"…Didn't you say you wanted to learn Flying Thunder God?"
Orochimaru stared at Kenichi in silence, the corner of his mouth twitching.
Was this what he called "learning"?
He'd taken the scroll, glanced through it once, and then put it away. If someone walked in right then, they'd think he was flipping through some light novel.
Even Jiraiya's novels took longer than that to skim.
Orochimaru had read those too—against his will.
Jiraiya had hounded him relentlessly to "at least read one," until he finally gave in.
He'd finished the entire book in twenty minutes.
Then used it as a table wedge.
"Hehe, sensei, I've just got too much on my plate right now," Kenichi said, shrugging.
There were simply too many projects in progress.
He was interested in Flying Thunder God, sure—but if he split his focus now, everything else would stall. Better to first finish solving the chakra version of the thermobaric bomb: a chakra fuel-air bomb.
His current, more mature idea was to use chakra as a remote detonation trigger.
But that wouldn't infuse a lot of chakra into the system, so the improvement in power would probably be limited.
A more tempting path was to merge the thermobaric fuel with chakra itself and find a stable hybrid configuration—then test the resulting monster's destructive potential.
The downside was obvious:
Money.
Producing thermobaric fuel required large quantities of raw chemical components. Alone they weren't too expensive, but once the volume climbed high enough, the cost became brutal.
Kenichi still had some savings, but he'd already earmarked that money for his lab.
Once they reached the Land of Rice Fields, he planned to hand everything over to Orochimaru; with that, his teacher could help construct a functional research base.
That would finally complete his lingering "optional mission" of building his own lab.
Honestly, he'd almost forgotten that mission even existed.
"Focusing on one project isn't bad," Orochimaru said with a nod. He'd long noticed how scattered his disciple's ideas were—always jumping from one invention to the next.
Which, to be fair, was also a kind of talent. Scientists needed inspiration.
But if you hit one nail here and another there, never driving anything all the way in, you ended up with a mess and nothing to show for it. So seeing Kenichi commit to a single line of research was reassuring.
"By the way, sensei—how's Bosun Shin's body holding up?" Kenichi asked quickly.
Previously, that poor man had lost a left arm on the operating table.
Now Kenichi wasn't sure if he was still in one piece.
The man had volunteered as a test subject, sure—but his body was far too special. Kenichi wanted him alive and well, if only so he'd be available for future… usage.
Chatting as they walked, master and disciple finally arrived in the Land of Rice Fields.
The entire country was in chaos.
Rice was a small nation bordering only the Land of Fire. It had some freelancers and drifters, but nothing that could be called a proper shinobi village, no real powerhouse to guard it.
Its "strongest" fighter was a single jōnin who served directly under the daimyo, called in only when something truly troublesome happened.
And even though Rice didn't border Lightning, war had still cast a shadow over them.
The people were terrified the flames would eventually reach their fields.
By the time Kenichi and Orochimaru entered, many of the small villages they passed were nearly deserted.
"These little countries really…" Kenichi shook his head.
Small nations had no dignity.
The only reason Fire hadn't simply swallowed Rice was political inconvenience—on paper, they needed to preserve appearances, and practically, they didn't want to border every other great power.
If a war broke out straight across the frontier, the flames would hit their heartland much more easily.
That wouldn't do.
"Being weak is the original sin," Orochimaru said calmly.
He'd seen this play out more than once.
In the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars, the main battlefields had often been on minor nations' soil. Konoha's armies never bothered "informing" those daimyo when they marched through.
Kenichi didn't reply. He just followed his teacher until they reached an isolated area, well away from prying eyes.
And then he watched Orochimaru reach up…
…and peel off his own face.
A blonde girl stepped out from beneath the discarded skin, holding that "mask" in one hand as she flicked her hair back and let out a long breath.
"…"
Kenichi inhaled deeply.
Good grief, sensei—could you not give a warning before tearing your face off?
Had the body's instincts started influencing the soul this much?
"I tried studying that 'facial recognition' thing you mentioned," Orochimaru said casually. "And when I was registering sample data, I accidentally recorded this face."
She stretched out a hand and tapped a nearby tree.
The trunk opened—a segment sliding aside to reveal a small, glowing panel. A beam of light scanned across her face, and with a soft click, a hidden door swung open in the ground.
Kenichi suddenly had an overwhelming urge to complain, but didn't even know where to begin.
Facial recognition was way too high-tech for this world.
He had mentioned it to Orochimaru once, offhand, just as an idea. He'd never actually expected his teacher to build it.
And yet here they were.
Orochimaru had literally hand-crafted a working facial recognition security system… in a tree.
Kenichi's mind blanked for a moment—but then again, he thought, wasn't this perfectly normal?
This was Orochimaru, after all.
The man who basically owned shinobi-world core technology. At this point, Kenichi wouldn't be surprised if he woke up one day to find Orochimaru had reinvented wi-fi.
The second surprise was the fact that the registered face was this one.
Kenichi studied Yūki's features carefully.
He had to admit: she was stunning.
Fair skin, flawless proportions, every inch a beauty in the making.
Then he violently shook his head and almost slapped himself.
What the hell am I thinking?
Yes, Yūki was a beautiful girl—but the soul inside was still Orochimaru.
Thinking back on everything his teacher had done, Kenichi's expression slowly returned to neutral.
"Sensei, how much did this lab cost you?" he asked as they stepped inside.
Despite being underground and not especially large, the lab was incredibly well laid out. Compact, but fully equipped: every essential facility was there.
Kenichi immediately saw the possibilities.
If he converted one of the small rest rooms into a reinforced blast chamber, this place could perfectly serve as his personal lab.
"Let me think…" Orochimaru said.
She still hadn't put her old face back on, continuing to use Yūki's body and features. She tilted her head to one side as she thought, the motion unconsciously cute.
Kenichi deliberately turned his gaze away.
He strongly suspected his teacher was doing that on purpose.
But he had no proof.