A Sage's Pursuit of Power

Konoha looked unchanged on the surface, but only the higher-ups knew that the village had entered a state of heightened alert.

In the training grounds, Aoba was personally coaching Neji and Hinata Hyūga.

Since Hashirama Senju's disappearance, Aoba had not shown any outward signs of unusual behavior. However, those closest to him noticed that from that day onward, his focus on Neji and Hinata had increased significantly.

"Perception is an extremely important ability for a ninja. Strictly speaking, our senses of smell, hearing, sight, touch, and even taste are all forms of perception.

Moreover, perception of chakra through bloodlines and secret techniques is an advanced form of perception.

Up to now, Konoha's sensory division has identified forty different methods of perception. What I'm teaching you today is the forty-first."

The Hyūga clan, as Konoha's foremost sensory ninja lineage, attending a sensory course might sound odd. However, Neji and Hinata had no complaints.

First, they had been told before coming that they must respect their teacher, the strongest ninja in the current ninja world.

Second, in less than a month of training, they had already experienced significant improvements in their combat abilities.

To them, Aoba's words were as authoritative as a royal decree.

"Every sensory method in the ninja world has a weakness. This weakness may not be apparent in most battles, but if you want to go further, you need to overcome it. You need to perceive yourselves."

"Perceive ourselves?"

This left Neji and Hinata confused. The purpose of sensory abilities was to locate enemies and prepare responses in advance. What did it mean to perceive themselves?

"Here, perceiving yourselves means sensing your internal state, every detail of your body.

Take a simple example: if your body suffers an external injury, you can easily sense where the wound is. But if it's an internal injury, most people can only describe its general location.

Going deeper, if there's an underlying issue in your body that hasn't manifested yet, most people can't sense it in advance. The goal of this training is to teach you to perceive every detail of your body and gain complete control over it."

The Hyūga clan's sensory abilities, particularly regarding their bodies, were already far beyond those of ordinary ninjas. After all, the principles of the Gentle Fist technique relied on the flow and expulsion of chakra through the body's pathways.

But this was limited to chakra perception. Aoba's requirement was for a precise integration of chakra and the physical body.

This idea came from a term Aoba had encountered in martial arts novels in his past life: "inner vision."

In those stories, martial arts masters with sufficient skill could focus their mental energy inward, gaining insight into every detail of their physical and energy systems.

Since his transmigration, Aoba's mental strength had been extraordinary, enabling him to naturally achieve inner vision.

This ability allowed him to analyze the power of the Sharingan and develop various ninjutsu. It was through this deep introspection and understanding of his body that he created techniques perfectly suited to himself.

Neji and Hinata lacked such exceptional mental strength, but with their Gentle Fist foundation and Aoba's initial mental training methods, they could approximate a similar effect.

Aoba's purpose in having them undergo this training was to gain a deeper understanding of the Hyūga clan's physical intricacies which was an essential step in preparing for the future crisis.

Seeing Neji and Hinata enter a meditative state to begin sensing their bodies, Aoba rose and made his way to the Hokage's office.

Tsunade didn't look well. Since Hashirama's disappearance, she had been in this state. She couldn't believe that someone like Hashirama would betray Konoha. Even though Aoba had explained the situation, she still couldn't accept it.

"Still no sign of him?"

"None, not a single trace. After all, he's Grandfather. If he doesn't want to be found, there's no way the Anbu could track him."

"As I've said before, let it go, Tsunade. You…"

"You're going to tell me I can't bring him back, right? I've heard it before. But I don't believe it. Grandfather is too strong to be manipulated by some mythical figure."

In Aoba's estimation, Hashirama's departure was influenced by the Sage of Six Paths. But Tsunade refused to believe it.

After all, the Sage of Six Paths was a figure from ancient legend, far removed from their current reality. And Hashirama's strength was deeply ingrained in her mind as absolute.

But Aoba was confident that his deduction was correct. Ever since the Sage of Six Paths interfered in the battle between Itachi and Sasuke, preventing the emergence of the Eternal Mangekyō, Aoba suspected that more moves would follow.

In Aoba's view, the Sage of Six Paths' influence over Hashirama was likely far greater than anyone imagined.

Reflecting on the Naruto storyline in his past life, Aoba had noticed that the Sage of Six Paths clearly favored Asura.

Now, thinking it through, it wasn't favoritism, Asura was simply closer to him in essence.

Whether it was Asura or Indra, they were nominally the sons of the Sage of Six Paths, but fundamentally, they were reincarnations of two different aspects of his chakra.

In other words, the foundational power of both Asura and Indra originates from the Sage of Six Paths.

The fact that Naruto and Sasuke could easily inherit the Sage's power confirms this, they were always part of the same lineage.

Based on this reasoning, Aoba concluded that the Sage of Six Paths could completely control the power within Hashirama at any time, and possibly even influence his soul, thereby affecting Hashirama himself.

It might sound disheartening, but this was the reality. As reincarnations of Asura and Indra, they were never truly free, they were pieces on the Sage of Six Paths' chessboard.

As for why he didn't directly interfere with Naruto and Sasuke, Aoba speculated it was because the powers of Asura and Indra within them were still too weak.

Or perhaps he had already interfered with Naruto, but it simply hadn't been noticed yet.

In Sasuke's case, however, the Sage of Six Paths' influence seemed much weaker, similar to his limited control over Madara Uchiha.

Of course, why the Sage of Six Paths had a stronger ability to interfere with Asura's power and a weaker influence over Indra's was a question Aoba still couldn't answer.

He had a feeling that discovering the answer to this question might reveal the greatest secret of the ninja world.

Without continuing to try to dissuade Tsunade, Aoba helped her process some of the piled-up paperwork before leaving the Hokage's office alone to head to the Konoha Research Institute.

There, Tobirama Senju was already waiting for him.

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Currently on Chapter 304 - Three Questions