Naruto glanced at the report and quickly looked away. These were all written by him. It was just a temporary hypothesis and had not been put into practice.
The main reason is that he didn't fully understand it himself, so he just wrote a bunch of nonsense. In short, although it looked official on the outside, it was just for show. If you opened it, it was all blank.
Sakura had added more detailed content, most of which were things that couldn't be publicly released. However, it wasn't as cruel as something Orochimaru would do, and it was more aligned with medical research.
Still, the research focused on something quite unique, which is the genes and bloodlines of Shinobi.
All power has a source, and Chakra is no exception. The Otsutsuki Clan's descendants, with their bloodline diluted over generations, retained stronger powers in clans where the concentration was higher.
"I call them hybrids." Naruto said, making up something completely absurd but satisfying a bit of his mischievous humor.
"Hybrid?" Sakura was stunned. The flush on her face slowly faded as she held a document in her hand, "You're saying that Shinobi's bloodlines are all impure?"
"Normal people can't refine Chakra, right?" Naruto asked.
"True, a lot of civilians can't." Sakura replied, her expression becoming strange, as if trying to process seeing an elephant through the eye of a needle. Her worldview was undergoing a bizarre twist
"But legends aren't necessarily real. Who knows, maybe there weren't any Gods at all." She added quickly.
"Gods do exist, at least in this world." Naruto muttered softly, just loud enough for Sakura to hear, "Although, they're not really gods and are just another species."
"How do you know that?"
"Remember the cave in the Land of Whirlpools?" Naruto suddenly brought it up, shifting the blame to the Land of Whirlpools.
Anyway, everyone there was long dead, it wasn't like they could rise from the grave and send him a lawyer's letter? He had a habit of distancing himself when saying something unconventional.
Either it's Danzo's fault, or it's someone else's fault.
"You've been inside?" She asked.
"Yeah, there were murals recording some of the old legends." Naruto replied, then stopped mid-sentence, walking up to her and pulling her onto his lap.
"Do you have a pen?"
"Yes, here you go."
Naruto began sketching something on the paper with one hand while his other hand wandered restlessly. Gradually, a fearsome figure took shape on the blank page, with horns on its head and eyes that are full whites.
"Isn't this Byakugan?" She asked in surprise, then suddenly scolded, "Stop touching."
"Cough, the origin of the Chakra ancestors can be traced back to a thousand years ago. At least, that's what the murals suggest. Everything has a trail, and this aligns closely with the hybrid theory."
"Why don't you try it out for now? We'll see how it goes once you make some progress." He said.
"How am I supposed to test this with no data?" Sakura, sitting in his lap, was utterly confused, "Hey, we're talking about something serious here. Don't mess around."
"I'm not… I'm giving you the information." Naruto said, continuing to scribble on the paper.
Sakura wasn't sure what kind of 'information' he was giving her until she noticed he had written some actual notes on the paper. Finally, she let out a sigh of relief.
She couldn't handle another round. She had work in the afternoon and couldn't afford to waste more time fooling around. Ever since transferring from the Hokage's Office to the research division of Medical Department, Sakura had been incredibly busy.
Ever since Naruto had 'broken through her defenses', Sakura had become more serious in her work. Occasionally, she would throw out a teasing line or two, but only during their flirting moments.
"According to legend, the first 'god' gave birth to two Sages with the blessing of humanity. The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku confirmed that the two Sages did exist."
This was something she hadn't heard before, and it piqued her curiosity. She perked up, and listened intently.
"And then?"
"The Sages died." Naruto continued, trying to clarify as much as possible in one go so that it wouldn't interfere with Sakura's research later.
After all, she is helping him do the work, so there was no need to hold back important information.
"How can a Sage die?" She was shocked, then her face turned red again, "Stop..." (T/N: The word for Sage can also means Immortal, like in Xianxia Novel.)
"Because they weren't real Sages, just beings who called themselves that. You could think of them as extremely powerful Shinobi, reaching power far beyond what humans could achieve."
"Gods can't die?" Sakura pointed out a flaw in the logic.
"The murals recorded that they had a special method for immortality. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't die and were very hard to kill," Naruto explained, drawing a tree diagram on the paper.
At the top of the diagram was the menacing figure he had sketched earlier, with eyes that expanded outward in concentric circles like an onion.
He drew a fork in the line beneath it, with one Sage on each side. However, the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan were drawn beneath the two sages, without any further branches.
"Gods can't die, but Sages can." Sakura murmured, biting her finger unconsciously as she studied the tree diagram.
"Is it because they gave birth to children? Since they were blessed by humans, their children's bloodlines were impure? So, they would age and die like humans?"
"Hmm, that could be it." Naruto replied, revealing just a small part of the world's truth to Sakura in advance, preparing her mentally.
The medical research division dealt with human subjects, and their methods involved healing through medical ninjutsu. As Tsunade's direct disciple, Sakura's medical talents were nothing to scoff at.
Naruto couldn't trust Orochimaru, nor could he poach Shizune, so he could only put his hope on Sakura. He needed her, and not just for her body.
To be precise, he needed Dark Sakura. Only Dark Sakura would fully trust him without reservation, willingly allowing herself to be possessed, and would conspire with him to do such rebellious things in secret.
In the beginning, he considered Dark Sakura a trouble and avoided her, but in the end, he was glad he reconsidered. You could say that the effort and reward were directly proportional. As for Pink Sakura, well, that could be dealt with later.
There were certainly ways to manage things. In the worst-case scenario, they could share the same body. However, it seemed that Sakura's body had already been... well, compromised by him.
Hopefully, the main personality wouldn't return too soon.
"You see, if you put together all the Shinobi Clans with Kekkei Genkai, it's more like a gathering of hybrids with purer bloodlines."
Naruto said as he circled the Uchiha and Hyuga Clans on the diagram.
"The Dojutsu is gradually declining." Naruto pointed at the Hyuga Clan, "The main family's talent is weaker than the branch family's. The bloodline is unstable."
"The Uchiha Clan's Dojutsu is powerful, and it has something to do with their exclusivity. They married within the clan, keeping the bloodline pure, which also made them... mentally unstable."
"Are you researching the Shinobi Clans?" Sakura asked, holding back her laughter.
"Just on the side, trying to find some common patterns." He pinched Sakura playfully, then pointed to the two clans on the diagram and said, "It's not just Konoha. I've seen a lot of other Shinobi from other villages too."
"It is obvious that the number of Kekkei Genkai users is decreasing, and the power of Shinobi is gradually declining."
"Why is that?"
"It's probably related to the dilution of bloodline. Technology is developing. Assuming that the Shinobi World is at peace and no longer needs so many Shinobi, many Shinobi would integrate into civilian life, married and had children with ordinary people."
"Marrying and having children?" Sakura blinked and looked at Naruto, "If I had children, and I don't have a Kekkei Genkai, wouldn't that dilute your bloodline?"
"Uh…" Naruto didn't know how to respond, "That sort of thing doesn't matter. The purer the bloodline, the less human you become. Too much purity, and you stop being human."
"Oh, I see." Sakura nodded, then chuckled again, "It turns out that Shinobi's bloodline is so interesting. This could really be something worth studying."
"Whatever the research direction is, whether it's Kekkei Genkai or hybrids…" He said at last, "the ultimate goal is the same: to bring the gods down."