Chapter 283: Insects Are Truly Amazing Creatures
[Under observation, sample liquid number one, secreted by the Mother Bug, showed a process of gene dissolution. It dissolved the genes, then rearranged them in a specific pattern to form an entirely new set of genes. Is it possible that it possesses a guiding effect on gene programming?]
[The first live subject experiment was conducted on a white mouse. After oral administration, the gene programming Ninjutsu still failed. The white mouse's gene chain collapsed as before. Beginning the next control experiment.]
[White Mouse No. 2 was injected with the Mother Bug's secretion. After the injection, White Mouse No. 2 completely ceased struggling and resistance. Observation showed that the white mouse appeared to be in an unconscious state and could not respond to any outside stimulus. Was this caused by spinal nerve damage, or by the influence of the Mother Bug's secretion?]
[The experiment on White Mouse No. 2 began. This time, the gene programming process was completed very smoothly. Under observation, the white mouse's heart displayed abnormalities: enlargement of the heart, accelerated heartbeat, and thickening of the myocardium.]
[This situation is not right. Under normal circumstances, after gene programming is completed, the body requires a short adaptation period before physical changes gradually appear. But the Mother Bug's secretion seems to have directly triggered the manifestation process after gene insertion.]
Kenichi frowned as he looked at the white mouse in front of him.
This mouse was in extremely good condition, almost absurdly energetic, as if it had been fed a stimulant. But that was not surprising. After all, its heart was already far larger than that of an ordinary white mouse.
Logically speaking, this state should not have lasted.
A body that small should not have been able to contain such an enlarged heart. Under normal reasoning, the final outcome should have been death, caused by the mouse's body being unable to endure the size of the organ.
Yet even now, the mouse remained lively and active.
Kenichi examined it carefully and discovered that once the heart had developed to roughly twice the size of a normal white mouse's heart, it stopped growing further, though the heartbeat remained extremely rapid.
"So using the Mother Bug's secretion for gene programming not only accelerates the manifestation process after gene insertion, but also makes that manifestation more compatible with the host's physical condition?" Kenichi muttered, somewhat incredulous.
Although he already knew the Mother Bug could extract genes from others and breed more advanced offspring, only now did he realize that this thing might be a little too outrageous.
Was this really something a parasite could do?
At this point, Kenichi would have believed anyone who told him this was some alien Zerg organism from deep space. Its abilities were simply too absurd.
Gene programming was already an extremely difficult field to begin with, yet the Mother Bug's secretion possessed this kind of effect.
Could it be that this kind of parasite was not actually native to the ninja world at all, but some extraterrestrial organism brought here by the Ōtsutsuki in ancient times?
Or perhaps it had been created by some other star-faring civilization?
At that moment, Kenichi admitted that his thoughts were starting to wander a little.
The main reason was that the existence of this parasite completely overturned his understanding of what parasites were capable of.
Originally, his goal in researching it had been simple: to use parasites as a way to dominate and control the ninja world.
But now, it seemed parasites could do much more than that. They could even help him solve the problem of improving the Gene Programming Ninjutsu itself.
"No. One experiment proves nothing. I need a large number of repeated trials before I can confirm this." Kenichi licked his lips.
Experiments on white mice alone would not be enough.
He would need human testing too.
So Kenichi began his experiments again, only this time he used five white mice at once.
To reduce the chance of errors caused by specific genes, he still used a control method. Two of the mice received the same inserted gene as the previous white mouse, while the other three received different inserted genes.
The result was that all five experiments succeeded.
Kenichi fell silent as he looked at the nearly miraculous scene before him.
Among these mice, three showed enlarged hearts and abnormally accelerated heartbeats.
Another three displayed abnormalities in their feet.
One had an enlarged eyeball, and the process of its transformation was horrifying to watch.
Kenichi saw the mouse's eye slowly swell larger and larger before finally rupturing through the eye socket and bulging outward. Yet strangely, there was no bleeding at all.
The final mouse showed no obvious external changes. It was only after dissection that Kenichi discovered its stomach wall had thickened. But how large could a mouse's stomach really become? Naturally, he had not noticed it beforehand.
"Still, this confirms my theory. The Mother Bug's secretion really does assist with gene insertion programming, stabilize the gene chain, induce gene manifestation, and even ensure that the manifestation does not cause fatal damage to the host?" Kenichi pinched the bridge of his nose.
This world really was incredible.
There were all kinds of strange people in it, and apparently, parasites this bizarre as well.
Then again, insects themselves were often full of astonishing abilities.
Take butterflies, for example. The change from caterpillar to butterfly was so drastic that it was literally called metamorphosis.
After all, it was hard for any normal person to imagine why a crawling caterpillar would one day become a butterfly.
But scientific research had already revealed the truth of the process, and that truth was terrifying.
During the caterpillar stage, there were already undeveloped butterfly organs hidden within its body. Then, after pupation, most of the caterpillar's body dissolved into liquid.
Once that happened, those dormant butterfly organs began to develop, while the liquefied body tissues became nutrient fluid that allowed an entirely new body to form.
That was how the butterfly emerged in the end.
Kenichi still remembered attending a lecture by a professor about butterfly metamorphosis. During that lecture, there was also a fascinating point of debate.
Were caterpillars and butterflies actually two different life forms?
The final conclusion had been no. No matter how completely different they seemed, they were still the same individual organism.
The proof lay in conditioned memory.
In the caterpillar stage, if a special smell was repeatedly paired with an electric shock, then over time the caterpillar would flee as soon as it smelled that scent.
