"This part… has too many formulas. It's too complicated. I haven't fully understood it yet."
Mikami Yuu answered a little vaguely.
Dealing with someone like Orochimaru was a pain.
He couldn't act too stupid, because that would look deliberate. After all, anyone Tsunade personally brought here to access these archives couldn't possibly be an idiot. But at the same time, he also couldn't seem too smart.
Like right now.
Even though Mikami Yuu had deliberately held back, Orochimaru still seemed to have taken an interest in him. The way those eyes studied him made Mikami Yuu's scalp tingle.
"Well, that's fine. For a newly graduated genin, having this level of comprehension is already pretty good."
Orochimaru spoke in that hoarse voice of his. "Would you be interested in assisting at my research institute? I happen to be short on hands. You could help me unravel the mysteries of life itself. Someone like you may have the potential for it."
"Uh…"
Before Mikami Yuu could politely refuse,
Tsunade let out a cold snort, clearly displeased.
"Orochimaru, cut it out. This kid is Minato's student, and he's in the advanced medical class. He doesn't have the time or the interest to be your lab assistant. His path is none of your concern."
"Heh heh heh…"
Orochimaru chuckled, the sound echoing in the enclosed archive room in a way that was just unsettling.
"Don't be so tense, Tsunade. I'm only giving him an option to broaden his horizons. Knowledge is priceless, after all, isn't it?"
"Well, I still have a few experiments to run today, so I'll be going. We'll talk again if there's a chance."
With that, Orochimaru turned and silently melted into the shadows deeper inside the archive room.
Only after that chilling presence had fully disappeared
did the air in the room seem to loosen and start flowing normally again.
Mikami Yuu quietly let out a breath. His palms were damp with cold sweat.
At that point, Tsunade walked over and braced one arm on the table beside him, leaning in to look at the dark teal scroll. In doing so, the fullness of her chest pressed against the stone tabletop, looking like it might spill free at any moment.
"…Hmph. Looks like that guy really has spent quite a bit of effort on this project over the years. This version is definitely much more mature than the old one."
As one of the top medical ninja in the world, Tsunade only had to skim the contents to understand the general idea. Then she straightened up again.
"Go through this stuff first. If there's something you don't understand, come ask me. I probably won't be coming with you again over the next two days, so just give my name when you come in."
"And if you run into that guy again…"
"It's fine if you're just asking questions, but don't take his nonsense seriously. His research level is high, yes, but over the last few years… his mind has become harder and harder to read."
Her expression was a little complicated when she said that.
At this point in time, Orochimaru still hadn't exposed the secret of using people from the village for human experimentation. Aside from being a bit eccentric, most things about him still looked fine from the outside. Among most ninja and civilians, he still had a strong reputation: Hiruzen Sarutobi's beloved student and a leading candidate to become the next acting Hokage.
But Tsunade's intuition as a woman had already picked up on something.
And it wasn't just intuition.
There was also the cautionary example of Tobirama Senju.
Still, Tobirama usually experimented on enemies, and with Hashirama and Mito around to keep him in check, plus the need to consider public image once he became Hokage, he at least had some bottom line. Orochimaru was another story.
That said…
Tsunade had been Orochimaru's teammate and classmate for years, and at this point in her life, thanks to her hemophobia, she didn't really want to involve herself in village affairs. So she had no intention of digging deeper into it.
As far as she was concerned, as long as Orochimaru didn't provoke her and allowed her to properly train Mikami Yuu as the successor she could leave behind before one day leaving Konoha herself, then she could pretend not to know anything else.
"I understand, Tsunade-sama."
Mikami Yuu nodded.
A little while later, Mikami Yuu finished reading through both scrolls, thought for a while, then rolled them back up and returned them to their places.
For the next two days, he came to the archive room every noon and read through the scrolls there.
Strictly speaking,
there were parts of those two scrolls—especially the newer one—that Mikami Yuu still couldn't fully grasp.
He could understand every word on the page, but when it came to concepts like chakra-frequency resonance, unverified theorems and formulas, and the speculation about the original imprint of life, his understanding was patchy at best. He even suspected some parts were traps Orochimaru had deliberately left behind.
But
none of that stopped Mikami Yuu from repeatedly entering that pure white inner mind-space and launching "attacks" at the incomplete girl sleeping inside the life-support capsule.
"Good afternoon. I'm here again. Can you hear me?"
[...]
"It's okay if you don't have consciousness. I'll keep coming to visit you."
[...]
"Based on the original pulse frequency of the nervous system, find the right node, trigger phase resonance, and accelerate electrical signal transmission… these sections should mean something like that, right?"
[...]
Over those three days,
Mikami Yuu kept trying [Talk] every day. The conversations started with simple greetings, then gradually shifted into his own interpretations of the scrolls' contents. That last part wasn't a fixed option from the galgame system anymore—it was just Mikami Yuu's own thoughts, and the muttered words he spoke under his breath in the real world.
But every time, the result was the same.
Until the afternoon of the third day.
At last, the text box changed in a way Mikami Yuu had not expected:
[…]
"Hm?"
Mikami Yuu immediately noticed that the ellipsis had gotten shorter, and quickly pressed further with his thoughts.
[You sit in the pure white space of the laboratory, looking at the girl inside the life-support capsule. Suddenly, as if a drop of water has fallen into a still lake, the girl's lashes tremble ever so slightly like butterfly wings, and then the outer shell of the capsule quietly opens, releasing a wave of cold air.]
A: You're conscious, aren't you? I know you've endured loneliness for far too long, but I can stay with you.
B: Come with me. I'll do everything I can to make sure you're safe and properly cared for.
C: (Say nothing. Lean in and try to kiss her forehead.)
"So we're doing Sleeping Beauty now…"
Mikami Yuu chose C.
There was no actual sense of touch, no warmth passing between them. But the moment he made the choice, the text box flickered a few times, and then—
[Ding! "Cell Activation Technique · Incomplete" has been added to the romanceable list!]
[Current affection: 1/25 (Stranger)]
[Note: Because this target is in a fragmented state, the affection cap is locked at 25. Only after helping her restore her limbs and internal organs can the full cap be unlocked.]
Wait a second…
So this "pretty girl" isn't just missing limbs—her organs are incomplete too?
So in the end, he really does have to piece her together himself.