Chapter 76

Since the first part of the experiment on dead bodies had been exhausted, it was time to start using live prisoners. If I wanted to have truly long-lived clones, albeit with different bodies, this was the only way. Using Shikon no jutsu on the dead, of course, but using a modified version on the living...

My theory was actually simple and somewhat cynical - if the technique works on corpses, it should work on the living as well, but the living shinobi would have to be unable to resist such an incorporation. It's easy to achieve this even for an inexperienced shinobi - it takes a couple dozen minutes to turn any human into a plant with zero brain functions. An artificially induced coma, from which you can never get out of simply because brains themselves do not recover - that's the required body condition.

I decided to refrain from immediate experiments and testing my theory in practice - the date of the final exams for chunin was fast approaching and there was no point in starting something time-consuming, besides, in case of failure, it would be possible to hone my skills in working with the brain and the main nervous system on a test subject, and it would be better to do it without hurry and without time limit.

I'll still succeed sooner or later, even if I have to bring in an outside expert to the subject - I mean Mito-chan. At least with her I can be sure that there won't be any moral issues of using captives in experiments. The experienced Uzumaki is quite practical in such cases - not ours? Do what you want - as long as it's an honestly captured or ransomed enemy from his comrades. A very proper life stance in a world of assassins.

Of course, I'd like to keep such a trump card in my own pocket, so that not a single soul would be aware of it (including Saya), but this can be solved after returning to the village, but for now it's worth to deal with something more simple - ensuring two-way communication between the puppet and me, with the possibility of transferring chakra to both sides (a little backup has never hurt anyone, as well as a certain amount of chakra in reserve). And I think I saw something suitable in the spatial seals department....

***

This time, Sunagakura no Sato greeted our delegation a bit friendlier than the last time. There was no "honor" guard on all sides, no barely restrained negativity from the guards, and no suspicious glances drilling in from all sides. No, the traps, secrets, and other nasty things hadn't disappeared from the long passage in the stone, but there was no sense of massiveness that I felt the first time I went through the defenses.

Now we were given only two scowling escorts in the rank of chunin and a few suspiciously wary glances, but that was all. However, the reason for this somewhat relaxed attitude became clear only when the much reduced group of Konoha shinobi, which included me, entered the village itself.

And if for the first time we were greeted by silence and Anbu analogues on the roofs of buildings, now everywhere around was literally bustling with life - the deserted streets were filled with people, both local and visiting, despite the hanging sun and the habit of resting at noon inside, not showing outside buildings, spontaneously formed stalls, awnings and stalls on the edges of the square served as souvenir shops for all who decided to attend the final of the first Chunin Exam.

And in the square, one could see clothing from almost every country on the continent, albeit somewhat adapted to the local weather. It seemed that aristocrats from all corners of the land had decided to watch the aspiring assassins fight.

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