Chapter Forty-Nine: The Experiment Succeeds

After finishing matters in the Land of Waves and the Land of Water, Karn hurried back, heading straight for Tsunade and Orochimaru’s underground laboratory. The moment he appeared, Orochimaru’s eyes gleamed as he said, “Mr. Karn, we’ve used up all the serum. Although we’ve made some progress, we need to move on to the next stage of experimentation.”

Once Orochimaru finished, Tsunade, catching Karn’s gaze, continued, “Orochimaru is right. We’ve gathered a lot of useful data. We can basically confirm that the Despair Virus can suppress my grandfather’s cells from corroding the host, and those cells can also enhance the subject’s metabolism, bringing both sides into a sort of harmonious state…”

Karn asked, “But there’s a problem?”

“It’s just that whenever we think the experiment has succeeded, the subjects explode again. It might be related to ‘emotions,’” Tsunade said helplessly. If the test subjects stayed in a comatose state, they could almost declare the first experiment a success. No matter how severe the wounds, the Despair Virus could quickly heal them—even a severed hand would regenerate.

But once the subject regained consciousness, their emotions would fluctuate, rising until they peaked, at which point the body would undergo a violent explosion.

From the scale of the explosions, it was clear that Tsunade and Orochimaru had indeed made significant progress. At least after the last explosion, they could recover several intact bones.

“Equipment for data collection and medical examination—there should be substitutes here in the Shinobi World, though a bit expensive. Use those for now. As for the serum, I’ll have it delivered in a few days. Let me take a thorough look at the data first,” Karn said, rubbing his temples. Orochimaru didn’t care about the lives sacrificed in these experiments; his methods were rough and quick, but the cost was exorbitant.

He had brought three sets of equipment, and the medical diagnostic apparatus was already completely destroyed. Compared to the cheap cost of lives, Karn felt more pain over the money spent on equipment. He didn’t want to shuttle between worlds just to deliver supplies for Orochimaru. It would be better to custom order more equipment in the Shinobi World; after all, testing devices weren’t the core issue. If other machines were destroyed, then Karn would truly be heartbroken.

While Karn reviewed the recent experimental data, Orochimaru spoke up, “If possible, it would be best to send over some different test subjects—adolescents, women, children, and shinobi…”

At this, Karn looked up and asked, “Orochimaru—may I call you that?”

“Just call me Orochimaru.”

“All right, then you can call me Karn. As for the first three categories, that’s easily arranged; the prisons in the Land of Fire have ample supply. But as for shinobi, that’s a bit more difficult on my end. Do you have any connections?”

Orochimaru smiled. “The Konoha prison holds quite a few shinobi, but if we take people from there, they’ll have a legitimate excuse to interfere in our affairs. I doubt you’d want to see that happen.”

“I see. Then I’ll handle it myself,” Karn replied, shaking his head. He’d just have Kakuzu capture a few shinobi for him; it would also help clear out some of the rogue shinobi in the Land of Tea.

Tsunade didn’t comment on this exchange. Though she had accepted the need for human experimentation, she didn’t want to openly participate in such discussions. Her attitude was more of a passive acceptance—‘for my brother’s sake, I have no other choice’—willing to be involved but not to take the initiative.

“Even shinobi can be obtained? I’m impressed, Karn,” Orochimaru praised with a smile. He was growing increasingly interested in the power behind Karn. To be able to research something like the Despair Virus, there must be a professional team at work.

“Is it really possible to activate Wood Release?” Karn asked in surprise, noticing some subjects displaying unusual signs.

Tsunade nodded. “It’s true. If the Despair Virus doesn’t spiral out of control, it can indeed reproduce my grandfather’s Wood Release ninjutsu.”

If the experiment succeeded, Tsunade herself would be tempted to try the serum. But she knew Karn was infamously tight-fisted—if he promised her a dose, he wouldn’t spare a drop more unless she offered something that truly enticed him.

In the following days, Karn shuttled between the experimental base, Kawaki Town, and the capital of the Land of Fire. He had all but become the quartermaster of the research facility: arranging equipment and test subjects, sometimes returning to the Marvel world to bring Maya and Killian’s research on the Despair Virus back to the Shinobi World.

Since those two had never seen Hashirama cells, Karn wasn’t about to share Orochimaru’s and Tsunade’s research data with them. It would be impossible to explain.

Beyond that, Karn spent a significant amount of time diligently practicing ninjutsu. He had become fairly proficient at the Transformation, Substitution, and Shadow Clone techniques, though he was still a bit slow on hand seals—at best, three seals per second on a good day, but generally only two.

Yet his chakra nature was odd; he already possessed all five chakra natures.

When Kakuzu learned this, he was astonished, then shook his head in regret. With such talent for chakra, it was a waste for Karn not to become a ninja; his chakra reserves and aptitude for ninjutsu were both mediocre.

Karn suspected this change in his chakra nature was related to Kakuzu’s chakra. He wasn’t originally from the Shinobi World, and had never used chakra before. Strictly speaking, he was like those who first received chakra from the Sage of Six Paths—only much weaker.

Still, Karn wasn’t concerned with his own strength. He had a clear sense of his role: if he ever found himself in unavoidable danger, he could use the system to travel between the two worlds—essentially a foolproof Flying Thunder God Technique that no barrier or sealing jutsu could restrain.

His study of ninjutsu was mainly to conceal his identity and movements, and his research into the Despair Virus and Hashirama’s cells was merely to strengthen his own body.

Karn saw himself as the boss, not a frontline fighter. He had paid thirty million ryo for a month of Kakuzu’s instruction just to master the Earth Release: Earth Dragon Concealment Technique, which in the Marvel world would let him burrow underground to escape in times of crisis.

……

“Calm down, Mr. Tushi. If you survive, we’ll let you go and even reward you. But you must cooperate…”

“Ahhh!”

Bang!

Orochimaru hadn’t finished speaking before the subject in the experimental isolation area exploded again, though this time it was only an arm, which was already beginning to regenerate. Bone, blood vessels, meridians—all were visibly recovering.

“Is this success?” Tsunade, witnessing this, quickly recorded all the subject’s physical reactions and adjusted the ratio of Hashirama cells to Despair Virus.

“Heh, it seems my hypothesis was correct, Tsunade,” Orochimaru said with a satisfied smile. Although his experiments had cost many lives, those test subjects were not wasted; this individual proved the point—now it was just a matter of repeating the process.