Chapter 60

Hello ladies and gents.

10 more chapters of the third war and then we enter the two-year gap between the war and the Nine-Tails.

After that things will speed up, I could honestly write 100k words just for those two years but there's no action in that period of the timeline.

So, I opted to speed things up a tad...

...

Lot's of nice feedback on the latest chapters, mainly because those who aren't interested in the story have long dropped off.

But it's nice regardless.

...

I'm having trouble with the mechanics of eating Tailed-Beast flesh. But it will work out, I'm not unimaginative.

I'm also having trouble deciding on which direction the story should go. Should the Tenseigan be a post-Nine-Tails thing?

Or a Pre-Nine-Tails thing? I was thinking pre...

But maybe that's too much of an escalation in power? Or maybe not?

I want Shiro to acquire the Tenseigan and have a showdown with the Nine-Tails.

I guess I'll see...

Stay safe.

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...

Looking at the Uchiha's DNA had done nothing but confuse me.

It was beyond annoying.

It was mostly normal human DNA with bits of foreign DNA.

It seemed less complicated than the Hyuga DNA at first glance, but a lot was going on with the DNA responsible for the optical nerve, brain, eyes, personality, and chakra density.

I didn't know where to start, as I only had one Uchiha and couldn't get any variety amongst the genes.

The DNA corresponding to the brain and nerves was the easiest to make guesses about.

It was likely why the Uchiha were able to consistently produce geniuses and skilled combatants.

But that was just a guess...

"Sigh..." Tossing the body to Orochimaru was tempting.

He had been a great help with the Kaguya body...

It was something to think about...

I'd need more Uchiha to figure out what exactly each bit of DNA did...

And wasting my time on the Uchiha wouldn't do me much good...

I haven't gotten into the Hyuga DNA yet...

Nor have I solved my problem with using chakra at a distance...

"..." I stared at the ceiling and pondered about throwing clones at my problems...

My biggest worry about the constant use of clones was running out of projects.

I didn't want to run out of things to do and become depressed...

And clones were unpredictable as well...

"Sigh..." I made a hand-seal and a clone phased into existence.

The clone sent me a dirty look and summoned four more clones.

I raised an eyebrow at it.

"Existence is horror, and I need others to suffer with me!" The clone behind him snorted ruining the tension that was building.

I scratched my head while looking at the clones who in turn looked at me.

"We need to get stuff done, Hyuga DNA and Uchiha DNA indexing are the least important." The first clone made a show of slumping and quietly sobbing.

I ignored it.

"Personal Fuinjutsu Script." I pointed to the second clone who nodded.

"Gene mutation." I pointed to the third clone who gave me a thumbs up.

"Finish up the blood transfusions, and figure out how to permanently change someone's blood if you have time..." I pointed to the fourth clone who remained stone-faced.

"Visit Kenji, and Isami if she hasn't left yet" I pointed at the fifth clone who nodded.

"Death." I pointed to the first clone who was bouncing with excitement and pierced him with a thin Bone Spike.

A job well done...

I nodded to myself.

"I'll be training..." I gave the clones another close look hoping to weed out the unstable ones.

Seeing none I made my way towards the stairs leading to the lab.

Training was boring and I didn't even have my favorite squishy humans to make the time pass a little faster...

Sucks...

...

"How about another attempt to push Kumo out of Frost?" I threw the question out after a few moments of silence.

Orochimaru didn't even glance my way.

"No." I slumped slightly at his refusal.

Orochimaru wasn't interested in another attack on Kumo's camps. Which sucked, I wanted to fight and cut loose while I didn't have to worry about anyone I liked dying.

"Alright." Kumo wasn't attacking us currently as they were more focused on Iwa.

Which was probably a good thing...

Perhaps the status-quo was ideal for experimentation...?

"We're running out of prisoners, any plans to get more?" I was disappointed there wouldn't be any battles and was hoping for a quick mission to quell my boredom.

Orochimaru shook his head and immediately dispelled my hopes for a mission.

"Kumo's entire attention is on Iwa." Orochimaru sent me an exasperated look. "The Hokage wants us to keep Kumo from getting supply's across Frost, and to let Iwa and Kumo exhaust each other."

I couldn't tell if his exasperation was because of me or the Hokage, so I stayed silent.

"I've been ordered not to provoke Kumo, so that means there will be a temporary shortage of test subjects." Orochimaru's face scrunched up as he spoke.

So perhaps I wasn't the cause of his exasperation...?

"Can you order me off to Grass for a month then?" Grass was close enough that I could send some Bone Clones over without many problems...

With Bone Clones managing my lab's things would be smooth sailing.

"You are currently needed here." Orochimaru shook his head and denied me the adventure I sought.

"Sigh..." Orochimaru rolled his eyes at me.

"Can you tell me about Senjutsu then?" If I was going to run out of prisoners I might as well find something to occupy my time.

Orochimaru turned away from me which dashed my hopes.

"Perhaps your former Sensei Namikaze would be better suited to teach you, I haven't achieved Sage Mode myself." I let that roll around in my head for a bit.

