Chapter 33: Lamentations Of A Genius

Kazuki watched as the two boys left his office, and as soon as they were out of the door he slumped back into his chair and sighed.

Today had been a long and tiring day, the experiment not withstanding, and while he was pleased with the results of the 'test' he imposed upon young Keitaro, he was also mildly concerned about both children. He might have made it seem like everything was under control and that there wasn't anything to worry about, but he had done so because he didn't want either of the two boys becoming to overly curious about anything.

These experiments were indeed important for the future of clan, but even so, the fact that they were utilizing the data and research of Orochimaru of all people as a basis, could very well become a nail in the clans proverbial coffin. 

It wouldn't take much for someone to twist their usage of this serum and the notes attached to them it into a story about how the Inuzuka were secretly in cahoots with one of the most notorious traitors of the village, and even if they managed to prove their innocence without a shadow of a doubt, just the fact that they had been accused of such an act in the first place would have negative repercussions that would affect the clan for years to come. Especially since they were indeed using Orochimaru's work to strengthen themselves.

He hated the fact that the elders didn't have faith in the research of his and his team, and had urged them to reconsider going down such a dangerous path filled with political pitfalls just waiting to be uncovered, but they had rejected his pleas of reason.

Still, the results spoke for themselves, and he had to begrudgingly admit that Orochimaru's serum was damn effective and if the parameters that had been measured so far were any indication, the end result might very well be even stronger than even the old snake had predicted.

Of course the side effects and problems that had already arose and would continue to arise would also become more exaggerated and devastating, but as long as at least one wolf survived, then it would be worth it.

Kazuki pulled out a scroll of notes that had been handed to him by one of the lab assistance that had documented some of the changes that had been occurring after the addition of the serum and nodded his head.

Just like Orochimaru had stated would happen, some of the wolves had experienced an awakening of their chakra networks after the admission of the serum, followed right after by a huge spike in chakra volume. Unfortunately quite a few of the test subjects died at this point, their physical bodies simply being unable to handle the sudden influx of chakra resulting in organ failure, internal bleeding, swelling of the brain, the destruction of the internal chakra network, and in the worst case scenarios spontaneous and uncontrollable growths appearing randomly on various parts of their bodies.

An expected result all things considered since their bodies might have treated the altered genetics and cells that had appeared thanks to the serum as cancerous cells that were dangerous to the body and under the influence of the serum and the enhanced chakra overload due to the enhancements, it caused the bodies cells to rapidly divide exponentially which effectively cut the lifespan of the wolves down to nothing. 

Then there were those wolves who experienced similar symptoms, but instead of their chakra growing due to the birth and creation of new more powerful cells, their bodies effectively cannibalized it self to create more cells and chakra. It also resulted in a huge boost to their chakra reserves, but it also resulted in their deaths. They ended up looking like withered husk, nothing but skin and bone, and while they had been given fluids and liquid nutrients in an attempt to slow their decline, their bodies just couldn't process the nutrients and fluids fast enough. Thankfully for them, it would have been mostly painless as their nerves where amongst the first things to fail.

The final group, and the ones that showed the most promise, where the wolves who had already been able to utilize chakra from before their capture. 

It had been difficult to find packs of wolves who where not only compatible with the hounds of the clans, but could also utilize chakra. Even amongst those that could use chakra, not all of them were proficient with its usage, or at least what would pass a chakra usage to a wild beast.

Still the research team had spent quite a lot of time and energy to locate and capture quite a few wolves who had awakened their chakra especially for this experiment, given that it had been noted by Orochimaru that beasts that had already been accustomed to utilizing their own chakra would have a greater success rate than those without. 

These wolves had also seen a rather noticeable spike in their chakra reserves and they were also experiencing quite a few physical changes. They were experiencing an increase in bone and muscle density, greater muscle elasticity, and greater durability as well. Even their fur seemed to have been enhanced as some of them where capable of running chakra through it to increase its toughness to a certain extent. 

Of course all of these positive changes also resulted in the wolves also increasing in size to quite a noticeable degree, a development that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Most of the hounds of the clan where usually of a certain size, mainly so that they were able to sneak around and be inconspicuous when needed. Having a giant ninja hound following you around made it a lot harder to carry out covert missions afterall. 

Plus their increased size also meant that they need much more food to sustain their size, which in the case of the test wolves also meant that they needed to consume huge amounts of nutrients to fuel their growth. Thankfully unlike the wolves whose bodies chose to cannibalize themselves, the sudden increase of chakra was used as a source of fuel instead. Of course they still needed lots of fluids and nutrients to assist in the transition but their rate of consumption was manageable for now.

Even then these wolves where still undergoing changes. they might not have been as violet as they had been when the serum was first administered, but the changes where still quite noticeable and important for the next process of the experiment. Unfortunately these changes also resulted in the lifeforces of the wolves being depleted as well.

While the serum did increase their life forces and physical energies considerably, the repeated cell division that the wolves had to endure and were still enduring, served to constantly shortening their lifespans. The chances of these wolves living more than three years after being exposed to the serum was slim to none, and most of them would die due to reaching the end of their lifespan in a couple of months.

Of course by then they would have already served their purpose as they would have sired a couple litters of pups by then, but it was still sad. 

The ninken and ninja hounds of the clan unlike their wild counter parts had a much greater lifespan, with most of them living to the age of eighty comfortably without much issue. Some could even hit one hundred as long as they were well taken care of. This was one of the first things that the clan had focused on improving in their hounds as it would be quite ridiculous to have a hound that was only usable as a partner for about fifteen years.

Not to mention that it would have been most impractical to have to retrain a hound once your current partner passed away. Of course while it was possible for a ninja hound to die while on a mission, thereby forcing their human partner to take up another ninja dog, it was a rather rare occurrence as if the ninja hound was killed, their human partner would most likely end up dead as well as their combat potential was effectively halved and wouldn't be able to offer much resistance.

But even then, there was no telling if the decreased life span would affect the resulting litters or not, only time would tell. 

Though there was one interesting side effect that came about that seemed to have affected all of the wolves without exception. Kazuki found it to be quite interesting but he honestly couldn't fully understand why this particular change was occurring. No matter if it was the wolves who had already died or the ones still clinging to life with everything they had, they had all shown the exact same reaction to being exposed to the serum with out fail.

Every last one of them developed pail white skin, regardless of their original skin color or tone.