章 47: The Snake's Journal
Fog Swamp Lab (Kamui's Point of View)
Walking up to a wall in the back of the records room, Kamui found the journal laying on a table. It was covered in dust and had the title 'Shinobu Island Toxins.'
"Are you sure this is it?" Reina asked, not understanding why Orochimaru would use the name of a useful book to mask his journal.
"I am." Kamui affirmed. "It looks to be a 'hiding in plain sight' approach, rather than regular concealment, though I'm a little confused on the name." She noted, a little confused herself on why he would choose a title she'd be interested in.
"Although this book's title implies it has great research value from a medical perspective, you must consider that most shinobi breaking into this facility wouldn't prioritize it. Most would be looking for research records on the experiments, shinobi movement orders, other base locations, etc. This is especially because, most shinobi don't have access to library-like seals. Most only carry seals that store single items. This requires them to select smaller amounts of intelligence they can gather, especially in situations like this where they feel time is against them.
"This book falls into a middle-level interest category. It's obvious why he doesn't name it something eye-catching, but it's less so for why he didn't name it something underwhelming. The reason for that is an old ANBU lesson; It's one the operatives learn from experience in the field and pass on to their juniors. Most shinobi who want to hide in plain sight, do so by using an underwhelming part of the room. In short, in a situation where one couldn't find the notes they were looking for, it's safer to take notes that appear to be too underwhelming to belong. A decent percent of the time, those turned out to be disguised records.
"Orochimaru was a member of Root, Danzo Shimura's subdivision of the ANBU. This tactic can be understood when you consider that portion of his background. You can take the shinobi out of the ANBU, but you can't take the ANBU out of the shinobi." Yugao explained, quickly recognizing the methodology of the snake.
Secretly, she was kicking herself in the foot. She had been in a few raids on Orochimaru's bases, but none of their team had considered the snake using this method. They usually only had a limited opportunity to steal notes, and journals like these were never their priority.
'We fell for such a simple trick… the boys back home won't like this.' she resignedly thought.
"Well, let's begin." Kamui stated as she raised her hand, facing her palm toward the journal. Focusing, she pulled out the portion of Orochimaru's chakra she had taken from Naga. It wasn't intentional for her to do so, but a remnant ended up in her possession after she broke the girl's curse mark. Rather than purging it, she kept it just in case she needed it during the rescue. It looks like it was a good idea.
With a slight push, she willed her chakra to expel the wisp toward the book, lowering the defenses temporarily. Taking the opportunity, she poured her chakra over the book, shattering any remnant intent left on it. It was lucky for her that Orochimaru wasn't proficient in seals, so the initial barrier constituted the majority of the book's defenses. If she didn't have the wisp of Orochimaru's chakra, the seal may have been able to damage the contents of the book before its defenses were destroyed.
Looking at it now, the journal had the title, 'Project Supreme Vessel.'
"This is definitely it…" Reina muttered.
"Agreed. Kamui, you'll be the one reading it. Your sharingan's memorization ability will be perfect for this." Yugao ordered, receiving a nod from her student.
Looking at the first couple of pages, Kamui noticed that they were Orochimaru's overview on the project, his documentation of the initiating facts of the project.
Project Supreme Vessel is meant to develop the best host for Orochimaru's spirit. Once complete, he'd use the product as a container for all the power he's accumulated. To be considered perfect, the vessel would need to be perfectly compatible with the sharingan and Hashirama Senju's DNA. The problem is, he hasn't been able to find a way of safely integrating Hashirama's DNA perfectly into anybody. His solution, create a newborn from a zygote with similar DNA to promote compatibility.
The candidates he'd come up with were the Uzumaki and the Kocho Clan. The Uzumaki Clan is descended from the Senju, which will provide the vessel with a stronger compatibility toward Hashirama's DNA. The Kocho Clan has their own powerful dojutsu that works similarly to the sharingan. From his experiments with Ana Kocho, she seemed to adapt to a transplanted sharingan well; the chakra consumption was only slightly higher than an Uchiha, which he believed could be compensated for in the vessel with the added Uzumaki DNA.
In both clans, females exhibit the strongest expressions of their bloodline, so that's the gender he chose. His body transfer jutsu, Living Corpse Reincarnation, can always cover the body with a male coating resembling his usual visage.
