"Record, Soul Experiment No. 1316 commencing."
Deep beneath Konoha, in a laboratory, a bespectacled blonde woman carried out each experimental step with meticulous precision.
On the apparatus, the restrained experimental animal stared wide-eyed, struggling and twisting its limbs as it whimpered in terror, watching the woman approach.
"Don't be nervous. This will be over soon."
As if gently soothing the experimental animal, the woman reached out and caressed its neck.
"The pain will only last an instant. Don't cry."
In a soft voice, she continued speaking as the light of a Chakra Scalpel appeared in her hand. The razor-sharp blade easily cut into the neck, severing the neural connection between the brain and body and ending the experimental animal's life.
Only then did the formal experiment begin.
As the formula in the laboratory unfolded, the bound soul appeared clearly before them.
"Did it work?"
Her eyes filled with disbelief and excitement as the woman turned toward the person watching from the side.
"Insect Princess-sama, did you see that? The experiment worked!"
"Yes, I saw it, Nonō." Mimi nodded.
Her theory had been proven. That inexplicable attraction vanished, as if someone had pressed a switch and turned it off.
This meant that
death would become a thing of the past.
"Begin the next step, Rebirth Cultivation," Mimi said.
"Ha!" Following the cultivation procedure she had carried out more than a thousand times, Nonō began her work.
She extracted the target's preserved somatic cells from the cell bank and, through delicate manipulation under a microscope, injected them into an Egg cell containing only the Insect Swarm's ovarian system, beginning rapid cultivation.
This entire process was cloning.
The difference from ordinary cloning was that it contained one crucial extra step.
The injection of the soul.
Through the application of a formula, it was