"But!"
Just as Karin was about to say something more...
"Alright, Karin, let's start the experiment. Turn on all the monitoring equipment. If it truly fails, this will be critical reference data," Menma waved his hand, interrupting Karin's words.
Then he took off his shirt.
Exposing his bronze skin, tanned by wind and sun from various high-intensity training, he lay directly on the smooth and cold experiment table, connecting the instrument wires to his body one by one.
With the determination shown through his actions...
Karin could only take a deep breath.
She walked to the side and turned on the instruments directly.
After all preparations were complete...
Squelch!
Menma plunged the syringe containing the special blue-green liquid into his arm. With a gentle push, he injected all the liquid inside.
"!?"
The next second.
First came a cold sensation invading his body, causing Menma to shudder subconsciously. Then, a feeling as if his blood was boiling made Menma's expression change instantly. The ravaging sensation of ice and fire...
Made Menma's body alternate between cold and hot.
Then it turned into a feeling as if his entire body was about to explode.
Biting his lip tightly, his fists clenched completely.
Veins popped out on his forehead, followed by a large amount of sweat seeping out.
Menma's expression became somewhat distorted.
In previous tests...
Menma was already well aware of the drastic impact this special liquid would have on the physical body, but he hadn't expected that when applied directly to himself, it would become even more exaggerated!
If it were any ordinary person here right now, they would have collapsed already.
This wasn't just about physical quality and strength, but also equally important mental endurance. Lacking either one would make it impossible to proceed.
Is it actually this painful?
Menma felt as if his body were about to be torn apart.
But now that the experiment had begun...
Menma couldn't stop, nor could he stop. He had to rely on his willpower to endure it.
Of course, the most important thing was that Menma's own physical strength could withstand this current tearing.
Even without internal vision...
Menma could clearly judge that his cells were constantly dividing and reorganizing.
Then extending new cells.
Fundamentally, this was a method that consumed lifespan.
Just like Tsunade in the original story activating the Strength of a Hundred Seal and using the Creation Rebirth jutsu. It looked like using massive chakra for self-healing, but those constantly dividing cells at high speed were consuming one's lifespan.
Because human cell division has a limit!
But for Menma...
This was not an issue.
If his strength wasn't enough, causing the plan to fail, he might die in two years anyway. Why care about this lifespan consumption!?
And if his strength was enough and the plan succeeded smoothly...
If his bloodline power was enhanced and could be elevated to the level of the main Otsutsuki family... what did this trivial lifespan consumption from cell division count for!?
The Otsutsuki clan possessed nearly infinite lifespans.
That was beyond the scope of humanity.
It was a species on another level.
Therefore, Menma didn't care at all about these rapidly dividing and reorganizing cells. Everything was to strengthen his power.
Endure it! Endure it! I must endure it!
Menma strongly suppressed the pain of his body almost being torn apart.
Every tremor, every second passing...
Was like hellish torment for Menma.
Beside the monitoring instruments, Karin tensed up completely. Most of these instruments were provided by Shibuki, but the most important and precise ones were obtained from Orochimaru.
In terms of resources in this area, few in the ninja world could compare with Orochimaru.
It was precisely because of these high-standard instruments...
That the smallest cellular changes could be monitored.
Karin could currently see the cellular changes within Menma clearly.
This rate far exceeded any previous experiment, rapidly approaching the critical point they had initially estimated. Once this critical point was exceeded, neither Menma nor Karin could predict the consequences.
"Don't go up, please don't go up anymore!"
Karin clasped her hands together tightly, her face full of worry.
The value rising bit by bit...
The exaggerated changes displayed on the instruments...
"Ah!!!"
And Menma finally couldn't suppress the miserable scream he let out.
"Menma!?"
Karin's heart clenched completely in that moment.
But in this moment, she couldn't do anything.
She could only watch from the side.
It lasted for a full several minutes.
Only then did the rising speed slowly decrease, finally freezing at the value just touching the critical point.
Karin slowly let out a breath of turbid air.
Her suspended heart could finally relax slowly.
"Menma? How do you feel?"
After quickly recording the relevant data, Karin immediately walked to Menma's side and asked with concern.
"Mhm, it's okay. Although it was much more painful than expected, it was still within a bearable range. How was it? Did you record the values? How much difference from the expectation?"
Menma let out a long breath, turned his head, and smiled.
"The values are all recorded. Except for the cell division rate being much faster than we expected, other deviations are within acceptable ranges. So how does your body feel now!? Has your endurance increased?"
Karin nodded in response, paused, and then asked curiously.
All goals and effects before the experiment were hypothetical settings.
The final result might not necessarily match the experiment's expectations.
Especially involving changes in the physical body and cells. Even Orochimaru wouldn't dare to guarantee anything, let alone for an Uzumaki. Before Menma, Orochimaru didn't have an orthodox Uzumaki bloodline to study. All data was based on other cases, and later on, the time was too short.
If Orochimaru were given a year or so, it might have been different.
That was Orochimaru, after all!
Therefore, for this experiment, neither Menma nor Karin had 100% certainty.
It could only be said to be a high-probability event.
Fortunately, the low-probability worst-case scenario didn't happen.
"The feeling right now doesn't seem very obvious."
Menma frowned slightly in thought, then shook his head gently.
This kind of enhancement in cellular activation and physical adaptability wasn't a very pure, visible change. It could be considered an invisible improvement.
Even as the vessel, Menma found it difficult to accurately perceive and judge the changes in his body.
"Let me try!"
Menma slowly closed his eyes, sensing the changes in his body carefully.
