Chapter 148: Growth Always Comes at a Price
The advantages of mechanical ascension were obvious. At the very least, human technology still had a chance of reaching it. But the drawbacks were just as clear. The level of technology decided the ceiling and the floor.
If the tech level was low, you could only become a robot.
If the tech level was high enough, one person could destroy a planet.
So the biggest problem with mechanical ascension was simple. It demanded an absurdly high level of technical mastery.
Biological ascension was a completely different route. Turning humans into Super Saiyans was already a form of it, yet the difficulty was brutal and the drawbacks were hard to ignore.
Sasori walked the mechanical ascension path.
As for biological ascension, Kenichi felt Orochimaru was moving in that direction. At the very least, their teacher had already mastered a form of immortality.
If biological ascension could be completed successfully in the future, then it was absolutely possible.
"Kenichi, what about those technicians?" Sasori looked at him. They were preparing to leave. The only truly valuable thing in Ancor had been the energy conversion device, and now that device had been removed.
That meant the technicians were no longer useful. Worse, transporting them all the way to the Land of Rice Fields would take time and create risk.
Among those people, only the one in charge was a shinobi. The rest were ordinary civilians who could not run fast, could not fight, and could not keep up.
If they brought them along, they could only move slowly. Just crossing the Land of Fire would take more than a month, maybe even longer.
"Kill them all, except the highest ranking researcher," Kenichi said, shaking his head. "Keeping the rest is pointless. They'll only cause trouble."
He said it casually, but he noticed Anko beside him. Her face had gone a little pale.
Kenichi understood. Even for a shinobi, killing an enemy and killing an unarmed person were not the same thing.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
If Anko could not accept this, then he would seal her memories again and let her live as an ordinary shinobi. Simple.
"Senior brother, let me do it."
To his surprise, Anko stepped forward on her own.
Her expression was determined, even though the color had not fully returned to her face.
"Alright," Kenichi said, nodding. "I'll leave it to you. Be quick and efficient."
He had considered using these researchers as consumables for experiments, like testing jutsu that targeted the soul.
But he had been out too long already. It was time to return. Staying even one more day increased the chance of exposure, and if Konoha surrounded them again, it would be a headache.
It was not impossible, just time consuming.
So it was better to end it cleanly.
By the time Kenichi found Shinno again, the man was already dead.
Shinno was old, and he had suffered heavy injuries. The only reason he had held on this long was because Kenichi had poured a large amount of Yang Release chakra into him.
Kenichi stroked his chin, eyes cold and practical.
"Cut off some flesh, then burn the body."
He reached down and removed one of Shinno's arms.
Not the normal one.
It was the mutated arm.
Kenichi had a strong interest in whatever strange secret technique Shinno possessed. He searched the corpse thoroughly, hoping to find scrolls or notes.
There was nothing.
The lack of any written record left him irritated.
"Senior brother, it's all cleaned up."
Anko walked back over. Her body trembled slightly, and her voice shook a little too, but she had completed the task Kenichi gave her.
"Yes," Kenichi said softly. "You did well."
He smiled and patted her head.
This step mattered.
People had to grow.
If someone started out cold blooded, killing without a burden from the very beginning, Kenichi would always suspect something was wrong with them. Even Anko needed to go through things like this to change.
That was just how people were.
After settling everything at Ancor, Kenichi and Sasori left the fortress. Koji Tadokoro traveled with them as well, along with Anko, and the group headed toward the Land of Rain.
The journey was uneventful. Kenichi heard no rumors of Konoha suffering an attack, but he was certain his rogue status had been updated. After everything he had done, he was at least an S rank rogue shinobi now.
While resting in a small town, though, he heard fresh news.
"Did you hear?" A shinobi at the next table said excitedly while Kenichi ate barbecue. "A hot spring town in the Land of Rice Fields got destroyed by Jiraiya and Orochimaru, two of the Legendary Sannin!"
Kenichi almost threw the meat in his hand straight into Anko's face.
