CHAPTER 255: CHAPTER 255: FORCEFULLY PULLING THE OXYGEN PLUG

"Chiriku? I’ve heard of him. A prodigy among the current generation of shinobi monks from the Fire Temple—he mastered the threshold of ’Sage Potential’ at a very young age."

Though the Fire Temple didn’t have many shinobi monks, they were still fairly well-known in the Land of Fire’s ninja circles. They weren’t affiliated with Konoha, but in terms of ideals and philosophy, they shared a lot of common ground.

Tsunade thought for a moment and said, "Is there any chance we could keep him?"

"No need. I’ve heard of this ’Sage Potential’ thing too—sure, it’s powerful, but not irreplaceable. Besides, he’s just someone with potential right now. There’s no need to risk souring relations with the daimyo over him."

"I was just tempted for a moment... Sigh, rationally speaking, I know better."

Tsunade leaned against the window.

Kyoichi’s discussion with the daimyo had gone surprisingly smoothly. The daimyo’s requests hadn’t exceeded expectations either. What’s more—

He’d given substantial financial backing.

For recent projects like the ninja academy and training grounds, the daimyo had footed the bill completely. Even for some of the research lab’s funding, he had shelled out significant money.

Still...

Kyoichi figured, since Chiriku had been delivered right to their doorstep, surely there was some value to be extracted, right?

On top of that—

From the daimyo consultation, he even managed to "harvest" a new genjutsu: Binding Gold Technique.

It was quite effective. And since Kyoichi had reached the level of casting many techniques without hand seals—just subtle gestures—this one was a good fit.

Of course...

It was more of a cherry on top than a game-changer. Right now, Kyoichi still believed the core of his growth had to come from continued Sage training.

Tsunade, speaking again, pulled out a bottle of sake from under the desk.

"So, what’s your plan for the Land of Water? Are you really going to wait for them to come knocking?"

"That won’t be necessary. Honestly, I’m waiting for the results of the special cell research. Also, I’ve been training with senjutsu chakra recently. My physical condition seems to be improving rapidly. I want to hold off a bit longer."

His training at Ryūchi Cave was paying off.

Kyoichi’s body had gradually adapted to natural energy. His cultivation speed had increased exponentially. Previously, it took several days to fill the chakra stored in his Yin Seal—

Now?

An hour was enough.

And without using the Yin Seal, just activating Sage Mode directly only required a minute of prep time.

Not short, but not too long either.

The key was—

With continued training, this prep time could shrink even further.

And that’s not even considering the physical boost.

Kyoichi could clearly feel himself getting stronger. Give it a bit more time, and his chances of victory would be much greater. As for Madara...

Frankly, there wasn’t much room for him to grow anymore.

What was he relying on?

A bunch of still-developing Uchiha clan members?

Not happening.

Kyoichi didn’t mean to look down on them, but he could trounce the lot of them with one hand tied behind his back. As for Black Zetsu’s abilities—nothing to write home about either.

Time was on Kyoichi’s side.

But...

A thought suddenly struck him. Was it possible to use Nagato’s Rinnegan to reverse-track Madara and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path?

Nagato alone wasn’t enough, of course.

But now that Kyoichi had access to White Zetsu’s cellular tissue—and with Orochimaru around—there was no concern about cultivating compatible tissue for implantation and enhancement...

Maybe this was actually feasible!

"You look like you’re thinking hard about something."

"I was just wondering—what if we combined the Rinnegan with those special cells... would it generate new abilities?"

Kyoichi said, half to himself.

There was only one Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

But if Nagato could be fused with White Zetsu cells, and then summon the Demonic Statue himself... wouldn’t that cut off Madara’s access completely?

The more Kyoichi thought about it, the more viable it seemed.

In fact...

Maybe he wouldn’t even need to shed blood. It could be a clean win—capture Uchiha Madara without even fighting. And once that happened, wouldn’t the entire shinobi world be his to shape?

As for Nagato...

