Chapter 20: Science Is About Creating Something From Nothing
Ever since Minato Namikaze officially took office as the Fourth Hokage and the carving of his face began on the Hokage Rock, Orochimaru had become noticeably quiet.
Kenichi Amamiya watched his teacher stand in a place where he could clearly see the stone faces for a long time, then turned around and left without calling out to him.
Even if teacher kept saying he did not care, Kenichi felt that no one cared more about that mountain than Orochimaru.
As he watched Orochimaru's back fade into the distance, Kenichi suddenly started doubting his teacher's gender.
If he did not know for a fact that Orochimaru was a man and that his body had not changed, he really might have mistaken him for a tsundere woman.
If you dyed his hair blond, tied it into ponytails or pigtails, and gave him a proud face, he would fit right in with those haughty, ill fated girls from certain stories.
"Teacher, does Elder Shimura Danzo smoke?" Kenichi asked as they walked along the familiar route toward the laboratory that Orochimaru ran in cooperation with Root.
"Hm? Him?" Orochimaru paused for a moment, clearly not expecting that question. "I have never seen him smoke."
Hearing that, Kenichi felt a little disappointed. So he did not smoke.
If he did not smoke, it would not be easy to deal with him using the method Kenichi had in mind.
Previously, Kenichi had seriously considered finding a chance to cultivate cancer cells inside Danzo, but the plan depended heavily on cigarettes.
With Danzo not smoking and Kenichi's technique not yet perfected, he could only shelve that idea for now.
When they arrived at the Root underground laboratory, Danzo himself was not present, only Root operatives.
However, his absence did not affect the progress of the experiments.
The inauguration of the Fourth Hokage also meant that the war had truly ended. At least for the near future, Root would no longer be able to supply as many human consumables as before, and that shortage would only become more severe with time.
"Teacher, what is the topic of today's experiment?"
Kenichi noticed that every time he stepped into the laboratory, something inside him would quietly ignite. He would become excited without even realizing it.
"Nothing special," Orochimaru replied calmly. "We will continue the experiments on how to allow people to better control the cells of the First Hokage."
This was Danzo's request.
Kenichi found it somewhat boring. The cells of the First Hokage were certainly powerful, but their limitations were enormous.
Simply surviving contact with them was already a great challenge.
Orochimaru's past experiments had killed countless people before someone like Yamato finally appeared as a successful example.
"Teacher, may I carry out my own research?" Kenichi asked.
He did not really want to continue with experiments focused on the First Hokage's cells. He had his own ideas.
Orochimaru glanced at him, then nodded.
The experiment itself was indeed tedious. If Root had not provided resources and support, Orochimaru would not have bothered catering to Danzo's requests either.
After receiving permission, Kenichi headed off to conduct his own experiments, delighted.
However, since this was a facility tied directly to Root, he decided not to continue improving his cancer based ninjutsu here.
Instead, he chose to develop something else.
Chakra armor.
Or, more accurately, extending research based on a metal Orochimaru had experimented with before.
During one of his earlier studies, Orochimaru had obtained a special metal that could absorb chakra. The substance could drain chakra from a ninja's body, but since Orochimaru had many projects on his plate, this particular metal had been shelved for the time being.
Kenichi, however, was very optimistic about its potential.
If it could be improved until it not only absorbed chakra from a person's body but also absorbed chakra from ninjutsu, then its usefulness on the battlefield would skyrocket.
"If we add an energy conversion unit and a storage system so that the absorbed chakra can either be stored or transferred back into the wearer's body, then this would basically be a perpetual motion machine in combat," Kenichi muttered, clicking his tongue in amazement.
That would essentially turn a person into a pilot of chakra armor, like a chakra gundam roaming the Naruto world.
In theory, it was possible.
Kenichi remembered that in a Naruto movie there had been armor that could absorb chakra.
If he could enhance the defense, research higher performance metals, and design a matching conversion and storage core, then this idea was not completely out of reach.
Even if Uchiha Madara was terrifying, what would he do if Kenichi wore chakra armor that could swallow all his ninjutsu?
However, all of that was still a long way off.
Kenichi had not yet figured out how to improve the metal's properties. All he could do now was run small scale experiments and collect data bit by bit.
"No wonder teacher cooperates with Root," he sighed as he glanced at the resources he had already consumed.
Research was expensive.
No wonder so many people preferred to develop ninjutsu instead.
Developing a ninjutsu did not cost nearly as much money.
It was true. The poor relied on mutation. The rich relied on technology.
"Are you interested in alien metals?"
The voice behind him made Kenichi instantly know who had arrived.
He turned around quickly and, sure enough, Orochimaru was standing there, as if he had appeared out of nowhere.
There he goes again, walking without a sound. Did he learn that trick from Batman?
"Yes, teacher. I think this metal has tremendous development potential," Kenichi answered honestly.
If this material could evolve in the direction he imagined, it could absolutely become a future strategic deterrent on the level of nuclear weapons.
It might even completely change how wars were fought in the ninja world.
"The absorption limit of this heterometal is very low for now," Orochimaru said, a faint smile on his lips. "But I have high expectations for you. After all, science always starts from nothing."
There were not many people in this village that he wanted to bring along when he finally left.
Kenichi Amamiya was the only one.
Orochimaru even felt that he might not need any other disciples in his life besides this one who resembled him so much.
"Yes, teacher. Science is about creating something from nothing," Kenichi replied firmly.
He might not be a top level scientist, but he understood that many things had once not existed.
Before computers appeared, people could not even imagine what such a thing would be like. Their existence had truly been a jump from nothing to something.
And Kenichi also remembered the future shown in Boruto, where there were many things that felt completely unimaginable from the perspective of the current era.
"Let us go. Today's experiment is over," Orochimaru said calmly, turning to leave.
Kenichi followed behind him.
Behind the two of them, the laboratory echoed now and then with groans of pain.
As they climbed the stairs, Kenichi followed his teacher from darkness back into the light.
"Teacher, do you think the Third Hokage knows about our experiments?" Kenichi suddenly asked.
Root might be a secret organization that answered only to Danzo, but the Anbu were no small matter either.
"Of course he knows," Orochimaru replied slowly. "He gave his tacit approval."
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