Chapter 124: Gentlemen! I'm Here to Bring You Peace!
Kenichi truly wanted to develop an atomic bomb and give the ninja world a small nuclear shock. Unfortunately, having uranium detection and refining equipment did not mean he could instantly build one. He was excited, not reckless.
He looked at the men kneeling inside the laboratory, trembling so hard their shoulders shook. Kenichi scratched his head.
Now that the lab was complete, it was time to deal with these people. Letting them go was out of the question. He had no intention of exposing the laboratory's location.
Luckily, he had planned ahead.
For the time being, he would keep them in the basement they had built with their own hands. Kenichi would provide enough food for them to survive each day, and when he needed manpower to haul supplies later, these men would finally become useful.
Right after making that decision, Kenichi suddenly felt a new memory surface in his mind. He rubbed his temples, then straightened with a flash of excitement.
The shadow clones from the [Crop Improvement Group] had dispersed on their own. Along with their memories came one clear message.
The crops were ripe.
Kenichi did not care about anything else. He left two shadow clones behind in the laboratory and rushed out, heading straight for his farmland.
"They're finally ripe," Kenichi murmured as he stared at the heavy ears of wheat swaying in front of him. He drew a deep breath. Reaching this point had not been easy.
Only now did he truly understand why agricultural research took so long to show results. Crops needed time. No amount of impatience could make seeds skip maturity.
Now, at last, he could see whether all those experiments meant anything.
"This time, since we needed to plant and observe a large number of samples at once, we didn't plant strictly according to the area of one acre," a shadow clone explained out of habit.
Kenichi gave him a strange look.
The clone froze, realizing what he had just said. Of course the original knew. Kenichi had already absorbed the clone's memories.
The clone coughed awkwardly, then waved for his team to begin. They harvested the rice stalks carefully, planning to weigh everything later and determine whether the improvements had actually worked.
Kenichi helped as well, but he could not hide his nervousness. He wanted success immediately.
If it failed this time, it meant another six months of waiting for a full growth cycle.
Experiments that only produced a clear outcome twice a year were, frankly, a pain.
[Sample 1: Yield decreased. According to records, the fragrance during flowering was especially strong. Experiment failed.]
[Sample 2: Yield unchanged. No other abnormalities observed. Experiment failed.]
[Sample 3: Experiment failed.]
[Sample 4: Experiment failed.]
[Sample 5: Experiment failed.]
He kept reading.
Most results were failures. Some samples had lower yields. Some looked plump, but when opened, the grains were empty. One sample even ended up focusing on aroma, making the ears smell better after flowering.
Then he reached a line that made him pause.
[Sample 23: Yield increased by 0.5 percent. It is unclear whether this was caused by other factors or successful genetic modification. Further observation is required. Sample 23 will be replanted. Seeds from sample 23 will be stimulated using the same method to observe whether yield continues to increase.]
Kenichi narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.
It was not a complete loss. Sample 23 showed a yield increase compared to rice planted the same way without any improvements.
The gain was small, but it was real enough to be suspicious.
"If I give these records to Nagato, he won't understand them," Kenichi muttered, stroking his chin. "The key is sample twenty three."
Nagato was not a scientist. He would not care about principles or methods. He would only care about one thing.
Results.
A half percent increase was decent, but it could not be taken at face value. It might have been the soil. It might have been chance. It might have been a small environmental difference Kenichi had not controlled perfectly.
He needed to expand the planting scale and repeat the process.
That meant another six months.
And there was the real problem.
The experimental period Kenichi had been given by Nagato was only eight months. Even if Kenichi rushed, that timeline was tight.
He could not hand Nagato a half proven result and call it an answer. It would be humiliating if it turned out the ground around sample 23 was simply more fertile.
So Kenichi decided to run more experiments, confirm the trend, and only then report.
During the past six months, Nagato had not contacted him at all. Only Sasori occasionally reached out, asking about Unit 01, but even that had been quiet lately.
Kenichi's eyes drifted.
"Should I mention the concept of telephones to the teacher?" he wondered.
Long distance communication in the ninja world was still miserable. There were radios, sure, but no telephones. Kenichi and Sasori had to relay messages through Nagato.
It was inconvenient, and it made private discussions awkward. It felt like trying to whisper to your best friend while the teacher stood right beside you, listening politely.
The problem was, Orochimaru had been busy too. He had been leaving every day.
At first, Kenichi did not know what he was doing.
Then one day, Kenichi went to the black market to buy something and saw the astonishing release of the third volume of The Story I Had to Tell with Orochi Princess.
He understood immediately.
It had to be said, Jiraiya was truly prolific. Before anyone noticed, he had already written three parts, and each one was more "exciting" than the last. The covers were also becoming less and less suitable for children.
They were the kind of covers that made Kenichi blush, then quietly hand over his money anyway.
As Kenichi was still lost in thought, the ring on his finger warmed.
His gaze sharpened.
Another meeting.
Nagato was summoning them again.
The familiar sensation pulled him away, and Kenichi arrived once more in that mysterious space. He looked around and realized he had not been here for half a year.
There were more people now.
Orochimaru was there. Sasori was there. Kakuzu was there. Several other figures stood in the shadows, their identities unclear.
Akatsuki had not stopped expanding.
"Jade," Nagato said immediately, his first words cutting through the air, "tell me about your research progress later."
Kenichi nodded. He had planned to speak with Nagato anyway.
"And here is the current arrangement," Nagato continued. "Konoha and Iwagakure have gone to war. The other members will take war missions according to their previous groups."
Kenichi's interest faded instantly.
Another war. This time between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Stone.
How dull.
The ninja world was always fighting. It fought like breathing. Kenichi felt like his entire life had been spent watching wars rotate in and out. First the Third Shinobi World War, then the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Leaf, and now even the Hidden Stone was involved.
Nagato's gaze shifted toward him.
"Jade," Nagato said, "Iwagakure, the Hidden Stone Village."
Kenichi's eyes widened a fraction.
He suddenly realized how stupid he had been.
He had even mixed up Iwagakure with Tsuchigakure, the so called Hidden Earth Village.
Unbelievable.
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]