Chapter 566: Making Orochimaru an Experimental Subject
Time quickly passed until the day of the Chunin Exams.
Konoha had become exceptionally lively.
Ninja moved through the streets everywhere, and shinobi from other villages could frequently be seen arriving at the gates.
However, the number of participants sent by most villages was relatively small.
Some hidden villages had not sent anyone at all.
None of this had anything to do with Kenichi.
At the moment, he was standing inside the Bounty Station closest to Konoha.
"Someone accepted my bounty?"
Kenichi looked at the employee in front of him and immediately asked for confirmation.
He had rushed over as soon as he received the news.
After all, the entire purpose of posting that strange bounty had been to go fishing.
And the fish he wanted to catch was Amado.
Now, at long last, someone had taken the bait.
"Yes."
The employee glanced at the bounty plaque Kenichi presented, and his expression immediately became much friendlier.
"The bounty hunter requested to conduct the transaction with you personally. Would you like the Bounty Station to provide security?"
The employees here all knew about Kenichi's bounty.
A request for a ninjutsu capable of resurrecting the dead sounded absurd no matter how one looked at it.
Still, unusual requests were hardly unheard of in places like this.
The Bounty Station had no complaints.
After all, merely keeping a bounty listed required the client to pay a fixed monthly posting fee.
And Kenichi had not purchased an ordinary local listing.
He had chosen a Shinobi World wide package.
That meant wherever a Bounty Station existed, ninja could see Kenichi's request on its mission board.
Naturally, the monthly fee was enormous.
The cost of posting a bounty at a single station was not particularly high.
But when multiplied across every Bounty Station in the Shinobi World, the expense quickly became considerable.
Because of that, Kenichi was now considered one of their premium clients.
"No need."
Kenichi waved dismissively.
He knew the Bounty Station's security services could provide extremely powerful guards, including elite jonin and even ninja who approached Kage level.
Kakuzu alone was a perfect example.
Anyone unfamiliar with Kakuzu's unique abilities could easily suffer a devastating loss during their first encounter with him.
Kakuzu's overall strength was probably somewhere around the lower end of the Kage level.
If he fought the Five Kage from the Fourth Shinobi World War era, Kenichi suspected the opponent Kakuzu would have the best chance against was Gaara.
Still, Kenichi had no need for such pointless protection.
If there was anyone in this world actually capable of protecting him, Kenichi suspected it would probably have to be the Sage of Six Paths himself.
Even Madara might no longer qualify.
Kenichi's body had been becoming increasingly strange.
Ever since the mysterious machine threw him into this timeline, he had spent almost every day refining and compressing his chakra.
The efficiency of the process had decreased somewhat because he lacked certain equipment and resources from his original world.
But Kenichi was no longer in a hurry.
After all, he currently had no way to return home.
Everything depended on fully understanding the time machine.
Once he figured out how to operate it, Kenichi planned to return to the exact instant he had originally been transported away.
That would complete the loop.
From Isshiki's perspective and everyone else in his original timeline, Kenichi might have disappeared for less than a second.
If that worked, his absence here would have no meaningful effect on his original world.
"Very well."
The employee did not try to pressure him into purchasing additional services.
He simply smiled naturally and saw Kenichi off.
Kenichi had already received the meeting location.
The person who accepted his bounty wanted to meet near the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire.
Kenichi's mouth twitched when he saw the location.
"Did this guy completely forget the Land of Rivers exists?"
The Land of Rivers sat directly between the two great nations.
Yet whoever had written the location had casually described it as though the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire shared a border.
Then again, to ninja from the Five Great Nations, small countries often barely seemed to matter.
Their main purpose appeared to be serving as buffer zones that kept the larger powers from constantly colliding directly.
Kenichi did not particularly care.
He had never cared much about the Land of Rivers either.
In his original world, after Kenichi annexed three great nations, the feudal lords of many smaller countries had eagerly approached him to curry favor.
They had practically begged for the opportunity to surrender their political authority in exchange for remaining wealthy civilians.
Kenichi had not stripped them of everything.
With some foresight, he had at least allowed them to retain a portion of their assets.
As for the feudal lords of the Five Great Nations...
Kenichi mentally calculated the time.
They should all have been underground by now.
He turned his head and looked back toward Konoha.
Based on the date, the village should already be preparing for the Chunin Exams.
That also meant his teacher had probably infiltrated Konoha disguised as the Kazekage.
And considering Kenichi had been away for several days...
Orochimaru was probably already beginning to make moves.
This timeline had changed considerably because of Kenichi's presence.
For example, Team 7 had never received the Land of Waves escort mission.
