Chapter 20: Science is Creating Something from Nothing
Since the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, officially took office, the carving work on the Hokage Rock began, and Orochimaru became more reticent.
Kenichi watched his teacher stand in a daze at a spot with a view of the Hokage Rock, then turned and left without any reluctance.
"Although the teacher doesn't care verbally, he cares more than anyone else in his heart, doesn't he?" Kenichi thought to himself as he watched Orochimaru's retreating figure.
Suddenly, he began to doubt his teacher's gender. If he didn't know for sure that his teacher was indeed a man and hadn't changed his body, he might have suspected that he had encountered a tsundere woman.
Well, if you changed the teacher's hair color to blonde and styled it into a ponytail or twin tails, it would fit the image of a tsundere even more.
"Teacher, does Elder Danzo Shimura smoke?" Kenichi asked as he looked at the familiar road, knowing that today he was going to the laboratory established in cooperation with the Root, so he couldn't help but ask.
"Hm? Him? I've never seen him smoke," Orochimaru replied, clearly not expecting such a question from Kenichi, but he answered anyway.
Kenichi felt a bit disappointed upon hearing this. It would be difficult if Danzo didn't smoke.
Previously, Kenichi had thought about whether to take the opportunity to cultivate cancer cells for Danzo, but since the latter didn't smoke and his own technique was not yet perfect, he temporarily abandoned the idea.
Upon arriving at the Root's underground laboratory, Danzo was not there, only the Root's ninjas were present, but this did not hinder the progress of the experiments.
However, the inauguration of the Fourth Hokage also meant the complete end of the war, at least for the short term, the Root would not be able to provide enough materials, and this situation would become more severe in the future.
"Teacher, what is the experimental topic for today?" Kenichi felt a bit strange, becoming excited as soon as he entered the laboratory.
"It's nothing much, just continuing the experiment on how to better master the First Hokage's cells," Orochimaru replied calmly, as this was requested by Danzo.
Kenichi found it a bit boring. The First Hokage's cells were powerful, but they had significant limitations. Whether one could withstand the cells was a huge problem.
Orochimaru had conducted many experiments and countless people had died before they had a successful case like Yamato.
"Teacher, may I conduct my own research?" Kenichi didn't want to continue the experiments with the First Hokage's cells; he had his own ideas.
Orochimaru glanced at him and then nodded. The experiment was indeed uninteresting, and Orochimaru wouldn't bother with Danzo if not for the support of the Root.
With Orochimaru's permission, Kenichi excitedly went to conduct his own experiments. However, since this was a laboratory with a cooperative relationship with the Root, Kenichi did not continue to perfect his ninjutsu.
Instead, he chose to develop something else.
Chakra armor, or more precisely, an expansion study based on a metallic product previously researched by Orochimaru.
Orochimaru had previously discovered a special metal that could absorb chakra, which could absorb the chakra from a ninja's body. However, since Orochimaru had many research projects, this discovery was temporarily shelved.
But Kenichi saw great potential in this metal. If improved to absorb chakra from ninjutsu, its practicality would be immense.
"Then, by adding an energy conversion device to store or transfer the absorbed chakra into the wearer's body, wouldn't it become a perpetual motion machine on the battlefield?" Kenichi mused.
This could lead to the development of chakra-powered Gundams in the world of Naruto.
In theory, this idea was feasible. Kenichi remembered that in one of the Naruto movies, there was armor that could absorb chakra.
By improving the defense and researching higher-performance metals and a compatible storage and conversion core, this idea could become a reality.
Even if Uchiha Madara was powerful, what could he do against chakra armor that absorbed all his ninjutsu?
However, all of this was still far off. Kenichi hadn't even figured out how to improve the metal, so he could only proceed with the experiments slowly.
"No wonder the teacher is cooperating with the Root," Kenichi thought as he looked at the materials he had used up. Scientific research indeed burns through money.
No wonder many people develop ninjutsu instead, as it doesn't require as much money. Indeed, the poor rely on mutations while the rich rely on technology.
"Are you interested in this unique metal?" Hearing this voice, Kenichi knew Orochimaru had arrived. He quickly turned around, and sure enough, Orochimaru was standing behind him.
Here we go again, still so silent, Kenichi wondered if he had learned this from Batman.
"Yes, teacher, I think this metal has great potential for development," Kenichi honestly said. If it could be developed as he envisioned, it could become a strategic deterrent of nuclear-weapon level in the future.
It might even completely change the combat landscape of the ninja world.
"The absorption limit of the unique metal is low, but I have high hopes for you. After all, science is always about creating something from nothing," Orochimaru smiled. He didn't have much he wanted to take from the village, except for Kenichi, who was perhaps the only one.
Orochimaru even felt that he might not need any other disciples in his lifetime, just this one who was very much like himself.
"Yes, teacher, science is indeed about creating something from nothing," Kenichi firmly agreed. Although he wasn't a very impressive scientist, he knew that many things didn't exist before.
Before computers were invented, people couldn't imagine what they would be like, so it's not an exaggeration to say that science creates something from nothing.
Moreover, Kenichi remembered the future Boruto series, where many things that are unimaginable now appeared.
"Let's go, today's experiment is over," Orochimaru said calmly as he began his journey home, with Kenichi following behind, and behind them was the laboratory that occasionally emitted wails.
As they ascended step by step, Kenichi followed his teacher from darkness into the light.
"Teacher, does the Third Hokage know about our experiments?" Kenichi suddenly became curious about this.
Although the Root was a very secretive organization belonging only to Danzo, the Anbu was not just for show.
"Of course, he knows. He has given his tacit approval."
Thank you to the wind aaaaah for the reward.
(End of Chapter)