Chapter Fifty-Seven: Return to the Marvel World

“At last, I’ve succeeded. As a superhuman, until the arrival of the Purple Sweet Potato Spirit, no one should be able to threaten me...” Kahn now felt as if he possessed boundless energy; even staying awake for two days would be nothing to him.

Given his current power and wealth, as long as he continued to develop prudently, no one could pose a threat to him, nor would any fool dare seek him out.

“Although there’s no real need for the Wood Style jutsu, there are a few other interesting secret techniques I could cultivate. After all, the limitations of ninjutsu are considerable. Without lifelong training and surviving countless battles, there’s a vast gap in strength even among Jonin and Kage-level ninja.”

“And then there’s Danzo—I can’t let that old snake off the hook either...”

Kahn mused inwardly. Right now, he lacked the means for revenge; other ninja villages wouldn’t wantonly target Konoha’s ninja just for mission rewards. If enemy nation ninja were involved, such missions were almost always A-rank or S-rank—strictly vetted and rarely taken up by other villages.

Otherwise, a glut of such missions would ignite another Shinobi World War. So if the timing wasn’t right, Kahn couldn’t spend his wealth even if he wanted to; as for rogue ninja, they posed no threat at all to Danzo’s Root.

“I’ll take some time to relax. Hopping between two worlds recently has left me too tense; besides, the new version of the Despair Virus is nearly ready, and my company in the Marvel world is due for some development...”

Kahn needed to tidy up matters here as well. He’d already amassed considerable capital, but if he didn’t convert it into his own power base, it held no real value.

Tsunade had also agreed to help research special medicines for several terminal illnesses, two of which would soon yield results. Then it would be time for Kahn’s biopharmaceutical company to shine.

However, now that Konoha was aware of the Despair Virus, Kahn would have to be more cautious when visiting the ninja world. If he had to go to Konoha again, he’d need Tsunade or Orochimaru with him at all times; otherwise, the danger would be too great. Still, the ninja world offered him plenty of opportunities to reap benefits: chakra metal, kekkei genkai, secret techniques, tailed beasts, and more.

He now had some ability to protect himself—Root couldn’t subdue him in an instant. And with the system’s world-hopping ability, he could come and go like a ghost. Furthermore, the new Despair Virus gave him strong resistance against genjutsu; taking Kahn down quietly would be a near-impossible task for Root or the ANBU.

“And then there’s the golden finger—the next world should be coming up soon...”

Kahn opened his system panel and noticed the starlight tracking new worlds was growing steadily brighter. He couldn’t tell exactly when a new world would be found, but he sensed that in a month or two, he’d be able to trade in a new universe.

The chakra system of the shinobi world had its limitations, with too much reliance on bloodlines. In the end, those who reached the peak were all connected to the Otsutsuki. In that world, effort meant nothing—heritage was everything.

Kahn then removed all data related to Hashirama cells and human experimentation from the Despair Virus, leaving only the experiment processes and results, before driving to the biological research center.

“Driver, assistant, security—need to get them all in place. Maybe start a security company?”

As he drove, the idea popped into Kahn’s mind. Once his company reached a certain size, an armed security force would be essential—unless he planned to reveal his superhuman abilities, which would be too conspicuous. That might deter ordinary troublemakers, but it would only attract bigger problems.

Although history had taken a different turn in the Marvel world, the American government’s meddling nature hadn’t changed. The benefits gained in World War II had pushed them toward becoming the world’s ‘policemen.’

They wanted a hand in everything, which in turn spurred frequent terrorist threats against them—more than Kahn had imagined. This world’s America had invested heavily in anti-terror operations. A few years from now, even Tony Stark would fall victim to terrorism.

With this in mind, Kahn made up his mind to establish a military security company.

Given his identity and background, starting such a company would be easy—especially since he was wealthy, and when the Despair Virus hit the market, he’d make a fortune. Based on his recent market research on Americans with amputations and disabilities, this sector alone promised billions in profit.

Globally, the market could easily reach tens of billions, with sustained growth.

Of course, the arrival of the Despair Virus would be devastating for companies selling prosthetics. All the more reason for Kahn to move forward with his security firm.

He himself had little to fear from ordinary terrorist attacks. Even without chakra, his physique surpassed Captain America’s; with chakra, he could likely defeat the Hulk from the first Avengers film. However, his martial arts skills were lacking and needed improvement.

But the same couldn’t be said for his employees and friends. Once his company grew, those who helped Kahn make money would need bodyguards.

...

When Kahn arrived at the research center, the gate security recognized him and let him through without delay.

Human trials were already underway here. At first, they had gathered a wealth of useful data—Orochimaru and Tsunade’s breakthroughs owed much to Maya and Killian’s work.

However, at a certain stage, progress stalled. They couldn’t ensure perfect integration of the Despair Virus, and the casualty rate among test subjects remained high.

As a result, Kahn had poured a fortune into this area. All his test subjects were legitimate volunteers, and even the cheapest cost eight hundred thousand dollars—prices that would only rise.

Few large biopharmaceutical companies could afford to use only legitimate trial volunteers; it was too expensive, simply unsustainable.

For a million dollars, one could buy fifty test subjects from among illegal immigrants or the desperate.

“Gentlemen, have you been arguing again?”

When Kahn entered the lab, he sensed something was off—the researchers were scattered around, the atmosphere devoid of collaboration.

Killian, seeing Kahn, managed to suppress some of his earlier irritation from their argument and spoke up, “Boss, we need another batch of test subjects...”

“Killian, I told you, that’s not the way!”

Maya immediately retorted, “This isn’t working—we need to take a step back and recalculate from the formula up...”

“Gentlemen, may I have a word?”

Seeing the dispute about to flare up again, Kahn quickly intervened, raising his voice, “Before you argue about experimental procedures, I’d like you to review the data I have here. After that, we can discuss anything else.”

What he held was the procedure for synthesizing the new Despair Virus serum—a fresh approach.