After returning to the Land of Water, Asuka parted ways with Ao.
Ao needed to return to the Hidden Mist Village to report the details of the mission to the Third Mizukage. He also had to explain the matter of the Byakugan he had unexpectedly obtained.
Asuka had no objections. He led the remaining ninja back to the border base.
After several days of travel, Asuka and his team finally returned to the Hidden Mist encampment. After briefly reporting to Terumi Kenshi, Asuka dismissed everyone so they could rest.
Having spent so long operating behind enemy lines, everyone was exhausted. After grabbing a quick meal, the ninja returned to their quarters and quickly fell into deep sleep.
Asuka also lay on his bed with his eyes closed.
However, unlike the others, his consciousness sank into the mutant gene bank.
After such a long period of charging, the genome had finally unlocked a new mutant ability.
As Asuka injected the last trace of chakra, the newly unlocked power appeared clearly in his mind.
The ability he gained this time was something he had been looking forward to for a long time—
Clone Human.
The Clone Human ability allowed him to create clones of himself.
These clones inherited the main body's abilities and skills. Although each clone was weaker than the original, they possessed independent thoughts and sensory abilities.
Their weakness was also obvious: they could not exist for very long, and the more clones created, the shorter their lifespan.
Although this power did not directly increase Asuka's raw strength, it was a crucial piece of his overall plan.
There were many Clone Techniques in the ninja world, but their flaws were obvious.
They were fragile, short-lived, and their strength depended entirely on the amount of chakra injected into them. Against weak opponents they worked well, but when facing powerful enemies, their shortcomings became immediately obvious.
The Clone Human ability perfectly met Asuka's requirements.
Although the clones were weaker than the original body, they could fully inherit his abilities and were far more durable than ordinary clones.
Creating more clones would reduce both their strength and duration, but Asuka never intended to create many.
If he produced only one or two clones, their lifespan would increase dramatically.
During his tests, Asuka discovered that the ability had undergone an additional mutation after interacting with chakra.
A chakra channel now existed between the original body and the clones.
Through this channel, Asuka could remotely control their actions, synchronize consciousness with them, and even transmit chakra across long distances.
This discovery pleasantly surprised him.
The mutated cloning ability felt almost like possessing an external incarnation.
The enhancement greatly raised the potential of the Clone Human ability.
With this power, Asuka could finally proceed with his plan without worry.
A clone could remain on the battlefield, attracting attention and earning military achievements, while his real body pursued plans he had been preparing for a long time.
The reason he needed such a capable clone was related to his future goal—
becoming the Mizukage.
Clones created through Clone Human possessed roughly 60–70% of the original body's strength.
Coincidentally, that level of power was very close to what Asuka usually displayed in public.
In fact, the strength Asuka normally showed others was deliberately suppressed. He had never revealed his full power before anyone.
The only exception was his battle against Killer Bee, where he used about 80–90% of his strength to test his limits.
Although that battle completely drained his chakra, it was partly because he had not pushed himself to the absolute limit.
Aside from possessing chakra reserves comparable to a Tailed Beast, the thing Asuka was most proud of was his chakra recovery ability.
When he was young, he constantly pushed his body to its limits. Aside from training and rest, nearly all his time was spent refining chakra.
Anyone else attempting such extreme training would have destroyed their body long ago.
But Asuka survived thanks to Wolverine's regenerative ability.
Over time, his body adapted to this intense cycle, giving him an insanely fast chakra recovery rate.
For example, it was like a pool where 50% of the water drained every minute, but 30% was constantly refilled at the same time.
Of course, that level only occurred when he was pushing himself to the limit. Under normal circumstances, the recovery rate was closer to 15%.
His battle with Killer Bee allowed Asuka to estimate his current standing in the ninja world.
Although Killer Bee had not yet reached his Fourth Shinobi World War level, as a Perfect Jinchūriki, he was already among the top experts in the ninja world.
During their battle, Bee had even released the full form of the Eight-Tails, giving Asuka a clear understanding of his own strength.
Although Asuka ultimately chose to withdraw from the battle, it was clear to anyone watching that he had not been at a disadvantage—in fact, he had slightly gained the upper hand.
And that was when he had only just awakened his Cyclops ability and was still unfamiliar with it.
At that time, its destructive power was far weaker than it was now.
For example, during his recent clash with Orochimaru, the laser he fired used only 40% of the power he had used against Killer Bee.
Yet even that was enough to break through the Triple Rashōmon Orochimaru summoned.
According to Asuka's calculations, if he unleashed the Cyclops ability without restraint, the destructive force could rival a Tailed Beast Bomb launched jointly by the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails.
Therefore, a clone possessing 60–70% of his strength would be more than capable of handling most situations.
This meant Asuka could leave the battlefield with peace of mind.
After all, becoming the Mizukage was a key step in his overall plan.
As the leader of one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, the Mizukage controlled enormous resources—resources that could greatly assist Asuka in his future work.
Because what he truly wanted to do next was—
conduct experiments.
After all, in his previous two lives, Asuka had been a researcher.
Especially during his time in the X-Men world, his accumulated knowledge allowed him to achieve significant success in biology, even earning three PhDs in the field.
Although that level of achievement was not particularly extraordinary in the genius-filled X-Men world, it had been enough for him to gain the trust of Colonel Stryker and become one of his key assistants.
Now that he had arrived in the Naruto world, where the mysterious energy known as chakra existed—and where he possessed a powerful tool like the mutant gene bank—how could he possibly ignore such research opportunities?
Therefore, once his strength reached a stable level, Asuka had quietly begun researching various cellular genes within the ninja world.
Winning over Hōzuki Mangetsu was actually one of the results of that research.
In the original story, the Hidden Mist prodigy had revealed his talent too early, placing enormous strain on his body. As a result, he developed a condition similar to kekkei illness and died young.
In this life, when Asuka first met Mangetsu, the boy was already somewhat famous within the Hidden Mist Village.
After deliberately approaching him, Asuka quickly gained his trust.
Once he obtained samples of Mangetsu's blood and conducted detailed research, he quickly discovered the cause of the illness and developed a targeted treatment.
After taking the medicine, Mangetsu soon noticed that the illness which had plagued him for years had greatly improved.
Even his physical condition had become stronger.
From that moment onward, Mangetsu completely trusted Asuka.