"Done! I have an improved version of the communication device!" Arakawa exclaimed as he looked at Haruto eagerly.
"Did you do as I said?" Haruto asked softly while he was focused on writing the code for the improvements he'd asked Arakawa to make.
Arakawa nodded, causing Anko to leave her work station and come up to them to see just how else Haruto had solved the internet fixed transmission rate problem.
Haruto connected to the device that Arakawa had just plugged in and hit the enter key.
Not even a few seconds later, Arakawa and Anko looked at the downloads folder on the other computer with shock and surprise.
"It worked!" Arakawa jumped with joy after opening the image that was transmitted from Haruto's computer, a painting of a house, a few mountains, a coconut tree and a sun in the background, all drawn in Haruto Paint, a new software that Haruto had created for fun.
"What is this device?" Anko asked while looking at the two small bento boxes which Arakawa had used to retro fit a few electronics and connected to both the PCs.
"It is the transmission device that works independently of the computer to transmit a file across the internet." Arakawa said scientifically, causing Anko to frown and look at Haruto.
Haruto laughed a little before explaining Arakawa's cryptic words, "The problem with the previous iteration of the internet was that its speed depended on the processing speed of the computer. But now with this new box of electronics and a clone that's solved for good!"
"How?"
"Simple, the computer uploads whatever it wants to send to the box through wire at high speed, and the box then independently handles the sending to the other clones."
"Huh… that's a simple solution to our problem… but I still like that split packet solution better… it doesn't need any extra parts and still works just fine." Anko said after some thought, causing Haruto to shrug.
"We can sell this one separately to departments and people that want faster and more reliable download and upload speeds."
"Oh! Now we're talking!" Anko nodded, "That is a good idea indeed."
"Enough about our project, did you finish what I asked you to do?" Haruto asked Anko finally while tapping the box since Anko's work was the more important part to get the internet up and running.
Anko nodded, "We've finished our work too! The clones can now be identified by what you called an Internet Protocol (I.P.) address, and each clone can distinctly connect to whatever address is specified."
"Cool! Then let's quickly combine this with more computers and test it all together. Then we can show it off to Inoichi-san tomorrow and earn our pay." Haruto said softly.
He wanted to smile at the news of a pay day…
…but Tsunade was still missing.
It had been three full days and there was no sign of her or Jiraiya and Shizune.
To the rest of the village they had just gone on a mission.
Only a select few higher ups including Haruto knew the truth.
After their tests ended for the day, Haruto packed up and left for the Senju compound.
He was still living there since all his stuff had been moved anyway and he didn't feel like moving it back since no one lived there anyway.
After all, this gave him a lot of privacy since people rarely visited that part of the village.
And Haruto needed his privacy too, because today, he was going to attempt to make the philosopher's stone that would sit inside his body and give him a near Kage level amount of mana from the Hashirama Cells he'd sourced off the fish.
Haruto sat down in his room and pulled out a bottle of ink from one of the drawers.
Haruto then quietly drew up a transmutation circle on the ground before speaking to Edward.
'Does this look right to you, Edward?'
'What in God's name are you doing!?' Edward asked 'calmly'.
'Nothing too difficult… I'm going to be turning the spiritual energy in the Hashirama cells into an artificial soul which I will sacrifice to make a philosopher's stone.'
'Philoso- Philosopher's stone!? You said you wouldn't make it! I trusted you!' Edward shouted out loud causing everyone to give him some space.
Haruto frowned at that.
'I'm not making one by killing someone am I? I'm only using the spiritual energy in the chakra in the Hashirama cells to create a replica.'
Edward wanted to say something more but Grindelwald put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head softly before speaking up in Haruto's support, 'Haruto-kun's right. He needs to increase his strength now that Tsunade's gone. This is the only way he can do it safely.'
Edward made an unwilling expression before sighing, 'Fine… but just this once.'
Seeing Edward acquiesce, Haruto finally gave a small smile before returning to focus on the seal he'd just drawn on the floor.
Haruto then pulled out a sealing scroll from his pocket and with a soft puff of smoke, that indicated the inefficiency of the seal on the scroll, unsealed a fresh gooey white substance.
This white substance was Hashirama cells.
Simply holding it made Haruto feel energetic.
Haruto still hadn't figured out the mystery behind how Hashirama cells could produce spiritual energy along with physical energy since spiritual energy was thought to come from the soul itself and not from the body like physical energy, but he knew enough now to work with it.
Haruto placed the clump of Hashirama cells he'd extracted from the fish on the floor, in an empty circular spot in the transmutation circle on the floor and stood in another circle of his own.
He then took a deep breath in, before pulling out a towel and placing it in between his teeth, then he started the first alchemy process to build the philosopher's stone in the Naruto world.
Haruto started by slowly pumping chakra into the Transmutation circles to begin with.
Arcs of electricity jumped out of the Transmutation Circle as energy fluctuated in its rawest form while being channeled through them.
The Hashirama cells floated slightly from the floor as if they were weightless before they began to disintegrate in front of Haruto's eyes.
Yet, in Haruto's soul sense he could feel something more complex happening.
The chakra from the Hashirama cells that disintegrated began to split into pure spiritual and physical energy.
And since they were Hashirama cells, the amount of energy contained within them was still about three hundred times more than Haruto's current spiritual and physical energies combined.
The spiritual energy condensed, collapsing in on itself as it solidified into something much more denser and alive, it formed a single artificial soul, unbound by any soul wall, free to leave the world of living and transcend into the world of the dead.
Yet before it could do so, the physical energy coalesced into something like a cage around it. Then after a small local shockwave rippled outwards from the physical energy, it condensed, forming not a crimson red smooth oval crystal but a ruby pink diamond.
Yet surprisingly, if a normal person had been there they wouldn't have spotted the ruby pink diamond at all, as if it wasn't something physical but something spiritual entirely.
But Haruto didn't have the time to look at what was happening outwards anymore.
He looked down upon himself and saw as his chest began to peel open.
A hole formed right above his sternum as flesh quickly tore apart into fibrous tubules.
The pain was enormous and Haruto screamed into the towel while gritting his teeth so tight he felt the towel would tear.
But Haruto still remained still, absolutely still for what was about to come next.
The ruby pink diamond slowly floated down towards the base of Haruto's neck. It settled into the hole that had just formed in his flesh and began to merge with his flesh, the tubules attaching themselves to the diamond as if it had been a part of the body all along.
The hole slowly closed on Haruto's body before the skin sealed up without a single scratch.
The lightning around the transmutation circle died down as the ink was totally absorbed and erased.
Haruto couldn't hold on for a second longer.
He collapsed and fainted immediately.
***
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