Chapter 302: Parasitism
"How is your experiment progressing?" Orochimaru seemed to want to change the subject. He poured the powdered glass into the trash can, then looked at Amamiya Kenichi and asked.
"It's going smoothly. The initial phase is complete, and now I need a large number of repeated trials to get a relatively accurate result." Amamiya Kenichi chose his words carefully. He did not claim the experiment could guarantee success with absolute certainty.
In science, especially with something still in the experimental stage like his current research, a great deal of data was needed to support and verify the results before one could arrive at something relatively stable, something close to a formula or theorem.
And even the most advanced scientists would never dare say their theories were completely flawless, because different conditions could always produce different results. Besides, the correctness of today's scientific theories might also be limited by humanity's current understanding. With greater knowledge in the future, today's conclusions could very well be overturned.
"Oh? You've made progress?" Orochimaru glanced at him with interest. "That's good news. When your experiment reaches a conclusion, remember to show it to me."
He genuinely had not expected his disciple to make real headway in this field.
Even if Orochimaru himself wanted to research it, he had no idea how long it would take. Yet it was clear that Amamiya Kenichi had a natural talent in this area, which improved Orochimaru's previously sour mood by a small degree.
As expected of his own disciple.
Strong, talented in science, and respectful to his teacher.
Nothing like that disobedient disciple Anko Mitarashi, who only knew how to make trouble for him all day long.
The moment Orochimaru thought of Anko, his expression darkened again.
Amamiya Kenichi naturally noticed. He felt a little helpless, though he still didn't know what to say. If Anko was being controlled by genjutsu, then it would be easy to explain. But if this really was Anko's own decision, then things would become troublesome.
Still, Orochimaru's anger was not outside his expectations. In fact, Kenichi had already guessed part of the reason for it.
"Teacher, I'll take my leave, then. I still need to oversee the experiment," Amamiya Kenichi said.
Orochimaru said nothing and merely nodded.
Only then did Amamiya Kenichi quietly breathe a sigh of relief before leaving the laboratory.
"The teacher is really angry, isn't he?" As soon as he stepped outside, he saw his junior standing near the entrance to the lab, looking at him expectantly.
"You already know that, yet you're still asking?" Amamiya Kenichi said helplessly as he looked at his troublesome junior. Even so, he still flicked Anko on the forehead. He really felt she was hopeless.
This little brat caused trouble for herself all day long. She finally came back, only to immediately clash with the teacher. She was exactly like one of those daughters who had always seemed obedient, only to come home from school one day shouting about rights and arguing with her old father about everything.
As far as Orochimaru was concerned, he actually cared quite a bit about Anko.
He just never showed it on the surface.
"...Senior Brother Amamiya, I really want to go back." Anko was silent for a moment before she looked at him with determined eyes and said it outright.
Amamiya Kenichi's mouth twitched.
If the person standing in front of him had not been his junior sister, he would have exploded already. What kind of answer was "I really want to go back"?
Had he not gone through all that effort, and risk, to bring her out of Konoha? Had the teacher not accepted her and taken her in?
And now this?
"What reason?" Amamiya Kenichi's expression turned unpleasant, though he still forced himself to listen. "You can't even tell me?"
"...I have my reasons," Anko said, lowering her head. "But I can't tell you."
Amamiya Kenichi scratched his head.
To be honest, if anyone else had spoken to him like this, he would have lost his temper already. What kind of reason was that supposed to be?
But Anko was his junior sister, so he restrained himself.
Still, it was obvious that trying to reason with her normally was not going to work.
In that case...
"Anko!" Amamiya Kenichi barked.
Startled, Anko instinctively looked up, only to meet the rapidly rotating tomoe in his eyes.
The next second, Anko collapsed.
Amamiya Kenichi expressionlessly caught his junior and carried her into his laboratory. He intended to examine her immediately and determine whether some kind of genjutsu had really been placed on her.
Yet after activating the Byakugan, he discovered that Anko's entire body was normal. There was no unusual chakra in her brain.
In other words, she was completely normal.
Of course, with the Byakugan active, Kenichi also saw some subtler details. And once he took a closer look, he did notice that while there was nothing abnormal about her condition, something else was off.
"Her chakra volume has increased a great deal." Amamiya Kenichi casually wrote it down.
That was a habit he had developed while experimenting. It had become almost instinctive now.
Still, that raised another question. Why had Anko's chakra increased so much?
A ninja's chakra did indeed grow over time. But that growth was not endless or random. It would generally stop once it reached a certain upper limit.
Otherwise, wouldn't all ninja become monsters the older they got?
And Amamiya Kenichi knew Anko Mitarashi fairly well. In his view, while she was still in the stage where her strength could continue growing, the increase in her chakra was simply too much.
It was like a child who used to be only 1.4 meters tall. Growing taller was normal. But if that same child suddenly shot up from 1.4 to 2.4 meters within a year, then obviously something was wrong.
"Still, she isn't being controlled," Amamiya Kenichi muttered, licking his lips. "There's no abnormal chakra in her brain."
If nothing was wrong with her in that sense, then returning to Konoha was truly Anko's own decision.
So why?
What had happened that made his junior sister suddenly want to go back?
"Hm?" Just as he was about to deactivate the Byakugan, Amamiya Kenichi noticed something else. There was something caught in the seam of Anko's clothing.
He carefully took it out.
It was a grain of sand.
A very ordinary-looking grain of sand.