What was going on?
How did their teacher run into Jiraiya again?
And in the Land of Rice Fields of all places?
There was no way Jiraiya was bold enough to go hunting Orochimaru under these circumstances, right?
Anko clearly was not ready for a bomb like that. Her mouth fell open, her small eyes full of disbelief.
She knew their teacher and Jiraiya had history, but she never imagined it escalating this far.
"It sounds like something interesting happened," Sasori said calmly, with a hint of gloating.
Kenichi glanced at the special bonus book in Sasori's hand, titled The Story I Had to Tell with Princess Orochimaru, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
He truly had not expected Jiraiya's writing speed to be so frightening.
What was even more outrageous was that the publisher actually dared to print it. Not only that, they even hired a famous shinobi illustrator for a special edition, and included a popularity poll to vote for the most loved character.
It was modern, shameless, and annoyingly well produced.
When Kenichi first learned about it, he lit a candle in his heart for that entire publishing house, and vowed that when they died, he would absolutely attend the funeral.
"Senior brother, what book is Brother Sasori holding?" Anko could not help poking Kenichi's waist.
Kenichi's face stayed blank.
Did she not know the basic rule that a man's kidneys were not to be poked?
Then again, at the moment, he did not really need his kidneys.
When you thought about it, it was a bit tragic.
"Ahem," Kenichi said, clearing his throat. "Kids shouldn't read weird books like that."
He refused to tell Anko the title. It was for her own good. If their teacher discovered Anko was reading that, her future would become extremely miserable.
Even if Orochimaru acted indifferent, he probably had plenty of thoughts about it in his heart.
"Huh?" Anko's eyes filled with confusion. "But it looks like you bought one too, Senior brother. I remember you even sent out something. Like a poll."
Kenichi's face darkened.
He flicked Anko on the forehead. "You unlucky kid. Is that all you pay attention to?"
Then he lied without blinking.
"That's a book only jonin can read. When you become a jonin, you can read it."
"Oh," Anko said immediately, accepting it like it was law. "I see."
The effect was outstanding.
Kenichi watched his naive junior sister and suddenly felt uneasy.
When he arranged for her to go out and take bounty missions, would she be able to do it properly? If she got scammed, it would be a disaster.
She looked so clueless, nothing like the Anko Kenichi remembered.
He casually stuffed the grilled pork belly into Anko's bowl and continued listening to the shinobi next door.
They had been talking about Orochimaru and Jiraiya fighting, but the topic suddenly drifted into a long discussion about hot spring town girls "reforming themselves."
Kenichi had to endure it until the conversation finally returned to something useful.
"So who won?" one of the shinobi asked, voicing the exact question Kenichi cared about.
"I don't know," another said, "but I heard Jiraiya got chased off by Orochimaru. He ran away, and then he jumped into a bunch of women's bathhouses along the way."
Yes. That sounded exactly like Jiraiya.
Still, no one could say clearly who won.
Kenichi felt helpless, but it sounded like their teacher had the upper hand.
Just then, a man walked in from outside. He sat down leisurely to the right of Kenichi's group and called the waiter over to order.
Kenichi glanced at him.
The man looked… unique.
His hair was shaped like a flattened rooster comb, bald on both sides, with long hair in the middle tied back into a ponytail. There was a Roman numeral under his left eye, and a strange protrusion under his chin.
Kenichi looked once, then lost interest. The shinobi world was full of weird looking people.
After finishing their barbecue, Kenichi led Anko onward toward the Land of Rain.
Soon they left the border of the Land of Fire and stepped into Rain territory.
"Senior brother, aren't we living in the Land of Fire?" Anko could not help looking back.
Since she was born, she had basically never left the Land of Fire. Most of her missions had been carried out there too.
"Well," Kenichi said with a helpless shrug, "both our teacher and I are rogue shinobi. And now, Anko, you're a rogue shinobi too."
He had only recently learned that Konoha had already classified Anko as a B rank rogue shinobi.
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