Chapter 285: Breakthrough! Gene Programming, Insectoid Version
Kurenai Yūhi screamed and cursed in despair, like a mother beast that had lost her cubs. Kenichi found himself a little puzzled. He did not understand why Kurenai's reaction was so extreme. It was not as if he were taking Sarutobi Mirai away for experiments, or perhaps...
Kenichi glanced at the three imprisoned Genin. The composition of the team looked oddly familiar: two boys and one girl. Their expressions were similar as well. All three glared at him, though the girl kept her head lowered, nervously fiddling with her fingers.
"Let me see." Kenichi lowered his eyes to the document in his hand.
The names of the three Genin were clearly listed inside. At first, he had not paid much attention, but now he wanted to know exactly what had made Kurenai react so strongly.
Then he saw one of the names.
Yūhi Hana.
She was the female ninja on this squad and also a medical ninja. She had tried to resist when Orochimaru captured them, but it had been pointless.
Kenichi immediately understood.
No wonder Kurenai had reacted so fiercely. One of them was actually her relative. Kurenai Yūhi and Yūhi Hana... the connection was obvious at a glance. It was just that Kenichi did not remember Yūhi Hana ever appearing in the original story, so she was most likely a background character.
"Kurenai Yūhi, how about I give you a choice?" A faint smile appeared at the corner of Kenichi's mouth, though he quickly suppressed it. Then he looked at Kurenai with a serious expression and asked.
"What choice?" Kurenai glared at him with bloodshot eyes full of fury. If she could get out of that cage, Kenichi had no doubt she would pounce on him and tear him apart. But if she really did that, Asuma would probably have to find himself another wife in the future.
"Either I leave Yūhi Hana behind and take the other two to the experiment table, or I take Yūhi Hana and leave the other two behind. If you refuse to choose, I'll take all three." Kenichi smiled as he spoke.
To be honest, he had not thought of this at first. But Kurenai's cursing had been so unpleasant that it truly annoyed him, and now he suddenly felt like posing a trolley problem.
At this moment, Kurenai was the one standing at the lever.
If she chose Yūhi Hana, the other two Genin would resent her.
If she chose the other two, who knew what Yūhi Hana would think?
Interesting.
Kurenai immediately understood what he meant. She looked at him in shock and fury. She wanted to say that she would not choose anyone, but that was impossible. If she made no choice, then all three would be taken away. If she did choose...
On one side was her uncle's daughter, her own cousin.
On the other side were her two students.
Although they had not spent that long together, Kurenai had still sincerely regarded them as her students and taught them with care.
"Big sister, I'm fine. Let Arma and Yūmi live." Yūhi Hana suddenly lifted her head, sniffled, and spoke in a voice full of suppressed sobs.
The other two Genin beside her also hurriedly spoke up.
"Leave Hana."
"Take us instead."
For a moment, it felt like a scene of everyone yielding to each other with noble self sacrifice.
Kenichi crossed his arms and watched from the side. Kurenai's face was twisted with conflict. She was clearly suffering terribly. Kenichi now also more or less understood the relationship between Kurenai and Hana. They were most likely cousins, though sisters was not impossible either. After all, Yūhi Hana was not a character mentioned in the original work.
He did not rush them. He simply stood there with folded arms, enjoying the pain on Kurenai's face.
But after watching for a while, Kenichi started to lose patience.
Were they stalling on purpose?
"Hurry up and choose. If you don't decide within ten seconds, I'll take all three." Kenichi urged them impatiently.
These people were taking far too long. He really could not stand it anymore.
Hearing those words, the struggle on Kurenai's face only deepened. Her eyes squeezed shut, her fists clenched tightly, but her body remained weak and powerless.
Meanwhile, Kenichi began counting down beside her in a flat voice, though his numbers were a complete mess, jumping from ten to nine to eight to seven. Kurenai looked even more tormented, but sooner or later she still had to decide.
"I... I can't fail your father, Hana. Before he died, he entrusted your care to me. I choose Yūhi Hana."
It sounded as though she were trying to convince herself. It also sounded as though she were trying to explain to her other two students why she was abandoning them.
But in the quiet cell, every word could be heard clearly.
Naturally, the three Genin heard it as well.
The room fell silent in an instant.
Kurenai collapsed onto the floor, her head lowered, her whole body limp.
The expressions on the faces of the other three became even more complicated.
Yūhi Hana covered her face and sat there in pain. The two Genin beside her lowered their heads, lost in thought. After a long while, they finally looked up and forced stiff smiles onto their faces.
Anyone could tell how complicated their feelings were just from those smiles alone.
Kurenai did not dare lift her head. Most likely, she could no longer bear to face the desperate eyes of the two disciples whose lives she had just exchanged away for her relative.
"Teacher..." One of the young ninja finally opened his mouth.
Kenichi strode forward before either of them could continue, struck both with a palm, and knocked them unconscious on the spot. Then he grabbed them by the legs and dragged them out of the cell.
Before leaving, he turned back and smiled at Kurenai and the sobbing Hana.
"A very good choice, Kurenai Yūhi-sensei. Your two students will surely be very grateful to you."
Kurenai's whole body trembled violently.
She lifted her head and glared at Kenichi with eyes that looked as though they were staring at the murderer of her father.
"Don't look at me like that. Otherwise, I won't mind dragging your relative out as well." Kenichi frowned, cutting off whatever Kurenai was about to say.
He already knew the sort of curses she wanted to spit at him in a moment like this.
Kenichi had no interest in strange hobbies, and he certainly could not stand listening to someone insult him endlessly.
Dragging the two Genin behind him, he walked out of the basement. Before leaving completely, he glanced back one last time.
Kurenai and Hana were both silent.
