NCCnovel Chapter 304 You are incompetent in reality, what did you do to them?
Chapter 304 You are incompetent in reality, what did you do to them?
Chapter 304 You are incompetent in reality, what did you do to them?
"Kabuto, are you alright?"
Rope Tree was extremely anxious, even thinking that Kabuto's right arm had gone berserk again.
This question completely woke Dou up, and he realized that he had lost his composure in front of Rope Tree.
This is not how Yakushi Kabuto should be.
Dou took a deep breath, his expression remaining unchanged.
"fine."
"My right arm was a little out of control just now because I used too much force."
"Looks like I need to change this outfit. Sorry, Nawaki, I startled you."
Rope Tree looked at that usually calm face, which was now terribly pale, far from being alright.
He opened his mouth, intending to ask further questions, but the words were cut off by the forced smile on Dou's face.
Rope Tree swallowed his question.
He scratched his head and smiled casually, "Oh, I see. It's alright. Wait a minute, I'll go get you a spare lab coat. We always keep a bunch in the lab."
As he spoke, he turned and walked a few steps to a nearby cabinet, where he began rummaging through it.
Taking advantage of this moment, Dou slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
"Dean————"
When Nawaki returned carrying a clean white coat, Kabuto Yakushi's expression had returned to calm, at least it appeared so.
"Give."
Rope Tree handed over the white coat, his eyes still lingering on Po's face for a couple more seconds.
"Thank you." Dou accepted the clothes with his usual politeness.
He put on his white coat with practiced ease, buttoning it up one button at a time from top to bottom.
"Shall we... set off?"
"Um."
Kabuto nodded to Rope Tree without saying anything more.
But his inner feelings were far from as calm as they appeared. After all, in the real world, Dean Yakushi Nonou was someone he had personally killed—
How is he supposed to face the dean who is still alive in this world?
[Ding! Kabuto's emotional fluctuations have been detected! Emotional value +600!]
"It was just a dream."
I kept telling myself this over and over again in my heart.
It's just a false projection.
He was only there to gather intelligence; his real purpose was to gather information about this dream.
Everything else is superfluous.
The two left the laboratory one after the other.
The metal door closed behind him, and the corridor outside was much brighter and wider than the underground bases he remembered.
Although the walls still use the paint commonly used in Konoha, the marks left by time are visible.
Kabuto unconsciously pushed up his glasses, trying to get his attention back on the right track of intelligence gathering.
Clear signs were hung throughout, indicating the function of each room.
Wards, laboratories, storage rooms, medicine warehouses —
Most of the staff coming and going were wearing the robes of researchers or medical ninjas.
If he could remain calm and composed as usual, he would probably have already roughly memorized the structure, number of people, and positions along the way.
They even began to speculate on the approximate location of this base within Konoha Village, and its connections with other facilities.
Unfortunately, the impact of the orphanage has not completely subsided.
His thoughts always drifted involuntarily to that place.
The thought of possibly meeting again filled him with an indescribable sense of unease.
Anticipation mingled with fear.
I was in a daze the whole way.
He told himself to observe his surroundings, but he completely ignored it.
My footsteps followed Rope Tree unconsciously, passing through one doorway after another, and going down the stairs until we soon reached the building's exit.
As the two stepped out of the main building, the bright and dazzling sunlight greeted them, and Dou couldn't help but squint.
They appeared to be on the edge of a cluster of buildings, with a row of buildings of a uniform style behind them.
In front of them was a wide, completely leveled open space.
No, calling it an open space is not appropriate.
It was a well-equipped training ground, with everything arranged in an orderly manner.
The sound coming from right there in the training ground startled Dou from his daze.
"drink!"
"ha!"
"Wood Release·Wood Spindle Wall!"
"Pay attention to the stability of chakra output!"
The pharmacist instinctively turned his head to look.
That one glance froze him in place.
Inside the training field, at least twenty or thirty young men were divided into several groups and were training.
Their foreheads were uniformly embroidered with the Konoha emblem, and they wore training uniforms printed with the Senju clan crest. The patterns on their chests and cuffs were unique to the Senju clan, featuring wood grain designs.
Their movements were extremely skillful. After completing the hand seals, they slammed their palms into the ground, and thick wooden pillars burst forth from the ground, biting together to form a solid wooden wall that tightly blocked the area in front of them. Another person flicked their hands, and rows of sharp wooden spikes shot out from the ground, piercing the distant target like arrows. Someone else manipulated slender wooden vines, making them meander and coil in the air, entangle the earthen target set up by their companion, and instantly bind it tightly.
These Wood Release ninjutsu are controlled to a certain extent in terms of both scale and stability.
This is a group of systematically trained Wood Release ninjas.
Kabuto fell into deep thought.
Just then, the commotion on the training field quietly subsided.
The Thousand Hands clan members who were cultivating seemed to sense something, and they all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the edge of the training ground.
More accurately, it was looking towards Rope Tree, who was standing at the entrance to the training field.