Minato knew Sage Mode...?

"I don't think I'll have much luck..." I held in a sigh and decided it was time to go.

Orochimaru wasn't interested in conversation at the moment.

"Do you need anything before I go?" Orochimaru shook his head before I had even finished.

I gave Orochimaru a bow and started making my way out.

Back to training, I guess...

...

"Chakra by itself isn't elemental but every ninja has an element that their chakra molds into more easily." I paused and scratched my chin. "That's my understanding of an affinity."

"While ninja with enough control could use any jutsu they desire there's always some element that's easier for them." I turned and saw Aomi was following along. "I'm playing around with Chakra right now."

I nodded towards the test-subject strapped to the table.

"I'm trying to mix two chakras of the same affinity." It was mainly to see what happened, but If I miraculously made something interesting, I'd eat my Byakugan.

"Two different chakras aren't able to be 'mixed' as far as I could tell." I looked at the clock. "You would have to be from the same family or clan to even have the possibility of doing so."

"So, this is probably pointless..." I gestured to my test-subject.

I turned to Aomi and saw she didn't look even remotely interested.

"Did that explain anything or did I just ramble at you?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

Aomi made a 'so-so' gesture.

"Sigh..." I didn't have a good excuse for it, so I had to make something up.

I was trying to combine chakra so I could eventually access the Tenseigan when I got to the moon.

I was thinking that the Hyuga inherited the eyes of Hamura while the moon Ōtsutsuki inherited the body of Hamura.

Similar to Indra and Asura.

Or at least that was my current theory...

My theories about the Tenseigan changed pretty often...

So, I probably needed the physical energy from the Ōtsutsuki.

Or so the theory went...

I had no Ōtsutsuki to test stuff on...

Which meant this was currently pointless...

"Keep this one fed and watered, I'll be back to check it's chakra in a day or two..." I blew a heavy breath out of my nose.

This one was unusually annoying...

"Keep him sedated if he's too annoying..." After two escape attempts, I wasn't too concerned about his survival.

...

Orochimaru's method of indexing genes in humans was rather effective...

He removed or added the gene he wanted to index and watched the subject for any changes.

But if he was impatient mutation seemed to be another option...

He also liked to take a gene and Splice it into a different species to see what would happen...

I'd probably have to do something similar to make fast progress on the Hyuga genes.

I'd need a Hyuga or I'd need to splice Hyuga genes into people to see what they did...

Which would be extremely wasteful...

I couldn't let anyone get suspicious when too many clan members died.

According to Orochimaru's notes Splicing Bloodlines of any kind was extremely difficult...

The body had to already have part of the heritage, be sufficiently adaptable, or young enough to accept a new bloodline.

And even if the subject was adaptable and young it wasn't likely to succeed.

And when it did the bloodline was weakened and couldn't be used with the same effectiveness that a natural bloodline user could command it.

"Sigh..." I know Orochimaru eventually figured out how to do it...

But currently, he wasn't close.

In a few years, he would be though...

...

"Those who were given blood didn't gain a lightning affinity but they did gain the ability to make Lightning Chakra with their normal chakra." I'd call it a jumpstart to making lightning chakra.

The chakra helped them speed past what should have been years of training for the untalented.

"The amount of blood received determinates the time it will take the body to strengthen..."

Though the benefits depended on the strength of the recipient, the stronger one was the fewer benefits they gained.

"Subjects who had all their blood replaced gained benefits within the week." I paused and turned to Aomi "Those who had less then half of their blood replaced took an additional week to see benefits."

Seeing that she was following I continued.

"Those that were given A's blood saw a notable increase in strength, stamina, and durability."

"Those who were given my blood saw most of the same gains as those with A's blood, as well as an increase in bone and muscle density." Other general increases came with having extremely potent chakra, but it would take to long to explain.

I wanted to get into it a bit more but Aomi knew enough to do what I wanted to be done.

"So, your new job is to find people with Type-A or Type-Ab blood who want to be strengthened." Which shouldn't be a problem...

Aomi nodded.

"I'll make a vat of A's blood, you'll be injecting people with A's blood and collecting their own both before and after they've had the injection."

Aomi held up her notebook.

'How many? Any preferences?'

I shrugged as I didn't care.

"Doesn't matter just let them know they're going to undergo a strengthening procedure, replace all their blood, and keep them unconscious for a week." I tapped my chin. "I'll take over a section of the hospital for that."

Aomi nodded.

"Just keep it quiet, I don't want anyone to know how we're doing what we're doing." Aomi nodded again.

"Hmmm..." I hummed trying to remember if there was anything else.

"You'll be responsible for note-taking and monitoring the patients."

I felt like this was a mistake, I didn't want to make super soldiers.

"I'll send a group of clones to Seal up the hospital..."

But I needed this opportunity so I could have another go at mixing chakra...

"Alrighty..." I made a hand-seal and four clones appeared behind me.

I waved them off and turned back to Aomi.

