Experimental Results

"I won!"

The panting Ninja broke into a smile, his gaze fixed on the Gene Modification Fluid in Vegapunk's hand, his eyes filled with greedy fervor.

In pursuit of the more potent Gene Modification Fluid that could grant greater power, these Ninjas under Orochimaru had immediately begun fighting. Only the winner could use the strongest Gene Modification Fluid. Even though that fluid carried a seventy percent mortality rate, the Ninjas still fought with everything they had.

Although Vegapunk could not understand the fanatical mindset of these Ninjas, he did not care what a group of Test Subjects thought. He simply handed over the syringe in his hand.

The victorious Ninja chose the most dangerous and most effective Three-Headed Serpent Gene Modification Fluid without hesitation. The instant the fluid entered his veins, he let out a scream.

Dense snake scales gradually emerged all over his body, and his eyes turned into serpentine pupils. Then, amid a scalp-numbing tearing sound, two more heads grew from his shoulders.

After struggling for several minutes, the Ninja finally calmed down, leaving only ragged gasps.

"This amount of Chakra... it's nearly seven or eight times greater... far more than we initially predicted."

An interested expression appeared on Orochimaru's face as he said with a low chuckle.

Vegapunk shrugged. "That's perfectly normal. After all, we used a Ninja Beast as the material. Maybe this guy even has the aptitude to practice Snake Sage Technique now!"

"Oh, right. Give it a try. Can you return to your original human form and transform into a fully beastlike form?"

Vegapunk addressed that final sentence to the Test Subject. After hearing it, the Test Subject silently stood up and began controlling his own power.

As an adult Ninja hardened by countless battles, he had a decent level of control over his strength. Before long, the snake scales, serpentine pupils, two heads, and tail on his body all retracted, returning him to his original human appearance.

Then he closed his eyes and controlled his body again. His entire form gradually stretched out, becoming a Three-Headed Serpent dozens of meters long, while the Chakra within him surged once more.

"What a perfect creation..." Orochimaru flicked his tongue, his fanatical expression impossible to conceal. "A perfect combination of Summoning Beast and human? If stronger Summoning Beasts were used instead, or even a Snake Sage, then perhaps humans really could practice perfect Snake Sage Technique!"

Just as Vegapunk had once considered using Natural Energy to extend his lifespan, Orochimaru, who had always pursued eternity, naturally had his eye on the sages as well. However, he barely even dared to practice Snake Sage Technique, and in the end had only produced an inferior imitation: the Cursed Seal.

But after seeing Vegapunk's biotechnology, he gained even more inspiration and vaguely formed several research plans concerning sage techniques.

As for the remaining three Ninjas who had fused with ordinary animal genes, Orochimaru no longer thought much of them. Although fusing with animal genes had nearly doubled their Chakra, greatly improved their physiques, and granted them many abilities unique to animals, such enhancements truly meant little to Orochimaru.

His Cursed Seal was not yet fully developed and had an extremely high mortality rate, but its improvements to Ninjas already surpassed this type of animal-focused modification. At most, it lacked some of the animals' special abilities.

For example, Vegapunk had selected mostly marine creatures this time. When fighting underwater, these Ninjas were several times stronger than Ordinary Ninjas.

At this point, the outcome of the wager was self-evident. Orochimaru had no intention of going back on his word. His thirst for knowledge and truth meant that he did not mind becoming a pioneer's student.

Given Orochimaru's personality, unless one day he believed his own abilities had surpassed Vegapunk's and he had drained every last bit of Vegapunk's knowledge, he would work obediently under Vegapunk.

Vegapunk did not mind Orochimaru's personality either. Over the years, inspirations had constantly risen and fallen in his mind in unimaginable numbers. What troubled him was that he simply had no time to carry out many research projects himself. He was not worried in the slightest that Orochimaru would exhaust his knowledge.

On the contrary, what troubled him was that no one could keep up with the pace of his research. Nico Robin was quite talented, but she was actually more inclined toward the humanities. Even with the help of the first-generation biological Chip, she still fell far short when it came to genuine scientific research.

As for Caesar, Queen, and Judge, the three people who had worked with him before, they each had their own ambitions. Their dedication to scientific research was far less pure than Orochimaru's. Therefore, even though Vegapunk was far more capable than them, none of the three would be won over by him.

After taking Orochimaru under his wing, Vegapunk gained not only a perfect research assistant, but also the accumulation of Orochimaru's many years of work.

Although Vegapunk's level far surpassed Orochimaru's, the technological paths of the Pirate World and the Ninja World were ultimately vastly different. Just as the Pirate World had produced strange black technologies through exceptional products such as Devil Fruits, Chakra in the Ninja World possessed similar properties. When it came to research on Chakra, even Vegapunk did not dare claim to have surpassed Orochimaru.

Furthermore, although Orochimaru had now defected from Konoha, his reputation itself was already a kind of calling card. He had intricate personal connections with many forces throughout the Ninja World. Many things Vegapunk could not get his hands on could be obtained by Orochimaru with a single word.

Then there were his bases spread across more than half the Ninja World, the experimental specimens with all kinds of special physiques he had collected, and the spies and intelligence agents he had placed in each ninja village...

It could be said that merely bringing Orochimaru under his command had made Vegapunk's path of scientific research several times smoother.

With Orochimaru's help, taking Sea Country was effortless. In fact, although Orochimaru had defected, Konoha had once put considerable effort into Sea Country in order to guard against Kirigakure. Orochimaru had been in charge of that plan, so while he did not have many people in Sea Country, his infiltration ran very deep.

At first, Orochimaru was somewhat shocked by Vegapunk's plan to replace the Daimyo. Then came excitement that radiated from the depths of his bones.

With Orochimaru's lawless personality, if not for the trouble of maintaining long-term control and the fact that his habitual way of thinking had initially failed to make the leap, he would probably have long since moved against those Daimyo to secure research funding.