Chapter 278: Mother Worm and Kazahana Koyuki
"You were hiding in a place like this?" Amemiya Kenichi stared at the underground complex ahead, his expression turning a little complicated. To be honest, he did not even know how to describe his mood. He truly had not expected the Uchiha to be living here.
"Yes. It is underground, so concealment is guaranteed." Mikoto nodded at him. She and the Uchiha who escaped were temporarily staying inside this subterranean facility.
Kenichi felt a headache coming on.
Was this not the same underground fortress they had discovered when they were clearing out the Sky Ninja settlement? He had even killed a large number of those ninja here with Sasori and taken away their chief scientist.
What a coincidence.
Still, in a way, this place really was not bad. Konoha did not know about it. And even if the remnants of the Sky ninja did, they probably could not defeat the Uchiha gathered here. That meant the Uchiha could live relatively stably for now.
Sasuke at his side was full of curiosity. After some time to settle down, he had recovered a bit of his usual self. He held Mikoto's hand tightly and looked around with bright eyes.
When Kenichi followed Mikoto inside, he found the Uchiha were living quite well. At the very least, the atmosphere was harmonious and quiet.
Kenichi did not interfere much. He had already entrusted Mikoto with the matter of relocating the Uchiha with him this time, and he believed she could handle it. Besides, as an outsider, it was not appropriate for him to meddle too deeply in internal clan matters.
"Once we bring them back, we can head to the Land of Snow," Kenichi yawned, bored.
He had not forgotten that he still had business in the Land of Snow, like his chakra parasite queen. Back then, he had coordinated with Kazahana Koyuki, and the parasite inside her should have matured by now.
After bringing Mikoto back to the Uchiha base, Kenichi planned to go to the Land of Snow and study the parasite. Once he had inspiration or a technological breakthrough, he would return to genetic programming.
"I wonder how Anko is doing now." Kenichi propped his chin up, idly thinking.
The last time he heard about Anko was half a year ago, when he was chatting in his teacher's lab. According to his teacher, Anko had become an excellent bounty hunter and had completed many missions.
It was just that her strength still had not reached jonin level. His teacher was also constantly increasing Anko's training intensity, which almost made Kenichi laugh. He could not help wondering what his junior sister's mood looked like these days.
"I am sorry to keep you waiting." While Kenichi was thinking, Mikoto finally returned.
He glanced at her. A group of Uchiha followed behind, and most of them looked genuinely happy. It was obvious that reuniting with their other clan members was a joyful event.
Seeing that, Kenichi did not delay. He immediately took these Uchiha back to the Land of Rice Fields by airship so they could reunite with the rest of the clan.
Shisui and Itachi still had not returned. Kenichi simply said goodbye to Sasuke and then left on the airship.
He did not have time to watch the Uchiha's warm reunion. He wanted to reach the Land of Snow as quickly as possible and see what stage his chakra parasite queen had reached.
"I just hope the others do not do anything extreme. Shisui should be able to manage it," Kenichi muttered, scratching his head while watching the village below shrink into the distance.
Finding the Uchiha was good news, but it also carried an unpleasant implication. Those Uchiha who never returned were probably long dead in Konoha. That was not something the clan members who still had family and friends in Konoha would want to hear.
Kenichi also noticed something else on this trip. Obito was gone.
A mask seller was never a memorable presence, so Kenichi only learned it from an old man at a nearby stall. That masked merchant had left not long after Kenichi departed that day.
But Obito was not likely to be following him. Kenichi taking Sasuke to Konoha for a stroll was not something that needed tracking.
If anything, Obito was probably watching Shisui or Itachi.
"If a fight breaks out, that will be interesting," Kenichi smiled to himself. "I wonder if Obito will be forced to use Kamui. If he does…"
A surprise would be waiting for him.
Leaving the Land of Rice Fields, Kenichi spent two and a half days flying to the Land of Snow. That was with the speed advantage of flight. If he traveled by foot or boat, it would have taken far longer.
The ninja world's landmass was not enormous, but its seas were vast. The Land of Snow sat isolated across the water, and even the nearest countries took a long time to reach by ship.
With an airship, the journey shortened dramatically.
Soon, Kenichi arrived in the capital of the Land of Snow and found Kazahana Koyuki handling state affairs.
"Lord Amemiya!" A year had passed, and Koyuki had clearly grown taller. The moment she saw Kenichi, she rushed over with obvious excitement, nearly throwing herself at him as if driven by impulse.
Kenichi stopped her with a hand, holding her in place. He felt a headache coming on.
The mother worm's influence on Koyuki seemed significant. Otherwise, she would not be acting like this.
"You have worked hard." Kenichi patted her head lightly.
Koyuki's eyes turned watery for a moment at being held back, but she did not resist. Instead, she steadied herself, cheeks flushed from excitement.
