Soldier Pills (2)

Say... this isn't so bad. Exploring the village as we ran—well, trotted. Funnily enough, not a single villager or shinobi complained about us. Must be normal, then, huh?

That said, I have no idea why the hell we throw our arms behind us while running. Is it really necessary? It doesn't feel like it gives any kind of significant boost—other than just looking ridiculous, at least to me.

...This village really is huge. The speed we're running at shouldn't be low at all, so to still not be there after five entire minutes—yeah, this place is massive.

It's got me wondering just how large the other countries would be. Surely smaller, but they might just have their own charm. The Land of Wind, Land of Thunder—I'm not calling it Land of Lightning, thunder is a way better name, and sounds cooler.

Before I could continue babbling on and about, Kenjiro-sensei's voice was heard, "Okay, everyone! Slow down the pace, because we are almost there!"

About time.

We slowed down to a jog, and a few of us started muttering things among themselves probably wondering what the place would look like.

I nudged Amai, who turned to me while jogging. Surprisingly, it wasn't really that hard to talk while moving.

"You think it'll be like one of those big industrial places? You know, with all the metal and machinery." I asked, curious.

"I dunno. I'm really excited to see how they make the pills themselves, and maybe we can take a sample home? Sensei said we could take a few low-grades, right?"

"I think so," I replied, before continuing, "I'm kind of tired of having to wait for our chakra to regenerate, so this actually is very convenient. It takes more than half a day, y'know?"

"You say that as if you're the only one worrying about it," Amai shot back with a small grin. "I'm taking some for the same reason."

"Figures," I muttered, noticing the building as we all came to a stop.

Holy crap.

It was almost exactly like one of those industrial plants from back then, but on a way smaller scale. Steel beams, high ceilings, almost as if designed purely for efficiency. Expected, soldier pills must be one of the most important tools in a shinobi's kit, and therefore, it was produced on a large scale.

"Whooaaaa," said Inuzuka Kaito in awe, his mouth open in shock. Others were gazing at the place as we entered; hell, even the collected Hatake Kiyoshi was interested.

I would be, too. It's amazing how far and fast humanity can progress, isn't it?

"This is... astonishing." muttered the white-haired girl next to me.

Kenjiro-sensei eyed us for a while, before turning around and smiling at us with a thumbs up. I love the positive energy from this guy.

"Don't mess around, and stay with the group. I'll explain as we go, and you shall ask questions if needed. Also! Do not get in the way of the workers here!" he called out, his voice carrying authority despite the cheerfulness.

I took a look at the various machinery available, and... is that a drying section? Might be for drying out the Goraku fruit and then grinding it down for the pills. It made sense—some of the ingredients needed to be dried out first to preserve them or concentrate their effects. Fuck, what am I saying? I'm the one who found out about it while reading.

"As you might already know, the fruit is a key ingredient in these pills. It's crushed into a powder, then mixed with other herbs and ground components to create the final product," Kenjiro-sensei said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "But it's not just about mixing them together. There's a balance that must be maintained, much like in life itself."

He gave us a knowing look. "Too much of one ingredient, and the batch is ruined. Too little, and it hardly has any effect. Think of it like training, okay? Too much effort that you put in, you'll burn out and lose yourself. Too little effort, and you basically make no progress."

He paused, before continuing. "Life works the same way. Find your balance, and you'll get the most out of everything."

...I'm not listening to that, no way. Slacking off will get me nowhere.

Taking a look around while the others were focused on Kenjiro-sensei or the machinery, I noticed two men far away from us, working on some mixture samples. Both of them were dressed in scientist-like coats. One looked average, but the other? He was a bald, stern-looking man, had glasses, and a goatee-styled beard.

I couldn't tell what they were doing or talking about, but once my eyes landed back on Amai, she looked horrified. Why?

****

[Amai's POV]

Is this... Is this real? Should I believe what I'm hearing and seeing right now?

