If that old man really did exist in this world in some form, karma was not something to be taken lightly.
So, taking a step back and naming it after those seekers and cultivators within the Buddhist tradition would be the safest choice.
Genjo, in his previous life, could be said to be the most widely known title of a monk.
Historically, he had been a great seeker of the dharma who journeyed west alone, traveled tens of thousands of miles, crossed dozens of nations, and spent seventeen years retrieving the true scriptures.
In the even more widely known legends, his image had long transcended that of the rigorous eminent monk of history, for in that household-name legendary novel, he had been given a far more fantastical identity.
In his previous life, he had been Jin Chanzi, the world-honored second student. Because he had shown irreverence toward the dharma, he was banished to the mortal world and reincarnated as the scripture-seeker Genjo Sanzo, who journeyed 108,000 kilometers to the western heaven with four students, endured 81 tribulations, obtained the true scriptures, and ultimately attained the righteous fruition.
The dharma name Genjo originally referred to the Tripitaka, the three baskets of sutras, vinaya, and treatises. This name had a natural connection to Buddhism, yet unlike titles such as the world-honored one or the Buddha, it did not carry excessively heavy karmic implications.
It also fit this clone's role perfectly: from the beginning, he was not an enlightened one who had already attained buddhahood, but a cultivator traveling the road in search of scriptures.
But there was a deeper layer of meaning here that only Shinichi himself knew. In his previous life, he had once read a setting in an online novel that had left a rather deep impression on him.
Jin Chanzi had been a product of the world-honored one subtracting from himself in pursuit of emptiness; the so-called subtracting in pursuit of emptiness meant that, in order to attain the supreme great Dao, the world-honored one had stripped away a part of himself and turned it into an independent existence, thereby reducing his own karma and seeking final transcendence.
And the words Golden Cicada themselves also carried the implication of the cicada shedding its shell and transforming into its adult form, leaving an empty shell hanging on a branch while its true body had long since flown toward a new realm.
What if the world-honored one did not exist in this world, or had already disappeared?
Then this Genjo of his would one day take his place and become the true Buddha of the Buddhist path, the revered one of all ages!
As for the fact that the third Hokage had called him to the office earlier, although the old man had spent a long time laying the groundwork and his tone had carried a rare trace of hesitation and awkwardness, he had still ultimately stated his true purpose.
He wanted Shinichi to take the lead in restarting the first Hokage's Hashirama's Cells experiment.
Shinichi was somewhat surprised by this. According to his original plan, he had intended to wait until the society was formally established before finding a suitable opportunity to take the initiative and submit the proposal to the third Hokage himself.
After all, this experiment was deeply entangled in sensitive matters. The shadow of the last failure still hung over the memories of Konoha's upper ranks to this day, so it was not something that could simply be restarted with a casual suggestion. He had even already drafted the wording and reasoning for the proposal in his mind.
Yet he had not expected the third Hokage to bring it up of his own accord, which saved him the trouble of having to come up with another set of arguments.
Therefore, after the third Hokage had laid out his intentions in full, Shinichi merely pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement.
After agreeing, he took over the preliminary materials from the third Hokage's hands.
The third Hokage also specifically told him that if he felt the timing was right, he could head to the classified laboratory set up in Konoha's highest-security area, reserved specifically for him, at any time and begin work directly.
At the time, while putting away the materials, a thought could not help but arise in Shinichi's mind: He increasingly felt that, under the enhancement of his talents, his luck was getting better and better, to the point of feeling almost like whatever he wished for simply came true.
Some things had not even reached the point where he could take action, and yet they had already been naturally delivered right in front of him.
"No time like the present. Let's do it today."
Shinichi said inwardly; he had originally planned to wait until after the society was formally established before sacrificing a talent and upgrading his clone, but now the first Hokage's cells were already in hand, and the laboratory was prepared as well. Since the opportunity had arrived ahead of schedule, there was no need to wait any longer.
The only question was whether, after the clone talent was upgraded, it would be possible to create one additional new clone.
If so, he could even arrange the debut of the new clone on the day the society was established, have that clone put on a little double act with him, let the two of them meet in front of everyone, and also pave the way for later recommending Genjo to the Fire Temple and formally beginning the construction of the monk occupation system.
Of course, all of this rested on the premise that the upgraded clone talent could provide an extra slot. If it could still maintain only one clone, then he would have no choice but to activate the backup plan.
Thinking of this, Shinichi no longer hesitated.
After taking a deep breath, he opened his system panel, let his gaze linger repeatedly over the two talents Incarnation of Lightning and Clone, and finally whispered in his heart: "Sacrifice."
Buzz!
A low hum rang out in the depths of Shinichi's consciousness, and the noble purple radiance covering the Incarnation of Lightning talent began to dim rapidly, as if something were being extracted from within that glow.
The purple faded and turned azure; the blue continued to decay and became green; and amid the flickering green light, it kept falling, on the verge of dropping into the threshold of white, but at that very moment, it barely stopped, hanging at the edge of green and fading no further.
"So it seems that sacrificing a talent does not make it disappear completely. The excess cognition remains and turns into a lower-tier talent of the same series."
Shinichi quickly reached this conclusion inwardly, and he could not help but feel secretly relieved.
This was already the best possible outcome, and what he had feared most was that all the accumulated gains would be wiped back to zero, or worse, that he would permanently lose this type of talent altogether.