"Make sure most of those you find are Genin, I don't want them to be unskilled, I want skilled people that are limited by their genes or upbringing." Meaning civilians.

Civilians who could disappear should they bring me trouble.

"The end goal is to bring the Genin up to Chunin-level." I waved Aomi away and leaned back in my chair.

A's chakra will strengthen the body, the strengthened body will produce more Physical energy, more Physical energy means increased chakra reserves, and a small increase in density.

That was the theory at least.

...

My foray into Mutating the Hyuga's Chakra Density gene seemed to have stalled.

Some clones had absorbed the blood and figured out that a good portion of the genes gained density but lost whatever enabled the chakra to block tenketsu.

The clones figuring out that they could use the blood was good, them also figuring out that some genes were defective was also good.

Had I jumped to the gun again and Overwritten myself, I would have lost the ability to block tenketsu...

Which was the whole reason for this experiment...

"Phew..." I wiped the non-existent sweat from my forehead.

It would have been devastating if I spent a lot of time on mutating the gene and lost the ability to use the Gentle Fist.

So, this was a lucky break...

I'd ensure I was more careful in the future...

...

Mutations according to Orochimaru are mostly neutral, doing nothing and having no notable impact.

Some did have positive or negative impacts but those were rare.

However, there was a correlation between strength and positive mutations.

Strong parents often produced strong children and a strong shinobi's genes mutated slightly under the influence of their chakra.

Meaning the more chakra you had, the more likely it was that you or your children would experience positive mutations.

So, the strength of your chakra helped push you towards the right evolutionary path so to speak.

Orochimaru cautioned me, that he hadn't looked deeply into mutation and wasn't focused on the topic.

Meaning I should take what he said with a grain of salt.

My findings confirmed Orochimaru's. Hadn't emergency rations strengthened after I expanded his chakra network?

Isami had been strengthened as well...

But most of the strengthening had been the awakening of dormant DNA...

So, it was part of dormant DNA and part Mutations...?

"Hmmm..." I shrugged...

Maybe, or maybe not.

I'll check Isami's blood samples and see if she experienced any mutations after she got A's blood...

I probably should have done that sooner...

I got too excited about the increase in strength the blood provided...

"Sigh..." I got too excited...

...

Kiri had lost three of their Swordsmen and was pretty much out of the war.

Although there was no official response, they didn't have the manpower to battle outside of Kiri and thus holed themselves up in The Land Of Water.

Kiri Turtled.

Snort*

Kiri had no Jinjuriki and half their usual number of swordsmen, and it was all thanks to the wonderful Raikage.

Who should kick the bucket soon...?

I didn't know.

Hopefully, that was the case, but it didn't seem like it would happen any time soon.

...

...

Interlude.

"The goal of this little experiment is to 'evolve' the genes above the current human limit." Shiro explained while he paced around the room.

"Mutations occur over hundreds of years, I'm simply speeding the process up and manipulating it slightly." He motioned for me to place my hands on the indexing seal and I did so.

"What you're looking at is your dominate gene for hair color, brown..." He trailed off when he saw my annoyed look.

"With a little mutation, this gene can become slightly darker or slightly lighter." He smiled. "Eventually after careful selective mutations, you can move your hair towards your desired color little by little with each mutation."

I rolled my eyes at his blatant attempt to annoy me.

"I'm doing the same thing currently with a gene for chakra density." He smirked. "I'm slowly mutating the gene over and over and increasing the density of chakra little by little."

"After a lot of selective mutating, I'll eventually have chakra density rivaling a Tailed-Beast." He frowned for a moment before replacing it with a smile. "But it won't be until years later that I reap any substantial benefits."

"Questions?" He asked with a smile.

I nodded and tried to formulate the question in my head.

'Would your time be better spent improving the genes governing your bodily strength?' Shiro was a Taijutsu specialist, it didn't make sense to spend so much time on improving his chakra when he rarely used more an eighth of his reserves.

Shiro smiled at me like I was a child.

"Having more chakra strengthens the body naturally, I'm letting my body strengthen in response to my chakra rather than mash a whole bunch of genes together and hope it works." He waved airly. "The more chakra I have the stronger my body gets."

I nodded in understanding.

He'd rather let his body adjust to his chakra then try and build a strong body.

"I think that's enough for now, we'll chat more if you are still interested." I nodded as I was extremely interested.

I didn't have the required chakra control to do any of the stuff Shiro did, but I would eventually, and learning ahead of time was never a bad thing.

"Thank you." I was happy to have been given this opportunity.

I was given the chance to be more then what I was.

"No problem, see you tomorrow." Shiro made his way out, send me a lazy wave as he left.

I stared at the ceiling feeling giddy as I thought about the future.

I could be as strong as the Hokage if I continued on this path.

It felt weird. Years ago I wouldn't have imagined I could ever have a shot at becoming a pillar of strength for the village.

But now that and more was possible.

I just had to continue down the path I was taking.

Dar-win-ism as Shiro called it was a brilliant idea.

Advancement through artificial evolution.

I couldn't wait until I could do it myself...

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