"I want to see if it can help me find Sasuke kun.
"Then I will use it to bring him back."
"…Honestly, Sakura," Ino muttered, "sometimes I think you are a bit too extreme."
"Extreme Ah, you mean the chance that this chakra product might mutate under natural conditions" Sakura tilted her head. "No, I added some of my own will into it.
"If it senses any induced mutation, it will wither away on its own.
"Oh, right, and the tailed beasts. We have to factor tailed beast chakra into the model too."
"No, no, that is not what I meant by extreme."
Ino stared at her friend's gentle, almost empty smile, and felt a chill run down her back.
She realized that compared to Sakura, she might still be considered a normal human being.
The last person to object was Shino Aburame.
Standing there in a white lab coat and sunglasses, she held a neatly written sign in her hands.
"Oppose the experiment," it read. "Insects' lives matter too."
For a moment, Ino could not even tell if Shino was counting humans or insects in that statement.
During this period, Ino had always believed herself to be in the best condition.
Even when Shikamaru kept insisting she had gone mad, she had thought she was still the most normal of the four.
She was simply a little too immersed in her flowers.
Look at Sakura, who had become a full blown Sasuke fanatic.
Look at Shino, whose boundary between human and insect had dissolved entirely.
Ino had almost convinced herself that she was the last sane one among them, and that she had an obligation to say she did not like this arrangement.
"Aizen sensei," she said quietly, "we really are grateful that you opened this world to us.
"But because of that, we can never go back to how we were.
"Life was plain and dull before. We cannot return to that."
"I think it is possible to go back," Shikamaru muttered. "I am planning to go back anyway…"
"Shikamaru, shut up"
Ino rounded on him.
"You never even set foot in the real lab. You just buried yourself in theory.
"How would you know what we have given up"
After snapping at him, she turned back to Aizen with eyes full of desperate appeal, almost dropping to her knees.
"So, please, give us a little more time," she said. "If you can, please give us more stamina pills and awakening talismans.
"Just a little longer, and we can produce even more results.
"That is good for you too, is it not, Master Aizen
"Did you not always say research is the greatest joy for you"
"It is only a break," Aizen answered. "You are going back to rest, not being barred from the testing areas forever."
"I do not think I need to rest," Ino answered immediately. "We are all perfectly normal. Really, Master Aizen."
"I think you all went mad a long time ago," Shikamaru muttered.
"Shikamaru, shut up"
Ino's glare shut him down a second time.
From Shikamaru's point of view, both Ino and Sakura had stepped onto a path that could not be described with the word normal.
He could not decide whether they were right or wrong.
But one thing was obvious.
Their strength now was far beyond what it had been a month ago.
Based on his calculations, Ino could probably kill him hundreds of times over with the strange plants and flowers she had created.
In pure theory and understanding, he did not think he lost to her.
But in chakra reserves and experimentation, he had fallen far behind.
They had been drugged and supported every hour of every day.
Those extra twenty one days had not been for nothing.
Aizen had truly fed them power.
Shikamaru would be lying if he said he did not regret wasting time at the beginning pretending to hold himself back.
Still, when he saw Ino practically ready to call Aizen her adoptive father, he felt he should at least maintain some dignity.
The month was over. Time would not rewind.
Their departure from this place was set.
Rather than begging Aizen for miracles that would never come, Shikamaru valued his own future growth more.
He had memorized all the theories and papers.
Once he began to train and apply them in real combat, the final outcome was anyone's guess.
"If you truly want to continue your research," Aizen said at last, "it is possible.
"But you must first take part in the training match and achieve certain results.
"Only then will I allow you to return to this facility and continue your work and life here.
"Do you understand what I am saying"
"Really, Master Aizen"
"Why are you suddenly so motivated…" Ino stared at Shikamaru, who had lit up almost instantly. "Did you not spend all month insisting you wanted to go back to the village
"Then just go back.
"We still have things we want to do.
"Flowers are very delicate. I cannot waste time on such tests."
"You call that being delicate" Shikamaru snapped. "And you idiot, you still have not realized what he means
"Master Aizen is saying you can use clone techniques or something similar to fight.
"As long as you can get through the match, it is fine."
"Huh Really"
"Yes," Aizen said with a small smile. "That is correct.
"My agreement with Lady Tsunade was to hold a training match that would display your abilities.
"In other words, as long as you prove yourselves, you can continue studying with me.
"However, I personally do not like losing.
"I do not like you losing either.
"As for the rest, you can decide for yourselves.
"I am very pleased that you enjoy learning and research. Just do not forget your families, and do not forget that you are human."
"Yeah"
"Great"
"That is it"
Their three voices rose together in a cheer.
Whether they truly heard the rest of what he had said, or whether human feelings were already drifting far from their minds, was hard to say.
In any case, the three of them erupted into excited chatter while Shino pushed up her sunglasses, still holding her protest sign, and quietly joined their discussion.
Two beautiful girls in shredded white lab coats, Shikamaru's serious expression, and Shino standing off to the side with her sunglasses and placard, it hardly looked like a serious planning session.
Yet they were all entirely sincere about what they were about to do.
Once you had tasted rapid growth, once you had felt yourself improving every minute of every day, no one wanted to return to a life of stumbling and guesswork.
That contrast alone was enough to unhinge people.
"Shikamaru will handle authenticity," Ino said briskly. "His shadow technique can separate and maintain form for a long time. He will have no problem managing the basic structure."
"My voice can simulate scent and body temperature," she went on. "And flowers have endless uses. In battle, I can use a variant of Flower Escape to cover your clones."
"Sakura can manipulate objects with high precision," she added. "If the three of us work together, we can create shadow clones that are almost indistinguishable from real bodies.
"If we drive them with chakra cores, we can theoretically fool anyone."
"I can construct insect clones," Shino said simply.
"Good idea," Shikamaru replied, "but I want to tweak it.
"I want the Life Insect to split into Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, and me.
"The three of us will then build Aburame Shino.
"That way no one will be able to tell who is real and who is not."
"That is exactly what I meant, you idiot," Ino said.
It was a sort of progress.
At the very least, they now had the desire to move toward more efficient, more advantageous positions.
That was better than having no ideas at all.
It was a first step.
Watching the four of them, who had clearly stepped beyond ordinary human thinking and were now improving themselves along new, bizarre lines, Aizen Sousuke raised his teacup.
He took a quiet sip of black tea and thought to himself, with some amusement, that it had nothing to do with him.
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