Kagenami's base was completely empty now—not even a soul around. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit.
Haseo scratched his head, wondering to himself how come such a big organization had only one or two people on duty today?
But this situation was understandable. After all, the last batch of Uzumaki clan members had arrived at Konoha, and currently the Konoha leadership was busy settling them in. The Uzumaki shinobi within Kagenami had gone there to help as well.
In any case, Kagenami didn't have any major tasks right now, and those who left had followed the rules by formally requesting leave—even each slip of leave request had been personally approved by Haseo himself.
Haseo now had one arm in a sling. Going to greet the Konoha leadership would make him—a disabled man—appear unsightly, and if he went to assist, what kind of help could someone with just one arm provide? Therefore, he obediently stayed behind at the Kagenami base.
Stuck at the base alone, what else was there to do? In short, Haseo decided to research this dried fish instead.
Samehada was still "alive," and over these past few days, Haseo had confirmed this point. Despite being mistreated pretty badly, its miserable condition still wasn't enough to destroy the tenacious vitality unique to such an unusual creature.
According to Haseo's increasingly inaccurate memory, even when severely injured, Samehada didn't require professional treatment. All it needed was chakra to feed it sufficiently, after which it naturally recovered on its own.
However, this thing required an abnormally large amount of chakra absorption—an amount so great it could potentially drain even a Jinchuriki dry. So Haseo couldn't possibly place it near Katsuyu, where the Two-Tails' chakra was stored. Otherwise, the precious tailed beast chakra he'd painstakingly acquired would surely be completely drained.
Therefore, Haseo had prepared to study this strange fish right in his office.
He placed Samehada on his desk and then pressed down on what, theoretically, was its braided tail—essentially the sword's hilt—with one hand.
Then, a small slug on Haseo's shoulder started releasing the Two-Tails' chakra. The chakra flowed through his arm and into Samehada. Soon afterward, the creature began wriggling its body.
An involuntary reflex made Haseo press his tongue against his teeth. For some reason, the more he looked at Samehada, the less it seemed like a fish; rather, it resembled a sea cucumber.
A really old sea cucumber.
Hmm, the species has changed, and it suddenly looks more nutritious.
At the same time, Samehada might have noticed the unfamiliarity of the hand gripping its tail, or perhaps sensed something particularly terrifying. Anyway, it suddenly froze again, playing dead once more.
It was trying to show that it was just a sword—completely devoid of any nutritional value or edible appeal... This proved that, while technically a fish, the creature's intelligence was definitely a cut above that of a Husky.
Haseo's eyes flickered slightly. Suddenly, an amusing plan occurred to him. He put down Samehada, grabbed his coat hanging nearby, threw it over his shoulders, and got ready to go outside.
"Keep an eye on this fish. Don't let it escape, and don't eat it."
"Before I leave," Haseo turned to the Black Cat, who was idly hanging around, and said.
"Meow~" The Black Cat responded sweetly.
If Samehada had come here as an ingredient, the Black Cat would be thrilled. But if Samehada had come here hoping to become a pet, then the Black Cat instinctively felt threatened.
Hadn't the last few days made it obvious? Its owner had been obsessing over that fish and completely ignoring the cat. And once a pet lost its charm, there was only one thing left for it—ending up on the stove.
Thinking about it, the Black Cat shuddered involuntarily. It bared its sharp teeth—it really did want to eat Samehada this time.
...
After leaving the Kagenami Base, Haseo strode confidently in a certain direction within the village. Before long, he stopped with practiced ease in front of a house.
Without hesitation, he stepped forward and gave the door a firm knock.
"What is it?"
The door cracked open slightly, and a hoarse, cold, yet slightly muffled voice came from behind it.
Orochimaru's face remained as pale as ever, and right now there was even a cloth covering his nose and mouth.
"So you're home. Did you not go with Tsunade on her mission?" Haseo asked.
An old saying goes like this: When in doubt, consult the expert. Orochimaru was Konoha's foremost scientist and inventor—in short, Konoha's leading expert.
Even though he was still just "Orochi" at this point.
"It was a medical mission. Jiraiya and I weren't necessary. Anyway… do you need something?" Orochimaru clearly didn't feel like dealing with Haseo.
But Haseo wasn't going to hold back—he stepped forward and suddenly shoved hard, pushing the door wide open. Orochimaru obviously wanted to protect his privacy, but... there was quite a difference in strength between them.
Haseo thought to himself, what are you so afraid of? This is just a door—not even a closet door in a changing room.
