Chapter 51

Yo!

I've posted this on Webnovel as well...

So it's not stolen...

Thanks for sticking up for me though!

Much appreciated.

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...

"So, no luck huh?" I stared a scalp Orochimaru had thrown over his shoulder and into a trash bin.

Orochimaru stared at me like I was an idiot.

"I've not been successful yet..." He said blandly

Though he sounded confident that he would be successful...

Orochimaru had complained about managing the camp and that it was eating up his time.

I had offhandedly suggested the Orochimaru should look into the DNA governing the body's sleep schedule so that he could have more time to study to his heart's content.

Orochimaru had Immediately dropped his work on A's DNA and excitedly started performing brain surgeries on our prisoners.

He wanted to study sleep and its effects on the brain before he got into DNA.

"Well have fun."

Orochimaru kept muttering about the 'dorsal pons' and ignored me.

I blinked at his back and turned to make my escape.

My chakra control was almost up to scratch again...

It surprisingly only took a month...

Perhaps achieving near-perfect chakra control was easier a second time.

...

I stared down at the limbless man-potato, he wouldn't stop moving about even without his limbs.

Regretfully I had to damage his brain to stop him from escaping.

Walking into my lab and seeing him try to turn the doorknob with his arm nubs had been surprising.

Sadly, brain damage didn't solve my problems...

He was still trying to get away...

I'd tried to give him some sensing capabilities but so far, I've had no luck...

It was possible that the genes might start expressing themselves in a few months, but I wasn't interested in spoon-feeding a mentally impaired man-potato while I waited for him to show some signs of sensing capabilities.

Though I could get my minion to do it...

I might as well do more if that was the case...

I pondered the idea for a while before dismissing it.

Gene editing was ugly, especially so when my chakra control was subpar.

I didn't want her to witness me committing more atrocities then necessary.

The small stuff I did already unsettled her...

I sighed and started pondering.

Perhaps there was a better way to test this...

I couldn't think of anything immediately...

But that was ok, I had other things to do.

I needed to redo my Overwrite seals with my newly modified DNA...

Otherwise, I'd lose any changes I've made if I need to use them...

I sighed heavily.

Perhaps I'll keep the old ones.

It will give me somewhere to go back to if I ever make a grievous mistake...

Which was frankly pretty likely...

Not everything meshed well after all...

I pointed my finger at my test subject and he was impaled with a thin Bone Spike ending his life rather painlessly.

Perhaps I'll give sensing some time...

It wasn't even something I needed that badly.

Orochimaru had other modifications that he has done to himself.

Perhaps I could snag some more from him...

I guess I'll see.

...

"Changing your hair and eye color is definitely for the best." I crossed my arms and pouted

I was only half-serious, I was just trying to get her to consider the idea. As long as she thought about it, that was enough for me.

'Colorful hair and eyes may make you a target for enemies.' I took a moment to admire her writing, it had gotten neater.

I laughed.

"That's the point when enemies are always after you, you have to get better. That's why people with colorful traits are always stronger and stand above the cannon fodder."

Aomi didn't look convinced in the slightest, she started scribbling furiously on her notepad before turning it and shoving it in my face.

'Are you trying to make me a target?'

I shrugged.

"No, but that's how you get better. If you're constantly fighting off enemies, it's hard to not get better."

Aomi stared at me blankly before withdrawing her book and writing something down.

'Your crazy.' Aomi was sending me a judgmental stare while she held her book up.

I sent her a judgemental stare in return.

"I'm also not wrong."

We stared at each other for a bit longer and I noticed that Aomi didn't tower over me like she had when we first met.

I'm a growing boy!

I smothered my smile and spoke.

"Adversity breeds strength. Having people eager to stab you in your colorful eyes is adversity."

Aomi shook her head and started walking away.

"Black hair and ruby red eyes! They'd look fantastic!" I shouted at her as she was leaving

Aomi gave me the equivalent of the finger and slammed the door behind her.

My test subject who was strapped to the table met eyes with me.

"Woman eh?" I wriggled my eyebrows at him.

My test subject stared at me.

Seeing that he didn't agree, I tapped him on the forehead sending him off to dreamland.

I was feeling surprisingly silly today...

I wonder why...

...

"If someone was slapped with a book, would it be physical or verbal assault." My tone was bland and didn't display any of the amusement I felt.

Mom stared at me disapprovingly and drummed her fingers on the table where she was sitting at.

"Shiro, stop it."

I sighed as my attempt to lighten the mood was shot down and returned my focus onto the book on Fuinjutsu I had borrowed from Orochimaru.