"It is not hard to serve you, Lord Amemiya." Her voice was soft, and her gaze looked almost unnaturally bright.
Kenichi scratched his head. This was clearly not normal.
He also noticed something else. Koyuki's physical development seemed accelerated, which was likely related to the mother worm as well.
So Kenichi extended Yang Release chakra, tracing the parasite's location through her nervous system until he found the mother worm lodged along her brain and spine.
After a year, it had grown considerably. Before, it could only cling near the back of her neck. Now, its tendrils had reached into the deeper pathways leading to her brain.
"Master." The mother worm transmitted a wave of excitement and satisfaction.
Its mental signals were now surprisingly coherent, almost human in structure. That alone proved how much it had developed over the past year.
But its shape had also become far more unsettling. It resembled a facehugger, except a facehugger clung to a face. This one clung directly to the brain and spine.
If the mother worm died, Koyuki would likely die with it.
Kenichi's expression turned strange as he sensed its structure. This parasite achieved control by physically anchoring itself to the brain, yet it could still leave the host appearing fully autonomous.
Koyuki's reactions and mannerisms were natural. There were no obvious signs of puppeteering.
"What is going on?" Kenichi asked internally, focusing on the mother worm.
"I have matured," the mother worm replied, "and I now require high quality male genetic material to begin producing offspring."
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
So that was it.
No wonder Koyuki had been acting restless. No wonder her eyes looked like they were shining. It was not romance. It was a biological drive pushed onto her by the parasite.
Could Kenichi respond to that in the literal sense?
Of course not. That would be suicidal.
But the request itself did not trouble him. Genetic material did not need to be obtained through that kind of act. Blood and tissue were enough. And Kenichi had access to far better samples.
If he truly could not obtain the genetic information of the Sage of Six Paths or Kaguya, he would not mind preparing a copy for the mother worm later. As for Black Zetsu, he would rather not.
Black Zetsu was an abnormality even among the Otsutsuki. Kaguya and the Sage of Six Paths at least maintained humanoid bodies. Black Zetsu had no real human form at all. Most of the time, he needed external support, like Obito or a White Zetsu body, just to mimic one.
From that angle, Kenichi suspected that before Kaguya was sealed, she had hastily shaped Black Zetsu out of chakra or something similar. It might not have been a complete life form, but it was enough to grant longevity and strange abilities, possibly tied to the Otsutsuki bloodline.
Then Kenichi paused.
If the mother worm could request genetic material like this, did that mean it had a method to extract and process genes?
"You can extract other people's genes and use them to create the next generation?" Kenichi asked, unable to hide his curiosity.
"I can split and recombine genes by secreting specialized fluids," the mother worm replied at once. "I select the best combinations and cultivate a more optimal next generation."
Its loyalty was unmistakable.
Kenichi's mood lifted.
If that was true, then the mother worm's secretions might help him break the bottleneck in genetic programming. If he could stabilize the process, he could finally dig into the real secret of the Sharingan.
"I have always felt the greatest secret of the Sharingan is tied to genes," Kenichi murmured, rubbing his hands with excitement. "But my argument has been missing a decisive experiment."
Coming out to clear his head had been the right move. If he had stayed locked in his laboratory, grinding at the problem, he might still have been stuck.
He had come to the Land of Snow only to check the parasite, but he had stumbled onto a potential shortcut.
"Give me some of your secretion," Kenichi said directly.
After asking, he also confirmed whether doing so would harm the mother worm.
Fortunately, the mother worm stated that producing the fluid would not damage it. It would simply consume stamina, and it would require Kenichi to replenish it with high quality chakra. That was no issue for him.
The delivery method, however, made Kenichi deeply unimpressed. The simplest method resembled Koyuki spitting into a test tube.
The mother worm claimed there was another way to provide the fluid.
Kenichi rejected that instantly, without hesitation.
"Master, about the genetic material…" the mother worm pressed, sounding faintly impatient.
Kenichi injected Yang Release chakra to restore it, and the mother worm's agitation eased into renewed excitement.
"Later. After I finish some research," Kenichi replied.
He had originally planned to use Sasuke's or Naruto's genetic material, since their bloodlines were closer to the Otsutsuki and more suitable for selection. But now he wanted to test the secretion's usefulness first. If it truly helped him perfect genetic programming, he would upgrade himself first, then provide a better sample afterward.
"I can improve even with your current sample," the mother worm insisted, tail swaying with urgency.
Kenichi glanced at it.
If that was the case, then providing genetic material now was not impossible.
He pricked his finger and squeezed a small amount of blood into a container, allowing the mother worm to extract what it needed to begin cultivating the next generation.
"How long will it take?" Kenichi asked.
...
[TL: Check out my newly Released fanfic]
[TITLE: Starting in One Piece with Vector Manipulation]