For the parents, he chose to use a sample of Ashina Uzumaki, the Uzumaki Clan Head during the founding of Konoha. He processed it using his lab equipment to create a sperm cell that would contain the best Uzumaki genes he possessed. Ana's was a lot easier. He hadn't had much data on the genetics of the Kocho Clan at that point, so he just extracted an egg and used it without further processing. Once both genetic materials were in place, he artificially inseminated the egg and incubated it in his lab. From there, the baby grew until it was ultimately 'born.'
Ana Kocho was useful for that effort. In exchange for her cooperation during experiments, she would be allowed to raise the girl. From there, it was a win-win situation. Ana could spend time with her daughter and Orochimaru could have someone raise his vessel for him. After all, her body wouldn't be suitable for his consciousness until she was nearing adulthood, so he had a large hurdle ahead of him.
The girl grew up learning about how to use both his and her abilities, which would condition her body to better accept the white-snake's powers over time. This was done through the perfected process of what he had done to himself in his younger days. This was taken even further when the curse seal was added on top of that during her tenth birthday; it had been his present for her. The part that excited him the most was that the girl's genetics were vastly stronger than his.
He was a civilian with no ninja bloodline, so his body was consumed by the DNA of the white snake, which lead to his appearance becoming even more inhuman than it already was. Naga was different. Her body didn't show any overt changes. The only difference was the development of slit pupils, a trait he himself had in a different coloration. Even better, he was able to integrate the power of petrification into her dojutsu, which he hoped carried on after he replaced them with the sharingan. This went well until about five months ago.
At that point, Naga had three more procedures to go through before she was ready for him to use the Living Corpse Reincarnation to have her become his vessel. The first was to integrate the cores of three legendary snakes he had found in the deepest depths of Ryuchi Cave. The second was to implant Hashirama's DNA and the third was to implant the sharingan.
The Cores were something that defied all rationality. He hadn't known what compelled him to search the depths of Ryuchi Cave on that day so long ago, but he did under a strange compulsion and found a graveyard with the remains of these legendary serpents, at least that's the title Manda had given them. Of all the samples he found there, three small cores were the crowning discovery of that expedition. One core radiated a black and red light. Around it, everything turned to stone without exception. The second one radiated a white light that seemed to stir a vicious wind around it. The last had a mysterious blue light that didn't seem to have any discernable effect, though that was likely due to his own ignorance. He didn't know why, but he felt inexplicably drawn to them, particularly the white core.
When researching them, he identified their former owners with Manda's aid and theorized that integrating them with himself could allow him to access their abilities in a similar manner to what happened with Hashirama's cells. Thinking about it logically, this was a significant risk to his health; a risk he decided was worth taking. Thinking further, he'd probably lose the summoning contracts with the snakes if they found out he raided their graveyard; of course, Manda was willing to keep everything a secret until his project succeeds for the right number of sacrifices. That was of little consequence, however. They were both using each other, so burning that bridge once he achieves true power meant nothing to him.
Of the cores, the red one was first tested on Naga using a small piece. It was by integrating a small fragment of it into Naga's bone marrow that its power merged with her eyes. Then, the white one was implanted into himself, the compulsion to do so surpassing his reason. Finally, the other two were integrated into Naga fully, his future vessel. His thought process was that he would be able to get used to the one he felt the most affinity for and join it with the other two once he transferred into her body. He noted that it was an extreme gamble, but the potential gains were worth it.
That's when everything went wrong.
When the two cores were integrated into her, the blue one stayed silent, while the other took an aggressive approach in seizing the body of his vessel. The 'loyal' tool he created rampaged and quickly started transforming into something else. He tried to knock her out, but the core fueled her with power even he was wary of. Deciding not to risk it, he reinforced her curse seal and sealed the cavern with the strongest barrier seals he could find. The final line of text expressed his hopes that Naga would be back to her human self when he returned; it would be too dangerous to continue project vessel otherwise. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything else he could do but hope his curse seal did its work in suppressing the transformation or at least making the product loyal to him. In the meantime, he would focus on studying the core inside of himself to hopefully find alternative solutions.
"Well, it's a good thing I destroyed that curse mark, huh?" Kamui joked, trying to lighten the tense mood of the group.
