Chapter 22: What is the reward for the side quest?

Chapter 22: What is the reward for the side quest?

"Your idea is quite interesting," Orochimaru's mouth twitched, acknowledging that his disciple was generally good but sometimes had some strange thoughts.

To cut out a part of the Nine-Tails for research? If one didn't know better, they might think his disciple had already become a Kage-level powerhouse, capable of manipulating the Nine-Tails at will.

Kenichi smiled sheepishly, yet he was genuinely interested in the Nine-Tails, especially since the Tailed Beast Ball was quite oppressive in the early stages, and the Nine-Tails provided a substantial amount of chakra.

"The village will definitely take this matter very seriously, so be careful with your actions during this time," Orochimaru reminded Kenichi, knowing that his disciple had a good relationship with the Fourth Hokage and his wife.

However, the issue of a Jinchuriki's pregnancy was too complicated. If his disciple carelessly got involved, it would be troublesome, and even Orochimaru himself could be implicated.

After all, Kenichi was only a Chunin, but as his teacher, many of his disciple's actions would be attributed to him.

"Understood, Teacher. I will be careful," Kenichi nodded. Even if he didn't interfere at all, in the end, a corrupted Obito would still return to release the Nine-Tails, and the Fourth Hokage and his wife would likely die as expected.

Moreover, upon careful consideration, it was quite disheartening. What were the Third Hokage, Danzo, and Orochimaru doing when the Fourth Hokage was fighting valiantly? Not to mention the clan leaders of the Ino-Shika-Cho, Hyuga, and Uchiha clans. If the Third Hokage and Danzo had given their all, and Orochimaru had assisted, perhaps the Fourth Hokage wouldn't have died in battle.

With the Fourth Hokage's death, the Third Hokage returned to power. He was still alive and well, which made it hard not to question the Third Hokage's true intentions.

Moreover, Naruto's experiences as a child were outrageous. It wasn't that such things couldn't happen, but for a child to endure such treatment and still inherit the Will of Fire, aspiring to become the Hokage, was preposterous without any corruption.

"However, I remember it was initially said that 'Naruto' was a short manga and wouldn't be too long, so the character setting was as such. But as the story went on, it became longer, and naturally, many characters were not well-developed," Kenichi pondered while playing with an amber in his hand.

He remembered seeing similar discussions, but he wasn't sure if Masashi Kishimoto had ever said that. However, this analysis seemed to make sense.

Looking at the amber in his hand, Kenichi revealed a slight smile.

If he were to talk about his gains during this period, the greatest wasn't the development of cancer ninjutsu or swindling some money from his teacher Orochimaru, but this piece of amber.

Previously, Orochimaru had suddenly brought a book to Kenichi and carefully examined the amber. After many reviews, Orochimaru finally confirmed that it was an ancient parasite.

However, it was rumored to have been casually eradicated by the Sage of the Six Paths, and it was unexpected that a piece of amber with a complete insect body had been preserved.

The reason for the uncertainty was that there was very little recorded information about this insect. Orochimaru had confirmed the identity of the insect from a piece of ancient literature he had obtained from outside.

It was a pity that the insect was already dead, and it was impossible to revive such a creature. Orochimaru felt it was a shame, as the ability to control others could be quite useful at times.

"A parasite that can control others? I wonder what can be gained from researching this thing," Kenichi mused, smacking his lips.

If this thing could really control ninjas, then its practicality would be immense. However, it was also necessary to consider the limitations of this thing.

After all, most parasites capable of controlling abilities often ended up killing their hosts.

For example, nematomorphs would make their insect hosts jump into water, drowning them while they emerged from the host's body.

And a very unique species of trematode larvae would even burrow into a snail's eye stalks and then control the snail to climb to high places, constantly wriggling to attract birds to eat the snail.

This shows that most parasites capable of controlling other organisms' consciousness are not good things, similar to the parasites in the fictional work "Resident Evil 4."

So if this parasite had a similar effect, then its practicality wouldn't be very high, unless Kenichi was willing to spend time cultivating and selectively breeding to produce superior parasites.

"By the way, Teacher, there have been rumors in the village lately about frequent disappearances," Kenichi mentioned something that came to his mind, putting away the amber and speaking to his teacher.

In essence, what he meant was quite simple: it was about time for Kenichi to remind his teacher that they should be ready to flee.

Although his teacher was powerful, Kenichi was just a small Chunin, and there wasn't much of interest to do in the village!

It was too boring; he could only rely on gossip to sustain his life.

He also had to be careful to control his desires, fearing that one day he might not be able to resist abducting someone to the laboratory.

"Hmm, you need to accompany me to the laboratory during this time; you're free to move around at other times," Orochimaru didn't seem too concerned. Although he planned to defect, it wasn't the right time yet.

Kenichi felt somewhat helpless; it seemed he had to behave for the time being.

However, Kenichi could also make some preparations in advance.

Previously, Kenichi had completed the separation of the special gene chain of Uzumaki Kushina. After the separation, he couldn't preserve it and had no intention of using it for experiments, so he simply froze it for storage.

But the reward for this task was quite peculiar.

A blueprint.

"The thermobaric bomb design blueprint also lists some required materials. Is this suggesting I learn from Deidara?" Kenichi pinched the bridge of his nose.

Just thinking about his blueprint gave him a headache. He knew about the thermobaric bomb; it was very lethal and could effectively target underground and concealed structures.

But with just a blueprint, to fully manufacture a thermobaric bomb, there was still a long way to go.

"Wait, isn't Deidara a genius with explosives?" Kenichi became interested. Deidara should not have been taken away by the Akatsuki organization yet, right?

It seemed more reasonable to give the blueprint to him.

(End of Chapter)