Research Department.

Hearing the faintly seductive tone in Orochimaru’s words, Hizashi raised an eyebrow and gave a disdainful chuckle.

“Commissioner Orochimaru…”

“What kind of person do you take me for? Why are you using that sort of rhetoric on me?” Hizashi pointed at the crest woven into the ceremonial robe pattern of the Konoha commissioner uniform.

“I’m not some ninja from the Iburi Clan or the Tsuchigumo Clan.”

“If the village needs me for research, then this body of mine is yours to use. Lord Hokage has already arranged everything for me, before and after death. If you have something to say, then say it directly. Don’t stammer around like this.”

His tone was hard.

Even though Orochimaru had been one of the lead surgeons responsible for transplanting his bloodline limit…

Hizashi still spoke without restraint.

Orochimaru froze for a moment.

He had long heard that among Konoha’s factions…

Hizashi, the spiritual leader of the “Hokage faction,” was a ninja whose loyalty to Hiruzen Sarutobi bordered on obsession…

Normally he was not difficult to get along with, but the moment Hiruzen was involved, it was as if he became another person entirely…

Still, Orochimaru had not expected it to be this severe. One sentence had nearly triggered a falling out.

Yet Orochimaru was not offended.

Although he was not in a hurry to become Hokage, he constantly trained himself to think from a Hokage’s perspective and mindset.

Only by doing so could he gradually become accustomed to it.

And if he became Hokage in the future, naturally he would want subordinates like Hizashi by his side.

“I spoke rashly, but I had absolutely no intention of offending Commissioner Hizashi,” Orochimaru apologized sincerely, while silently thinking to himself:

“This really is my mistake. This is Konoha. These ninja have all inherited the teacher’s Will of Fire. They’re not like those country bumpkins from other villages…”

“You can’t just say a few pretty words and expect them to become dazzled. I’ll have to watch my wording from now on.”

Konoha ninja had seen the world.

“It’s fine…” Hizashi waved a hand dismissively.

“For this experiment, our original idea was to use the preliminary Chimera Technique to transplant Storm Release into you,” Orochimaru explained.

“But after multiple physical examinations over these past days, we discovered that your cells are highly compatible with the special substance from the ‘Sage Village.’ So we wanted to ask whether you’d like to perform both transplants at once.”

“I must inform you that dual fusion will significantly increase the mortality rate. However, we will do everything possible to ensure your survival. Under the teacher’s orders, every medical resource in Konoha has already been fully mobilized for you…”

The so-called “Sage Village” was a special ninja tribe Orochimaru had discovered.

The people of this tribe were born with the ability to absorb natural energy, granting them immense strength and extraordinarily long lifespans.

But the side effects were equally severe.

They became extremely violent and irritable, and excessive absorption of natural energy produced an uncontrollable killing intent. According to the village’s records, only a handful of people had ever overcome it.

As a result, this “Sage Village” had been hunted down decades ago for constantly murdering others, eventually hiding deep within a canyon.

Only one year ago had the ANBU finally located them, and the relevant information was immediately reported to Orochimaru.

After Konoha’s ANBU expansion, manpower had become far more abundant than before. A special division had been assigned to gather intelligence across the ninja world, searching for all sorts of target resources proposed by Orochimaru, Hiruko, and the others.

Orochimaru had repeatedly marveled at the power of the village, which had drastically improved his research efficiency…

Whenever he discovered an interesting resource in old texts, he merely needed to file a request with the ANBU, and dedicated personnel would keep watch for it…

Unlike before, when he had to wander the ninja world alone, painfully searching deserts, forests, and oceans, taking endless detours while also figuring out how to hide expenses and scam research funding…

The current Orochimaru simply signed papers in the Research Department and waited for materials to be delivered to his doorstep.

Danzo had once accused Orochimaru of becoming too leisurely.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi had shut him down with a single sentence:

“A researcher must do research!”

Hizashi accepted the disclosure document from Orochimaru and read it carefully.

“If one’s willpower is insufficient, then even after a successful transplant, they may still be consumed by murderous intent?”

Hizashi let out a cold laugh.

“I understand now, Commissioner Orochimaru… The reason you chose me is not merely because my cells are compatible with this special substance. You also value my willpower, don’t you?”

Orochimaru nodded frankly.

