"Then I'll leave it to you guys for now."
Kenichi Amemiya rubbed his temples. Since Wood Release couldn't speed up crop growth, he could only go back to doing things the slow, painful, scientific way.
"Mm, leave it to us."
A few other Kenichis nodded seriously.
They all knew exactly what they'd just been assigned. Thankfully, this kind of lab work didn't burn much chakra, so the shadow clones could last a good while—
and as long as the original didn't dive into a big fight, they didn't have to worry about suddenly popping like balloons.
Besides, Kenichi's main body had the First Hokage's Sage Body now. His chakra reserves were huge. Very suitable for wasting on research.
When Kenichi slid the door open and walked out of the lab, he saw his teacher, Orochimaru, calmly sipping tea.
Today's posture was…
a bit too graceful.
Sitting with her knees together, back straight, one hand lightly holding the cup—it almost looked like some well-bred young lady from a noble family instead of the infamous Snake Sannin.
"Failed?" Orochimaru glanced at him, golden eyes half-lidded.
"Yeah. Wood Release can't accelerate crops." Kenichi nodded.
And for the record, he still didn't understand Wood Release at all.
It felt like a bloodline limit… but also not quite. At least, no one in the Senju clan had awakened Wood Release after Hashirama. Kenichi had tried reproducing it himself and… nothing. Absolutely no response.
"That's normal," Orochimaru chuckled.
"If it really could accelerate crops, history would've mentioned it. And half the researchers in the world would've gone mad chasing Wood Release."
Food was one of those things nobody ever complained about having too much of. More food → more people fed → more ninja can be raised.
If Wood Release could mass-produce harvests, it wouldn't just be "strong"—it would decide the rise and fall of entire countries.
Kenichi sighed.
"Haah… long is the road, and far to go…"
He'd already mentally prepared himself for this, but the reality still hurt.
In his previous life, one of his buddies was in mechanical engineering. The guy spent months hand-polishing metal samples and running infinite fatigue tests. Just hearing him talk about it made Kenichi's back ache.
Scientific research was like that: from zero to one was always brutal.
If something could be made quickly and easily, it usually meant the person doing it was either a once-in-a-century genius…
or someone like Kenichi, armed with a cheat panel and ready-made blueprints.
Without those reward blueprints, who knew how many years it would've taken him to reinvent thermobaric bombs from scratch.
"Oh right, sensei—could I trouble you to help me set up a proper lab?"
Kenichi suddenly remembered the important thing he'd been putting off for almost a year.
"Of course. How much are you planning to spend?"
Orochimaru eyed her disciple with interest.
She knew this kid wasn't poor anymore. Definitely not the broke, stingy little assistant from the early days.
"I'll keep one hundred million ryō for bomb materials. The rest—all in on the lab."
Kenichi took out everything he had.
He only intended to keep enough funds to buy thermobaric materials. Everything else?
He was ready to shovel straight into concrete, steel, glass, and equipment.
"Then we should discuss the configuration properly," Orochimaru said, taking the money.
It wasn't a small sum. Enough for a very decent lab—
but she still wanted to make everything clear, so the kid wouldn't later think she'd skimmed a cut from the budget.
Kenichi didn't refuse. He had his own layout in mind:
First, a big floor area.
With multi-shadow clones, one Kenichi could become ten Kenichis very quickly. The lab needed to handle… well, multiple versions of himself running around.
Second, the main focus for now was still:
genetic research
and thermobaric weapon development
So the main investment had to go into equipment for those fields.
The rest was negotiable.
Orochimaru told him she'd already found a construction team. All from the black market.
Once construction was done, those workers would also be "delivered" to Kenichi.
As "materials."
Whether he used them as lab test subjects, sacrifices for Edo Tensei, or just quietly disposed of them… was entirely up to him.
Kenichi didn't bother asking why they didn't just use Earth Release: Moving Earth Core or Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole plus Hiding in Rock and other high-level techniques to shape the structure instantly.
Anyone who could do large-scale Earth Release: Mayan Architect Edition was at least elite jōnin.
Elite jōnin cost a fortune.
Ordinary construction workers, by comparison?
Cheap. Disposable. And didn't ask questions.
Contractors got paid.
The client's base location stayed secret.
The workers "disappeared" afterward.
Win-win. For everyone except the workers.
"Then I'll leave it in your hands, sensei." Kenichi grinned.
He was eager to get back to work on integrating chakra with thermobaric charges. Dangerous, yes—but if he could pull it off, the power ceiling would shoot up.
"Kenichi."
Just as he turned to leave, Orochimaru called out.
"Have you ever thought about becoming a village's Kage?"
Kenichi paused, then looked back.
His teacher's expression was calm. With Yuki's face, she almost looked… adorable.
But those golden eyes were still as murky and unreadable as a deep swamp.
"Nope. Being Kage sounds like a massive pain," Kenichi said without hesitation.
"Too many problems, too much politics. It would just get in the way of my research."
Be Hokage? Mizukage? Tsuchikage?
He'd rather die.
Look at Minato. Look at future Naruto. Both of them ran themselves half to death.
Meetings, public appearances, politics, diplomacy, crisis management… an endless to-do list. Why would he volunteer for that?
Just for people to call him "Lord Hokage"?
Power and status came from strength.
Once his identity as "Tenma"—the sky demon—was fully known, even if he wasn't a Kage, anyone who saw him would treat him as someone on that level.
If he did become Kage, then what?
He'd have to watch his back for Uchiha mind control and political nonsense.
He'd rather spend that time flirting with Mei Terumi.
"You brat…" Orochimaru couldn't help laughing and shaking her head.
Most ninja dreamed of becoming Kage.
To hold absolute power over a village.
To decide life and death with a word.
And her disciple?
He didn't give a damn. No interest in power, titles, or glory. Only obsessed with experiments.
Honestly?
Orochimaru liked that answer.
Ever since the Fourth Hokage incident, her mood had been dark and unstable.
But seeing this disciple—who didn't care about "great ambitions" and only wanted a laboratory—
she suddenly felt that maybe this wasn't a bad way to live either.
Just quietly doing research in the shadows.
"Go on then. When your lab is finished, I'll call for you," she said, waving him off.
Kenichi happily returned to the current lab and dove back into the endless work of optimizing thermobaric fuel ratios.
Orochimaru remained where she was, sitting in thought, sipping hot tea.
Still hot.
The warmth spread down from her throat into her stomach, as if even the dull ache in her lower abdomen eased slightly.
"Haah… this body really does match my soul well," she muttered.
"But in the end, it's still… inconvenient."
Orochimaru knew perfectly well what was happening.
She'd just… wanted to personally experience it.
To feel for herself what it meant to live in a woman's body.
Who knew? Maybe one day she could develop jutsu specifically targeting kunoichi physiology.
But she'd had enough of that "experience" for now.
This kind of pain wouldn't break a shinobi—but it was annoying.
She activated a medical-ninjutsu-based trick she'd prepared in advance.
A few moments later, the pain completely vanished, like it had never been there.
"Ku, you can come to Amegakure and start researching that thing now."
Nagato's voice rang out from the ring.
Orochimaru lifted her eyes, the corners of her lips curling slightly.
Another interesting project was waiting.
Note: If you're interested, you can read up to chapter 150+ at patreon.com/nakai01. Don't forget to give a power stone for many bonus chapters.