Chapter 13: Research on Cancer Cells
"Teacher, are you really not going to transplant those eyes?"
Kenichi could not hold back his curiosity.
The Byakugan might have seemed less impressive in the later stages of the story he remembered, but the Hyuga clan had still become one of Konoha's two great clans alongside the Uchiha. That alone showed how special those eyes were.
If a pair of Byakugan appeared in any other village, they would be priceless.
Across the entire ninja world, only Ao of Kirigakure had managed to obtain a Byakugan. The other villages had coveted those eyes for years and still failed, which spoke volumes about how tightly Konoha controlled them.
Of course, the Caged Bird Seal was also one of the main reasons the Byakugan almost never leaked out.
"It is too conspicuous, and there is something wrong with these eyes," Orochimaru replied, shaking his head.
The Byakugan was powerful, but it was also a walking announcement of its owner's identity. He was still aiming for the Fourth Hokage's seat. Transplanting such an obvious dojutsu now would be asking to be exposed.
On top of that, these particular eyes contained strange proliferating cells. Even if he transplanted them, it was unclear whether the Byakugan would function normally. Over this period, the subject's vision had only grown worse.
Kenichi nodded in understanding. It matched his own guess about why his teacher had not used them.
Still, his gaze toward Orochimaru grew a bit odd.
He really never expected his teacher to still be seriously dreaming about becoming the Fourth Hokage. For a moment, it made Orochimaru seem strangely naive.
But if he put himself in the same position, Kenichi had to admit that Orochimaru had plenty of reasons to be confident.
In terms of fame, he was one of the Legendary Sannin, feared and respected throughout the ninja world. In terms of military achievements, he had commanded countless battles and earned enormous merit. And now he had Danzo's support behind the scenes.
If Kenichi were in his shoes, he would probably feel very sure of winning as well.
The other major candidate in Konoha right now was Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash, and while Minato was terrifying in battle, on paper he still seemed a little weaker than Orochimaru.
How could the charging dragon possibly lose halfway through its ascent?
"Your insect amber. I told you to bring it. Did you?" Orochimaru's sudden question snapped Kenichi out of his thoughts.
Kenichi quickly nodded and took the amber from his pouch.
Orochimaru accepted it and examined the insect sealed inside for a while, then shook his head and handed the amber back.
Kenichi noticed the book open on the table beside him. The title was strange: "Idle Stories of the Immortal Era." It did not look like a formal text at all.
"I thought your insect might be from the legendary era of the Sage of Six Paths," Orochimaru said casually, "but after comparing them, I do not think they are the same species."
He passed the book to Kenichi.
Kenichi glanced at the opened page and saw a short passage.
In summary, it described a type of insect that had wiped out several villages. These insects burrowed into human bodies, seized control of their hosts, and drove them into a crazed state.
That was where the record ended. All it said afterward was that the so called immortals discovered this and exterminated every infected villager.
There was also a sketch beside the text, but the insect drawn there looked different from the one in his amber.
"If something like that really existed, that is way too broken," Kenichi clicked his tongue.
A parasite that could control people?
All right then, Resident Evil 4 clearly took notes from this world.
"Not necessarily. It is said that during the era of the Sage of Six Paths, there were many strange religions and some very unusual weapons," Orochimaru remarked, not fully convinced himself.
Kenichi thought about it and found it hard to refute.
Back then, there had been the Divine Tree and alien beings like the Otsutsuki. Compared to that, parasites that controlled humans did not sound impossible at all.
"If bugs like that still existed, you could just implant one in everyone and force peace across the entire ninja world," Kenichi muttered. "I just hope Nagato never finds out about this."
Even so, it had all supposedly happened so long ago that whether any of it was real or not barely mattered. And even if it was real, finding those insects again would be close to impossible.
"Peace is not so easily achieved," Orochimaru said, licking his lips lightly.
His behavior was still more than a little twisted at times, but for now he was at least acting within a vaguely normal range.
Kenichi figured that Orochimaru had not yet been driven off the deep end by losing the Hokage position. On top of that, his ambition for the Fourth Hokage's seat probably made him restrain himself slightly.
"Kenichi, you will stay at this experimental base for the next few days. I will come pick you up when I am done."
Orochimaru rose to his feet, his eyes turning cold.
Kenichi nodded at once. At a moment like this, the last thing he would do was ask where his teacher was going. Orochimaru could be terrifying when he was displeased.
"Teacher, what about that test subject?" Kenichi could not help asking anyway. It would be a waste not to make full use of such a rare specimen.
"Just do not kill him."
Orochimaru's answer was crisp. Then he turned and left without another word.
Kenichi was already used to this pattern. More than once, Orochimaru had brought him out of the village, left him in a lab, and then disappeared to handle other matters.
At times like that, Kenichi was nothing more than a convenient tool.
Even so, he felt a thrill of excitement right now. With Orochimaru gone, he could finally devote all his attention to the imprisoned Hyuga illegitimate child.
"All right then. Let us see what happens when we wrap cancer cells in Yang attribute chakra," Kenichi murmured, rubbing his hands together before stepping into the lab with a smile.
After a brief groan of effort, he began his next round of experiments with the tissue he had scraped off earlier.
He documented each step carefully.
[Today, after infusing a trace amount of Yang chakra into Cell Sample One, the cells began to proliferate, then rapidly died off in large numbers. Sample One's survival ability outside the body is extremely poor, possibly due to contamination.]
[In the afternoon, the last bit of growth was extracted from the target's eyeball. This time, it was infused with an amount of Yang chakra equivalent to a Fireball Jutsu. The cells again proliferated wildly, but the rate of cell death increased as well.]
So where exactly is the problem?
Possible causes: cells separated from the body cannot adapt to the external environment, temperature and humidity fluctuations, and invasion by other microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.
[On the day after Orochimaru left, the growths on the target's eyeballs had completely stopped. Live body experiments can now begin.]
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