Stepping into the room, Haseo casually glanced around and found nothing particularly unusual inside. The space was filled entirely with bookshelves and countless bottles and jars.
Yeah, this guy really loves knowledge and experiments.
At least, Haseo didn't find a half-dissected human body lying around, otherwise he'd have to decide—should he turn him in directly, or help cover things up before betraying him?
Orochimaru would eventually resist Haseo someday—but apparently, that 'someday' hadn't arrived yet.
"As you can see, I'm not doing anything that needs to be reported. So… shall we get to the reason why you're here?"
Orochimaru actually understood Haseo pretty well.
"It's like this, Orochimaru… Are you interested in cell engineering? Have you studied it?" Haseo casually dropped into a chair and flipped through a book sitting on the table.
The book didn't matter—he was more curious about something else. He wondered if Orochimaru still kept up with his Jiraiya Observation Log?
"Cell engineering?"
"That's right, I'm not talking about transplantation or grafting, nor am I referring to genetic engineering. I'm just talking about cellular engineering, like... cloning technology—cloning sheep, cloning donkeys, or... cloning fish?"
In Haseo's mind, these techniques seemed to be Orochimaru's specialty. He just didn't know whether Orochimaru had already begun researching them. Given Orochimaru's "starting point"—the story of the immortal white snake shedding its skin that the Third Hokage once told him—it made sense he'd always been deeply interested in all sorts of life-related technologies.
"How... do you know about this?"
"Huh?"
Orochimaru used a tone that suggested, 'Are you spying on me?' which left Haseo feeling somewhat baffled.
Haseo thought to himself, *Why would I waste my time watching you? If I had free time, I'd rather catch a glimpse of Tsunade… eh, never mind. I'd probably just take a nap instead.*
Seeing that Haseo truly didn't seem suspicious, Orochimaru gestured for him to follow.
The two walked into another inner room. This place clearly had far more bottles and jars. Sitting at the very center of the lab table was a transparent fish tank.
Two nearly identical small fish were swimming around inside.
There were also several dissected fish—it was obvious that Orochimaru had just been performing such procedures.
If Haseo had gathered so many fish, he'd only be thinking about making fish soup for dinner. But Orochimaru was different from Haseo. Considering his earlier reaction, it meant he really was cloning fish—even successfully so.
Well then, lucky timing—Haseo had been thinking about getting into fish farming anyway.
Mastering cloning tech at such a young age—no wonder Orochimaru's the one holding all the game-changing tech. When Haseo was his age, he was charging enemy battle formations head-on.
"Has anyone ever called you a genius?"
"A lot of people have said that."
Since it was fact, Orochimaru didn't hesitate or deny the label.
"What's the success rate of cloning now?"
"It's still extremely, extremely low."
"Extremely low, huh..."
Orochimaru pulled down his face mask before continuing, "Somatic cells have very poor self-replication ability. Plus, the genetic information contained within a single cell isn't complete. Fully replicating that genetic data and waking up those somatic cells—that's the whole ballgame."
Haseo seemed to think cloning was simple—like just doing a copy-paste job—so Orochimaru had to correct this misunderstanding.
"You don't need to explain technical issues to me. As long as it can succeed, then it counts as possible. So, coincidentally, I've got a task for you… Here's the thing: recently I obtained an old salted fish. Try propagating it asexually.
You're a genius, after all. If anyone can crack it, it's you.
But if you fail, then I'll hand over all your experimental reports from recent years to the Third Hokage. Though your experiments aren't outright illegal, let's just say they walk a dangerous line.
So… you probably won't get punished, but every experiment you conduct from then on will be under village surveillance. After all, the Third Hokage is very concerned about the mental and physical health of his disciples."
"..."
They kept saying cloning requires cell viability. Embryonic cells aren't even guaranteed to work—how could something like a washed-up old fish stand a chance?
And at his age, why does he still love ratting people out?
A young Orochimaru nearly choked on his own blood—this was supposed to be a mission? No way. This was clearly blackmail. If all his experiments were going to be spied on, there'd be no point doing any of them at all. He might as well call it quits and take up cricket fighting.
Hmm, Haseo's meaning was blunt as hell: either help him get things done, or ruin a scientist's future. That's just who he'd always been.
Orochimaru could clone a fish, so there was no reason he couldn't clone Samehada too. Failing meant he simply wasn't trying hard enough—and that called for punishment.
Besides, if Orochimaru had to keep cloning something, fish was definitely a safer bet than humans.
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