The Special Investigation Team made rapid progress. In less than a week, a steady stream of reports reached Tsunade's office.
The matter was simple.
It could be confirmed as an accident.
An operational error had caused a fatal virus to leak. It spread rapidly through the air, causing large numbers of people to quickly develop symptoms and die.
Tsunade looked at the photographs.
Beyond the tragedy, she found it somewhat absurd.
The symptoms were bone hardening, also known as Osteopetrosis, a rare congenital hereditary disease.
In her medical career, Tsunade had seen only two cases. As a systemic abnormality in bone development, the entire process was long and torturous. The body would gradually become marble-like, the bones would grow brittle and fracture easily, accompanied by symptoms such as anemia, impaired vision, and deafness, until the entire body hardened, the organs turned to stone, ceased functioning, and the patient died.
The symptoms caused by this virus were similar, but far more rapid.
Fortunately, it did not possess the greater danger of widespread contagiousness.
Tsunade looked at the photographs. The entire town was filled with people who had died after hardening, resembling stone sculptures. Hardened bone plates had burst through their clothes and skin, exposed to the air, while the limestone-like bones were covered in rough spines, and fine bone ash drifted through the air.
Within a short period, the entire body—including the internal organs and brain—rapidly hardened, swiftly taking the victims' lives.
At a glance, it somewhat resembled a rampage of Shikotsumyaku.
Tsunade continued reading. It was just as she had expected.
The experimental project concerned research into Shikotsumyaku. It had been established to create Bio-osseous composite tempered material for use in industries such as construction. On the surface, everything appeared normal.
Mimi had many similar projects under her name.
Such