At the mention of the Konoha Research Institute of Science, an utterly bitter, helpless smile appeared on the burly man's rugged face.
He shook his head and reached up to touch the cold inhibitor around his neck.
"Do you think I haven't tried?"
The burly man sighed, his voice full of frustration.
"A while ago, when I learned my wife was pregnant, I went to Konoha myself with a hefty sum of money."
"I stayed in Konoha for over two weeks, going to the Research Institute of Science's gates every day to ask for an audience. I tried contacting the researchers and even tried every way I could think of to grease the guards' palms..."
The light in the burly man's eyes dimmed.
"But that legendary director, Orochimaru the Cold-Blooded, wouldn't see me at all."
"His assistant, that researcher with the afro, told me Director Orochimaru was conducting top-secret research concerning life itself. He'd locked himself in the lowest-level laboratory for ages. Even Konoha's higher-ups couldn't see him, let alone an outsider of unknown origins like me."
"I didn't even get a chance to submit information about my condition or this sea beast before the Konoha Police Force 'escorted' me out of Konoha for lingering too long and behaving suspiciously."
Listening from his hiding place, Nishikawa Tetsu nearly coughed up blood.
Holy shit!
Nishikawa Tetsu wailed inwardly in despair.
Orochimaru, you absolute screwup! He locked himself in his lab to research how to reverse his shrinking and actually turned away a walking research specimen who was a treasure trove from head to toe?!
Jūgo's father! A natural-born sage body! He's a crucial research subject for Sage Mode!
Nishikawa Tetsu was distraught. He felt as though he'd just missed out on a hundred million.
*No, I have to bring this big