Chapter 76: The Amazing Science of Materials
The Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning were not directly adjacent. Only a narrow trade route connected the two great nations, a corridor used by caravans hauling goods back and forth.
Between them lay two small countries, but Kenichi had no intention of going that way. He planned to cut through the Land of Iron instead, and while he was at it, search for the graves of Kinkaku and Ginkaku along the route.
Kenichi was interested in the two brothers. Not because of their strength, but because of what ran in their blood, traces of the Sage of Six Paths, and the Sage's treasured tools.
Going to the Land of Lightning had been part of his plan for a long time. Now that he also needed a place to test thermobaric weapons, he decided to bundle everything into one trip.
As for whether blowing something up in the Land of Lightning would cause trouble, Kenichi did not care. Konoha could take the blame. He was just a paid hand in a war for money. If he was unlucky, maybe the Hidden Cloud would one day hire him to drop something on Konoha too.
"Sasori, have you ever been to the Land of Iron?" Kenichi asked, sitting on the boat and glancing at Sasori beside him.
"No," Sasori said, still working on his Unit 01. "I have only heard it is permanently neutral, and that it has avoided major wars."
The metal of the Executioner's Blade was unusual. It could absorb iron from blood and repair itself, which was exactly why Sasori wanted to melt it down and turn it into armor for Unit 01.
Kenichi agreed with the idea. The Executioner's Blade was powerful. The problem was that it seemed to be forged from some strange meteor metal, and Kenichi did not know whether other metals in the ninja world shared the same properties.
"Sasori, even if the blade's metal is special, be careful," Kenichi warned. "Sometimes, the same raw material becomes something completely different depending on how you fire it."
That was not theory. It was experience.
Back in his old life, Kenichi had once used a furnace to process materials for his mentor. Same method, same setup, three identical batches. Only one succeeded. The other two failed so cleanly it was almost insulting.
Materials science was like that. Amazing and unreasonable.
Sometimes, under conditions that sounded completely absurd, it produced something miraculous.
Before he came to this world, one of his senior brothers used to daydream about what he would do if he managed to bake a batch of room temperature superconducting material.
At first, Kenichi wanted to tell him to stop fantasizing.
Later, he admitted the truth. If you really burned it out, it would be incredible.
The only problem would be reproducing it. Then you would need precise control of temperature and humidity, the exact placement angle inside the furnace, and probably even your mood, just to keep the universe from changing its mind.
"Hm." Sasori understood the point, but he still believed this metal was stable enough that it would not suddenly change its nature after refining.
"The Land of Iron," Kenichi muttered. "A peaceful country."
He clicked his tongue, feeling a little bored. The ninja world was huge, and traveling ate time like a hungry animal.
He also had no idea what lay beyond the open sea. No one in the ninja world seemed to sail far enough to find out whether other cities existed out there.
[Current research subject: Chakra parasite]
Research progress: 5.72%
Kenichi glanced at the progress. Slow, but acceptable. Studying an ancient parasite at all was already an advantage. He just did not know what kind of monster or miracle he would uncover at the end.
"Kenichi," Sasori suddenly looked up. "I heard you are Orochimaru's disciple."
Kenichi nodded. "I am."
"Is your teacher a woman?" Sasori asked, genuine curiosity in his eyes.
"?" Kenichi almost answered with a question mark out loud.
Orochimaru was Orochimaru. Even if he had taken a female body through the Living Corpse Reincarnation, the person inside was still him.
What bothered Kenichi was the real question.
How did Sasori know?
Orochimaru never casually revealed secrets like that. Kenichi himself had only picked up fragments and clues, and even now he did not know the full method behind that forbidden technique.
Was Orochimaru refusing to teach him because he did not want to, or because he did not trust anyone with it?
"The leader mentioned it earlier while speaking to Konan," Sasori said, noticing Kenichi's confusion. "He said he never expected Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, to be in a woman's body. I overheard it."
Kenichi's lips twitched.
So Nagato had noticed it just from contact through the ring.
That was inconveniently sharp.
"His current body is female," Kenichi admitted, scratching his head. He remembered the blonde girl he had seen at the base.
She was pretty, objectively speaking.
Unfortunately, the soul inside belonged to Orochimaru.
And once his thoughts opened that door, they immediately ran downhill.
Orochimaru had been acting a little more feminine lately. Was that the body influencing the mind? Would Kenichi be affected too if he ever used something similar?
Snake Uncle becoming Snake Aunt was one thing.
Snake Uncle becoming Snake Girl, younger than him, was another kind of nightmare.
And if his teacher ever had a monthly cycle…
Kenichi shook his head hard, as if he could physically fling the image out of his skull. Just imagining it felt like psychological damage.
"Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, in a woman's body," Sasori said, sounding entertained. "That is truly shocking."
He glanced at Kenichi in a way Kenichi could not quite read, as if weighing him up with new curiosity.
Kenichi frowned. What was that look supposed to mean?
"Come on," Kenichi said, standing. "We have arrived at the Land of Iron."
They had reached the dock. From here, they still needed to disembark and travel across the Land of Iron before moving toward the Land of Lightning.
Their cover identities were simple. Ordinary merchants.
It made travel easier, and Kenichi's Transformation Jutsu was realistic enough that there was no reason to worry.
The inspection in the Land of Iron was far looser than he expected. After a bribe of one thousand ryo, Kenichi skipped the whole process and led Sasori straight through.
"It seems a long peace has changed this country," Kenichi muttered. "Hard to say if it is good or bad."
What if his cargo really contained thermobaric weapons?
No one even bothered to check.
Still, for Kenichi, that was a blessing. It made everything simpler.
"This kind of country," Sasori said, shaking his head.
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