Chapter 70: Chapter 70
I arrived silently behind Isami who was working on her third Nature Release. She was sitting with a bucket and trying to manipulate the water within.
"Do want a bloodline?"
Isami jerked, startled by my abrupt question.
"Don't do that!" Isami shook her fist at me.
I ignored her anger.
"Magnet Release, yes or no?" I asked quickly.
Isami frowned at me.
"Where did this come from?" She blinked at me. "I haven't heard anything about you experimenting on bloodlines."
I rolled my eyes.
"That's because it's a secret." Only Aomi had an inkling to what I was doing. "Anyway, I've mostly perfected the process. You just need to survive your DNA being re-written and the initial Chakra injection." Isami's eyes widened. "But if you get past that your pretty much good to go."
"It's the first few hours you need to worry about, once you get past that, things will be fine." I continued when Isami didn't speak.
Isami frowned.
"Let me think about it."
I nodded.
"Sure, take your time."
I only had enough chakra for two more uses. If Isami didn't want it, I'd use it on myself to see what happens.
"I'll be around, come find me if you want to talk."
I gave Isami a cheery wave and Shunshined away.
...
I stared at the One-Tails tail. It had been drained of most of its chakra but was still corporal and had not vanished as I thought it would.
I knew that one could eat the flesh of a tailed beast and gain powers similar to a Jinchūriki's. It was tempting to have a go and eat the tail but I remembered the two reanimated brothers from Kumo being used to birth the Ten-Tails.
Something similar might happen to me if I ate the tail. There were also stronger Tailed-Beasts to eat if I was going to do so.
"Hmmm..." But maybe eating a tail from each beast will be beneficial...?
I let the idea of becoming a pseudo-Ten-Tails Jinchūriki roll around in my mind for a while.
The chakra wouldn't have any consciousness, so perhaps I really could become a pseudo-Jinchūriki...?
I wasn't sold on the idea but it was something to look into...
There was also the possibility that I would gain a forehead eye...
But the Sage didn't have the forehead eye...
But that was probably because the Sage only had its chakra...
I would only have the chakra as well.
"It's something to think about..." I decided.
Eating Tailed-Beasts...
I think I'll use a portion of the chakra and keep the tail.
I nodded to myself.
That sounded like a plan...
A spontaneous poorly thought out plan. But a plan none the less.
Since I'm being spontaneous let's do that now...
I cracked my knuckles and set off towards the urn.
...
"Alright, I've got your DNA edited and the Overwrite is ready. You have one more chance to change anything you want about yourself before we go through with this." I eyed her hair while thinking it would look good if it was white.
Mom shook her head.
"I'll stay as I am." She was still uncomfortable about the Overwrite. "Appearance-wise." She added.
I nodded.
"Alright, lay down in the circle."
Mom nodded and did so.
"Ok, this will only take a moment." I unlocked the seal on my forehead and was flooded with chakra. "Just close your eyes, it'll be over before you know it." I placed my palms on the edge of the seal and started fueling it with my chakra.
Mom fell unconscious and I continued powering the seal.
When she woke, she would wake with more potential then she had before. As long as she kept training I wouldn't have to worry about her as much.
She could be strong and safe.
...
"I need to get back to indexing the Hyuga's DNA." I spoke mostly to myself.
There was so much I had thrown to the side, so much to get back to.
In a month and a half, the year would end and the war would soon follow. I had limited time to pursue anything that required human test subjects, it would be harder to get them once the war officially ended.
"Has the rice and wheat been shipped in?" I tucked my hair behind my ear.
Aomi nodded.
"It's in storage."
I held in my sigh that almost bubbled out.
"Go get it before some idiot cooks it."
Genetically modified crops were the next project. It was so no one could say I didn't contribute.
Aomi nodded and headed for the door.
"Thanks." Aomi nodded and left.
With larger crop yields Konoha would depend less on merchants and other countries. Hopefully, the council would see that and it would earn me some brownie points.
But a bunch of old ninjas probably wouldn't see the value in increasing crop yield. I might have to come out and tell them it'll save Konoha money.
I didn't think highly of the council or the current Hokage.
...
I had been low on prisoners so I picked up a project I had forgone in favor of something that provided immediate benefits.
I studied the Byakugan I had attempted to create using stem cells. It was near perfect in terms of structure, being the same as mine genetically and physically.
But, did it work?
Probably.
I was extremely confident it would work.
"Aomi do you want a Byakugan?" I held the eye by the optic nerve and dangled it. "if you don't want it, I'll remove it right after."
Aomi looked visibly sick.
"No, that's ok."
I swung the eye back and forth.
"Are you sure? I can change the eye color." The eye slipped from my grasp and I caught it with my other hand. "This might be the only chance you get to see what the Byakugan sees..."
Aomi looked torn between disgust and wistful longing.
I mentally noted Aomi's interest in bloodlines.
"It can be shut on and off, no one will even know you have it unless you show them." I held the eye out towards her.
