Three Months Later
[I'm absolutely high to the max!]
Lin Ke lay sprawled on a rock, his entire body as red as a boiled lobster, his breath coming out in scalding bursts, the rising heat and flowing sweat causing his hair to stick together in clumps.
"Gulp~" He reached out and swallowed a handful of pre-prepared medicine.
Feeling his body gradually cool down, he sat up, clenched his fist, and gave himself a Mystical Palm Technique.
In the end, he still hadn't chosen to grow taller; becoming stronger was, after all, more important.
For his grand plan, this was a necessary sacrifice.
For the past three months or so, he hadn't left the village, nor had he undertaken any missions. Relying on Tsunade's connections, he'd registered at the Medical Department and spent most of his time popping powerful drugs and training.
With the various potent medicines provided by Tsunade, he had rediscovered the feeling of rapid progress he had experienced when he first mastered the Mystical Palm Technique.
The biggest difference was that, back then, he had focused solely on training his strength, resulting in worrying speed and out-of-control physique. Now, with a medical expert checking in every few days and adjusting the types and dosages of drugs, he was improving in all aspects.
Due to the interference of the drugs, his body hadn't bulked up; instead, the density of his muscle tissue had become terrifying, making him look even more compact and refined.
Currently, apart from Genjutsu, which had become a weakness, he was becoming a well-rounded character.
Even if his body didn't develop, forcibly using drugs to become stronger was still effective. Although the height issue was painful, on the bright side, being short was advantageous in high-speed combat.
When I reach the future I desire, I can always let my body develop again...
Should be in time, right?
I'm not short; I'm just choosing to develop a little later.
Lin Ke thought, gulping down a bucket of water handed over by his shadow clone, drinking his fill in one go, then splashing the rest over his body with a whoosh.
His artificially cooled body felt much more comfortable.
The growth rate has started to slow down again these past few days, and resistance to the new drugs has appeared.
He looked at the clouds drifting in the sky, feeling somewhat helpless.
Since discovering that the Mystical Palm Technique solved all problems, his drug consumption had been too intense, like removing the brakes and flooring the accelerator.
Tsunade had predicted long ago that his progress would slow down.
No one had ever been able to take so many drugs and still live, let alone develop drug resistance. Normal people's frequency and dosage of potent drugs were limited; they wouldn't take much before dying, so there was no question of drug resistance.
Potent drugs meant serious side effects on the body. With multiple large doses, the body would undergo corresponding changes to resist the side effects, automatically filtering out some of the drug's toxicity, leading to a rapid decrease in effectiveness.
The Mystical Palm Technique couldn't solve this. The technique worked by identifying and resolving illnesses and ailments, but the body's drug resistance was purely beneficial, so there was no way to extract it.
The problem was that many drugs with similar effects were largely the same. Developing resistance to one drug meant that similar drugs were of little use to Lin Ke.
Tsunade didn't have any good solutions.
Lin Ke had originally thought of developing his own drugs, but a person's energy was limited, and he didn't have much time to invest too much effort in drug development.
To enhance his basic attributes by popping pills, he had even reduced his Wind Release Chakra nature transformation training, and the Ninjutsu Scroll he had exchanged from the Sand Ninja Village hadn't even been opened yet.
Every day, as soon as he opened his eyes, he would take a week's worth of medicine, then start frantically exercising. Once the drug effects were almost absorbed, he would give himself a Mystical Palm Technique.
After the Soldier Pills were digested, he would follow up with another Mystical Palm Technique, then continue popping pills and exercising.
This perverted training occupied most of his day. The little time left over was used for Summoning Jutsu training, leaving no time to consider other matters.
There was one piece of good news: perhaps due to the body's stubbornness, even though he had prepared himself for not growing taller, his body had still managed to grow another centimeter in the past two months.
Don't underestimate that one centimeter; a small step in height was a big step towards becoming a tall, long-legged person in the future.
At the very least, I need to grow to 1.5 meters before Shippuden starts.
Lin Ke sighed silently. It would be too difficult if he was still only 1.4 meters tall when Shippuden started.
After lying down for a while, the shadow clone he had sent out returned with dry clothes. He got up, changed, and slowly walked towards Ichiraku Ramen, pondering what to do next.
It's only been three months, and I've already reached the slow growth period Tsunade predicted. I'll have to rely on time to slowly grind it out, but I can't be idle.
I need to learn all the Ninjutsu I should learn and pick up Wind Release nature transformation training again.
My shadow clones' strength is fixed by my previous physical stats and are becoming increasingly useless. I need to get some Tailed Beast Chakra. I wonder what my chances are against a Jinchuriki.
Lin Ke wasn't really sure about his own strength. After all, this wasn't a Chakra Power Level type of world; strength was all relative.
He was much stronger than before, but how he would fare against enemies was still unknown. The overall increase in physical fitness was mostly reflected in the increase in Chakra reserves. Strength and speed weren't that important as long as he was still a mortal.
