Chapter 24: Immortality?
"Oh? You want to do research on Impure World Reincarnation?"
Orochimaru took a slow sip of tea, then rested his chin on one hand and studied his disciple with a playful look.
"Yes, teacher. I think Impure World Reincarnation is extremely practical," Kenichi said honestly. He really did want to study it. If he could summon the First Hokage, he might be able to extract something more suited to himself from that legendary Sage body.
After obtaining Hashirama's Sage Body, Kenichi's strength had increased by leaps and bounds, but for some unknown reason he had not inherited Wood Release.
So, Kenichi decided to start with the First Hokage's Sage Mode. With the First's talent in Sage Arts, if Kenichi could fully master Sage Mode, his own strength would skyrocket.
"I do not recommend you use Impure World Reincarnation right now," Orochimaru said, shaking his head. "This forbidden jutsu is still being improved. If you insist on trying it, then start by resurrecting some weaker ninja."
My disciple is far too impatient, he thought. He keeps acting like there is never enough time and trying to poke his hands into everything.
Summoning the First Hokage right now would greatly increase the risk of being exposed. Even the smallest clue might attract suspicion, and that would be troublesome.
Hearing this, Kenichi finally understood what his teacher was worried about.
After all, he had a decent grasp of how Orochimaru thought.
"Speaking of which, how is that research project you were pushing forward?" Orochimaru asked with interest. He had gone through Kenichi's experiment logs before, and the research direction was indeed intriguing, even if he personally felt it had major limitations.
"It's going very smoothly, teacher. A few more rounds of experiments and I should be able to make a breakthrough," Kenichi replied, smiling unconsciously the moment his own research was mentioned.
During this period, Kenichi had not scattered his focus too widely. On one side, he was working with Orochimaru on daily research into Hashirama's cells and the Sharingan.
That work was ongoing thanks to their cooperation with Danzo. Root was providing a steady stream of funds and experimental materials.
On the other side, Kenichi was focused on his personal project: perfecting the ninjutsu he had created that weaponized cancer.
So far, his progress was quite satisfying. He could now induce lung cancer in his targets just by spraying nicotine onto their skin.
Once he activated the technique, Kenichi was capable of rapidly driving the victim's lungs straight into a late stage cancerous state.
The downside was obvious: it took too long, and it required external nicotine. There was still a lot of room for improvement.
"I can see that your experiment greatly reduces the target's combat ability. But will it be useful against Chunin and Jonin?" Orochimaru asked, clearly invested in the outcome.
After all, this disciple had burned through a lot of his research funds already, and had even requested five genin grade "consumables."
If Orochimaru had not seen tangible results in the experiment logs, he might have told Kenichi to abandon this path.
"Because we still don't have any Chunin or Jonin level consumables, I can't say for sure yet," Kenichi admitted with a shake of his head. He was very interested in Chunin, but had never obtained one.
It was not wartime. Supplies were no longer so easy to come by.
"The human body structure is more or less the same. It should still work," Orochimaru said, surprisingly optimistic about his disciple's work.
On the surface, this technique looked almost meaningless, but those cells called cancer had astonishing properties. By studying them in depth, it might be possible to reverse engineer some method related to physical immortality.
Of course, Orochimaru was not pinning all his hopes of eternal life on cancer cells alone. His research into soul transfer and Impure World Reincarnation was still progressing as well.
However, that jutsu might damage the soul. It was likely that the soul could recover through rest after reincarnation, but no direct experiment had been carried out yet, so even Orochimaru could not be completely sure.
If cancer cells were not so similar to Hashirama's cells, he might have already tried using them to construct a new body for himself.
"Teacher, the path of science cannot rely on theory and inference alone," Kenichi said solemnly.
Orochimaru shot him a sideways glance, then waved his hand with a look of mild irritation.
"I can give you a Chunin grade consumable," he said. "But you had better use it sparingly."
This disciple is getting bolder and bolder, he thought. He dares to haggle with me now.
"Thank you, teacher!" Kenichi's eyes lit up immediately.
A Chunin level consumable!
It was not that he could not defeat a Chunin; the real problem was turning a living Chunin into a usable experimental subject without causing a village wide uproar.
He could not exactly wander into Konoha and kidnap a Chunin off the street.
Although the thought had crossed his mind before, what he really wanted was to compare how his ninjutsu affected Chunin versus genin.
However, after considering the risk of exposure, he had reluctantly stayed put. Even so, Kenichi had already decided that when the Nine Tails went on a rampage in the future, that would be the perfect time to harvest new "materials."
"Teacher, would you like to observe the experiment?" Kenichi asked, giving Orochimaru a strange look.
Normally, his teacher did not pay this much direct attention to his personal projects, so he was not sure what had gotten into him today.
"Hmm. There is nothing pressing to do today," Orochimaru said calmly. Outside of research, Orochimaru rarely wasted words.
Kenichi had no objection. With that, he followed his teacher to collect the new "consumable," then brought everything into his private research room.
"Teacher, please disinfect first," Kenichi reminded politely.
Cancer cells could wreak havoc in the body, but they were actually far more fragile than many external bacteria and viruses.
A sterile room was essential. Kenichi had invested a lot of effort in modifying his laboratory to maintain a clean environment.
Orochimaru did not bother clarifying whether he was truly worried about contamination or just indulging his disciple, and simply followed Kenichi inside.
Once the subject was secured, Kenichi began the experiment with practiced ease.
He sprayed nicotine, then guided refined Yang attribute chakra into the lungs with precise control. Cancerous lesions formed almost immediately.
Kenichi was very satisfied. He had spent so much effort figuring out how to accurately influence cancer cells using Yang attribute chakra, and now he was finally seeing concrete results.
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