Chapter 232: Yellow Spring Flower Poison
"Teacher, there really are some incredible creatures in this world," Kenichi said with a smile as he looked at the test tube in his hand.
He had just cut away half of the plant's thorns and extracted all of the strange liquid inside them. Of course, to avoid killing the plant, he had gone out of his way to catch a few rabbits and toss them into the thorn circle.
After all, he had no idea how rare this species was. If there were only a handful of them in the Land of Snow, losing one would be a waste. Keeping it alive would also make future experiments much easier.
"Indeed." Orochimaru played with the tiny spider in his fingers. He had picked it out from the swarm earlier. It was no bigger than a pinky nail, snow white and disturbingly agile.
And it was vicious.
The moment it crawled onto his skin, it kept trying to bite, jabbing with its mouthparts as if attempting to inject digestive fluid into his hand. It was clearly not something harmless.
Kenichi was not interested in deer stories. The only deer related knowledge he cared about was deer antler, which was valuable medicinal material in the ninja world.
What he really wanted was to test what would happen if that anesthetic liquid entered a human body.
Of course, he was not going to use himself.
He planned to find a random lucky audience and grant them that honor.
After the brief detour, Kenichi and his teacher arrived at the capital of the Land of Snow, which also housed the Snow Ninja Village.
To be honest, it was Kenichi's first time seeing a place where the ninja village and the nation's capital were fused into one.
But he had to admit it looked prosperous.
The population was massive, packed so tightly it felt even denser than Konoha.
Kenichi had already put on his mask. As he stared at the city ahead, he felt a faint sense of unfamiliarity. Even the most prosperous capital of the Land of Fire seemed sparse compared to this place.
"There seems to be a natural hot spring here," Orochimaru said, rising onto his toes to look ahead.
Kenichi immediately understood.
On one hand, this was the capital and the location of the Snow Ninja Village. Political authority and wealth were concentrated here, so a huge population was normal.
On the other hand, it was probably because of the hot springs.
The Land of Snow's climate was brutal. If there were hot springs, living here would at least be bearable.
And when they reached the city gates, Kenichi's suspicion became certainty.
The moment they drew close, the temperature jumped noticeably. It was still cold, but no longer punishing.
Entering the village was smooth, with no obstacles at all.
Once inside, Kenichi could only sigh.
Even if the Land of Snow was remote, the number of people gathered here was absurd.
It gave him the same crushing sensation as fighting through a holiday rush in his previous life.
"There are so many people," Kenichi murmured, licking his lips.
With a crowd like this, picking someone at random for an experiment would be effortless.
But he wanted the result to be as authentic as possible, without the target being prepared, restrained, or psychologically braced for it.
So he pulled out a small syringe, found a passing shinobi wearing a Snow Ninja Village forehead protector, and jabbed him.
A full dose of the special liquid slid into the man's body.
Orochimaru stood not far away, watching. He had clearly noticed what Kenichi did, yet he showed no objection. He had done plenty of similar things himself. A sudden strike revealed the truest reaction. If you tied someone down first, the results were always muddied.
Soon, the shinobi's steps faltered.
He fumbled in his clothing, dragging something out as if trying to open it, but his fingers would not obey him. Before he could manage anything, he collapsed face first into the snow.
The crowd reacted instantly.
People recoiled and made way in fear, while several shinobi rushed forward to help. Kenichi did not step in. He watched from the side, eyes calm behind his mask.
The symptoms were almost identical to the rabbit.
Muscle paralysis.
Unconscious twitching across the face.
Occasional tremors running through the body.
None of the shinobi who approached seemed to know medical ninjutsu. They could only hoist their comrade up and sprint toward the hospital.
Kenichi followed silently, keeping his distance, intent on observing the toxin's full effect in a shinobi body.
"A shinobi's body is truly fragile," Kenichi said later, looking at the man on the hospital bed and shaking his head. "Even with something as powerful as chakra, toxins can still drop them."
By then, the patient had already recovered.
There were medical shinobi in the hospital who used a chakra scalpel extraction technique to draw out the remaining toxins and stabilize him quickly.
But Kenichi was not empty handed.
He learned the name of the plant.
Because the doctors asked the patient why he had been poisoned by such a massive dose of Yellow Spring Flower Poison.
Yellow Spring Flower.
That had to be the name of the species, and it fit perfectly. That thing really did lure animals in, only for them to die without understanding why.
Kenichi infiltrated the hospital without effort, found the treatment notes and research reports on Yellow Spring Flower Poison, and took them.
Then he left the Snow Ninja Village hospital with his teacher and headed for their client.
The mansion of the Land of Snow's Daimyo.
When Kenichi arrived and saw the plaque, his expression turned odd.
It read: Daimyo's Mansion.
And also: Snow Kage Building.
"Teacher, are there many places like this," Kenichi asked, staring at the entrance, "where the Daimyo and the Kage are the same person?"
"Small countries," Orochimaru said calmly. "It's not strange."
The Land of Snow was vast, remote, and sparsely populated. The Daimyo of the Five Great Nations would not take it seriously. Even if this country declared itself the ruler of the ninja world, everyone would laugh and move on.
Kenichi nodded. That was true.
Soon, he and his teacher were brought in to meet their client.
The Daimyo of the Land of Snow, and the Snow Kage of the Snow Ninja Village.
Kazahana Dōtō.
"You two honored individuals must be members of the Akatsuki, correct?" The man smiled warmly, without the slightest trace of arrogance.
Kenichi's gaze sharpened behind his mask.
This guy was not a good person.
.....
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