But Kenichi still worried that Orochimaru might become overly interested in the students he had trained.
If Kenichi returned and discovered that Naruto had been abducted...
Or Hinata had been taken...
That would be unacceptable.
Thinking of this, Kenichi immediately changed direction.
He returned directly to Konoha.
Then he walked straight into the Hokage's office.
The Kazekage was sitting inside, discussing matters between Sunagakure and Konoha with Hiruzen.
Kenichi's sudden intrusion confused Hiruzen.
The Kazekage, on the other hand, remained remarkably calm.
"Come with me for a little trip, Teacher."
Kenichi smiled.
Then he placed a hand on the Kazekage's shoulder.
Hiruzen's pupils contracted.
Teacher?
Was Kenichi actually a shinobi from Sunagakure?
"Teacher Orochimaru."
Kenichi's next words instantly interrupted Hiruzen's thoughts.
Hiruzen turned sharply toward the Kazekage.
He had already felt that something about the man was strange.
But he had never imagined this.
The Kazekage sitting before him was actually Orochimaru?
And why was Kenichi calling Orochimaru his teacher?
"..."
Orochimaru silently stared at Kenichi.
He genuinely could not remember ever accepting such a disciple.
He was just preparing to make a move when a familiar crimson light flashed before his eyes.
The next instant, Orochimaru's body became completely still.
Kenichi immediately poured several drops of liquid into Orochimaru's mouth.
Before Hiruzen could even react, Kenichi had already torn away the disguise covering Orochimaru's face.
"Lord Third."
Kenichi looked toward Hiruzen.
"Sunagakure intends to overthrow Konoha. You can handle that part yourself."
Then he smiled meaningfully.
"But my three students..."
Hiruzen's pupils contracted again.
After a brief silence, he nodded.
He understood perfectly.
Kenichi was warning him to make sure nothing happened to Naruto, Sasuke, or Hinata.
Seeing Hiruzen's response, Kenichi nodded in satisfaction.
Then he left with Orochimaru.
His biggest concern had now been resolved.
He could finally go meet Amado.
Carrying Orochimaru was somewhat inconvenient, but Kenichi did not particularly care.
With his current physical strength, carrying another person barely counted as exertion.
The chaos inside Konoha did not last long.
With Orochimaru and the Kazekage both removed from the equation, the enemy forces had immediately lost their most important high-level combatants.
Without them, the remaining attackers were little more than cannon fodder.
By the time Orochimaru finally regained consciousness, Kenichi had already carried him all the way into the Land of Rivers.
The agreed meeting point was a Bounty Station near the border with the Land of Wind.
They still had some distance left to travel.
Kenichi could have moved faster using some of his more advanced inventions, but he did not want to disrupt this timeline more than necessary.
So he refrained from bringing out hot-air balloons, airships, or similar technology.
"Teacher, you're awake?"
Kenichi glanced at Orochimaru.
"Your current body is female, by the way."
Orochimaru's expression immediately changed.
He had barely opened his mouth when the Mangekyo Sharingan flashed again.
Orochimaru immediately fell back into genjutsu.
This time, Kenichi also injected him with a tranquilizer.
The drug could keep Orochimaru in a deep, peaceful sleep for an extended period.
Ironically, Orochimaru himself had originally created this tranquilizer.
Years ago, while helping Kenichi awaken his own eyes, Orochimaru had specially prepared the drug for use during the experiment.
Its effects had been excellent.
Kenichi had kept some afterward.
He had never imagined he would eventually use Orochimaru's own tranquilizer on another version of Orochimaru.
To some extent, fate truly had a strange sense of humor.
Kenichi looked down at the unconscious man.
His gaze became cold.
For a long time, Kenichi had wanted to research Orochimaru.
More precisely, he wanted to investigate the effects of Living Corpse Reincarnation on his teacher.
But when facing the Orochimaru who had actually raised and taught him, Kenichi had never been able to bring himself to treat him purely as experimental material.
This Orochimaru was different.
He belonged to another timeline.
Although he was still Orochimaru, he was not Kenichi's teacher.
That distinction removed much of Kenichi's hesitation.
Perhaps now he could finally conduct the research he had once wanted to perform.
"Forget it."
Kenichi stared at Orochimaru for a moment before shaking his head.
He decided to bring him to the Bounty Station first.
Once there, Kenichi submitted his arrival information.
The Bounty Station employee immediately contacted the person who had accepted the bounty and asked Kenichi to wait.
Kenichi did not mind.
But since he had time to spare, he saw no reason to waste it.