"Sand?" Amamiya Kenichi frowned.
Anko was actually a very clean and tidy person. In his view, she even had a bit of a clean freak tendency. So having sand stuck to her clothes was a little strange.
The Land of Rice Fields didn't have deserts.
So had she picked it up while on a mission in the Land of Wind?
Amamiya Kenichi did not dwell on it too much. He simply placed the grain of sand into a test tube and made a note to run a simple analysis on it later.
After that, he carried Anko back outside. But even then, he had not yet decided where to put her.
After hesitating for a moment, he chose to leave Anko in Sasori's care for the time being.
He still had things to handle, and right now, the most important were the two experimental subjects.
It was time to go to the Land of Snow.
After asking Sasori to keep an eye on Anko, Amamiya Kenichi piloted the airship away from the experimental base.
Three people were with him this time.
The two unlucky experimental subjects, and Uchiha Shiori.
"Lord Amamiya, those two have been settled." Uchiha Shiori approached respectfully.
Amamiya Kenichi glanced at her and nodded.
The reason he had brought Uchiha Shiori was simple. The two experimental subjects had been implanted only with ordinary three tomoe Sharingan gene sequences, but Uchiha Shiori possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan.
He also needed to implant a parasite into her.
Only then would he truly be at ease.
"Do you know anything about the Uchiha clan?" Amamiya Kenichi asked casually as he controlled the direction of the airship with Wind Release. "They've already left Konoha and settled in the Land of Rice Fields."
"No," Uchiha Shiori replied without hesitation. "I don't care."
Amamiya Kenichi looked at her with interest.
He had always found this woman fascinating.
She understood things too clearly.
Or rather, her personality was perfectly suited for survival.
Uchiha Shiori had never once tried to escape. She carried out his and Orochimaru's orders perfectly. She was truly an excellent personal secretary.
Amamiya Kenichi had tested her before. She never made any attempt to flee and only focused on properly completing her tasks. If she encountered something she was unsure about, she would first come ask for his instructions.
Sometimes, Kenichi even suspected that if he gave the order, Uchiha Shiori might simply lie down on a bed and wait for him without a word.
"Don't you want to go back to the Uchiha?" Amamiya Kenichi asked with deliberate intent. "I remember you still have relatives."
"No." Uchiha Shiori still shook her head. Then she came over and poured him a cup of tea, brewed with water she had just heated using Fire Release. "I only obey Lord Amamiya and Lord Orochimaru. And my current life is quite good."
It had to be said that Uchiha Shiori really was a very qualified secretary. She had even learned to use Fire Release to boil water for tea, constantly indulging Amamiya Kenichi's tea-drinking habit.
Kenichi was not worried about her poisoning him. The water and tea leaves were his own. Uchiha Shiori merely performed the act of pouring.
"Then later, you'll also carry out my orders without hesitation, right?" Amamiya Kenichi asked, smiling faintly.
Shiori might understand things clearly, but only when life and death were placed completely under his control could there be even the tiniest bit of trust.
"Unconditionally," Uchiha Shiori replied at once. "I will execute Lord Amamiya's orders."
Amamiya Kenichi nodded, then continued piloting the airship toward the Land of Snow, a place he knew very well by now.
"Still the same as ever." Looking down at the capital of the Land of Snow below, Amamiya Kenichi scratched his head.
He maneuvered the airship to land some distance away, then brought Uchiha Shiori and the two experimental subjects into Koyuki's room.
The moment he entered, he saw Koyuki extracting chakra.
As soon as she noticed him, she immediately jumped to her feet, beaming as she rushed over and wrapped herself around his leg.
Amamiya Kenichi's mouth twitched.
He really did not know where to look.
Koyuki's current clothing could only be described as extremely revealing.
"Master, did Koyuki do something wrong?" Koyuki asked adoringly, then cast a hostile glance toward Uchiha Shiori beside him.
"How's the cultivation going?" Amamiya Kenichi asked calmly, tossing the two shivering experimental subjects onto the ground.
"Two lowest-grade worker worms have been cultivated, two mid-grade ones, and one with the highest autonomous authority," Koyuki answered honestly. Her eyes were still full of worship, though at least her tone was somewhat normal.
Then Amamiya Kenichi felt something wet beneath his foot.
He glanced down.
His shoe was standing in a strange liquid.
Well.
Maybe not normal at all.
"Can they be implanted already?" Amamiya Kenichi asked. This was what he cared about most.
He planned to implant the parasite with the highest autonomous authority into Uchiha Shiori.
As for the lowest-grade one, he would first use it on the unfortunate subject who had only awakened two tomoe, allowing him to complete that side of the experiment as well.
"At any time," Koyuki said at once with a nod.
Amamiya Kenichi then beckoned Uchiha Shiori forward.
"The highest-authority one," he said. "Implant it into her."
The moment Koyuki heard that, the look she gave Uchiha Shiori changed subtly.
"Yes, Master." Koyuki smiled. "But she'll need to open her mouth on her own. That way, the pain will be reduced a great deal."
Uchiha Shiori did so without the slightest hesitation.
Immediately, Amamiya Kenichi saw something like an earthworm crawl out from Koyuki's fingertip and wriggle into Uchiha Shiori's mouth.
Throughout the process, Uchiha Shiori's expression did not change in the slightest.
But not long after the worm entered, her body suddenly trembled, and then she began convulsing violently.
.....
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