Chapter 451: The Traitor Within Kara
"I see... so everyone's vision is that grand. Well, I won't lose to them either," Daikan Tono declared.
His eyes remained glued to the array of high-tech devices before him, unblinking.
Impressive.
This is far superior to the tech company I worked for before.
It was no wonder Konoha's technology had progressed so rapidly—it turned out they possessed vast amounts of core tech that had never been exposed to the public eye.
The devices made available to the public were merely outdated leftovers that had gone through numerous iterations.
With access to these technologies, he would become exceptionally powerful, especially working alongside his uncle—the current top doctorate researcher in Scientific Ninja Tool development at the Technology Development Bureau.
Katasuke nodded in approval. He operated a sequence on the control console, causing a swirling vortex to coalesce on a screen right in front of them. "Place your hand on it."
"Ah... what is this?" Daikan looked at the pitch-black vortex, a sense of fear rising within him, as if it were about to swallow him whole.
Katasuke said reassuringly, "Don't worry, just put your hand in."
Daikan extended his hand, thrusting it into the center of the vortex.
Immediately after, he felt a strange mechanism begin to scan his entire body and consciousness from top to bottom.
At that exact moment, a hidden sealing formula flickered within the depths of his mind.
As the scanning energy swept over his physical form and mental state, it failed to detect the presence of the hidden sealing formula entirely.
Furthermore, within his body, continuous neural strands were actively functioning, seemingly harvesting his physical biological data.
It indeed successfully retrieved his bodily data, but because numerous internal regions were locked down by the sealing formula, only basic physical parameters were gathered.
No critical or confidential intelligence was exposed.
SWISH!
Nervously watching the process unfold, Daikan saw the vortex slowly vanish, leaving his hand completely unharmed.
"This is the third layer of security for anyone entering the Technology Development Bureau. It prevents moles from being smuggled inside via sealing jutsu, genjutsu, or other covert means. Now then, it's clear you're completely clean."
Seeing that his nephew was fine, Katasuke let out a sigh of relief.
During a recent meeting with the Director and upper management, he had heard that numerous laboratories around the world had been infiltrated by an organization known as Kara.
In fact, vast amounts of confidential intelligence had been stolen.
Up until now, those infiltrators had not been fully rooted out; only superficial spies had been uncovered.
Naturally, Katasuke had been worried.
If his nephew had turned out to be one of those spies, it would have been a disaster, and he would have felt deeply ashamed toward his older brother.
Curse that wretched organization.
"Ah... do you really distrust your own family that much?" Daikan asked in shock.
Before he had even entered the Technology Development Bureau, when Katasuke submitted his employment proposal, Konoha had already dispatched the Anbu to conduct a thorough background check on him.
After arriving in Konoha, and right before stepping into the Technology Development Bureau, he had undergone yet another background screening.
He had assumed that once he was inside, those security checks would be over, only to be caught off guard by yet another unexpected test.
Katasuke replied solemnly, "Naturally. Science demands rigor, and we must be equally rigorous when dealing with spies. Otherwise, our technology could be stolen, and that would be unpardonable.
However, facts have proven that you are not a spy. You are officially cleared to work in the Technology Development Bureau."
Instantly, a slot in the control console ejected a security badge. Katasuke took the badge and hung it around Daikan's neck.
"This is your official ID badge. While scanning you, it simultaneously created your personalized security card. This is a Scientific Ninja Tool we co-developed with Sector 13, and it's remarkably practical."
"That's so amazing," Daikan remarked.
At that precise moment, a subtle glint flashed deep within his eyes.
...
In a hidden pocket dimension.
Inside a sprawling laboratory.
"So that's how the Technology Development Bureau screens for spies? Rigorous indeed. But at long after all, we've finally found a way to breach their system."
A massive display screen stood at the center of the room, where several shadowed figures watched the events unfolding on screen.
A woman with the Roman numeral Ⅷ carved onto her forehead spoke while staring at the live feed.
Beside her, a man with the Roman numeral Ⅶ on his forehead let out an impatient scoff. "Damned Konoha... we should just slaughter every last one of them. How dare those fools in the Shinobi Alliance interfere with my killing spree?"
The elderly Victor stared at the array of technologies shown on screen. Listening to the conversation between the two, he spoke up, "Don't be reckless. The time for our public emergence has not yet arrived. We cannot afford to draw too much attention from the Shinobi Alliance. Hasn't Amado already warned us? Almost every single person in the world has been secretly branded with a strange technique. We must proceed with absolute caution."