After it later became a butterfly, it would still flee from that exact same smell.
That proved that although most of a caterpillar's tissues dissolved during metamorphosis, the part related to memory was preserved.
"Insects really are incredible creatures." Kenichi licked his lips again.
He still did not know why the Mother Bug possessed such bizarre abilities, but it no longer mattered.
The Mother Bug was under his control now.
What mattered was continuing to expand the experiment and determining whether the Mother Bug's secretion had the same effect on humans.
So Kenichi stepped out of his laboratory.
He planned to borrow an experimental subject from his teacher.
There was nothing else for it.
He had briefly considered using the "materials" in his own lab, but those people worked diligently whenever he was absent, so in the end, he chose to spare them.
Of course, he also wanted to check whether his teacher had already extracted Chimera from Hiruko.
"To be honest, I'm not as excited about Chimera anymore." Kenichi stretched as he walked.
After further analysis, he had concluded that Chimera was most likely just another form of genetic fusion Ninjutsu.
Just like the Gene Programming Ninjutsu he was currently studying, as long as he fully mastered genetic programming, then all he would need to do was analyze the mutated genes of Bloodline Limit users, extract them, and insert them into his own gene chain.
That alone would let him acquire the corresponding Bloodline Limit.
And Chimera clearly came with hidden flaws.
Just looking at Hiruko's current body was enough to prove that something was wrong with it.
Otherwise, it would never have transformed him into that bizarre shape.
"Teacher, did you get it fro... huh?" Kenichi walked into the lab, only to stop mid sentence.
His teacher was actually sitting there playing Go with Hiruko.
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
Looking at Hiruko now, the man did not resemble a prisoner at all. He looked more like an honored guest.
A guest his teacher had personally entertained.
So what exactly had happened while he had been shut away in his own lab?
His teacher glanced at him casually, then tossed over a notebook.
Kenichi caught it and flipped it open.
Inside were notes on the Chimera Ninjutsu, along with Orochimaru's own observations.
[The essence of Chimera is gene fusion. However, to ensure success, Chimera requires complete fusion of the target's genes, which can lead to genetic chain disorder. It still requires improvement.]
Kenichi immediately understood.
So his teacher had already acquired Chimera from Hiruko.
As for how, he did not know.
But judging by Orochimaru's notes and conclusions, his teacher had clearly pointed out certain flaws in Hiruko's technique, which must have eventually led Hiruko to hand it over voluntarily.
"This Ninjutsu has problems," Orochimaru said as he set down a black Go stone and captured a large section of Hiruko's formation.
"Hiruko and I have already discussed it. It still needs improvement. In his current state, he can absorb at most four Bloodline Limits. If he attempts a fifth, his gene chain will most likely collapse and kill him."
Hiruko sighed and set his stones aside. He still could not beat Orochimaru.
Whether it was talent, skill at Go, or even Ninjutsu creation, he could not compare to Orochimaru at all.
Orochimaru had effortlessly seen through the flaw in Chimera.
At first, Hiruko had naturally refused to accept it. In his eyes, Chimera had been the strongest Ninjutsu in existence.
When Orochimaru realized words alone would not convince him, he had simply resorted to force, making Hiruko painfully understand all over again that he was still weak.
And in truth, that sort of "fight first, then talk afterward" approach was very common in the ninja world.
At the very least, it had worked here.
Orochimaru had succeeded, and Hiruko had handed over Chimera.
After studying it, Orochimaru quickly identified its fundamental flaws.
To confirm the theory in person, Orochimaru had even made Hiruko devour the woman named Pakura, the Swift Release user from Sunagakure whom he had painstakingly captured.
"This Swift Release user reminds me of that famous hero from Sunagakure," Orochimaru added. "The name and the face are exactly the same."
Kenichi had already seen the result in the report.
Hiruko's genes had fused with Pakura's, granting him Swift Release.
But the resulting gene chains looked like [balloons dancing under countless sharp blades], hanging on by the barest margin.
In other words, if he added even a few more foreign genes, Hiruko's genetic chain would probably be pierced like a balloon and burst apart completely.
He would die on the spot.
So really, Hiruko should be grateful he had not yet tried to absorb a fifth Bloodline Limit.
Doing so would not have made him the ultimate ninja.
It would have made him an exploding balloon.
After all, the fact that so many different genes could still maintain a fragile balance was already miraculous.
Add a little more, and Hiruko truly would not survive.
"Teacher, my conclusion is the same," Kenichi said. "Chimera is most likely genetic assimilation through devouring. And Uncle Hiruko..."
He glanced at Hiruko.
Now that Hiruko had changed into a smaller outfit to match his reduced body, he looked less like a rogue scientist and more like a brat on his way to the Ninja Academy.
No matter how one looked at it, his appearance was wrong.
Kenichi almost burst out laughing, but he forcibly restrained himself. After all, Hiruko was still his teacher's old friend. Better to remain polite.
Apparently, Kenichi had already forgotten how impolite he had been when he first dragged Hiruko back here.
"What are you here for?" Orochimaru asked.
He had heard the amusement in his disciple's voice, but said nothing. Hiruko might once have been his friend, but that was all in the past. After so many years without contact, those feelings had long since faded.
Whether it was friendship, family, or love, relationships required maintenance.
"Teacher, do you have any usable physical test subjects?" Kenichi rubbed his hands together as he asked.
"Yes," Orochimaru replied with a faint smile. "There is a Jonin."
That smile left Kenichi feeling strangely uneasy.
So what if there was a Jonin experimental subject?
.....
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