Fuinjutsu was mainly used in sealing, sealing energy, sealing living beings, summoning, and barrier techniques.

For Fuinjutsu other then that, custom symbols were required.

I was trying to find something on the creation of custom symbols but I've had no luck.

I had the intent infusion thing down, and my calligraphy and understanding of Kanji was about as good as it could get without a dedicated teacher.

But I was stuck on 'making custom symbols'...

Aka using English and French in my seals.

I hadn't used either language in years and my grasp on them was slipping, I feared If I didn't get on top of things soon the possibility of using them would be lost.

It was a slight problem...

One that I could hopefully overcome.

"What are you working on that's got you so troubled?" Mom walked over and peeked over my shoulder.

I hummed trying to buy myself some time to finish the page before I spoke.

"Fuinjutsu."

Mom stepped back and made her way back to the spot she was occupying.

"Ask Minato and Kushina next time we're in Konoha, they'd be happy to help."

I just hummed and nodded as that was what I planned on doing next.

"If I remember..."

Sadly, I tended to forget about stuff that I wasn't immediately focused on.

"I'm training with Aomi and Duy in about an hour, are you interested." I stifled a yawn.

Mom wordlessly nodded and leaned back into her chair.

"Is Kenji coming?"

I turned back to my book and shook my head.

"He's distilling some alcohol right now."

We had run out in the camp and Kenji was tasked with doing so, though the reason was completely beyond me.

"So, he won't be coming?"

No, he's probably drunk on medical-grade alcohol...

"No."

Mom nodded.

"Sigh... Alrighty..."

I looked at her over my shoulder.

Sighing and saying alrighty were my things...

I blinked at her and again turned back to my book.

Whatever...

...

Gene editing reminded me of character creation, I was optimizing the traits I wanted making some stuff dormant and some stuff active.

I chuckled.

I was essentially assigning stat points via DNA manipulation...

It was an amusing thought.

Sadly, there was no-one to share my amusement.

Aomi looked unnerved by my chuckling.

Perhaps one shouldn't chuckle when extracting bone marrow from someone...

I had a member of the Yotsuki clan strapped to my table and was giving him a full work-up.

Mainly taking samples from him and checking to see if they have any sort of bloodline...

Which he didn't...

The Yotsuki clan was only known for their swordsmanship, speed, and loyalty.

Being loyal wasn't a bloodline though...

I stifled a chuckle at the thought.

Thankfully I wasn't examining these samples myself...

They were just getting sent off...

Which thankfully gave me more time to cackle like a mad scientist and try to figure out new ways to edit my DNA.

Personality traits could be changed with DNA to a certain extent...

Which was interesting as well as scary.

I could potentially create the perfect minion...

Or create my ideal self...

Messing with my personality was without a doubt a slippery slope though...

And since it was featured heavily in his notes, it made me wonder what Orochimaru had done to himself...

Perhaps that's why he had no love life and lacked empathy...

He might have seen them as weakness and purged them from himself...

I blinked and noticed Aomi was staring at me.

Getting lost in thought while you were wrist-deep in someone's chest cavity was probably in bad form.

"Sorry I got lost in thought."

Aomi nodded at me and looked away.

As long as I've got things to do, I can keep the emptiness at bay...

So I had to keep finding ways to occupy myself...

...

According to Orochimaru's notes anxiety could be removed with a few simple bits of gene editing...

I pondered removing my anxiety but ultimately dismissed it.

Would I even be the same person if I didn't spend hours trying to sleep while fighting off bursts of existential dread?

Probably not...

So, the existential dread stays...

But what I could do was give myself immunity to specific poisons and diseases...

That was easy according to the notes...

Just add a chain of 'immunity genes' and things were good to go...

I cracked a smile at 'immunity genes'.

Immunity genes as Orochimaru named them were just instructions for your white blood cells so they could fight off poison and diseases.

Orochimaru likely took genes from people who were immune to disease and poisons via overcoming them and added them to himself...

It was a neat idea...

Not one I would have thought of myself...

I flipped through a few other pages, briefly skimming them as I went.

Certain traits could be taken and given to oneself...

Reaction time...

Strength...

Speed...

Stamina...

Virility...

Sweaty hands...

Promiscuity...

Love of battle...

Sweet tooth...

The list went on and on...

Though it noted at the end that some traits didn't mesh well and could cause instability in the genome and infertility...

Again, with infertility...

My eyes were drawn to a section that talked about the traits becoming dormant even if they were successfully gained.

It also noted that the gained traits were less likely to show up the older one was and that the more traits one took the less likely they were to survive...

I gave it one final glance before snapping the book shut.