He decided to perform a few preliminary examinations on Orochimaru and determine the current condition of his body.
[Day 1. Due to the lack of professional experimental equipment, only basic examinations can currently be performed on Subject A.]
[Analysis of Subject A's physical condition indicates that Living Corpse Reincarnation has caused no obvious abnormalities in the host body. Metabolism, circulation, reflexes, and other physiological processes remain within normal parameters.]
[The technique appears to primarily affect the soul. Its effects may be long term, or certain changes may require a specific trigger before becoming observable.]
[No obvious abnormalities have currently been detected in Subject A's physical body. Observation of the soul reveals traits belonging to Orochimaru himself rather than characteristics originating from the current host body.]
Kenichi narrowed his eyes.
He had previously used knowledge gained from studying Kishō Tensei to observe his own teacher's soul.
He had only taken a distant look at the time.
Yet he had discovered something unusual.
The Orochimaru from Kenichi's original world had possessed a soul that had gradually become almost identical in appearance to his current body.
That was completely different from what Kenichi was observing now.
"Could the difference come from the target chosen for Living Corpse Reincarnation?"
Kenichi examined the female host body Orochimaru currently occupied.
In this timeline, Orochimaru had chosen the woman who briefly appeared during the Konoha Crush.
In Kenichi's original world, Orochimaru had selected a different female host.
Kenichi shook his head.
He doubted that explanation.
The probability seemed extremely low.
There was probably something unusual about his original teacher's soul.
Perhaps the Sage of Six Paths was responsible.
Hagoromo possessed overwhelming power and had remained within the Pure Land for generations.
Kenichi refused to believe the old man had simply sat there doing absolutely nothing for centuries.
Hagoromo had probably researched quite a few techniques involving souls while residing in the Pure Land.
A technique that allowed a transplanted soul to gradually synchronize with its new body would hardly be impossible for him.
Kenichi fell into thought.
For now, one thing was clear.
Orochimaru's current host body was physiologically normal.
Aside from the soul inside belonging to Orochimaru, every other aspect of the body functioned as that of an ordinary adult female.
Kenichi considered the implications.
"Maybe..."
A new experimental idea formed in his mind.
But after thinking about it further, even he felt it might be going somewhat far.
"A full surgical laboratory won't work here. I also need to keep him controlled for some time."
Kenichi sighed.
"Unless I temporarily construct a sterile operating environment."
His original idea had been to artificially stimulate specific regions of Orochimaru's brain and alter endocrine activity, then observe whether physiological hormonal changes in the host body produced corresponding effects on Orochimaru's soul.
However, directly opening the skull required a properly sterile environment.
Kenichi scratched his head.
Then he realized he did not actually need to perform conventional surgery.
He placed one hand against Orochimaru's head.
Chakra slowly entered the body.
Even while deeply unconscious, Orochimaru possessed several instinctive defensive mechanisms.
But against Kenichi, those defenses were laughably weak.
He bypassed them almost immediately.
Kenichi condensed his chakra into an extremely fine needle and guided it toward a specific region of Orochimaru's brain.
Under the induced neural stimulation, the host body's endocrine system began altering its hormone secretion.
Kenichi withdrew his hand.
This experiment would require time before producing useful observations.
That was fine.
As long as the data eventually proved valuable, using this Orochimaru as an experimental subject would have been worthwhile.
"Since I already have the opportunity, I might as well study the soul again too."
Kenichi fell into thought.
He could use Orochimaru to investigate the mysteries of the soul more deeply.
As for Orochimaru's opinion...
Kenichi was not particularly concerned.
The Orochimaru he respected as his teacher belonged to his original world.
This timeline's Orochimaru had already become consumed by obsession and paranoia.
Unless he underwent something drastic enough to fundamentally change him, he was unlikely to recover on his own.
Because of that, Kenichi felt little psychological burden about using him for research.
Before Kenichi could begin the next stage of the experiment, however, news arrived from the Bounty Station.
Orochimaru had narrowly escaped further experimentation for the moment.
Kenichi immediately headed toward the main hall.
The moment he entered, he saw a familiar man waiting there.
Amado.
"This gentleman, you..."
Amado narrowed his eyes and carefully studied Kenichi.
He had never met this person before.
But Kenichi's bounty had mentioned something connected to his daughter.
That alone had made it impossible for Amado to ignore.
Normally, Amado was extremely cautious.
But when the matter involved his daughter...
His caution could only go so far.
He refused to abandon even the smallest possibility.
Not even the slightest hope.
Kenichi looked directly at him.
"Hello."
He smiled.
"My name is Amamiya Kenichi."
....
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