Given Kyoichi’s relationship with Yahiko, he believed communication wouldn’t be a problem. Besides, it wasn’t a bad deal for Nagato either.

With White Zetsu’s cells, his power would grow even further!

Feasible!

And now that Kyoichi had mastered Flying Thunder God, he didn’t even need to go himself. Just have an ANBU operative deliver the Flying Thunder God seal to Yahiko.

"I’m heading to Orochimaru’s."

Without further explanation, Kyoichi stood up and vanished with the Flying Thunder God Technique.

—Research Facility—

Orochimaru was in the middle of transplanting White Zetsu cells into snakes, running various tests, when he suddenly sensed a figure appear outside.

Kyoichi?

No... that was way too fast—

The next moment, the real Kyoichi walked in from the entrance.

"Since when did you master the Flying Thunder God?"

"Not the full version—just usable enough. Ahem, that’s not the point. What’s the status on the special cell research?"

"Well..." Orochimaru replied, "From what I can tell, these cells are less aggressive and potent than Hashirama’s, kind of like a diluted version. But precisely because of that, they’re more suitable for cultivation and transplant."

As he spoke, he gestured at the surrounding test subjects.

Many of the lab-grown summon beasts had already been implanted with White Zetsu cells. Each of them now emitted significantly stronger chakra signatures—and had a noticeable pale-white area on their bodies.

"These are all the special cells?"

"Mm-hmm. All of them. They still have some corrosive traits, but they show no short-term side effects in these test subjects. As for the long-term... too soon to say."

Without enough data, Orochimaru couldn’t guarantee there’d be no long-term issues.

However...

There was no doubt they were more suitable for human transplant than Hashirama’s cells.

"I need your help."

Kyoichi laid out his plan.

He didn’t give away everything, but Orochimaru wasn’t one to shy away from risks. He’d long been interested in the Rinnegan—he just hadn’t had the chance to study it.

Now that the opportunity was here—how could he pass it up?

"Are we going now?" Orochimaru asked, eyes gleaming.

"Hold on. Let’s first test the effects of the special cells... transplant them into me. I’ve got no-handseal healing—if something goes wrong, I’ll just cut it out."

"You’re serious?"

"Dead serious."

"Uhhh..." Orochimaru was stunned.

This choice...

Was a bit reckless.

Transplanting into himself? Sure, the reasoning made sense—but who used themselves as the test subject?

He hesitated for a while.

"To be honest, I’m not confident. Maybe go ask Tsunade for a surgical authorization? Have her perform the procedure?"

Orochimaru wavered.

He wasn’t afraid Tsunade would kill him—but he’d already caused Nawaki’s death. If anything happened to Kyoichi during the surgery, it wouldn’t just be Tsunade’s wrath he’d have to face...

He himself wouldn’t be able to live with it.

"My body’s stronger than you think. Even Hashirama cells couldn’t fully corrode me. This low-tier version is nothing. Forget it—if you’re scared, I’ll do it myself."

Kyoichi spoke and instantly body-flickered over to one of the test beasts.

"Wait! Kyoichi, don’t be rash! We haven’t even tested this on a human yet... I’ll do it!"

Orochimaru stepped forward.

The bandages on his arm unraveled, revealing a prepared incision.

In the next moment—

He inserted a chunk of tissue into the wound.

Under a basic healing jutsu, the wound slowly began to close.

Kyoichi froze for a few seconds.

What the hell?

This guy had a surgical wound ready to go?

One second later and Orochimaru might’ve just gone ahead and implanted it himself, no "noble sacrifice" needed.

Kyoichi didn’t know what to say.

Because...

He understood—White Zetsu’s cells didn’t actually have serious side effects.

"I’d actually considered this before," Orochimaru muttered, gritting his teeth through the pain. "But I never dared to try. Still... with Konoha’s medical resources as advanced as they are now, even if it fails, the tissue can be cut out before it’s too late."

A few seconds passed—

His eyes lit up.

The cells were integrating!

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