Chapter 389: Hero's Water
"Are you interested in researching this?"
Nagato glanced at Amamiya Kenichi, then casually tossed him an old-looking paper document.
Amamiya Kenichi raised an eyebrow.
He had originally thought Nagato had called him over to discuss the matter they had spoken about before. He had not expected it to be research instead.
However, this might also be Nagato's way of preventing Black Zetsu from sensing anything unusual.
Amamiya Kenichi lowered his gaze to the document in his hand. There was not much written on it, but it had a rather unusual name.
"Hero's Water? It can increase the user's Chakra by dozens of times, but drinking it drastically shortens one's lifespan?"
Amamiya Kenichi instantly became interested.
Just based on the words written on the paper, the effect of this thing was terrifyingly powerful.
Increasing the user's Chakra by dozens of times. What kind of concept was that?
If Kakashi took a sip, even if he used his Mangekyo Sharingan all day, his combat power probably would not be depleted too badly.
Moreover, for a ninja, Chakra itself was one of the standards used to measure strength.
If two Jonin of equal strength fought, and one of them suddenly had ten times the Chakra of the other, then the battle between the two would become very uneven.
Their stamina would no longer be on the same level.
"Yes. Takigakure has this special water, so I want you to research it and see if you can remove its side effects," Nagato said calmly.
Amamiya Kenichi nodded.
A substance that allowed someone to unleash power beyond their original strength after use, but caused them to die within a very short time. In essence, this thing could indeed be called Hero's Water.
If Hiruzen Sarutobi drank a mouthful of it, then with the Reaper Death Seal, his teacher might truly have been dragged completely into the Shinigami's stomach.
Even if Hiruzen died afterward, he would still be worthy of being called a hero of Konoha.
"What's the yield of this stuff?" Amamiya Kenichi became interested.
Although Hero's Water had obvious side effects, its advantages were equally clear. It greatly boosted combat strength. To some extent, it was quite suitable for suicide squads.
After using it, these ninja could unleash stronger power and play a greater role.
The current issue was its yield.
"According to the records, only one batch of Hero's Water of this quality can be produced every hundred years. At present, Takigakure only has two batches in stock," Nagato said directly.
Amamiya Kenichi stroked his chin thoughtfully.
One batch every hundred years. That yield could only be described as shockingly low.
But even so, Takigakure had still managed to preserve two batches. That could be considered an outstanding contribution to Amamiya Kenichi's research work.
"However, one sip is enough to gain considerable power. The more you drink, the greater the power unleashed. That's what the so-called Kage here said," Nagato added.
When he said the word "Kage," his expression became somewhat playful.
The Kage of Takigakure had not displayed much strength. When facing the Akatsuki's attack, he had drunk some Hero's Water, shouted things like "For Takigakure!" and "I am the Kage of Takigakure!" before charging forward.
Then Nagato beat him half to death.
"I need one batch of Hero's Water as research material," Amamiya Kenichi said directly.
Nagato did not hesitate. He immediately threw a batch of Hero's Water to Amamiya Kenichi.
He had already guessed that Amamiya Kenichi would definitely request one batch as research material, so he had prepared it in advance.
The other batch was currently being carefully preserved and had not been brought out for now.
If Amamiya Kenichi failed to make any progress later, that batch would also be given to him for research.
After all, within the Akatsuki, it was easy to find ninja who could fight and kill enemies, but finding someone capable of scientific research was not so easy.
Amamiya Kenichi could be considered the most outstanding among them.
Nagato also trusted Amamiya Kenichi to a relatively high degree.
At the very least, compared to Orochimaru, Nagato trusted Amamiya Kenichi more. And if his collaborator grew stronger, it would also benefit their future cooperation.
Nagato lowered his eyes.
He did not know how much time he had left.
During this period, he could feel his body growing worse and worse.
"Hehe, Leader, help me exchange my points too. I want to research your weapon," Amamiya Kenichi said with a smile, licking his lips before making another request.