Dozens of eyes focused on them at the same moment.
Immediately afterwards, a loud greeting rang out across the training ground: "Greetings, Young Master!"
Kabuto was slightly taken aback and looked at Nawaki, who seemed quite used to all of this.
He first waved to the crowd in the training field, a bright and cheerful smile on his face.
"Thank you all for your hard work! Keep it up!"
His demeanor was natural, and his every move exuded a sense of warmth and vitality that was loved by his people.
She was a completely different person from the clumsy and flustered person she had been in the lab just moments before.
Nawaki took a few steps forward to the edge of the training ground, seemingly not wanting to interrupt everyone's practice, and simply asked, "How's it going? Has your mastery of Wood Release improved lately?"
In the training field, a middle-aged man who looked like a squad leader stopped what he was doing, hurriedly wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel, and then strode forward and bowed slightly to Rope Tree.
"Reporting to the young master, under Lord Orochimaru's guidance, everyone has made great progress. The coverage area of the wooden ingot wall has increased by about 30%, chakra consumption is more stable than before, and the control of the vines is becoming more and more refined."
Rope Tree's eyes lit up, and he nodded emphatically, saying, "That's good. But while cultivation is important, you should also pay attention to balancing work and rest."
"yes!"
The middle-aged man responded and returned to the crowd to continue his training.
Rope Tree then turned around and looked at Kabuto, who was standing frozen to the side.
"Kabuto, let's go! What are you spacing out for?"
He adjusted his glasses, concealing the doubt and surprise in his eyes.
The Senju clan has not declined, nor has the Wood Release technique been lost.
All the clues connected in my mind.
A conclusion slowly emerged in the mind of the pharmacist.
In this world, Lord Orochimaru's relationship with the Senju clan is probably much closer than it is in reality.
The opportunity for me to participate in the Wood Release experiment is probably not that of a simple assistant, but rather that I am in a very crucial position.
He took a deep breath, followed Nawaki's footsteps, and casually remarked, "It's nothing, I just think everyone's Wood Release is very energetic."
Nawaki chuckled and scratched his head, saying, "It's alright, just some basic applications. Compared to Grandpa's time, it's far from being as good. But everyone is working hard, and one day, our Senju clan's Wood Release will shine again in the ninja world."
At this point, he suddenly remembered something, turned to look at Kabuto and said, "By the way, Kabuto, your potential is definitely greater than theirs. Once your body is completely stable, you might be able to come and train with us."
Upon hearing this, Kabuto simply smiled faintly and did not give a direct answer.
Training in Wood Release alongside the Senju clan—in my own world, that statement would sound utterly absurd.
Yet here, everything seems so natural.
auditorium.
The display of the Wood Release technique in the video caused a huge stir in the hearts of many people.
Sitting in the center of the front row, Tsunade's gaze was fixed on the faces of the trainees that were flashing across the screen.
"——-Kento?"
Tsunade whispered a name.
In the scene, a cheerful young man is wiping his sweat. He is the cousin that Tsunade once drank with in the clan, who boasted that he would become the second Hashirama.
"And the wooden figure—"
Another young man, who was controlling the wooden vines, had a sharply defined profile. He was a member of her clan who always loved to show off in her memory, but now he stood obediently in the line, cooperating with his teammates to practice the coordinated control of Wood Release.
-
One name after another surfaced from the deepest recesses of her memory.
These faces were all too familiar to her.
They are members of the Senju clan.
Among them were her uncles, her paternal uncles, and her cousins. Some of them were already capable Jonin back then, while others were just young people who had recently passed the Chunin Exams.
They were the most spirited and talented young men of the Senju clan.
In reality, their ending is only described in a few cold lines of text.
"Died due to chakra rampage."
"The experiment failed; the body has been disposed of."
"How could they—"
Tsunade's voice choked in her throat.
[Ding! Tsunade's emotional fluctuations have been detected! Emotional value +600!]
Beside her, Kakashi's eyes flashed with a hint of confusion. He had personally investigated the Wood Release experiments back then.
In his mind, it was a taboo study that ended in utter defeat and sacrifice.
That period of history is a dark chapter that no one in Konoha's leadership wants to mention.
He tried to find more details, but the records left behind were very vague.
Most of the participants' names were erased, leaving only cold death statistics and some incomplete experimental data.
He never imagined that most of these participants whose names were erased were actually from the Senju clan.
"Kakashi."
Jiraiya, sitting to his side, had been watching his and Tsunade's reactions closely.
"Are you curious about what happened back then?"
Kakashi turned his head slightly, his gaze unconsciously following him to the screen.
On the screen, the Senju clan members were practicing another Wood Release technique.
Jiraiya's gaze travels across the screen, as if he has returned to many years ago.
"The Wood Release of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, was recognized at the time as the strongest bloodline limit in the ninja world."
"That power is the cornerstone of Konoha's founding and the key to its dominance over all sides. Seeing that this power is about to be cut off after Lord Hashirama's death, the Konoha leadership—and the Senju clan itself—are unwilling to accept it."