"No." She shook her head. "If I'm caught with that I'll die."
I disagreed. She was my most useful minion, and I'd put up a good fight to save her.
"Alright." I relented.
Now I needed someone else to test this on...
"Now do I replace my eye or do I use a prisoner?" I mused.
A Hyuga was the only one who would know if the eye worked as it should. So, it would probably be my eye that gets replaced...
...
The artificial Byakugan worked, but not well.
It had less than a quarter of my Original range, but its sight was normal and unaffected.
"Why did you keep the eye white?" Aomi asked.
I blinked and stopped supplying my Byakugan with chakra.
"I was worried I'd forget which eye I replaced and pull the wrong one out." Well, I was worried a clone would do it.
You couldn't trust clones to do a job right.
"Right..." The Byakugan seemed to be perfect, but its range was shit. "Are you sure you don't want a Byakugan? This one will be destroyed once I'm done with it." I pointed to my one white eye.
Aomi shook her head.
"Alright." I shrugged.
If she didn't want the eye then it was getting turned into stem cells.
"Well, you can go. I'll replace my eye on my own time." Aomi nodded "Keep this secret, it's something that could get us killed if it was known." Aomi swallowed and nodded before she started making her way out of the lab.
I stood there rubbing at my slightly itchy new eye while wondering why its range was so pathetic.
"Maybe it's because it's not been saturated in my chakra for years?" I spoke to myself.
It was possible, but I wasn't willing to walk around with one weird Byakugan to see if it eventually changed.
"Should I give a 'pure' Hyuga Byakugan a try?" I scratched my head while sinking into thought.
"Maybe..." I settled on eventually.
My body didn't like foreign stuff, so I doubted it would like the Byakugan.
More stuff to experiment with...
I made a hand-seal and a Shadow Clone appeared beside me.
"Get this fucker out of me." It was itchy beyond belief.
The Clone smirked at me.
Asshole.
...
I looked down at one of the few prisoners I had left with a frown. I wanted to use him to make a Clone.
The idea was to turn him into stem cells and use those cells to craft a body for a Bone Clone thus making a complete body for the Clone's conscious to inhabit.
Blood Clones were a thing. Bone Clones were a thing.
Why couldn't this work?
"Well, if it's any consolation." I palmed a Senbon with an Overwrite Seal on it. "Your death will bring me closer to making a new technique."
I jabbed the senbon into his ribs and held on while the Fuinjutsu spread across his body.
The prisoner lost consciousness and his chakra was quickly drained, and the senbon soon started pulling on my chakra. I kept feeding it while looking for any changes to the prisoner.
Things seemed to be fine so I turned to my pre-made Bone Clone.
"Well, you know what to do." I pointed expectantly with my free hand.
The Bone Clone nodded and places both of his hands on the prisoner.
My reserves dwindled and I pulled away from the senbon causing the Fuinjutsu to recede.
"Reserves are almost big enough for a full Overwrite." I noted.
My Clone ignored me and started turning the prisoner into stem cells. He rapidly became a puddle of red sludge which my Clone sucked up with a hollow bone tube it had grown from its finger.
I watched the prisoner melt until he was just a pink skeleton and the stem cells were consumed shortly after.
The Clone stepped away from the bones and took a seat cross-legged on the ground, and closed its eyes.
All I could do now was wait. The Clone needed to spend time crafting its internals and making sure it got everything right.
"Come here." I blinked and turned to the Clone. "I need to use your body as a template, it's easier."
I nodded in understanding.
"Good point." It was probably easier than doing it from memory. That was a stupid assumption I made.
Of course, making a human body cell by cell was hard...
...
The Clone was somewhat of a success. Its body produced Physical Energy but couldn't do the same for Spiritual Energy. The Clone would continue to live as long as it had chakra, even if it's chakra was mostly physical energy.
The Cone lost consciousness when its spiritual energy was exhausted, but upon giving it chakra it woke and was ready to go.
The Clone had most of my abilities baring some of the more destructive ones that the Clone couldn't do with the little chakra it had.
"Now I have a body double to perform risky experiments on." The Clone nodded but rolled its eyes.
The Flesh Clone was the equivalent of a rechargeable battery.
It could be recharged, but the number of times you could recharge it was limited. Eventually, that chakra it originally had would have to be replaced so the Clone could operate better.
It was a step in the right direction.
I now had a way to fake my death and preform risky experiments should I feel the need to.
The newly dubbed Flesh Clone was going to be useful.
"Want to eat some Tailed-Beast flesh?" I asked with a smile.
My Clone shook his head.
"No, I should be watched for a little longer before that."
I gave the Clone a nod.
"Your surprisingly responsible for a Clone."
He shrugged.
"I'm more premiant, I need to preserve my life."
I nodded, that made sense.
"Alright, I'll see where this goes and then we can get some Tailed-Beast in you."
The Clone nodded. "Sounds good."
...
"Have you thought about it?" I asked Isami who had intruded upon my lab while I was working on Overwriting some rice.
