Chapter 354: Yes, After Research, We've Decided to Court Death
Wood Release was called Wood Release, but that did not mean what it created were truly normal trees. It was more like a chakra construct that possessed many of the characteristics of wood while still being fundamentally different. If they were just ordinary trees, could they really restrain a Tailed Beast?
Trees were fragile. Even the hardest natural wood would struggle to endure the impact of a tank, let alone something as massive and destructive as a Tailed Beast.
That meant the trees created by Wood Release were, strictly speaking, not ordinary trees at all. They could even absorb a ninja's chakra, and their hardness and flexibility were both astonishing.
But that also explained why Wood Release could not be used to cultivate ordinary crops.
If Wood Release was used to stimulate the growth of other plants, those plants would simply burst apart, and Wood Release trees would grow in their place instead.
"But maybe if it exists long enough and the chakra dissipates, it will eventually turn into a normal tree?" Kenichi murmured thoughtfully as he stared at the large tree before him.
Even though Wood Release could not be used to accelerate plant growth, the concept behind it still gave him a new direction to think about.
"Plant growth requires nutrients. Some plants naturally grow very quickly. If I combine those genes, could I create a crop with a much shorter growth cycle?" Kenichi licked his lips, excitement flickering in his eyes.
Even in his previous world, with its far more advanced technology, plant growth still required time. One of the main goals of agricultural science had always been to create crops that were high yield, disease resistant, pest resistant, tolerant of harsh environments, and quick to mature.
The kind of science fiction nonsense where something was planted one day and harvested the next was simply too absurd. At the very least, the technology of his previous life had never reached that point.
"Still, the most special thing about the Ninja World is chakra. Can I use chakra to help achieve that? Probably not..." Kenichi muttered as he flipped through the books in his hands.
He was currently standing in Kazahana Koyuki's study, reading through agricultural records from the Land of Snow, or rather, annual crop yield reports.
The records showed that the harvests of the Land of Snow were fairly consistent from year to year, usually fluctuating within ten percent. Of course, there were occasional disastrous years, and those were all marked with the same note.
Natural disaster.
Overall, farming in the Land of Snow was still heavily dependent on luck. If the heavens were unkind and the climate turned especially harsh, famine would follow. That was why the rulers of the Land of Snow had always placed great importance on storing grain.
Even in the Ninja World, people still died if they had nothing to eat. Military Ration Pills themselves also required food as raw material. The saying that the people regarded food as heaven was just as true here as anywhere else.
"Koyuki, has the Land of Snow ever researched crops before? For example, trying to use Yang Release chakra to accelerate crop growth?" Kenichi asked the woman beside him, then silently shifted his gaze away.
This girl was becoming more and more outrageous. Of course, that was only when she was in front of him. In front of everyone else, Kazahana Koyuki remained serious and dignified. But whenever she was with him...
That eager posture of hers perfectly embodied the phrase at one's beck and call.
"Master, the Land of Snow has done such experiments in the past," Koyuki replied in a soft voice, looking at him with bright, enticing eyes. "An ancestor of ours once pushed that research very seriously, but until the day he died, he never produced any real results."
Kenichi nodded, rubbed his nose, and walked out.
So the Land of Snow had already tried it and failed. But had other countries succeeded?
Probably not.
At the very least, while he had been in Konoha, he had never seen Konoha's crops display some miraculous yield. Grain prices there still rose and fell depending on the annual harvest. It was just that Konoha, being a large and prosperous village, had never truly suffered famine.
And when even Konoha struggled to secure enough food, then the smaller surrounding countries would be in even worse shape.
"It looks like Yang Release chakra simply cannot stimulate rapid crop growth. Or maybe the plants themselves just don't have the necessary genes. Algae should be among the fastest growing plants, and bamboo is also a candidate, but those..." Kenichi sighed.
No wonder agricultural science had been such a difficult and complex discipline in his previous life. He finally understood how those students must have felt when their graduation projects were ruined overnight.
"But the good news is that here, I can experiment as much as I want."
With a silent hand seal, Kenichi cast the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
No matter how much theory he thought through, in the end he still needed experiments to verify it. And that was exactly what he intended to do now.
For the moment, the main task was still to let his Shadow Clones use the plant gene modification ninjutsu to isolate the cold resistant gene needed for cold resistant wheat. As for himself, he still had other things to handle. He planned to leave crop improvement mostly to the clones.
"I want to include Wood Release in the research too," one of the clones said as he walked over.
Kenichi did not object. He simply nodded. After all, he had split into ten clones for research this time. Letting one of them study Wood Release as well was no problem.
"I keep feeling that Wood Release should have more uses than just this," the clone said, narrowing his eyes.
Since the clone was still Kenichi, Kenichi naturally understood where that thought came from.
The truth was, he felt exactly the same way.
Wood Release should not be useful only in battle. It had to have greater value elsewhere too.
"Then I'll leave that to you," Kenichi said, patting the clone on the shoulder.
Without Shadow Clones, he would never have touched agricultural improvement at all. It would take far too long. By the time it was done, the Fourth Great Ninja War might already be over.
"I wonder what Teacher is doing now..." Kenichi rubbed his hands together.
