Karin went to school very happily. Yes, very happily. And this was only her second week of school.
Perhaps the scum from Kusagakure had truly been inhuman. The experience Karin had at the Konoha school gave her a taste of a normal child's life—something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Karin's enrollment wasn't a big deal. Combined with Aoba's clear sense that the upper echelons of Konoha had relaxed their surveillance of him, the admission process went very smoothly.
However, because Karin's foundation was too weak, she didn't enter the same grade as Sasuke and Naruto. Instead, she was placed a year below them.
This was actually what Aoba wanted. He didn't want Karin getting too close to Konoha's "Twelve Strong Kids." Those children either came from prestigious clans or were Jinchuriki—each carrying too much attention on them.
In the future, Karin would inevitably participate in his various experiments, meaning she would accumulate many secrets. Too much attention on her wouldn't be a good thing.
Karin's class didn't have as many clan heirs. Most were civilian-born ninja, so her school life was quite happy.
Moreover, unlike Naruto, though she wasn't as academically strong as Sakura, her grades were still excellent.
Perhaps because she knew how hard-won her current life was, she studied diligently, mastering theoretical knowledge with solid understanding.
After checking Karin's homework, Aoba was satisfied.
"Alright, that's enough for today. Those kids outside are your friends, right? They've been waiting for a while. Go play, but remember to come back for dinner."
"Got it, got it. You're more nagging than Mom," Karin waved as she dashed out the door to join her friends.
Behind Aoba, Yumi watched Karin's retreating figure, her eyes slightly moist.
"Aoba… I really can't thank you enough."
"Heh, no need to be so formal. Honestly, watching a child grow up healthy and happy is its own kind of joy."
"Your way of thinking… it really doesn't seem like a ninja's."
"Hah, ninja. What exactly is a ninja? Who decided that definition? I've always believed everyone has their own answer in their heart. As long as you stay true to yourself, that's what's right."
"You're really different from any other ninja I've met."
"Maybe. Anyway, let's continue. You'll assist me."
Every time he returned from a mission, Aoba would immediately bury himself in his lab.
His study of sealing techniques had been ongoing for some time. His learning ability was quite strong—thanks to his powerful mental energy and the foundational skills honed in his past life, he quickly grasped the basics of sealing jutsu.
In the world of shinobi, sealing techniques were widely applied.
The most common were the scrolls used to store items. However, those didn't require the user to perform the sealing jutsu themselves. In reality, the scrolls were pre-inscribed with sealing formulas. The user only needed to inject Chakra to activate or deactivate them—a foolproof system.
That said, these scrolls were quite expensive and easily damaged. After a few uses, they'd be discarded.
After understanding the fundamental logic of sealing techniques, Aoba didn't delve into advanced ones. Instead, he needed a technique that didn't exist in this world.
He wanted to seal the life force that spilled out when drawing Karin's blood, along with the blood itself, creating a ready-to-use medicinal solution.
This required a small but highly precise sealing formula. Aoba referenced many existing sealing techniques before attempting to develop one that suited his needs.This was no simple task. The difficulty far exceeded that of developing ninjutsu techniques before, by more than double. Fortunately, Aoba had ample materials at his disposal.
Orochimaru truly lived up to his reputation as the Hokage's little miracle worker. The sheer number of valuable items in his possession was staggering. Aside from forbidden sealing techniques like the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, which only the Hokage knew, he likely had records of nearly every sealing technique documented in Konoha.
Aoba had already failed multiple times before, but he had also accumulated considerable experience. The sealing formula was now nearly complete—all that remained was the final test.
On the table before him lay an intricate sealing array. At its center was a metal cylinder the size of a syringe, containing Karin's blood.
The vitality within the blood had already been successfully sealed. However, the sealing formula was still too complex and too large—it didn't meet Aoba's goal.
His requirement was that the formula had to be condensed onto a container no larger than a syringe. That way, whether it was injected or consumed directly, it would be far more convenient. It would also be easier to carry.
Aoba pressed his hands around the cylinder and channeled his chakra into it. Moments later, the sealing array on the table began to writhe slowly, as if alive, creeping up the surface of the metal cylinder.
Dense, intricate patterns emerged on the cylinder's surface. As he worked, Aoba carefully monitored the changes in the blood inside.
The process itself wasn't overly complicated, but it demanded a considerable amount of chakra and extremely precise chakra control. Soon, sweat beaded on Aoba's forehead—yet the sealing formula had only compressed halfway.
At that moment, Yumi, standing nearby, swiftly took out a soldier pill and placed it in Aoba's mouth.
The chakra replenished by the soldier pill allowed Aoba to hold on, barely completing the first compression of the sealing formula.
Yumi wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel, but Aoba couldn't wait—he immediately picked up the metal cylinder and examined it closely.
"It looks like it worked. But we still need to test it in practice."
Aoba drew a kunai and made a cut on his arm. Then, he picked up the blood sample and drank it.
A few seconds later, the wound on his arm began to heal. However, what concerned Aoba was that the speed wasn't as fast as he had expected.
It took roughly thirty seconds for the wound to fully close.
The effect was acceptable, but the speed didn't meet his requirements. From his memory, Karin's regenerative abilities should have allowed even a piercing wound to heal completely within ten seconds.
After a moment of thought, he looked at the remaining blood and realized the likely issue.
"It's the blood. The sealing forcibly locks the vitality inside. When it enters the body, there's a release process—that's what's slowing down the healing effect."
Once the cause was identified, solving the problem became much easier.
At this point, the development of this medicine was essentially complete. Even without resolving the final issue, this product would still be an ultra-high-value recovery item if released.
A medicine that rapidly healed injuries with zero side effects—who wouldn't want something like that?
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