The key was that after his basic stats caught up, he wouldn't have to worry about being instantly killed by enemies for no reason, giving him more room to maneuver.
However, with the special attack of the Chakra Scalpel and the information he had gleaned from the manga about the Jinchuriki, he was quite confident when facing them.
It was best not to kill them, capturing them was ideal. If capturing them was impossible, then he would find a way to obtain more Tailed Beast Chakra.
[The three Jinchuriki running around outside the village: Roshi, the Four Tails Jinchuriki, is old, and his combat experience and strength should not be underestimated among the Jinchuriki. Moreover, even if he doesn't get along with the Tsuchikage, he hasn't defected from the Hidden Stone Village. If he can't be captured or killed directly, there will be additional trouble.]
[Naruto goes without saying, so the easiest to bully should be Utakata, the Six Tails Jinchuriki, a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist Village, a young man in his twenties...]
[You're the one I've decided on.]
Lin Ke locked onto his target. He planned to first fleece some wool from the Jinchuriki to refresh his shadow's abilities, and then go directly to make trouble for Orochimaru.
From the experimental data he had deciphered, the Rascal Snake's utilization of the Five Elements Sealing was already very deep.
Although he wholeheartedly approved of the spread of the Natural Energy power system, he couldn't let Orochimaru take the lead. Even if he couldn't kill that guy, he had to snatch the Original Body first.
...
—Medical Team Building, top floor laboratory.
"Crack!"
The bulge on the white mouse burst open, and pink flesh and blood splattered on the transparent glass.
"As expected, it failed again." Shizune shook her head and started typing on the computer.
Tsunade stood in front of the operating table, looking at Kimimaro lying on it, her expression very serious.
She still didn't understand how Lin Ke's Five Elements Sealing could form the Original Body, and why the Original Body could attract Natural Energy.
After two consecutive months of experiments, she found that ordinary flesh and blood transplanted from Kimimaro did not have any effect on attracting Natural Energy.
Even if the Seal was released, the ordinary flesh and blood still did not show the characteristics of attracting Natural Energy. Therefore, with Lin Ke's assistance, she further researched that the root cause of Kimimaro's explosion was actually the body and the Cursed Seal's rejection of Natural Energy and Original Body cells.
The Original Body cells' excessive aggressiveness forced the body and the Cursed Seal to unite to suppress it.
In this process, Kimimaro couldn't control his body at all and couldn't synthesize Chakra.
If it was the Natural Energy attracted by the Cursed Seal, it didn't matter. Even if it exploded, it wouldn't affect anything. However, the Natural Energy attracted by the Original Body cells had extremely strong destructive power.
The constantly increasing conflict of Natural Energy would eventually lead to the body being unable to withstand it, turning into a bomb composed of special Natural Energy.
Tsunade understood the principle, but why?
However, not understanding the principle didn't prevent her from further research. After figuring out the problem, she began to extract and experiment around the Original Body cells that had been suppressed into a small mass.
After repeatedly transplanting them into white mice for half a month, the Original Body cells on Kimimaro's body became less and less, and he had even resumed refining Chakra. She was still stuck on how to keep the white mice transplanted with Original Body cells alive.
"Could it be that besides the Natural Energy brought by the Cursed Seal, Chakra cannot be balanced with the Original Body cells?"
Tsunade said, with an answer in her heart.
The existence of Sage Art Chakra and Sage Mode meant that people with strong enough body energy and mental energy could achieve a balance with Natural Energy.
The trouble with Sage Mode was that not everyone could sense and absorb Natural Energy.
Moreover, in actual combat, relying on 'stillness' to absorb Natural Energy was a very troublesome thing.
The Original Body cells happened to solve this problem, and the attracted Natural Energy was even stronger, but this thing was also more explosive, with extremely outstanding destructive power. That is, it required someone with stronger physical fitness and more Chakra to control these special Natural Energy and blend them into a new Sage Art Chakra.
As Original Body cells that solved the threshold of Natural Energy sensing and absorption, it was theoretically possible to solve the subsequent utilization problems through experiments.
However, the bodies of white mice were too fragile, and they would die quickly after transplantation. The ones really suitable for experimentation should be humans and ninja beasts.
Especially powerful humans, who were naturally better at Chakra control, might be able to allow everyone to use Sage Mode.
Tsunade's expression didn't show anything, but she was very conflicted in her heart. Human experimentation was not a taboo in the ninja world, but it was still difficult for her to cross the line.
The previous experiment by Orochimaru on the First Hokage's cells was enough to make her remember the tragic ending of human experimentation for the rest of her life.
But the Sage Mode that could be popularized was like a carrot dangling in front of a donkey, always making it difficult for her to let go.
[If a test subject with strong physical fitness and huge Chakra is needed...]
Tsunade closed her eyes in silence.
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