Chapter 128: Problem Child
"My initial Wood Release wasn't actually much weaker than yours."
Meeting their gazes, Kei shook his head.
"The reason I seem stronger than you isn't because the Wood Release I devoured was superior. It's because of something else."
"Something else?"
Hiruko's expression turned urgent at once.
"What is it?"
"The flesh and blood of the Nine-Tails."
As his voice fell, Kei raised a hand.
A wisp of pale golden chakra gathered in his palm and condensed into a Rasengan.
In an instant, the Nine-Tails' chakra was fully revealed, its presence unmistakable.
"Is this Nine-Tails chakra?"
Feeling the power Kei had displayed, both Orochimaru and Hiruko were visibly shocked.
"Without Lord First's massive chakra reserves as a foundation, Wood Release is really just a slightly stronger kekkei genkai. It's powerful, yes, but not overwhelmingly different from bloodline abilities like Ice Release."
Kei spoke calmly.
"To truly bring out the full strength of Wood Release, you need sufficiently powerful chakra."
"The Nine-Tails..."
Hiruko's face heated up.
"Can the Nine-Tails' flesh and blood also be devoured with the Chimera Technique?"
He looked at Kei, and though he did not say the rest aloud, the meaning in his eyes was already obvious.
"You want to devour the Nine-Tails' flesh and blood the way I did?"
Without needing him to continue, Kei immediately understood what he was thinking.
Or rather, with Hiruko's obsession with power, it would have been strange if he had not thought of it.
"That is a very dangerous idea."
Kei's expression remained calm.
"Devouring the Nine-Tails' flesh and blood is far more dangerous than devouring Lord First's cells."
No matter how powerful Hashirama's cells were, they ultimately had no consciousness of their own.
As long as one could withstand the backlash of the First Hokage's cells, one could successfully devour and seize them.
But the flesh of a Tailed Beast was different.
Tailed Beasts were extremely special beings. Their flesh and cells also carried terrifying instinctive consciousness.
If someone tried to devour a Tailed Beast's flesh, a single mistake could cause them to be overwhelmed by the instincts remaining in that chakra. In the end, they would go completely mad.
"With your current condition, if you forcibly devour the Nine-Tails' flesh, you'll most likely lose your mind."
He stated it plainly.
"Is there really no way?"
Hiruko was unwilling to give up.
He had always been paranoid by nature. Now that he had finally found a path to make himself stronger, there was no way he would let it go so easily.
"There is a way."
Kei spoke evenly.
"Temper your will. As long as your will becomes strong enough, strong enough to suppress a Tailed Beast's instincts with ease, then naturally there will be no danger."
"But right now, you're still far from that point."
Inside the laboratory, Kei spent quite a bit of effort before finally persuading Hiruko to give up, at least for the time being.
A moment later, Hiruko left with a face full of unwilling thoughts.
"Keep a closer eye on him for a while."
Standing there and watching Hiruko's departing back, Kei shook his head.
"Even if he promised me he wouldn't try anything, he definitely won't be content in private."
"That's true."
Orochimaru's face showed agreement.
"With his temperament, he has probably already started thinking about how to do it in secret."
"I'll prepare the materials for him."
Kei's expression remained composed.
"With his personality, he won't be satisfied unless he personally experiences failure."
"Since that's the case, we might as well give him a chance to try."
"Won't that be a problem?"
Orochimaru looked surprised.
"What if he fails..."
"I'll leave him a safe sample. I'll lower the concentration to the absolute minimum and let him experience only a trace of that power."
Kei said, "Even if he fails, nothing serious will happen."
It could not be helped.
Orochimaru and Hiruko were useful, but both of them also came with their own issues.
If one really tried to treat them like obedient children, something would go wrong sooner or later.
Compared to Hiruko, Orochimaru was actually much easier to handle.
Although he had ambitions of his own, he still possessed reason and emotions.
As long as his needs were met and no one blocked his path forward, he would stay obediently and would not cause trouble without reason.
Hiruko was different.
That boy was too extreme. Once he set his mind on something, it was very difficult to change it.
A person like that, obsessed with strength, was bound to make things troublesome sooner or later.
Fortunately, with Kei around, everything was still under control.
Otherwise, if Hiruko were left to his own devices, he would probably end up destroying himself.
"Go get some proper rest."
Kei patted Orochimaru on the shoulder.
"You haven't rested in a long time because of this experiment. It's time to stop."
"Go outside the lab and take a walk. Your friend is still waiting for you."
He pointed outside the laboratory.
From beyond the doors, bursts of hearty laughter could faintly be heard. It sounded like Jiraiya's voice.
"A friend..."
Orochimaru looked toward the outside, his expression turning thoughtful.
He did not reject Kei's concern. He simply nodded and walked out.
Time passed slowly.
By late at night, the laboratory had gradually fallen silent.
The staff who had been busy inside had all returned home to rest.
And at that very moment, a figure slipped out from the shadows and quietly moved forward.
It was Hiruko.
"It should be here."
Walking in from outside, he carefully made his way deeper into the laboratory.
This was where Kei stored certain precious materials. Under normal circumstances, apart from Kei himself, only a very small number of people were qualified to enter.
Hiruko happened to be one of them.
As Kei's assistant, he often came and went from this place and was extremely familiar with it all. That was why he had been able to make it this far without alerting the guards.
And his purpose was simple.
"With Teacher's personality, since he collected the Nine-Tails' flesh and blood, there's no way he wouldn't have left a reserve sample."
As he searched the room, all kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind.
"It has to be here..."
He searched for a while, and soon his gaze locked onto a corner.
There stood a large container, and inside it was a bottle of crimson liquid.
The bottle looked ordinary enough, yet an inexplicable power flowed within it, giving off an eerie feeling.
As Hiruko moved closer, a faint aura of Nine-Tails chakra spread from it.
"Found it!"
His heart instantly surged with excitement.
"This is the one!"
Without the slightest hesitation, he grabbed it and quickly left the room.
And only moments after he was gone, Kei's figure appeared.
....
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