"It certainly minimizes the possibility of Naga being loyal to him in a transformed state. I don't know about her normal state though. She's practically been raised by the man with a curse mark on her for almost half of her life." Yugao pondered, seriously trying to figure out the best approach to take.
"Personally, I want to give her a chance. She's family and I owe it to Ana to take care of her daughter." Reina gave her two cents, a gentle smile gracing her face, showing just how uncomfortable she was with the information.
"I agree. Plus, I didn't detect any love for that man when she spoke of him. Of course, it was just a glance, but my eyes picked up a profound hatred for him. If I were to guess, it was likely something Ana ingrained into her while raising her. It might even be the reason why he had her die like she did. Let's save her." Kamui suggested.
Internally, she was very interested in these two serpents' cores. She was curious if she'd be able to observe them.
["Kamui, if I'm right, you might be able to make a contract with the cores. Think of it like a summoning contract."] Yume suggested.
'How would I do that?' She asked mentally, confused at how she would apply an animal-based contract to a human.
Yugao and Reina noticed Kamui having that spaced out look like she was talking to somebody again. Instead of commenting on it, they decided to let the conversation happen. This was probably part of the explanation they'd receive when they got back to the village. At least, she usually had a good idea after these things happened.
Internally, Yume noticed the change in the other two, but also decided not to comment on it. It was obvious that their secret would have to be explained upon the completion of the mission and her host was clearly aware of that as well, if the resigned feeling she felt from her was any indication.
["I'll explain this in detail when we get back to the village, but you should probably know something. Every sharingan ability you've manifested has derived from a combination of one or more of the Rinnegan's abilities combined with your predecessor's. I think we can manifest your fifth tomoe by stimulating the animal path, the ability to connect your spirit to others. Through that connection, you would transmit traits downstream in exchange for obedience. Like the others, it wouldn't be exactly like that, but it might give us the ability to save Naga. With it, we can save the girl and gain a new ally for Konoha. Specifically, we should be able to link ourselves with the cores taking over her mind. I won't tell you the exact details, but both of you will gain quite a bit from this."] Yume explained, excited that Kamui was finally getting to this stage in her development.
Kamui's eyes widened at the facts presented to her. She couldn't wait to ask more about the ability, but for now, she'd focus on the relevant details. Overall, it wasn't a bad idea. Between what she had seen in Naga's mindscape along with Orochimaru's evaluation of the girl, she'd make a great comrade. It may take a little convincing, but that shouldn't be too hard given the situation.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew it may be wrong to recruit people at their lowest point. Her Konoha-born rationality snuffed that out though. Even if the means were dirty, she would just have to make sure the girl was happy in Konoha as compensation. In exchange, Konoha would get her power and a means to draw the snake out into the open.
'What trait are you expecting to pass downstream?' She asked.
["Human form transformation. It's an ability that you don't have to worry about currently as you're still mostly human. That's due to some limitations I'm still trying to work out, but it'll be useful once the succession is complete. Your predecessor had the ability to assume a human form, despite being a pure-blooded divine beast. According to Kurama's memories, that's not a common ability in this world. While it may not grant power, it does have value to someone like Naga."] Yume explained
'Someone who just involuntarily lost her humanity….' Kamui realized, suddenly getting very excited to see the process unfold.
["It looks like we have a plan. You focus on fighting Naga. I'll get everything ready on my end. All you need to do is immobilize her, make contact with her, while gazing into her eyes. It'll be just enough of a physical and spiritual connection to start the process."]
'Right, Thanks Yume' Kamui thought, before focusing back on her sensei.
"Alright, I'm ready. I think I have a way to approach this situation." Kamui determinedly stated.
Yugao just stared at her for a moment, making Kamui a little uncomfortable with the silence.
Finally, Yugao sighed.
"Alright, I'll trust you. We're having a long conversation when we get back though." Yugao stated exasperatedly.
"Yeah…. Kamui, you really need to work on better times to have those episodes." Reina commented, amused at the situation.
Sighing, Kamui responded, "I know. We'll talk about it more when we get back to Konoha."
With that, Reina and a group of Yugao's clones went to search the records with the newly acquired knowledge on circumventing the defenses.
Kamui and the original Yugao moved to the large cavern with the single occupant, the sealed area where Orochimaru's 'perfect vessel' lay in wait.
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