Chapter 198: The New Assistant
Kitahara Kaede navigated through the commercial district and turned into the Research Department building.
Very few people ever visited this place.
To put it bluntly, Konoha's Research Department was little more than a facade. If it hadn't been for Danzo, the allocated funding would have barely been enough to keep a few lab rats alive.
Orochimaru's private laboratory, however, occupied an entire floor and was blessed with excellent lighting—a far cry from the dark, damp underground hideouts he would eventually favor in the future.
Kaede pushed open the door, which was left slightly ajar.
A young girl with short, spiky hair and wearing a chainmail undershirt sat there, swinging her legs. She held a skewer of tri-color dango, eating them with great gusto.
Hearing the door, the girl turned around. Her cheeks were puffed out with dango as her large, curious eyes scanned Kitahara Kaede from head to toe.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice muffled by the food.
Kaede didn't answer, simply watching her with a calm expression.
The girl swallowed the food in her mouth and stepped toward him in a few quick strides. She looked up at him, her tone edged with the territorial alertness of a guardian.
"This is Lord Orochimaru's private lab. Outsiders aren't allowed in."
Mitarashi Anko. Orochimaru's only current disciple.
"I'm looking for Lord Orochimaru."
Seeing his professional, business-like demeanor, Anko curled her lip.
"Sensei went to collect some materials; he'll be back soon." She circled Kaede, scrutinizing him as if he were some strange specimen. "Why are you looking for him? To ask about ninjutsu?"
In Anko's experience, that was the primary reason anyone sought out her teacher.
Kaede shook his head.
"Discussing a mission, then?"
"A collaboration."
"Oh..." Anko drawled, clearly finding the answer boring. Instead, she thrust the dango skewer toward him with a boastful air. "Want some? I specifically asked the owner for extra sugar. They're incredibly sweet."
Kaede glanced at the dango and shook his head again.
"You have no taste," Anko huffed. She pulled the skewer back, took another large bite, and muttered something under her breath before flopping back onto the lab table, resuming her leg-swinging snack.
The sound of steady, unhurried footsteps echoed down the hallway.
The door opened, and Orochimaru stepped inside, carrying a sealed metal sample case. When he spotted Kitahara Kaede, a glimmer of light flashed within his golden, slitted pupils.
"Kitahara-kun, you've arrived earlier than our appointed time."
"I happened to be free, so I came over."
Orochimaru placed the sample case on the table and turned to Anko, who was still eating. His voice was flat, yet it carried an absolute command that brooked no argument.
"Anko, leave. Close the door behind you."
Anko stopped chewing.
Orochimaru added, "Kitahara-kun and I have important matters to discuss. Until I call for you, no one is permitted to approach."
The curiosity and smugness on Anko's face froze instantly. She looked at Orochimaru, then at the stranger.
*Important matters? No one permitted to approach?*
Her teacher had never spoken to her in such a tone. It was as if she, too, was a "trivial person" who needed to be excluded.
She felt a surge of frustration, but she gave a sullen response.
"...Fine."
Anko hopped off the chair and walked out of the lab without looking back, intentionally slamming the door shut.
The moment the door closed, the mask of politeness Orochimaru wore for the public vanished. He walked to the other side of the lab table, took a stack of papers filled with data and charts from the sample case, and pushed them toward Kitahara Kaede.
"The theory you proposed last time regarding the limits of cellular regeneration—I have performed preliminary verification."
Kaede picked up the papers and scanned them quickly. In Orochimaru's serpentine eyes, there was a coldness that bordered on fanaticism.
"You were correct, Kitahara-kun. The body is merely a vessel; the soul is the core. As long as we can resolve the rejection reaction between the soul and the vessel, immortality... will no longer be a fantasy."
As he spoke, he radiated an irrepressible excitement.
Kaede set the papers down, but he didn't follow the line of conversation. Orochimaru immediately noticed his composure.
"What? Does this result not meet your expectations?"
"Immortality is merely the transcendence of the individual." Kaede looked at him, his gaze deep. "Lord Orochimaru's vision should not stop at such a small step."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. He remained silent, signaling for Kaede to continue.
Kaede walked to the chalkboard against the wall and picked up a piece of chalk.
"Mass production of chakra-conducting metals via assembly lines."
"Stability optimization of gene cloning technology."
"And... using gene editing to artificially break the bloodline barriers of the Bloodline Limit, making 'Artificial Bloodlines' a possibility."
With every point, he drew a connecting line on the board.
When the final phrase was written, Orochimaru's golden pupils suddenly contracted. He had thought of these concepts before, but only as scattered hypotheses.
Having finished the diagram, Kaede turned around.
"The root of the Shinobi World Wars is the scarcity of resources and the monopoly of power. To break these rules, we cannot rely on developing a few forbidden jutsu. We must use science to redefine 'power' itself."
A brief silence fell over the laboratory.
Orochimaru did not react with immediate fanaticism as Kaede had expected. Instead, he walked slowly to the chalkboard and extended a pale hand, lightly tracing the words "Artificial Bloodlines."
"Theoretically feasible," he said, his voice raspy and calm. "However, the amount of data required for live subject experiments would be astronomical. And the mass production of chakra metal would require an entire industrial chain the likes of which you have never heard of."
He turned, his snake-like eyes locking onto Kaede.
"Do you realize how many unimaginable resources this would require?"
"I do."
Kaede's answer was without hesitation.
"Konoha cannot provide them."
"Which is why we must take a phased approach." Kaede tossed the chalk back into the tray. "We start with the smallest project first. I will find a way to secure the subsequent resources."
Finally, the corners of Orochimaru's mouth curled upward, and he flicked his tongue out to lightly lick his lips.
"Your theoretical framework is more systematic than I imagined," he admitted. "The collaboration can continue. However, the data volume for this plan is indeed too vast. I cannot handle it alone."
This was the opening Kaede had been waiting for.
"You need an assistant," Kaede suggested smoothly. "Someone with exceptional medical talent, top-tier learning capabilities, and preferably someone very young—a blank slate that you can mold from the ground up."
Orochimaru frowned slightly. "Such a genius is a rare find."
"I have already scouted one for you."
Orochimaru looked at him.
Kaede slowly spoke the name: "From the Konoha orphanage—Yakushi Kabuto."
Orochimaru remained silent for a moment.
"...I can meet him."
A weight lifted from Kaede's mind. The matter with Kabuto was settled.
He was about to provide more details, but the words stopped at his lips. Outside the door, there was a faint, almost imperceptible sound of breathing.
Someone was eavesdropping.
Kaede's expression didn't change, but he quietly swallowed the rest of his words.
***
In the hallway outside, Mitarashi Anko was pressed against the door, frozen in place.
She had heard every single word.
*A new assistant.**The orphanage.**Yakushi Kabuto.*
The dango skewer in her hand slid away, hitting the floor with a soft *thud*.
Anko didn't look down.
Her mind was buzzing, a single thought spiraling frantically through her head.
'Sensei... is taking a new disciple.'
'What about me?'
Anko's fists clenched instinctively.
Slowly, step by step, she backed away from the door. She hurried toward the end of the hallway, eventually vanishing into the shadows.