Nagato's face darkened.
This guy even wanted to research the Black Rod?
But it was not impossible. Amamiya Kenichi's contribution points were indeed enough.
"Never mind. Let me research that big guy instead. Just a few scraps will do." Amamiya Kenichi's eyes shifted as he suddenly thought of a new research direction.
He already had some conjectures about the Black Rod, so it was not that tempting to him.
But the Gedo Statue was different.
Its essence was the God Tree.
Researching that thing might bring unimaginable gains.
"Alright." Nagato did not hesitate.
The Gedo Statue was massive, so letting Amamiya Kenichi research a few fragments was not a problem.
However, the Gedo Statue's body was extremely hard. He would have to personally handle the matter of scraping off a few fragments.
"Wait here." Nagato controlled Deva Path Pain to glance at Amamiya Kenichi, then turned and left.
Amamiya Kenichi did not mind. He sat down on the chair and looked at the bottle in his hand.
Inside was Hero's Water.
It did not look particularly extraordinary. If there was anything unusual about it, it had a faint silver-white color. Although it did not look especially cloudy, it was still slightly murky.
Amamiya Kenichi uncorked the bottle and sniffed it.
A peculiar scent drifted through the air. It was hard to describe. There was a hint of fresh herbs, along with a subtle, unidentifiable smell, though it was not unpleasant.
"Interesting. The more you drink, the stronger the power you unleash. Then what happens if someone drinks all of it? And how does this thing increase a ninja's Chakra?"
Amamiya Kenichi looked at the gourd in his hand with curiosity.
The container holding the Hero's Water was a gourd, somewhat like a sake gourd. Its weight felt similar to ordinary water, suggesting that its density was also close to that of water.
However, Amamiya Kenichi was truly curious about how Hero's Water could increase the user's Chakra. He had never seen such a strange item before.
The Chakra levels of ninja varied.
Some ninja were naturally gifted, possessing large Chakra reserves after refining Chakra. Others were born different from ordinary people, such as members of the Uzumaki Clan.
The gap between ninja could be said to be greater than the gap between humans and dogs.
Some ninja might spend their entire lives without ever accumulating as much Chakra as a future Konoha Genin.
Therefore, how to increase Chakra had always been something the major ninja villages had been researching.
"But I remember Teacher didn't make much progress in researching how to increase Chakra. He focused more on how to use Chakra efficiently," Amamiya Kenichi mused while playing with the gourd in his hand.
The Ninja World's exploration of Chakra had never stopped, but unfortunately, there had not been much progress so far.
Because of that, ninja research on Chakra had shifted toward how to utilize Chakra more efficiently.
But now, a miraculous item had appeared before Amamiya Kenichi.
Once its effects were confirmed to be real, it could instantly turn Takigakure into a strategic location coveted by the Five Great Ninja Villages.
At that point, it would not matter how well Takigakure was hidden. Even if it were hidden in the sky, the Anbu of the Five Great Ninja Villages would dig it out.
Although this thing had major side effects, the combat power it could provide was substantial.
And the most intriguing part was that Hero's Water could be obtained repeatedly.
Although the cycle was extremely long, even if one did not drink it all at once, taking a small sip each time could still enhance a ninja's combat strength.
Therefore, the tree that produced Hero's Water in Takigakure would likely be uprooted and taken back to one of the great ninja villages.
That was how the Five Great Ninja Villages operated.
"Interesting. It's still a little difficult to throw the Ninja World into chaos right now. None of the Kage of the major villages are idiots. It's hard to make them fight each other just by sowing discord, but what if there is bait?"
Amamiya Kenichi looked at the gourd in his hand.
He felt that the bottle of Hero's Water in his hand was exactly that bait.
Because this thing was real. It existed, and according to the records, it was effective.
All he needed to do was research exactly how effective Hero's Water truly was, since the information recorded might not be accurate.
An increase of dozens of times in Chakra was simply too terrifying.
