Chapter 13: Research on Cancer Cells

"Teacher, do you not plan to transplant this Byakugan?" Kenichi curiously looked at his teacher and asked.

Although the Byakugan seemed to have little use in the later stages, the Hyuga clan, being on par with the Uchiha as one of Konoha's two great ninja clans, naturally had its unique aspects.

It could be said that this pair of Byakugan, if placed in another ninja village, could be exchanged for a huge fortune.

Up to now, in the entire ninja world, only the Hidden Mist Village's Ao had obtained a Byakugan, and other villages, despite their longing, had never managed to acquire one, which speaks volumes about Konoha's protective measures for the Byakugan.

Of course, the 'Caged Bird' curse seal was also a reason for the rarity of the Byakugan's spread.

"Too conspicuous, and there's something wrong with this person's eyes," Orochimaru shook his head. The Byakugan was indeed valuable, but it was too noticeable. He was currently vying for the position of the Fourth Hokage, and to transplant it would be foolish.

Moreover, there were strange proliferating cells in these eyes, and even if transplanted, it might not be possible to use the Byakugan normally, as the test subject's vision had been declining.

Kenichi nodded in understanding; Orochimaru's reason for not transplanting the Byakugan was as he had thought.

However, Kenichi's view of his teacher became strange; he hadn't expected that his teacher still dreamed of becoming the Fourth Hokage, and suddenly felt that his teacher was somewhat naïve. But on second thought, Kenichi felt there was nothing wrong with his teacher's aspirations.

After all, in terms of fame, he was one of the legendary Sannin, renowned throughout the ninja world. In terms of military achievements, Orochimaru had commanded many battles and had already made distinguished contributions, not to mention having the support of Danzo.

If it were him, Kenichi would also feel confident, especially since the other highly favored candidate in Konoha was Minato Namikaze, known as the 'Yellow Flash,' who indeed seemed somewhat inferior compared to Orochimaru.

"How could the Flying Dragon lose face like this?"

"Do you have that bug amber I asked you to bring?" Orochimaru suddenly asked, snapping Kenichi back to reality. Kenichi quickly nodded and took out the bug amber.

Orochimaru took it and compared it with a book, then shook his head and returned the bug amber to Kenichi.

Kenichi saw the name of the book, which was quite peculiar, titled "Era of the Sages: Miscellaneous Records." It didn't seem like a serious book.

"I initially thought your bug came from the era of the Sage of the Six Paths, but after comparing, I feel it's not the same kind," Orochimaru casually handed the book to Kenichi.

Kenichi took a glance and saw a passage recorded in it.

In summary, it said that there was once a type of bug that destroyed several villages. Strangely, these bugs burrowed into people's bodies, then controlled them, causing them to act 'like madmen.'

There was no further information, only that the Sage discovered this and killed all the people infected with the bugs.

There were illustrations, but indeed, the bugs in the amber didn't match those in the book.

"If such bugs really existed, wouldn't that be outrageous?" Kenichi clicked his tongue, these bugs were essentially parasites, and even parasites that could control humans.

I get it, "Resident Evil 4" must have been inspired by this, right?

"Not necessarily, in the era of the Sage of the Six Paths, there were always some strange religions and very magical weapons," Orochimaru was skeptical about these events.

Kenichi thought about it and felt it made sense; there had been the Divine Tree and the Otsutsuki clan, an alien race, so the emergence of parasites that could control humans wasn't so strange.

"If such bugs existed, then transplanting one into everyone would achieve peace in the ninja world, wouldn't it?" Kenichi commented sarcastically, hoping that Nagato would never learn of these bugs' existence.

However, even if he knew, it seemed to have no impact, as these were events from a very long time ago. Whether true or not, just finding these bugs was a problem in itself.

"Peace is not so easily achieved," Orochimaru licked his face, his actions sometimes still a bit perverse, but overall, still considered normal.

Kenichi wondered if Orochimaru was somewhat restrained because he was thinking of becoming the Fourth Hokage.

"Kenichi, stay at this research base for the next few days; I'll come to pick you up in a few days," Orochimaru stood up, his eyes somewhat cold.

Kenichi obediently nodded; this was not the time to ask his teacher what he was up to, as Orochimaru could be quite terrifying when angry.

"Teacher, what about that test subject?" Kenichi couldn't help but ask, as it would be a pity if such good material couldn't be used.

"Just don't kill it," Orochimaru answered succinctly and then turned and left.

Kenichi was familiar with his teacher's way of doing things; sometimes it was like this, taking him out and then leaving him in the laboratory before Orochimaru left.

Kenichi had become a mere tool.

But now, Kenichi was quite excited; with Orochimaru away, he could freely research the imprisoned illegitimate child of the Hyuga clan.

"Let's see, what happens if I wrap the cancer cells in Yang chakra?" Kenichi rubbed his hands together and then cheerfully walked to the laboratory.

After a series of painful wails, Kenichi held the scraped proliferative tissue and began his research.

[Today, after infusing a small amount of Yang chakra into Cell No. 1, it began to proliferate, but then it started dying off in large numbers. The survival ability of Cell No. 1 outside the body is very concerning, possibly related to contamination.]

[This afternoon, I scraped the last bit of proliferative tissue from the target. This time, I infused the amount of Yang chakra equivalent to a Great Fireball Technique, and again, massive proliferation occurred, but the rate of apoptosis also increased.]

[So what exactly is the problem? The possibilities listed so far include cells detached from the body not adapting to the external environment, changes in temperature and humidity, and interference from other bacteria and viruses.]

[The day after Teacher Orochimaru left, there were no more proliferative tissues on the target's eyeball, and live experiments could be started.]

(End of Chapter)