Chapter 382: Little Fatty
"How do you feel?" Kenichi asked gently, pen in hand as he observed the experimental subject before him.
The man appeared restless. He clearly felt the urge to kneel and show his respect to the man standing over him, but he forced himself to remain seated, strictly obeying Kenichi's prior instructions to sit and answer his questions directly.
"I... I feel very strange," the subject admitted uneasily, his hands rubbing together in a nervous, rhythmic motion. "I can't sleep at night. I want to, but my mind keeps racing with weird thoughts. My brain even starts singing on its own."
[Research Note: The substance causes mild insomnia in the target. It is suspected to have a significant lethal effect on brain cells.]
"And when I try to eat, I have no appetite," the man continued, describing his symptoms while Kenichi patiently recorded every word. "I feel full after only a few bites, and sometimes my entire body just feels... uncomfortable."
[Research Note: Reduced appetite. Suspected gastrointestinal issues. General physical discomfort is likely due to radiation damage to the epidermal cells.]
After the subject finished his description, Kenichi set his pen down and looked over his experimental log with a thoughtful expression.
*The onset of radiation sickness is even faster than I imagined, but...* Kenichi glanced at the man's forehead. A strange cyst had formed there. He had already confirmed that the growth wasn't there previously; it had emerged recently.
However, the man wasn't a ninja.
Kenichi felt a twinge of disappointment. As the core fighting force of the world, ninjas were his primary concern. He wanted to know how radiation would affect those with chakra-enhanced constitutions, but so far, none of the ninjas had shown any signs of physical discomfort.
The man sitting before him was simply a senior miner arranged by Koyuki to work in the pits. To put it politely, he was an experienced worker; in reality, he was just a desperate soul forced to mine for a living. In the Land of Snow—and the rest of the world—jobs for ordinary civilians were scarce. Those with their own land lived well enough, but most worked for landlords. Those with no other options turned to the most dangerous professions available.
Mining was at the top of that list.
In the mines of the Ninja World, labor protection was non-existent. Efficiency was the only metric that mattered. If a worker died, the overseers simply paid a small pittance to the family and recruited someone else. There was never a shortage of people willing to risk their lives to put food on the table.
Because of this, the man in front of him was the longest-surviving miner in the Land of Snow who was still capable of working. Fortunately, Koyuki had provided him with generous compensation, and out of gratitude, he worked diligently for both her and Kenichi. As a result of his long-term exposure to uranium and enriched uranium-235, his body had finally begun to succumb to radiation sickness.
"Your body has developed several conditions," Kenichi said, looking the man in the eye.
A flash of understanding, tinged with a touch of resignation, appeared in the miner's gaze. He likely already knew something was wrong; humans generally have an intuitive grasp of their own health, and prolonged physical suffering is hard to ignore.
"I will arrange a hospital bed for you," Kenichi continued, closing his log. "You will be hospitalized and receive specialized care. I will cover all medical expenses personally, and I will grant you a subsidy equal to three times your current salary."
The man froze, stunned. He clearly hadn't expected free medical treatment, let alone a massive bonus. This meant his children's tuition would be paid, and his family would finally have enough to eat.
Kenichi didn't care much for the man's internal emotional state. This man was the first recorded patient with radiation sickness. Even if he wasn't a ninja, he provided invaluable data regarding the physical limits of people in this world. Understanding how radiation destroyed human cells was a crucial part of Kenichi's research.
"Thank you, Lord! Thank you!" The man collapsed to his knees, weeping with gratitude. He looked as though he wanted to embrace Kenichi's legs to show the depth of his loyalty.
Kenichi offered a kind, practiced smile and spoke a few comforting words, securing even more fervent vows of loyalty from the miner before dismissing him.
Once the man was gone, Kenichi pinched the bridge of his nose. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the ninjas in the Land of Snow, the purification of uranium-235 had been moving forward steadily, despite the logistical nightmares of transportation.
After several days of work, Kenichi finally had a sufficient supply. He now possessed sixty-three kilograms of uranium-235. However, the local ore deposits were already showing signs of depletion. He realized he likely wouldn't have enough material to produce a second bomb from this site alone.
*This world is still too small. The uranium reserves in the Land of Snow are limited,* Kenichi mused. *But I can design the weapon first. Once it's ready, I can set my sights on the Land of Water.*
Sixty-three kilograms was enough for a single device. Considering the inherent waste in a gun-type design, Kenichi decided on an implosion-type structure. After days of research and referencing the conceptual diagrams from his nuclear physics books, he had successfully drafted a viable design.
"The current hurdle is achieving simultaneous detonation," Kenichi muttered, frowning. "Once that's solved, production can begin."