These people. They're putting blue crystals into the fucking mixture! I know that I have better eyesight and hearing thanks to my chakra control, but someone should be taking notice of this, right?!

"Jesse, you fucking idiot! These need more meth!" The bald man scolded his lackey, whose name seemed to be... Is that an actual name here? Rather unusual, but what the hell?! Are they seriously putting meth into the mixture? Am I in some kind of weird cooking class?!

The man gripped his lackey's shoulder firmly. "We need to get cooking as soon as we can, Jesse. As much meth as we can get."

I froze. COOKING?! Was I in the right place after all? I stole a quick glance at the others, who were completely unalarmed. Kenjiro-sensei kept talking about how soldier pills were advanced by Tsunade-sama and what each tier did to your system, completely unaware that Walter freaking White was putting in literal drugs into these pills in the middle of our trip!

I turned back, and the other man was just rubbing his forehead in exasperation, "Yo, Mr. White, this is a damn factory, man. We can't just-"

"Jesse." The bald man gripped both of his shoulders this time. "I am the one who knocks."

I felt my soul leave my body. There's absolutely no way.

Is no one noticing this shit?!

I frantically looked around, expecting someone—anyone—to have a reaction. But no, everyone else was too focused either on the medicinal smell, the ingredients, machinery or Kenjiro-sensei rambling about supply chains as if we weren't witnessing a literal crime scene.

Was I hallucinating? Did the void affect something else in my head?! Yeah, that's gotta be it!

"Mr. White, we can't do this here, man. They will catch us, this is a government facility!" the man harshly whispered.

"Jesse." The bald man looked him dead in the eyes, "We are in the ninja world. The cartel cannot reach us here."

THE CARTEL?!

Okay, I'm convinced. This has got to be some genjutsu, yeah?

I held a half ram seal in front of me, 'Release!'

They did not disappear. HUH?!

'Release, release, release! RELEASE!'

Nothing. No warping reality, no sudden headaches, no weird chakra fluctuations—just me, standing there like an idiot, aggressively dispelling absolutely nothing.

"Amai, what are you doing? You've had a grimace on for the past minute." asked Sora next to me in a concerned tone.

I turned to him slowly, my voice barely a whisper. "...Sora. Please tell me you see that." I subtly pointed towards the two scientists.

"All I see is two men working on medicine." he deadpanned.

My sanity cracked. WHAT THE HELL?!

"They're making meth, Sora. And they're putting it into the mixture, right in front of us." I whispered again while grabbing his shoulders, shaking him slightly.

He gave me what I'm pretty sure was the most unimpressed look I've seen him with so far, "Amai, there's no way they could be doing that. This is a medical facility, and they're probably making medicine."

"But, but...!"

"Say, hypothetically, for the sake of argument, they are in fact adding blue crystals to the pills. What do you expect us to do?"

"Report it to Kenjiro-sensei or someone reliable!!" I whisper shouted into his ear.

"Hey, sensei. These two are making illegal drugs and adding them into the pills." Sora mimicked in a monotone voice. "See how stupid that sounds?"

"Aagh!" I ran my hands through my hair, completely losing it. 'Am I the only one seeing reality for what it is?! Those are criminals in a literal fucking government facility!'

"Look, unless you can prove it, there's nothing you can do. Our job is just to be mini soldiers for this village, so there's really no need to stick our nose into where it doesn't belong,"

I felt my blood pressure rising, and once I turned back, the bald man was whispering intensely into the other man's ear. "Jesse, we need to finish this batch before the Hokage catches on."

"See?!" I whispered while pointing wildly at them. "He just mentioned the fucking Hokage!"

"Stop cursing, you'll draw attention from the group to us by whispering to me like this!" He hissed while reprimanding me.

Why.

I wanted to scream, grab someone—anyone—and shake them until they could actually see the absolute insanity unfolding before me.

Instead, I was just staring like an idiot, watching as the greatest drug empire in television history was apparently expanding into motherfucking Konoha!