Amamiya Kenichi needed to confirm how effective this thing was on ninja of different ranks.
Then he could release a bait that gave off dazzling light and an alluring scent in the dark forest.
At that point, no matter how rational those Kage were, they would have to take the bait.
After all, if they did not take it, could they guarantee that the other ninja villages would also ignore it?
What if their own village fell behind?
"Here."
At that moment, Amamiya Kenichi heard Nagato's voice.
He looked up and saw Nagato tossing him a small bottle.
Amamiya Kenichi casually caught it and looked inside.
It contained a few scraps that seemed to be fragments of the Gedo Statue.
This made Amamiya Kenichi a little excited. If it were not inconvenient right now, Amamiya Kenichi swore he would open his Mangekyo Sharingan and thoroughly study the elemental composition of this thing.
Perhaps he could even directly dismantle the Gedo Statue. In that case, Black Zetsu's plan would naturally fail.
"Alright. I'll notify you when I get research results. When that time comes, Leader, just pull me into that special space," Amamiya Kenichi said after glancing at Nagato, laying the groundwork for discussing his plan with him later.
This would also reduce the chance of the matter being discovered.
Nagato nodded, then watched Amamiya Kenichi leave.
After Amamiya Kenichi departed, Nagato returned to his room and continued eating. He needed to replenish his stamina.
Amamiya Kenichi had wanted to contact him earlier, but it had been inconvenient at the time.
Now, the other party's words were clearly preparing for a future meeting. Nagato also needed to adjust his condition as much as possible.
"Nagato, Zetsu has arrived," Konan said as she walked in.
Nagato's face darkened.
Zetsu?
This guy was the suspicious individual Amamiya Kenichi had mentioned, the one who seemed to possess some kind of extremely powerful intelligence-gathering ability.
So what was he doing here?
Nagato pondered for a moment, but still controlled Pain to walk out.
He felt that if Amamiya Kenichi was telling the truth, then his true body might have already been exposed. But before confirming anything, he still had to pretend he knew nothing.
So troublesome.
"One day, I'm going to kill this guy," Nagato said coldly.
The other party was hiding himself, concealing that extremely powerful stealth ability he possessed. That alone proved that he had no good intentions.
Amamiya Kenichi did not know what happened after he left.
He had no idea where Black Zetsu was, so he could not say much in Takigakure. For now, he could only return to the Land of Snow and research the items in his hand.
As for the offensive against Kirigakure, it would need this bait to ignite the fuse.
"When the four ninja villages in this area fall into war, Kirigakure will inevitably send ninja to seize the Hero's Water. A little provocation will make it easy to trigger conflict across the Ninja World. After all, these five ninja villages all have blood feuds with one another."
Amamiya Kenichi controlled the airship as it flew.
He needed to return to his laboratory as soon as possible and begin his research.
In truth, it would not take too long.
After all, the ninja villages did not care how Hero's Water stimulated a ninja's Chakra. They cared about how much Chakra Hero's Water could increase for different ninja, and how much combat power it could unleash.
So Amamiya Kenichi only needed to test how much Chakra Genin, Chunin, and Jonin gained after drinking Hero's Water.
After that, he could release this tempting bait.
As for the composition of Hero's Water and how it increased a ninja's Chakra, Amamiya Kenichi would have plenty of time to study that slowly after releasing the bait.
Amamiya Kenichi casually placed the bottle of Hero's Water into his sealing scroll, then piloted the airship toward the Land of Snow.
"Hmm?"
As the airship passed through the Land of Rice Fields, Amamiya Kenichi noticed the phone his teacher had made light up.
Amamiya Kenichi glanced at it, silently put it back into his sealing scroll, then controlled the airship to quickly leave the Land of Rice Fields.
"That brat."
Orochimaru took a deep breath.
This little punk actually dared to pretend he had not seen the phone signal now?
It seemed it was time to teach him a lesson.
.....
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