He had considered using chakra to trigger the detonation, but that presented a major problem: proximity. To manipulate chakra for such a precise explosion, one would have to be far too close. The chain reaction following the implosion would be near-instantaneous. If he was within range to fuel the blast with chakra, he wouldn't survive the result.
After weighing his options, he realized the answer was simple: a Shadow Clone. A clone could stay behind to trigger the device, and its eventual destruction would have no physical impact on his true body.
As for the neutrons needed to initiate the blast, that was the easy part. Uranium-235 was constantly decaying and releasing neutrons on its own. While the material wouldn't spontaneously detonate without reaching critical mass, its constant decay meant that the enriched fuel had a shelf life.
"The Shadow Clone is truly a versatile tool," Kenichi said with a faint smirk. "Good for training, and even better for detonating nukes."
With that problem solved, the next step was constructing the casing and obtaining plutonium—a necessity for an efficient implosion-type bomb. Using plutonium allowed for a much lighter explosive charge while achieving a higher yield. According to his references, only about four kilograms of plutonium were needed, provided the configuration was precise.
"Plutonium is already a byproduct of the uranium-235 purification process," Kenichi noted. "It just needs to be separated and refined. If I didn't need these as weapons, a nuclear reactor could solve the Land of Snow's energy crisis overnight."
A reactor could generate immense amounts of power, but the energy from fission was nothing compared to the potential of nuclear fusion—the same process that powered the sun. For now, however, power plants weren't the priority.
Kenichi began the process of manually assembling his first atomic bomb. For safety, he remained at a distance, allowing a Shadow Clone to perform the assembly according to his blueprints. If anything went wrong, the clone would simply dispel, and Kenichi would remain unharmed.
The assembly was delicate and difficult. After several minor adjustments and corrections, Kenichi finally stood before the first nuclear weapon in the history of the Ninja World.
"It looks a bit like a thermobaric bomb, just... rounder," Kenichi said, examining the device. The outer shell had been adapted from the design of a thermobaric bomb, though adjusted to accommodate the internal components.
The weapon looked remarkably unimpressive. Its plain, somewhat rough shell gave it a bulky, "fat" appearance. There was nothing about its exterior that suggested it held the power to level a city. Its lack of precision in the casing was an unfortunate byproduct of being handmade, but Kenichi had ensured that the internal plutonium sphere—the heart of the machine—was as perfectly spherical as possible.
Without a perfectly symmetrical implosion wave, the uranium-235 wouldn't react fully, and the weapon's true potential would be wasted.
"How does it feel? Can you detonate it simultaneously?" Kenichi asked the Shadow Clone standing beside the device.
"It's doable," the clone replied, sitting casually atop the bomb. "But I'll need to wrap the plutonium sphere in chakra beforehand to ensure the timing is perfect."
Kenichi stared at the bomb, a sense of surrealism washing over him. It was hard to believe that such a mundane, ugly object possessed such terrifying, world-altering power.
"What are you going to name it?" another Shadow Clone asked, pen poised over the experimental log. It needed a designation. With the data they had gathered, they could replicate the process anywhere as long as they had the materials.
"Hmm... Little Fatty," Kenichi decided.
In his previous life, *Little Boy* and *Fat Man* were the only nuclear weapons ever used in combat. *Little Fatty* felt like a fitting tribute to that legacy.
"I thought you'd go with something like 'Miss Ball,'" the recording clone grumbled as he wrote down the name.
Kenichi shrugged. While "Miss Ball" might have had some personal significance, "Little Fatty" just felt right. He took a deep breath. The preparations were complete. Now, the only question was where to drop it.
The Hidden Mist Village? That would certainly be effective, but killing a mass of ninjas would deplete the very population he intended to eventually press into his own service.
The capital of the Land of Water? It was a major population center, but it was filled with civilians and lacked a significant ninja presence. The strategic shock value might not be high enough.
Kenichi hesitated. He needed a target that would provide maximum psychological deterrence—something that would force the Hidden Mist to surrender with minimal further bloodshed.
*Attacking the heart is always better than a long siege,* Kenichi thought. The speed at which he annexed the Land of Water would determine how much time he had to prepare before the other four Great Nations noticed his move. He had to be decisive.
"I finally understand why Nagato chose to destroy Konoha," Kenichi murmured, his eyes scanning the map.
Konoha was the strongest village. Destroying it served as a warning to everyone else and removed the biggest obstacle in one fell swoop.
"...That's the spot." Kenichi's finger landed on a specific location on the map. He had made his choice. He would use this place to demonstrate the true power of "Little Fatty," but he still had some final arrangements to make.
He had to ensure that when the dust settled, the Land of Water would be his.
.....
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