Although Victor refused to submit to Amado emotionally, he had to admit that his current technical capabilities lagged far behind Amado's.
If not for Amado, none of them would have ever realized that a covert technique had been embedded deep within their bodies.
It was a technique that infiltrated all the way down into the nervous system itself.
It was only through Amado's intervention that this insidious technique was neutralized.
"Che! Curse it all... I want nothing more than to tear them all to pieces!" Deepa gritted his teeth, a bloodthirsty snarl spreading across his face.
His malicious gaze was fixed directly on Katasuke Tono on the screen.
Amado waited quietly for them to finish speaking before calmly offering his assessment: "Exercise caution. Based on our current intelligence, Konoha's true capabilities are far from as low as you might imagine.
Furthermore, look closely at the technology inside that laboratory—it is by no means inferior to what we possess in Kara. Keep in mind that our current achievements were built by consolidating high-tech laboratories from numerous major nations across the world.
Which means that to completely surpass them, we must lay our hands on Konoha's core technology."
Konoha's technological advancement had exceeded his expectations.
It was truly impressive tech.
However, their application capabilities were still lacking.
What disturbed Amado even more was that he had been forced to utilize cells from Otsutsuki Shibai just to engineer the necessary techniques and countermeasures to bypass the enemy's scanning methods.
Their opponent in Konoha was a truly terrifying individual.
It was either Orochimaru, or that man named Tobitake Tonbo.
Victor asked eagerly, "Does this mean we can now harvest a vast amount of technological intelligence from them, or even steal their tech outright?"
A flicker of excitement glinted in his eyes.
They had finally breached Konoha's security protocols, giving them a foothold to target the Technology Development Bureau.
By leveraging Konoha's technological foundation, his own research would undoubtedly advance by leaps and bounds.
Moreover, he had heard that the Technology Development Bureau possessed vast reserves of Hashirama's cells. He wondered if he could somehow swipe a sample for himself.
Amado cautioned, "Do not underestimate them. We must exercise further patience. For now, we can only gather intelligence on Konoha's laboratories through Daikan Tono's field of vision. As for stealing data or physical items, we cannot act until we become thoroughly acquainted with their operations. Otherwise, we won't get a second chance."
Every one of them understood that a single failure would render future infiltration virtually impossible.
After all, how many times had they failed previously? How many lives had been lost, and how much funding had been squandered before they finally gathered enough data to develop a countermeasure against Konoha's scanning network?
They could not afford to gamble.
This might very well be their one and only opportunity.
If they blew it now, they might never get another chance.
Hearing this, Victor expressed his dissatisfaction. "At such a sluggish pace, when are we ever going to fulfill Kara's ultimate ideal and consume the Divine Tree fruit?"
Their overarching goal was the Divine Tree fruit spoken of by Jigen.
A Divine Tree fruit capable of granting their every desire.
He was already advanced in years; if this process dragged on for too long, he wouldn't live to see the harvest.
He still wanted to grow even stronger and eventually strike at the major hidden villages.
Simply because he had made a slight misstep during the Fourth Great Ninja War, he had been branded a traitor to humanity—it was utterly absurd!
"Lord Victor, if this is taking too long, why don't we consult Lord Jigen directly? Perhaps he will permit us to go out and engage the enemy in battle," Deepa suggested with a bloodthirsty, unhinged grin.
The mere mention of battle sent a wave of feverish thrill through him.
Ever since the rise of the Shinobi Alliance and the World Ninja Association, he hadn't been able to freely indulge his desires for murder and torture in a very long time.
He was reduced to slaughtering irrelevant nobodies in remote, minor nations.
While that was somewhat satisfying, the restrictions still infuriated him to no end.
He wanted to kill.
In fact, even looking at his fellow Kara members, he felt a surging urge to murder every single one of them—if he had the power to do so.
If only no one were stronger than him.
Though that was currently impossible.
After all, his body had been heavily modified by Amado, and his Kekkei Genkai was engineered by Amado as well.
He wasn't strong enough yet. He still needed Amado and the others' power. Once he reached a level comparable to Lord Jigen, he would slaughter them all to prevent them from creating anyone stronger than himself.
Like Subject Number Three, for instance.
His gaze shifted over to Ogai.
That guy was a modified cyborg as well—and while he wasn't a combat-oriented unit, he still posed a significant threat.
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