For some reason, he still felt uneasy. Especially after seeing Orochimaru's eyes earlier, that unease had only grown stronger.
Who knew what his teacher might do next?
At this point, Kenichi would not have been surprised if Orochimaru had decided to dissect Amado on the spot.
So he headed straight for Orochimaru's laboratory.
And when he arrived, he saw Orochimaru and Amado assembling some kind of strange device.
The thing was enormous, almost like a nutrient tank. It was covered in intricate circuits and even had a monitor attached to it.
"Teacher... what exactly are you building?" Kenichi asked, his eyelid twitching.
This thing looked absurdly out of place in the world of Naruto. It belonged more in some science fiction movie or a Resident Evil laboratory.
"Ah, Kenichi, come help," Orochimaru said, wiping the sweat from his forehead and waving him over.
Kenichi quickly walked over, and Orochimaru immediately stuffed a wrench into his hand.
Kenichi looked down at it without any awkwardness. Back in Konoha, whenever an instrument broke down, he and Orochimaru had fixed it together more than once.
"Teacher, what is this?" he asked as he tightened screws where Orochimaru pointed.
"Pure Land Detector 1.0," Orochimaru answered casually.
Kenichi's hand shook, and the wrench nearly fell onto his foot.
What?
He had only been away for a little while, and now these two were already building a Pure Land detector?
If he disappeared for a year or two, would they establish diplomatic relations with the Pure Land next?
Only now did Kenichi fully understand why Jiraiya had always called Orochimaru insane. He had thought he understood his teacher very well, but it turned out he still did not understand him nearly enough.
The Pure Land. The Sage of Six Paths.
And his teacher was really just pushing straight ahead without hesitation.
"Amado, you..." Kenichi turned toward Amado, meaning to ask what he was thinking.
But the moment he saw that bright, excited expression on the scientist's face, he silently shut his mouth.
There was no point asking.
It was obvious that Amado and Orochimaru had already committed themselves to building this so called Pure Land detection device, and judging by the name, this was only version 1.0.
"Teacher, how did you come up with this? Did you figure out a way to let souls leave the body?" Kenichi could not help asking. Until now, all their research on the Pure Land had been at the level of standing at the entrance and peeking in. They had never truly stepped inside.
So why were they suddenly preparing to go in?
"After talking with Amado, I got some new ideas," Orochimaru said while tightening another set of screws. "Then I remembered a forbidden jutsu in Konoha."
"Spirit Transformation Jutsu?" Kenichi immediately thought of the S rank forbidden jutsu that Tsunade's lover, Dan Kato, had mastered.
It was a powerful technique that allowed the soul to leave the body and perceive the souls of others nearby. It could also possess an enemy's body and crush the enemy's consciousness, or directly take control of their body. It was an extremely dangerous and powerful technique.
Because it was so difficult to learn, and because failure could leave the soul unable to return to the body, Konoha had classified it as forbidden. Even now, very few people had ever mastered it.
"Yes. Spirit Transformation Jutsu allows the soul to leave and then return to the body. That makes it very suitable for researching the Pure Land," Orochimaru said.
"But isn't that jutsu incredibly difficult to master?" Kenichi asked, frowning slightly.
Spirit Transformation Jutsu really did have the right properties, but it was dangerously unstable. Otherwise, why would Konoha have listed it as forbidden?
Not many people had mastered it for a reason.
And even though it was powerful, once the technique was activated, the user's body became an empty shell that needed special protection.
If not, even an ordinary person with a simple knife could kill the user.
"It doesn't matter. Right now, there is nothing more suitable," Orochimaru said dismissively.
Kenichi understood immediately that it was pointless to argue. Once Orochimaru had made up his mind, changing it was almost impossible.
Still, if his teacher insisted on doing this research, then he would have to stand by and watch carefully. Amado was currently an ally, but people's hearts were still unpredictable, and there was also the problem of the Sage of Six Paths having once taken over Amado's Edo Tensei body. Who could say whether that had left behind some hidden problem?
"The Pure Land is a dangerous place. It would be better to let someone else test the waters first," Amado said.
He had also noticed something wrong with himself by now. The little he remembered about the Pure Land was far too little for someone who had deliberately entered it to conduct research.
That did not match his personality at all.
"Exactly," Kenichi said with a nod.
He had never truly supported researching the Pure Land this early. The Sage of Six Paths was definitely not omniscient and omnipotent, and his ability to interfere in the present world was clearly limited. Otherwise, he never would have allowed Uchiha Madara to revive Kaguya.
If the Sage of Six Paths had really been a proper all seeing sage, he could have simply predicted everything in advance, come out, and killed Madara or Black Zetsu himself. Problem solved.
In reality, the Sage had done nothing. He had simply watched as Kaguya was revived, then pinned all his hopes on Naruto and Sasuke.
That was absurd.
So in Kenichi's view, the Sage's influence over the current world was definitely weak, perhaps even very weak. But the Pure Land was still his territory, and entering it recklessly was incredibly dangerous.
"Then this task will probably have to fall to you, Kenichi," Orochimaru said with a smile.
"Huh?"
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]