Neither of them raised her head.
Neither of them said a word.
He could not help but wonder how the two of them would come to terms with themselves in the future.
This was the power of morality.
Without moral feelings, methods like this would mean nothing.
"You were having quite a bit of fun down there." As soon as Kenichi stepped out of the basement, he saw Orochimaru reclining lazily on a sofa, looking at him.
Hiruko was no longer there, and Kenichi had no idea where he had gone.
"Kurenai Yūhi's cursing was too unpleasant. I couldn't help myself, so I played with her a little." Kenichi shrugged.
He truly had not intended to do something so mentally cruel at first, but Kurenai's cursing had been unbearably filthy. She had spat out every insult she could think of.
At first, Kenichi had even considered killing her outright.
But then he thought about it and realized that killing her directly would have far less impact than forcing her to make that choice.
This kind of psychological torture would likely leave deeper scars.
And making a person live with guilt and regret for an entire lifetime was often the cruelest punishment of all.
"Go do your experiment. Remember to hand me the report afterward." Orochimaru waved his hand, uninterested.
Originally, he had wondered whether Kenichi had been unable to resist doing something to Kurenai. After all, Kurenai's face and figure were both excellent.
But after secretly going down to take a look, he discovered that was not the case at all..
"Understood, Teacher." Kenichi did not think much of it.
Instead, he took the two unconscious Genin back to his laboratory and began the first human experiment for the insectoid version of Gene Programming Ninjutsu, using the mother worm's secretions.
This time, the genes he inserted were from an ordinary member of the Uchiha clan.
That meant that if the experiment succeeded, then under the right kind of stimulation, this Genin would have a high probability of awakening the Sharingan.
And if that happened, then his research would truly have succeeded.
"Now then, the first experiment of Gene Programming Ninjutsu, Insectoid Version, begins." Kenichi pulled on a pair of gloves.
[The first experiment has begun. To reduce potential variables, all unique genetic information of the Uchiha clan that differs from ordinary humans has been extracted, separated, and purified. While this method may still have drawbacks, it is currently the best available solution.]
[This experiment uses the spinal injection method. The mother worm's secretion is injected directly into the subject's body.]
[...Minor changes have occurred. After the mother worm's secretion was injected, the subject showed no reaction. Preliminary judgment suggests this may be related to differences in physique. The dosage suitable for humans is clearly not the same as that for white mice. Based on body weight conversion between mice and humans, an additional amount of secretion was injected.]
[...The subject displayed a mild adverse reaction. The stomach and intestines began to convulse violently, but this did not threaten the subject's life.]
[Gene programming was successful. The subject's gene chain information remained intact, and the inserted Uchiha clan genes merged normally. Further observation is required.]
Kenichi rested his chin on one hand as he observed the subject lying in front of him.
The experiment had succeeded on the very first attempt, which honestly surprised him. He had to admit it, the mother worm's secretions were astonishing.
Still, whether the effect was truly stable remained to be seen.
So Kenichi waited patiently for the subject to regain consciousness naturally.
Nothing went wrong.
The body scanner showed normal readings throughout, though there had indeed been a period of accelerated heartbeat and heightened brain activity earlier.
Without hesitation, Kenichi knocked the first subject unconscious again and moved on to the second, repeating the same procedure with the same operational steps and the same gene insertion.
"Interesting. The success rate for both human subjects is one hundred percent. There have been no failures so far." Kenichi licked his lips.
He truly had not expected the mother worm's secretions to be this effective.
Still, although gene programming had now succeeded with the help of the mother worm's secretions, it remained uncertain whether those inserted genes could really allow an ordinary person to inherit the Uchiha clan's genetic traits.
That still required verification.
So Kenichi immediately began the second stage of the experiment.
He planned to use the old method of stimulation, then observe whether the subject could awaken the Sharingan. If that succeeded, then the experiment would truly be complete.
At that point, bloodline limits would no longer remain talents possessed only by a select few.
They would become something that could exist throughout the empire Kenichi intended to unify.
"I remember this one's name is Yūmi. Yayoi Yūmi." Kenichi glanced at the first subject.
He planned to run the next stage in batches.
The second subject would be tied up nearby, hands and feet restrained, eyes forced open, made to watch his companion's tragic fate unfold in front of him.
Perhaps that alone would be enough to trigger the awakening of the Sharingan.
So Kenichi began by using electricity to force the unlucky subject awake.
The moment the boy's eyes fluttered open and his mind had not yet fully cleared, he heard the sound of flesh being cut, followed by a strange smell of burning.
"What... what's burning?" Yayoi Yūmi looked around blankly.
Then his eyes landed on Kenichi and on his friend tied up nearby.
Only then did he understand what kind of place he was in.
He immediately tried to struggle, but it was useless.
The other subject tied beside him stared at the scene before him with utter despair and horror.
Right before his eyes, the demon in front of them cut off his friend's head. Then he lifted it aside, exposing the brain inside...
Kenichi pursed his lips as he looked at the experimental subject, who had already wet himself and fainted from fear.
Apparently, this one's mental resilience was terrible.
A person like that was not fit to be a ninja.
"Lord Amamiya." Just as Kenichi was about to move on to the next step, he heard a knock at the door.
He turned his head and saw Uchiha Shiori standing respectfully at the entrance.
Kenichi frowned slightly.
Shiori now served as the chief steward of his laboratory. Her professional ability was excellent, but more importantly, she was an extremely clear headed woman. She understood her own position very well and never did anything that would displease either Kenichi or Orochimaru.
"What is it?" Kenichi set down what he was holding.
If Shiori had come to disturb him at a time like this, then it could only mean one thing.
Something urgent had happened.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 10–50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Soul Land, NBA, and more — all in one place.]