Perhaps it was because he had come to terms with things, but when Shiraishi returned, he found his mood much lighter.
His enthusiasm for research was greatly rekindled, and he could now stay in the lab all night without any problem.
Putting aside personal matters, his research had also made significant progress in the past few days.
Due to an unexpected discovery, more and more mice were surviving after being processed with natural energy, which replaced the chakra in their bodies as life energy.
These surviving mice were a size larger than ordinary mice, had more abundant vitality, and most importantly, there had been no sudden deaths so far.
And from the instrument's detection results, this benign growth state could accompany these mice throughout their lives.
They would no longer experience sudden death before their natural lifespan ended.
The processed natural energy could replace the life energy status of chakra, allowing life to function normally.
—Therefore, new human experiments were about to begin.
That's right.
Shiraishi's ultimate goal was not to change mice.
The final stage of this experiment was to apply it to humans.
This was to help Ayane unlock the Caged Bird, so that when she left Konoha, she wouldn't be held hostage by the Hyuga clan.
Although there was still an important stage to complete in the mouse experiments.
That was to use the original natural energy to replace chakra.
Currently, what was replacing the chakra in the mice's bodies was processed natural energy.
But Shiraishi, having discovered the core of the problem, was extremely confident that he could quickly move past this stage.
The next step was the beginning of a new round of human experiments.
Unlike the experiment of integrating natural energy, this experiment was full of danger.
A slight mistake could lead to death.
So, how to minimize the risk... In other words, Shiraishi's bottom line was that even if the experiment failed, the test subject could still survive.
This was also the first thing to solve.
Shiraishi felt very strange; he didn't feel much discomfort when he actively killed people, but when it came to human experiments, he hesitated instead.
This was probably because the feeling of playing with life was also very distasteful to him.
But this was the only path Shiraishi knew to true science.
Whether it was medical science or other types of science, many times, this inhumane human experimentation would be used, and this was how these sciences progressed.
The medical ninjutsu of the ninja world was also like this; it only gained the attention of the ninja villages on the premise of a large number of sacrifices.
The emergence of human experimentation guidelines was merely to slightly comfort the mental health of the executors.
No matter what, this was playing with other people's lives.
It was a completely different psychological activity from directly taking someone else's life.
"What's wrong, Lord Shiraishi?"
A lab assistant saw Shiraishi standing by the experimental table in a daze and asked.
"Nothing, just thinking about some trivial things."
Shiraishi shook his head.
No matter how much he thought, he couldn't abandon the work he had at hand.
Therefore, how to minimize the risks of the next round of human experiments was the most meaningful and valuable thing.
Suddenly remembering something, Shiraishi looked at the five lab assistants helping him in the lab and asked them in a serious tone:
"By the way, do you want to become ninjas?"
The atmosphere in the lab fell silent.
After a long while, one of the lab assistants stammered, "Ninja means... means..."
"It means learning ninja skills, like ninjutsu and so on."
Shiraishi casually explained.
"Can we... do that?"
They seemed a little afraid, and a little unconfident.
"Of course you can.
Your current physical fitness is better than many active ninjas.
Even if you specialize in taijutsu, you can reach the level of a Chunin within a few years, or even surpass it."
Shiraishi knew where their lack of confidence came from.
The five of them were originally just a group of ordinary bandits, completely without any systematic training, let alone ninja skills.
Now, after being improved by natural energy, without considering actual combat experience with real ninjas or tactics, in terms of taijutsu alone, they were already not inferior to the standard Genin level.
To reach Chunin level, or even higher, within a few years, was truly incredible.
But natural energy could achieve this.
This was the wonder of natural energy.
The method of absorbing natural energy he had researched was all based on the premise of being suitable for human development, creating another developable system.
Although this system was still in its initial stages and had many incomplete parts, it was enough to benefit people immensely.
"How about it? Do you want to truly work for me?
I can give you a certain degree of freedom, and even allow you to live better in this world.
Even if you were once cold-blooded bandits, you must still want to protect your parents, wives, and children, right?"
These words were like a knife, deeply rooted in the hearts of the five people.
One of them looked complicated, seemingly recalling some unpleasant past.
"The five of us actually come from the same village, and our homeland is the Land of Rain."
"The main battlefield of the previous war?"
Shiraishi had heard of that place, a place where it rained all year round.
It was known as the 'Crying Country'.
Sandwiched between the three great nations of Fire, Wind, and Earth, Shiraishi could imagine the lives of its people once a war broke out between the great nations.
It was like hell on earth.
"Yes.
A few years ago, those ninjas who came to our village, although they didn't kill us, they took all our living supplies, food, quilts for winter, and even our houses were occasionally requisitioned..."
However, they continued to live humbly, humbly.
In this world completely devoid of warmth, everyone was desperately trying to survive.
If others came to snatch their things, then they would go and snatch things from the weaker ones.
It was all for the sake of survival.
"In the beginning, there were more than twenty of us, but sometimes the things we did were too dangerous, and many of our companions were killed... Actually, there's nothing to complain about, everyone was fighting for survival.
Neither did we feel regret, nor did we think this was some righteous act, it was just fighting for survival..."
The person speaking had dim eyes, and even his expression became numb.
For people who couldn't even satisfy their basic needs... no, for people whose country and family were trampled upon at will, survival was already an all-out effort, and there was no need to be harsh.
Oppressed by the strong, if you didn't want to die, you could only step on the weaker, and snatch food from the weaker.
Dying was just bad luck, not worth complaining about.
Living meant being able to continue surviving, until bad luck struck and you died.
"This is the current state of the ninja world.
It seems the books I showed you earlier were still somewhat useful."
Hearing Shiraishi's words, the five looked at each other with bitter smiles.
Compared to their initial fear, they now held more respect than fear for Shiraishi.
"What is your choice? I have some inconvenient matters that I need you to handle."
"We are willing to serve you."
The five bowed to Shiraishi one after another.
It was reasonable for the five to be so sensible.
For survival, and for better survival, and also thinking of their suffering families in the Land of Rain, if they didn't choose to join Shiraishi's faction, their only path was to continue being test subjects.
"Hmm." Shiraishi nodded and then said, "I can stay in Konoha for another month.
During this month, I will try my best to help you lay some foundations.
After that, I will arrange for you to go to another place; I have a very important task for you to do."
—Collecting intelligence outside.
The focus was on the Land of Demons and the Land of Iron.
He now needed to make some plans for the future.
In the ninja world, these two countries had never been affected by war and were permanently neutral.
Especially the Land of Demons, due to its unique status, it was even safer, more secluded, and wouldn't attract too much attention compared to the Land of Iron.
Before leaving Konoha, it was very necessary to set up stable strongholds.
Moreover, in the ninja world, being alone made it easy to suffer losses.
With the cultivation system of natural energy in his hands, if he had more time, he couldn't guarantee Jonin level, but mass-producing Chunin level ninjas was simply too easy.
Most importantly, he had a very wealthy friend.
In this world, money could solve most problems.
(PS: I originally wanted to post the first chapter at twelve o'clock, but after thinking about it, I'll post both chapters together...)