"Therefore, the plan to recreate Wood Release was put on the agenda."
"But there's a problem: to whom should such immense power be entrusted?"
Kakashi murmured, "If we hand it over to an outsider, even though we all belong to Konoha, it's hard to guarantee their absolute loyalty and control. After all, that's a power capable of overturning the entire ninja world's格局 (geju, a term referring to the overall structure or pattern of the ninja world)."
Jiraiya nodded and said, "You're right. Moreover, at that time, everyone generally believed that the degree of similarity in bloodline was one of the key conditions for improving the success rate of transplantation."
""
"With these two considerations in mind, the first and most important group of volunteers was selected, all of whom were members of the Senju clan."
"Moreover, they are not ordinary clansmen, but rather the most outstanding and loyal young elites in the clan, who hold a burning hope for the revival of the clan's glory."
Jiraiya's gaze slowly swept across the faces on the screen.
He had heard Tsunade mention those names many times.
"They voluntarily signed the agreement and lay down on the lab table."
"It wasn't for personal gain, but out of a belief that we could restore the glory of the First Hokage and rebuild the pillar of Konoha and our clan, that I threw myself into it without hesitation."
At this point, his voice became low and complex.
He had not witnessed the details of that experiment firsthand.
Even the outline pieced together from the fragmented information was enough for him to feel the devastation of that tragedy.
"In the end, they all failed. Without exception, all the volunteers died painfully during the experiment or shortly after it ended due to chakra rampage."
"That laboratory became the graveyard of an entire generation of the Senju clan's elite."
Kakashi's expression darkened, and he murmured, "Is this... the truth...?"
[Ding! Kakashi Hatake's emotional fluctuations have been detected! Emotional value +400!]
Jiraiya's explanation completely filled in the gaps in his previous understanding of history.
"They're all dead."
Tsunade repeated those four words.
Her body swayed slightly, and in the next instant, the pain and sorrow were replaced by something more intense.
Anger, a fury that was almost out of control.
Tsunade suddenly stood up and stared at Orochimaru not far away.
Those golden vertical pupils were still calmly watching the screen, their faces expressionless, as if the scenes on the screen had nothing to do with them.
Tsunade became even more furious in an instant.
"Orochimaru, you bastard!"
[Ding! Tsunade's emotional fluctuations have been detected! Emotional value +1000!]
Tsunade rushed to Orochimaru, pointed at the screen, and demanded sharply, "Did you see that?! The Orochimaru in your dream, he could have done it! He made them all live! He even let them master the power of Wood Release!"
The next moment, Tsunade simply grabbed Orochimaru by the collar and yanked him half an inch off his seat.
"But what about in reality?!"
"What have you done to them, given your incompetence in real life?!"
"Tell me, Orochimaru!"
Why is it that what you can do in your dreams, you cause to make them die painfully on the lab table in reality?!
"Why?!"
If Tsunade had never known the possibility of everyone surviving, she might have been much calmer about that failure; at the time, those clansmen were not unaware of the dangers involved.
They lay down on the experimental table with the awareness of sacrifice; they signed the papers voluntarily and asked to be used as experimental subjects.
If all the results are just helpless failures, then perhaps she can only hide her resentment in her wine and in her dreams.
However, in this world, it is clearly the same group of people.
The mastermind was also Orochimaru.
However, they all survived.
Not only were they alive, but they were also training hard on the field, forming hand seals and casting spells. The power of Wood Release flowed vigorously through their bodies, becoming a combat force that could be put to practical use.
The stark contrast between the death notices in reality and the Wood Release unit in her dreams was extremely cruel to Tsunade.
The sacrifices in reality seem ridiculous and absurd in this comparison.
The air in the theater seemed to freeze.
The people around held their breath.
However, Orochimaru remained calm in the face of Tsunade's angry glare and questioning.
He didn't immediately refute, nor did he reveal his usual sinister smile; he simply remained silent, his eyes revealing no emotion.
The atmosphere in the audience became deathly silent and subtle.
Jiraiya watched this scene, his mind in turmoil.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then realized that he had no right to defend anyone at this moment. He could only look at Tsunade with worry, and then couldn't help but look at Orochimaru, his expression complicated and difficult to describe.
On the other side of the seat.
Nagato's expression was calm.
As an outsider, the Will of Fire was irrelevant to him, and he never believed that any major ninja village could be pure and innocent, representing so-called justice.
Seeing this conflict within Konoha caused by a secret experiment, he felt a cold, knowing indifference.
Konoha was indeed darker than he had imagined.
Xiao Nan's gaze was even sharper.
She looked at Tsunade, who was out of control in her rage, and at Orochimaru, who seemed unusually restrained in comparison, and her eyes revealed a thoughtful expression.
No matter who the high-ranking members of the ninja world are, they can't possibly have clean hands. The only difference is whether they choose to shed blood in their own village or on someone else's land.
And Obito—
He leaned back in his chair, adopting an attitude of indifference and enjoying the show.