“Who doesn’t know that you’re the teacher’s eyes? Other than sleeping, all you do is work. The Will of Fire burning inside you is, in my opinion, the thing most capable of overcoming this killing intent…”

“If this experiment succeeds, Hiruko and I will gather a massive amount of valuable data. Combined with Jiraiya’s future experience in Sage Mode training…”

“I believe that in the near future, Konoha will produce one natural-energy user after another.”

Hiruko added:

“As the first volunteer for this experiment, most future research will use your body as the blueprint… However, you are the ‘First Curse Mark Recipient,’ so naturally the power won’t be perfect…”

“We’ll try to compensate for that in the future, but we still can’t offer complete guarantees. After all, experiments never have a one hundred percent success rate.”

Deep down, Hiruko felt uneasy.

Hizashi had sacrificed so much for this research, yet future Konoha ninja would obtain more perfected Curse Mark powers because of his efforts.

That sort of upside-down imbalance inevitably made him uncomfortable.

“Don’t underestimate me, idiot…”

Hizashi seemed to see straight through Hiruko’s thoughts and almost laughed from irritation.

“If I thought like that, then I ought to slit my throat and die right now!”

Hiruko shrugged. He was merely following normal procedure.

Although he personally also felt that this kind of “post-operation quality assurance” was unnecessary, it was a hard requirement from the Hokage.

Whenever possible, every aspect of humane care was to be provided…

Standing behind Orochimaru and Hiruko were Tsunade, Kakuzu, and Kushina, the emergency medical team prepared for Hizashi.

They were respectively responsible for vitality support, organ-failure treatment, and emergency sealing techniques…

Watching this scene, Kakuzu sighed inwardly and once again lamented arriving in Konoha too late.

Hiruko might have seemed cold and dismissive of Hizashi’s loyalty.

But this was precisely the institutional embodiment of Konoha’s Will of Fire.

Before carrying out a mission, all risks had to be truthfully disclosed in advance.

After the mission ended, the village would still do everything possible to guarantee follow-up support, even if the ninja involved insisted they required no benefits from the village.

This had nothing to do with loyalty.

Because Hiruzen Sarutobi did not need ninja to prove loyalty by competing over “who takes less.” That was merely meaningless toxic competition, and impossible to sustain in the long term.

“Come on…”

“Storm Release, Curse Mark, whatever it is—let me pave the road for Konoha’s future ninja!”

Hizashi laughed boldly.

“There’s no need to hold back. Use my body however you need for the experiment. Don’t collect less data just because you’re worried about me…”

“Death isn’t frightening. I only worry that my death won’t bring greater benefit to Konoha!”

“Stop cursing yourself already. If you die, I won’t even know how to explain it to Lord Hokage…” Hiruko gestured for Hizashi to lie down on the operating table and complained:

“You’d become a hero after dying, while the Research Department becomes the villains?”

“Lord Hokage has come here several times over the past few days. Every single time, he instructed us to spare no expense and use any resource necessary to keep you alive!”

Hizashi froze.

Lord Hokage had silently done this much for him again?

That mountain-like kindness weighed heavily upon his heart.

“I understand…”

Hizashi took a deep breath and lay upon the operating table.

“I spoke carelessly. I’ll do my best to stay alive and continue guarding Konoha for Lord Hokage!”

Hiruko nodded.

Anesthesia tubes connected to Hizashi’s body, and the various instruments began operating.

Hizashi lay bare-chested upon the operating table, his entire body tightly restrained except for his right shoulder.

With chakra condensed into impossibly fine threads at his fingertips, Hiruko focused intensely as he carved the Chimera Technique’s seal formation onto Hizashi’s abdomen.

Dark violet chakra seeped beneath the skin, winding into intricate and orderly patterns.

This formation was the foundation of the entire surgery. It needed to suppress the rampaging foreign bloodline while simultaneously preparing for the later infusion of the Curse Mark. No mistakes could be tolerated.

Kushina stared at the Chimera formation with absolute concentration. Her sensory abilities were pushed to the limit, ensuring not even the slightest error occurred.

“This section of the formation needs reinforcement. The chakra flow is too low. Otherwise, when the bloodline runs wild, this area will collapse first.”

Hiruko immediately bent down to correct it.

Only after confirming the formation was flawless and the chakra circulation completely unobstructed did Kushina nod and step aside.

“We’re beginning,” Orochimaru said in a low voice tinged with barely concealed excitement.

This was extraordinarily rare material…

Standing directly before the operating table, he condensed a chakra scalpel thin as cicada wings at his fingertips and precisely sliced open the flesh of Hizashi’s right shoulder.