Essentially one could become more superhuman than a ninja already was, at the cost of infertility and potential genetic instability...

And one needed to be young...

I wondered if this was why Orochi wanted to hop bodies...

It also perhaps had something to do with bloodlines being part spiritual...

I do remember Sasuke reversing his technique...

Orochimaru had some sort of fleshy realm where the souls of those whose bodies he stole stayed...

Perhaps that was part of it...

He needed their souls for spiritual energy so he could use their body's bloodline...

Maybe... Maybe...

It wasn't impossible at least...

I sighed...

If that was the case couldn't I imprison that moon Ōtsutsuki's soul inside myself...?

That sounded both promising and evil...

Sadly, I had no idea how Orochi was keeping those souls...

And he likely wouldn't share his secrets...

Especially when it involved his immortality.

Perhaps I should continue this line of thought later...

I sighed and drummed my fingers on the cover of the notebook while mentally jumping over to another topic that had been plaguing me.

Naruto and Sasuke.

The two quarter Space God reincarnations...

What would a quarter Space God's soul and chakra do to their bodies...?

There were potential DNA shenanigans to be had there...

I could steal DNA from exceptional individuals now.

Or I could wait a bit for Naruto and Sasuke...

And by a bit, I mean anywhere from two to fifteen years.

Decisions... Decisions...

...

Orochimaru assigned me a squad and told me to go ambush a supply caravan.

So, I had a few hours to lay in my bed and ponder potential DNA improvements.

According to the notes, too much DNA manipulation caused genetic instability and infertility.

Meaning I should try to limit my DNA shenanigans...

I was doing alright currently, I frankly didn't need further improvements at the moment.

I just needed to survive and give my body time to mature.

And possibly get some DNA from someone with tailed beast level reserves.

Even if I was alright now, it was never bad to have tailed beast sized reserves...

So...

I needed to mature and I wanted big reserves.

Sadly, maturing meant that DNA shenanigans were less likely to stick...

Though that may not be a problem...

I could already regenerate telomeres...

So, maturing may not be too much of a problem...

Though that might not be the case...

It still might be a problem even with my cells 'youth'.

I sighed and pulled the blanket up to my neck.

So bigger reserves, poison, and disease immunity...

They were all things that I could focus on, even if I didn't find a use for them...

I've got something to occupy myself for the foreseeable future.

And that's all I wanted...

Something to occupy myself with...

...

...

Interlude.

I stared at Shiro as he continued to explain how to successfully mend arteries.

Shiro had taken a hit meant for our patient and after dispatching the enemy causing our patient to survive, Shiro made this a learning opportunity.

"Alright, your turn." Shiro's words jolted me into reality.

I placed my hands on either side of the wounded area on the patient's leg and started to fill the flesh with healing chakra as I was taught.

The flesh knitted together with little input from myself and I focused my attention on the artery.

I surrounded it in a layer of chakra and dammed up the blood stopping it from flowing out and into the leg.

The hard part done, I started the mending of the artery itself and turned my eyes towards Shiro who was watching with an expression of vague approval.

"Thanks for taking the hit, it was very brave of you." My patient spoke startling me.

Blood started to flow from the artery and Shiro reached down and stopped the flow with a quick tap to the leg.

"Focus..." Shiro's purple eyes bore into mine.

I nodded and started again, this time with a renewed focus.

I couldn't fail...

"I'm not brave..." My patient shifted and Shiro poked him with his toe. "Stop moving, Idiot..."

Things were silent for a moment.

"Your very brave." My patient spoke again.

At this point, I was contemplating knocking him out.

"I'm not..." Shiro's voice was light and airy. "I'm strong and fearless, bravery is something different..."

My patient opened his mouth to speak again "Sleep..." But Shiro stopped him with a tap to the forehead.

Shiro sighed loudly and poked my patient with his foot.

"What an annoying guy, I wanted him to be up and ready. But if he's going to be so annoying it's not worth it."

Shiro poked him with his foot one last time before he started walking away.

"I'll go ahead and raid that caravan, I thought they would be transporting their food with seals but was mistaken." Shiro sighed again. "I wouldn't have killed these incompetents otherwise..."

Shiro stuck his foot under a downed ninja and flicked him into the forest with a grunt.

"I'll be back, loot them, and see if they were carrying anything useful."

I stared at his back as he departed in a Shunshin.

I let out a soundless sigh and withdrew my hands from my now healed patient.

I guess we attacked these men because Shiro thought they were carrying the supplies...

I sighed again while staring out at a field of corpses that was interspersed with Konoha-nin looking for anything of value.

This was pointless...

War was pointless...

Everything was pointless...

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