Isami ignored my question and pointed at the grain of rice that I had surrounded by Fuinjutsu.
"Why are you playing with rice?" I huffed silently.
I wasn't 'playing' with rice, I was making a genetic masterpiece.
"I'm manipulating the rice so it's bigger and more nutritious." I was also to make it so it didn't fertilize rice that wasn't genetically manipulated. I if people wanted to steal my magic rice, they needed to work for it.
There would be no easy way to breed my rice with other rice.
"I'm going to move onto wheat, tomatoes, and farm animals in that order." Konoha mainly farmed wheat and animals but it didn't hurt to have variety. "There are few rice patties and they are located outside of the village, so rice is just a test run."
"Hmm..." Isami hummed. "What will you do to the animals?"
I shrugged as I wasn't wholly sure.
"I'll make them bigger, faster-growing, and disease resistant." The stuff Orochimaru gave me wouldn't help me there. He wasn't focused on farm animals. "I'd have to make them infertile though."
I tapped my chin in thought. The chances of my super animals escaping and causing problems were high.
"They could escape and devastate the environment..." I could also make them short-lived. Or I could make them only produce male offspring. "It's still in it's beginning phases."
There were lots of problems that needed to be solved.
"Back to you." I lifted my palms from the Overwrite Seal. "Have you decided?"
Isami shook her head.
"I don't need a bloodline to be strong." Her face was stoic and her voice was resolute.
I exhaled heavily as I didn't agree. Bloodlines were everything, very few without a bloodline were strong.
"Alright, no problem." It seems Isami wasn't getting the Magnet Release.
More Tailed-Beast for me I guess...
"I'll see you tomorrow, we can work on Wind Release together." I dismissed her with a wave.
Isami nodded.
"See you tomorrow."
I nodded and waved as she made her way out of the lab.
No bloodlines for Isami...
"Does everyone hate bloodlines?" I turned to my Clone who had been minding its business and reading in the corner.
"It seems so." He said non-committedly, while not taking his eyes away from the book.
I rolled my eyes at how laidback my Clone was.
"Come exchange chakra with me, we need to see if we can still share memories." I eyed the book the Clone was reading.
My Clone rolled its eyes and set the book down.
"No need to be in such a hurry, relax a little."
I stared blankly at the Clone.
"You should keep your advice to yourself."
Snort*
The Clone snorted but approached me.
"Well, let's do this."
I nodded.
"Let's."
We joined hands and closed our eyes.
I sent chakra down my right arm and the Clone captured it and dragged it in through its left arm. The Clone sent its chakra down its right arm and I received the chakra with my left.
We created a loop of chakra and mixed the chakra until it was even in both spiritual and physical energy for the both of us.
When we exchanged chakra, we also exchanged memories, the spiritual energy being the medium of exchange.
"It's strangely intimate, but It works." The Clone spoke, breaking the slight trance I had entered. "This should be our preferred method of refueling."
I nodded as that sounded easy enough.
"Sounds good, I just don't want anyone to see us doing this."
Walking in on me and my Clone holding hands and facing each other would look weird.
"Now the question is, if I die will my chakra and soul migrate over to you?" I said to the Clone.
He smirked.
"Want to find out?"
A laugh bubbled out of me.
"Ha! No!" Not on your life Clone. "I'm fine with not dying."
The Clone smirked and I smirked back.
Did I accidentally make a friend?
I blinked at the thought.
Neat.
"Ok, let go of my hands homo." The Clone jokingly sneered at me.
I rolled my eyes and released his hands.
"Whatever..."
I scratched my head and wondered what to do next.
Lots of things to work on...
I hopefully won't be bored for a while...
...
"How about we make some sort of seal that automatically exchanges chakra between us?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"Hmmm...?" I hummed to buy myself time to think. "The current process isn't an issue?"
At least I didn't think it was, thought the Clone might disagree.
"If I had a chakra-centric bloodline, as long as our chakra was constantly mixing you could make use of the bloodline, it would also double your available reserves." The Clone waved a hand lazily towards the sky. "If I had a body made out of Ōtsutsuki DNA it would save you the trouble of rushing to incorporating it into yourself."
The Clone dropped its hand to its side and continued.
"We would also be constantly sharing memories, we would just be an extension of each other." The Clone shrugged at my surprised look. "It would be one soul piloting two bodies through the creative use of Fuinjutsu. A discount Six Paths Of Pain if you will."
"Hmmm..." I hummed quietly as I was at a loss. "If I got a hold of Orochimaru's immortality technique, my soul could travel between bodies as it pleased." It would make me extremely hard to kill.
"But I still don't know how to mix chakra." That was the issue. "Let's put the idea off."
If I figured out how to combine chakra, I'd come back to it.
"We've got other things to pursue before that." Like having the Clone eat Tailed-Beast flesh. "I guess we'll see."
"We'll see." The Clone repeated and nodded to me.
Lot's of stuff to do...
...
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