Orochimaru tilted his chin, and Tsunade handed him a test tube containing pale blue liquid.

Concentrated Storm Release bloodline extract…

Orochimaru carefully inserted it into the main artery of Hizashi’s shoulder and slowly injected the liquid.

The moment it entered his body, Hizashi trembled violently. His previously calm breathing instantly became ragged.

Veins bulged across his exposed skin!

“The rejection response has begun… chakra rampage!” Hiruko’s voice remained emotionless.

Kushina immediately stepped forward. Black sealing marks locked down Hizashi’s shoulder, forcibly trapping the berserk bloodline power within a localized area and compelling it to adapt to his body.

Orochimaru signaled Tsunade.

A container filled with black-green liquid was brought over, faintly glowing with eerie luminescence.

This was concentrated bodily fluid from the Sage Village.

Holding the syringe, Orochimaru looked toward Tsunade. After glancing at the instruments’ readings, she nodded.

Standing on the opposite side of the operating table, Tsunade’s palm glowed with medical chakra.

The syringe pierced Hizashi’s vein, and the pale green liquid slowly entered his bloodstream.

At first, everything remained stable.

But as the liquid spread throughout his body, Hizashi’s skin instantly flushed an unnatural crimson, and the blood vessels beneath his skin bulged as though ready to explode!

Tsunade moved immediately, slamming her palm against Hizashi’s chest.

Her medical chakra spread like a delicate net, instantly enveloping every organ and chakra pathway in his body.

Activating the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, Tsunade did not forcibly suppress the strange “sage power.” Instead, she carefully guided and redirected its flow bit by bit.

Blood no longer disturbed her.

Tsunade’s breathing slowed to an extreme as she focused entirely on controlling every abnormality within Hizashi’s body.

Time slowly passed.

Kushina, Hiruko, and Orochimaru carried out their duties in perfect coordination.

Under such absolute concentration, no one had spare emotions. They functioned with the efficiency of machines.

Kakuzu silently stepped forward. Several black Earth Grudge Fear tendrils emerged from his sleeves and entered Hizashi’s body.

Relying on his vast experience, he untangled Hizashi’s chaotic chakra pathways, layer by layer repairing ruptured blood vessels, nerves, and damaged flesh.

And within Hizashi’s hazy subconscious…

A large, imposing figure slowly appeared.

It was Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Radiating warm light like the sun itself, his gaze was firm yet gentle, silently encouraging him onward.

“Lord Hokage…”

Hizashi murmured within his subconscious.

A surge of strength welled up from the depths of his heart, and his bodily indicators suddenly stabilized at an unnatural speed, shocking Orochimaru, Hiruko, and the others…

What just happened?!

Ten entire hours passed…

Finally, Hizashi’s condition stabilized completely. The instruments and everyone’s senses all confirmed the same thing…

The surgery had succeeded!

Hizashi’s breathing became steady and deep as the two powers gradually fused into one within him.

Konoha’s “Prototype Gundam” had officially debuted!

Orochimaru and the others let out long sighs of relief.

Even if Hizashi had died, Hiruzen Sarutobi likely would not have blamed them…

But merely imagining the disappointed expression on the Hokage’s face made everyone instinctively uncomfortable. None of them wished to see Hiruzen wearing such an expression.

“Let’s wait until Hizashi wakes up…” Orochimaru stood in the corner of the operating room and glanced at the instruments.

The data gathered from this experiment was astonishingly comprehensive…

Enough to keep him researching for a very long time.

“He really is blessed with good fortune. I didn’t think the experiment would fail, but I didn’t expect things to suddenly become this smooth…” Hiruko muttered thoughtfully.

“You all noticed it too, right? The berserk power suddenly calmed down as though smoothed over by some invisible hand.”

“What mechanism caused that?”

What Hiruko referred to was the reaction triggered when Hizashi saw Hiruzen Sarutobi in his subconscious.

“Hard to say. We’ll need to analyze the data later and ask Hizashi afterward…” Orochimaru mused. The situation truly was strange.

Tsunade was also deep in thought.

Kushina blinked.

“Maybe Lord Hokage blessed Brother Hizashi!”

Normally, such words would merely ease the atmosphere…

But Orochimaru glanced at Kushina and responded surprisingly seriously:

“You know… that might actually be possible! With Hizashi’s personality, if he subconsciously thought of the teacher, his willpower really could affect his body.”

