Chapter 60: Science Always Requires Patience
"The purpose of joining Akatsuki? Of course, it is to pursue the beauty of art!"
Nagato jolted awake in the dead of night. He sat up sharply, then pressed two fingers to his brow, exhaustion weighing on his eyes. It had been a long time since he had a nightmare.
But tonight, a strange dream dragged him back under. In it, Sasori, the one Konan had recruited, somehow ended up joining Kenichi's prank squad too. Akatsuki was thrown into complete chaos.
Nagato let out a slow breath and shook his head.
"Those two… if they cannot handle something like this, then they should find another opportunity. No, that is not right."
If Konoha's S rank and A rank rogue shinobi could not even manage a simple funding mission, then Konoha had no business being called the strongest of the five great villages.
Still, the moment Nagato thought of Kenichi and Orochimaru, his feelings turned complicated. Sasori had already joined Akatsuki. A meeting would happen soon, without question.
He only hoped those two would not cause trouble.
Especially Kenichi.
Meanwhile, the person Nagato was thinking about was standing in a remote clearing in the Land of Fire, notebook in hand, calmly writing as if he were recording the weather.
"The explosive power of number three improved compared to before, but it still did not meet expectations," Kenichi muttered as he stared at the shattered rocks. "Still, the fireworks were pretty."
After mixing thermobaric explosives inside the lab, he had brought out eight experimental samples. To make sure his records stayed consistent, he had even used ninjutsu to create several earthen houses as standardized targets.
The detonations for No. 1 and No. 2 succeeded, but the results were mediocre. No. 3, which he had just tested, produced a deep purple flame.
Fireworks changed color depending on what elements were added during manufacturing. Different ingredients, different flames.
Kenichi could already imagine new ways to create fireworks in the future. Maybe he could even open a fireworks factory one day.
"Never mind. Time is tight and the task is heavy. Keep going."
He pushed the thought aside and continued testing the remaining five samples, one by one.
As for being discovered, he was not worried. The Land of Fire was vast, full of valleys and forests. He had deliberately chosen a secluded place where normal patrols would not wander.
If someone could slip past his observation here, then that person was either extremely strong or an outright expert.
Kenichi remembered that Zetsu had a very unusual detection method. Even Kage level powerhouses could fail to notice Zetsu while he was hiding.
Still, Kenichi did not feel anxious about it. He was just an ordinary shinobi. Not exactly someone worth hunting down.
Once all eight samples were tested, he reached a rough conclusion. In terms of raw explosive force, the seventh sample performed the best.
The earthen house he created with Earth Release was erased completely. Nothing remained. The ground itself was ripped open into a wide crater, and that was with a relatively small amount of thermobaric explosives.
The fifth sample had a unique feature too. The smoke produced after the explosion was poisonous. Kenichi did not pay it much attention. The ninja world already had more poisons than common sense.
To him, thermobaric weapons were meant for the battlefield. They were tools for destroying enemy buildings and efficiently killing large numbers of people who were not strong enough to resist.
What mattered was extreme destructive power, violent kinetic force, and the ability to strip oxygen from the air. Poison was not the point. It did not belong at the core of a thermobaric weapon.
In his previous life, thermobaric bombs were terrifying. But this world had shinobi who broke every rule of reason. Kenichi could not yet say how effective it would be against jonin, let alone shinobi above that level.
Still, against genin and ordinary people, thermobaric rounds were even more troublesome than a Tailed Beast Ball. They could not dodge. Even hiding underground would not save them.
And how often did a Tailed Beast Ball even achieve its purpose cleanly? Not often. The moment a tailed beast appeared, its sheer size drew attention from half the world.
"If Nagato had this, why bother with Shinra Tensei?" Kenichi said, flipping through his experimental records with a satisfied smile. "He could just have Deidara drop bombs from the sky."
Then his expression tightened and he scratched his head.
"No. Against a real village, we still need to test whether a thermobaric round can break through a barrier."
Ninja villages had defensive barriers. Konoha's barriers often looked like a joke, but they were still an essential layer of protection.
If thermobaric weapons were going to be used for real, then their effectiveness against barriers had to be verified.
One thing, however, was certain. The greater the yield, the greater the power. Bigger output meant stronger destruction.
"I really want to try it," Kenichi murmured, eyes bright as he rubbed his hands together. "If I can incorporate chakra, the power should rise again."
After using ninjutsu to smooth away the marks and traces he had left behind, he quickly departed.
He already had a preliminary idea for how to research the fusion between chakra and thermobaric explosives. But when it came time to test it, he would have to do it alone, far away from any base.
If he blew up another lab, he could already imagine how furious his teacher would be.
When Kenichi returned to the experimental base, a nervous tension crept up his spine. He could not help glancing toward the lab area again and again. Only when he confirmed Orochimaru was not there did he finally breathe out.
"Why do I suddenly feel like I did something wrong and I am scared my parents will find out?" he muttered, staring at the empty base as relief loosened his shoulders.
Since his teacher was not here, he decided to start by working through the theory.
Kenichi actually enjoyed this kind of solitary life. Scientific experiments were often tedious. A single result could take many people years, even more than a decade, to reach.
Fortunately, he had a cheat code in his hands. Otherwise, he might have been hand making thermobaric rounds all the way until the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
"The fusion of chakra and thermobaric explosives can be roughly divided into two types," Kenichi wrote carefully.
"One possible method is to seal chakra separately from the explosive mixture, then trigger a mixing reaction after the fuse detonates. That could cause a violent surge." He bit the end of his pen, thinking hard, completely unaware that someone had silently appeared behind him.
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