It seemed to possess more vigorous vitality than before.
But it wasn't very obvious.
If it weren't his own body, and if he weren't an Uzumaki, he wouldn't be able to sense it at all.
Boom!
The next second.
Chakra erupted directly from Menma.
In an instant, it reached the level of four tails.
Swaying demon fox tails.
This clearly perceivable sensation of expansion.
Originally, when Tailed Beast chakra erupted to a level of more than half, semi-Tailed Beast transformation could occur. In the original story, when Naruto fought Orochimaru, the four-tailed or nearly five-tailed mode was semi-Tailed Beast transformation.
But that guy erupted unconsciously, and his consciousness was invaded by the Nine-Tails, controlled by his dark side.
In this life, Menma wouldn't be controlled by the Nine-Tails' consciousness; he got along quite well with the Nine-Tails.
So whether to undergo semi-Tailed Beast transformation or not depended on Menma himself.
Yagura Karatachi and Killer B, these two perfect Jinchuriki, were the same.
Whatever form suited his combat best, he would use that form. Menma relied heavily on his various ninjutsu and sealing techniques like the Adamantine Sealing Chains, so he naturally wouldn't transform into a semi-Tailed Beast to fight.
Anyway, for the current Menma, the standard for measuring combat power was seeing how much Nine-Tails chakra he could mobilize. Whether he transformed or not didn't mean much, unless he wanted to fire off a Tailed Beast Ball sometime; that would indeed be worth trying.
But the current Menma couldn't do that.
With the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style not fully released, it was impossible for Menma to use the Nine-Tails' chakra completely.
"There is a bit of change, but it's not very obvious..."
Carefully feeling the changes in his body and the degree of compatibility with the Nine-Tails chakra, Menma opened his eyes, a hint of disappointment in his pupils. He had thought that after going through such a complicated experimental process and enduring such intense pain, even if he couldn't achieve the perfect effect expected, he should at least get half. But looking at it now, he reached at most one-fifth of the expectation? Or even lower?
Although Menma wasn't sure exactly what level he needed to reach to perfectly withstand and adapt to the Nine-Tails' chakra without injuring himself, what was certain was that the current level was absolutely insufficient.
In the original story, Naruto only perfectly adapted to the Nine-Tails chakra very late, after mastering Sage Mode, so that he wouldn't be "burned" by the excessive Nine-Tails chakra!
Compared to Naruto who had mastered Sage Mode, the current him definitely had a certain gap.
"It still doesn't work even like this? Why? Isn't all the previous effort wasted then?"
Hearing Menma's words, Karin beside him revealed a look of deep disappointment and heartache.
Disappointed that past efforts seemed to be in vain.
Heartbroken that Menma had endured such great pain, yet still couldn't achieve the intended result.
In this moment, Karin was actually more emotional than Menma, the one who completely couldn't accept the situation.
And even more obviously, what Karin cared about more was the pain Menma had just endured.
In the current Karin's eyes, Menma was truly her only one.
This was a feeling she hadn't had since her mother passed away.
If possible, Karin wouldn't even want to see Menma suffer a single scratch. Exaggerated? Yes, it was that exaggerated!
"Heh, it hasn't reached that point yet. There is some effect, just not that obvious. Besides, we still have to see the subsequent results."
Menma smiled and shook his head.
As someone who spent day and night with her, Menma could naturally see what Karin was thinking. He immediately revealed an even more peaceful expression and spoke gently.
"Then do we continue to the next step? Since we haven't reached the expected effect now, if the Nine-Tails' chakra really goes out of control later, it might bring bad results, right?"
Karin pursed her lips, looked up at Menma, and spoke with lingering worry.
"That's not something to worry about too much. The reason for doing this initially was just to prevent accidents. My relationship with the Nine-Tails is pretty good; normally, chakra rampages won't happen. The seal still needs to be broken as soon as possible. Only then can I truly have the confidence to confront those people and those ninja villages, Karin."
Menma shook his head gently.
This was the reason Menma had to be anxious.
Especially regarding the Akatsuki.
Although he wasn't sure why Obito hadn't acted even though he had taken Kakashi's eye, this pressure and threat always existed. Not to mention there was still a Madara Uchiha waiting in the Pure Land.
Currently, if Nagato made a move...
With the Six Paths of Pain all out...
Menma wouldn't be able to hold them off. Not to mention Obito eyeing him covetously. Menma had to fully master the Nine-Tails' chakra as soon as possible.
In that case...
Dealing with Nagato, who used Rinnegan that weren't his own, and the one-eyed Obito, he would have corresponding confidence.
There were many things to do, but time was short.
Menma had to push himself.
"But the Nine-Tails..."
"Relax, Karin. Trust me, there won't be a problem."
Seeing that Karin wanted to say something more...
Menma extended his right hand and patted Karin's head gently, saying. He didn't explain the relationship between him and the Nine-Tails.
Because that would involve dragging out a lot of things.
It wasn't that Menma didn't trust Karin, but now really wasn't the appropriate time, nor was it necessary.
Some things, knowing them himself was enough!
"Alright. Then, just like before, use the Four Symbols Seal to reverse-crack it?"
Looking at Menma's determined expression...
Karin knew clearly she couldn't persuade Menma. Although she still didn't trust the Nine-Tails in her heart, since Menma insisted, Karin could only choose to support him.
"Mhm. This is also the best method we can think of currently. Moreover, the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style is built on the foundation of the Four Symbols Seal. There is still a certain probability. Let's give it a try for now."
Menma nodded heavily.