Chakra was a fusion of spiritual and physical energy.

And in the ninja world, sufficiently powerful spiritual force alone could influence material reality.

“I once read in historical records that when the Second Hokage used the Impure World Reincarnation Technique to control enemies, some strong-willed ninja could break free on their own…”

“And they could even…” Orochimaru swallowed the rest of his sentence.

What he wanted to say was: after breaking free, those resurrected enemies could curse Tobirama’s entire family while ascending to the afterlife.

Tsunade shook her head speechlessly.

She could roughly guess what he was about to say, but even as Tobirama’s granddaughter, some things were difficult to admit…

Her second grandfather’s reputation outside the village was notoriously complicated.

In a certain sense, he was even more suited to the title “Darkness of the Ninja World” than Danzo…

“Tch, tch…” Tsunade spat twice, driving the strange thoughts from her head.

How could she think that way about Grandpa Tobirama?

Too disrespectful!

“It’s all in the past. Don’t bring it up again! Grandpa Tobirama must be doing well in the Pure Land now…” Tsunade glared fiercely at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru merely spread his hands and smiled silently.

Could the Second Hokage, who repeatedly dragged the dead back from the Pure Land, truly be living peacefully there?

Actually… maybe he was.

Perhaps he was causing trouble there too.

In Orochimaru’s mind, his idol Tobirama certainly would have prepared safeguards against the Impure World Reincarnation Technique. Even if someone attempted to resurrect him, it shouldn’t work.

It could only be said that everyone viewed their idols through a certain filter.

If Orochimaru ever discovered that Tobirama had left no such safeguard, he would probably feel disappointed.

“It seems our examination results were extremely accurate… Hizashi truly had the qualifications for this!”

Hiruko wiped the sweat from his forehead and lightly bumped shoulders with Orochimaru, smiling.

“It feels like we really succeeded… my Chimera Technique worked!”

For a research ninja, the happiest thing in the world was naturally seeing one’s jutsu function successfully.

“Yeah, congratulations, Hiruko!” Orochimaru laughed as well. Naturally, he hoped Hiruko would continue improving.

Not only was Hiruko his friend, he would also become valuable support once Orochimaru ascended to the position of Hokage.

“We still have to keep working hard…” Orochimaru said seriously.

“I’ve read the concepts behind your Chimera Technique. It can fuse more than one bloodline limit.”

“Not just one, two, or three…” Hiruko shook his head proudly.

“According to my theory, if one gathers five bloodline limits composed of different chakra types, then combines them according to the principle of the Five Elements generating one another, together with special celestial phenomena and earth-vein energy…”

“One’s constitution can undergo a tremendous evolution!”

“It would practically become an immortal body—a ‘perfect ninja!’”

This was the core outline of the Chimera Technique.

First, one needed at least five chakra-based bloodline limits, carefully arranged into a Five Elements cycle, meaning five was merely the minimum requirement.

Then came the three elements of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity.

Humanity referred to sufficient bloodline limits.

Earth referred to special terrain imbued with unique energies, places like Mount Sumeru.

Heaven referred to powerful celestial events, such as annular solar eclipses.

Only by combining all three could the Chimera Technique reach its ultimate form.

Through immense external energy, multiple bloodline limits would undergo qualitative transformation, causing the body itself to evolve!

Hiruko’s theory was not entirely impossible…

Whether biological or chakra-based, bloodline limits subtly enhanced a ninja’s constitution, though normally the effect was not obvious.

When multiple bloodline limits accumulated according to the Five Elements principle, eventually the quantitative buildup could become qualitative change through environmental stimulation…

Orochimaru smiled noncommittally.

Though both he and Hiruko walked the path of research, their styles differed greatly.

In the past, Orochimaru had also considered stuffing every powerful ability into his own body.

But after witnessing Hiruzen Sarutobi’s continuous self-improvement, he abandoned that notion.

The original body had advantages. The compatibility between body and soul was naturally perfect.

Orochimaru did not object to enhancing himself with others’ strengths, but Hiruko’s ultimate Chimera concept—fusing everything indiscriminately—felt far too crude in his eyes…

This was a body, not a stew pot!

And those “Heaven, Earth, Humanity” principles sounded excessively mystical…

More like fortune-telling than rigorous science.

Although Orochimaru understood the essence of Hiruko’s idea—it was fundamentally about tempering the body through external energy.

“Better