Chapter 124: Something Even More Terrifying
How did the spread speed accelerate?
So, this is the normal rate of spread, isn't it?
The pain in his left hand was unlike any injury he had ever experienced. If he had to compare it, it was like countless ants tearing at his flesh beneath his skin.
A cold sweat broke out due to the pain, but it was manageable. This level of pain was still within Kakashi's tolerance. Compared to Yakushi Nonou beside him, his expression was even calmer.
"I have a way to suppress its spread..."
"This is unbelievable... What exactly is going on?"
The white-robed nun already found it an incomprehensible miracle that the man before her possessed a potential antibody. She never expected him to be able to freely control this suppressive ability. Though she didn't want to admit it, this child of the Hatake clan was indeed a more suitable research subject than she was.
With a small knife, she dug out a piece of flesh from the edge of the spreading white skin, a chunk composed half of Hashirama Cells and half of Kakashi's own cells. She then quickly used the Mystical Palm Technique to stop his bleeding.
Placing the flesh chunk into a container filled with an unknown solution, identical to the one previously holding Hashirama Cells, Yakushi Nonou called a halt to this experiment.
"That's enough. Next, I will analyze the composition of your cells and the First Hokage's cells."
"Alright."
Reactivating 'Abnormal Buff Clearing,' the young man felt a slight fluctuation of Chakra in his body. Though minimal, it was indeed flowing away.
It must be the System draining Chakra.
Much easier than he'd imagined. He'd thought these miraculous cells would be far more troublesome.
After the spread of the white skin on his left hand was suppressed, a few more minutes passed. Kakashi's cells began to counterattack, completely suppressing the white cells. The area of white skin gradually shrank, and half an hour later, all Hashirama Cells were completely annihilated.
On his left hand, aside from the scar left by his Raikiri, no one could tell that it had ever been invaded by Hashirama Cells.
This entire process was also observed by Yakushi Nonou. She continuously monitored Kakashi's heartbeat, adrenaline secretion, blood, and the activity of the Hashirama Cells with an instrument of unknown function.
"Incredible. I understand why your body can suppress the cells of the First Hokage. Your cells seem to secrete a substance that reduces the activity of the First Hokage's cells, and their cell division rate is overtaken by your own cell division rate."
"Are my cells stronger than the First Hokage's?"
"Not necessarily. This doesn't mean your cells are stronger than the First Hokage's. Your cells are simply too unique. I can only draw conclusions after further research."
"Alright."
Kakashi drank a few drops of the Intermediate Recovery Potion. In the blink of an eye, even the scar left by the earlier Raikiri vanished. Propping himself up with one hand on the table, the young man picked up the container holding the mixture of his cells and Hashirama Cells with the other. He shook it twice, watching the chunk of flesh float in the solution. The white cells still held a definite advantage.
[How long could my own cells last against the Hashirama Cells' assault without the System's help?]
That answer would soon be revealed, but Yakushi Nonou had no intention of letting the Hashirama Cells continue to spread unchecked.
Taking the container from the silver-haired young man, she placed it into a medical-grade refrigerator. Low temperatures could effectively reduce the activity of Hashirama Cells that weren't receiving nutrients, which was the best method for studying these cells.
Looking around at the various instruments, Kakashi's mind drifted to other thoughts. Since they were doing examinations and research, they might as well go all out.
"Can you analyze Chakra and eyes?"
"Chakra and eyes? Yes, I can."
Studying these two things would be much simpler than studying Hashirama Cells. After all, the former carried the tricky risk of test subject fatalities, while Chakra merely required him to use some and seal it into a specific scroll.
Eye research had always been Yakushi Nonou's forte. Back in Root, she had handled many Sharingan, and had researched plenty of Byakugan and other unknown minor clan bloodline eyes as well.
After Kakashi finished sealing his Chakra, the white-robed nun led him to a slightly emptier spot within the room. With a scroll, she summoned a machine designed for lying down, much like an ophthalmologist's examination chair, but more complex.
She then pulled out some unfamiliar equipment. The young man lay back on the chair, closing his right eye and opening his left wide.
The nun, now in researcher mode, first used two devices to hold the subject's eyelids open. She observed the eye briefly with a magnifying glass, then covered it with her hand and channeled a wisp of Chakra into it.
His eye didn't feel dry despite being open for so long. Kakashi felt her Chakra flowing freely within his left eye, probing its internal structure.
The miraculous aspect of medical ninjutsu lay in its ability to achieve many seemingly impossible feats. This type of ninjutsu, which demanded extremely high Chakra precision to probe a subject's bodily structure, was not mastered by many in the Ninja World.
If the precision were even higher, one could even directly extract toxins from the human body using Chakra.
This would effectively counter poison masters in the Ninja World, such as the puppeteers of Sunagakure.
But today, it was destined that Yakushi Nonou would question whether something was wrong with her medical ninjutsu, or if her skills had simply grown rusty from disuse of her probing techniques.
"There are no blood vessels in your eye?"
"Mmm."
"No tear ducts either."
"Mmm."
"Your eye... isn't made of cells..."
"Mmm."
Kakashi's calm demeanor made the white-robed nun stop her further probing. This was an eye she had never seen before; within its blue pupil, countless indistinct things seemed to be flowing.
She hadn't detected any of the components a normal eye should possess. Even the Sharingan and Mangekyo Sharingan, for all their peculiarities, still had those essential parts. The Sharingan's abilities stemmed from its unique Chakra, but what was the case with this eye?
Even its temperature was slightly lower than the surrounding tissue, as if it were a machine.
Yakushi Nonou frowned and sent in more probing Chakra.
"A mechanical eye?"
"Yes."
This indeed explained why this eye was so anomalous. The prolonged channeling of Chakra left the white-robed nun's right hand aching and numb, so she switched hands and continued.
Finally, she detected an even more unusual aspect of this eye.
"It's powered by your Chakra, and the Chakra flow always remains constant. Even when I just tried to interfere with the Chakra flow inside this eye, it didn't change in the slightest. Have you never fallen under genjutsu?"
"I guess so. Does Kotoamatsukami count?"
"You broke free from Kotoamatsukami?"
"Mmm."
"Kakashi, it's not just the uniform Chakra flow. It seems to house something far more terrifying."
Withdrawing her hand, Yakushi Nonou's expression was complex. To call it merely 'special' wasn't accurate; it was likely that no other example like this could be found in the entire Ninja World.
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