"Single-attribute nature transformation is actually the lowest form of Kekkei Genkai. It fits the traits of hereditary bloodlines: descendants can inherit and learn to use it.
But this trait isn't very noticeable, because everyone is born with more or less all seven attributes. It just depends on how much they can develop later!"
Orochimaru spoke at length, his voice hoarse.
"So, if you pass multiple Attribute Bodies down to your descendants, will that give them a Kekkei Genkai?
Heh. Of course it's not that simple!"
Aaaah, my brain's going to explode!
Everything Orochimaru was saying had gone completely beyond Uchiha Chen's knowledge.
So even when Orochimaru paused for a moment, hoping to hear Chen's thoughts, Chen could only wait expectantly for Orochimaru to explain.
"The composition of a Kekkei Genkai is more intricate than that of a single Attribute Body."
Orochimaru was fully in lecture mode now.
Even someone as emotionally detached as him had always wanted to show off his great discovery to someone who could understand it.
"Even a ninja proficient in all five elements only has various amounts of different 'single Attribute Bodies' stored in their reproductive cells.
What a Kekkei Genkai inherits is a 'chimera'—two Attribute Bodies fused together like pieces of a puzzle."
Orochimaru entered a side room of the laboratory, carrying a test tube.
By the laboratory lights, Chen saw a black-haired young man restrained behind the door by Sealing Techniques. His body was covered in wounds, with scarcely a patch of uninjured flesh.
"This observation requires the freshest possible sample to get good results!"
After processing the black-haired young man's flesh and blood in the test tube, Orochimaru placed it on the examination table.
"Only the chakra pathway cells in the human body contain Attribute Bodies.
Once the cells die, the Attribute Bodies dissolve quickly, making them much harder to observe than reproductive cells.
Chen, this is a member of the Yuki Clan I captured on the Mist battlefield. He possesses the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai. Take a look at his chakra pathway cells!"
Through the microscope, Chen's Sharingan let him quickly distinguish the chakra pathway cells in the flesh and blood. He then adjusted the microscope and examined the inside of a cell.
Under Orochimaru's guidance, Chen quickly counted the Attribute Bodies inside the cells that represented 'Wind' and 'Water.'
"This cell doesn't have it. Try another!"
After checking several cells in succession, Chen finally saw the chimera Orochimaru had mentioned.
The outer membranes of two different Attribute Bodies had fused, and the matrix inside the one symbolizing Wind had flowed into the outer membrane of the Water Attribute Body.
"When a person's chakra pathway cells contain an organelle with a Wind→Water structure, they can refine Ice Release chakra.
The Kekkei Genkai composed of Wind and Water chakra also includes Transparent Release, and Transparent Release must have a Water→Wind structure!
That's all there is to the essence of ninjutsu-type Kekkei Genkai!"
Orochimaru's voice brimmed with pride.
And he had every right to be proud. Setting aside the era of the Ninjutsu Sect, no one had discovered this in the hundreds of years since the Warring States period.
Pairing the five chakra Attribute Bodies gave ten combinations, and each combination could have two possible directions for the cytoplasm to flow.
So there were twenty ninjutsu-type Kekkei Genkai in all.
In the macro world, even a powerful multi-attribute ninja like Sarutobi Hiruzen, capable of splitting mountains and diverting rivers, would have to make countless attempts to fuse a Kekkei Genkai—and would most likely fail.
But in the microscopic world, the essence of Kekkei Genkai inheritance was merely the fusion of organelles inside cells.
"Mr. Orochimaru, have you tried it?"
Chen's lips were dry, and his hands clenched involuntarily, crumpling the materials he held. He could clearly hear his own voice, filled with greed:
"Transplanting an organelle from one cell into another is nowhere near as difficult as gene sequencing or gene editing."
Nuclear-transfer technology had already matured in the 1950s of Chen's previous life. Transplanting organelles wouldn't be much harder.
"How could I do that so quickly? The instruments aren't precise enough, and I only have one Ice Release experimental subject. There are plenty of hypotheses and deductions I can't verify."
Orochimaru's tone was somewhat helpless, his golden snake eyes glimmering with a faint, flickering light.
"So I'll be counting on you, Chen!"
You're not going to make me jerk off and provide Sharingan research material, are you?
Forget it. I'm only sixteen. That'd be bad for my health!
Chen's face was full of incredulous refusal. He'd never hand his little tadpoles over to Orochimaru. Who knew what Orochimaru might do with them?
Fortunately, Orochimaru hadn't meant that.
"You know the laboratory I had on the Eastern Front. It's fully equipped with brand-new instruments. You can use it from now on!"
Orochimaru's fingers flew as he tidied the workbench. "There are plenty of bloodlines among the Mist Ninja. Once you go to the Eastern Front, find a way to collect as many as you can!"
So that's what he meant!
Chen breathed a sigh of relief, understanding Orochimaru's hint.
The war was starting again. Chen would definitely be sent to the Eastern Front, and Orochimaru was no longer its commander, so he wouldn't be able to look after him.
"All right, off you go! By the way, the Senju Clan's collection of books is here!"
Orochimaru opened his huge mouth and spat out a damp scroll, then handed it to Chen.
On the slightly yellowed surface of the scroll was a line of elegant, tiny writing.
It read:
History of Warring States Sealing, compiled by Uzumaki Mito.
On the way back to the Uchiha Clan Compound, Chen's thoughts were in turmoil, and he walked slowly.
Attribute Bodies, Kekkei Genkai Chimeras, organelle transplantation...
He swore that when he'd first guided Orochimaru to study intracellular structures and talked up gene scissors to improve traits and gene editing to create artificial Kekkei Genkai, he'd never imagined Orochimaru would make such quick progress.
How many years had it been?
Just a few years ago, the Shinobi World's understanding of cells had only reached the level of the eighteenth century!
Wasn't the development of science and knowledge supposed to progress in a spiral? How had Orochimaru taken off like a helicopter?
Of course, Orochimaru had still held some things back in his conversation with Chen today.
Orochimaru couldn't possibly be uninterested in bloodlines like dōjutsu and special physiques. He couldn't possibly have done no research at all on Yin and Yang Release beyond the Five Elements, yet he hadn't mentioned them in front of Chen.
Chen had come today for History of Warring States Sealing, but now he had no interest in studying the book.
Orochimaru had shown Chen a new path.
From the five single-attribute nature transformations to twenty ninjutsu-type Kekkei Genkai, and then onward to Kekkei Tōta.
And if Yin Release and Yang Release were added, it would lead to the path of the 'Truth-Seeking Orb.'
[Understand the power of Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements, and you will gain the ultimate power that returns all things to nothing—Book of Formations]
Chen pressed one hand against his eye and looked up at the crescent moon.
These prosthetic eyes made him much stronger than an ordinary Mangekyō clan member.
But that strength was utterly helpless before Otsutsuki Kaguya, sealed inside the moon, and before the Sage of Six Paths and the Otsutsuki in the universe.
Was he supposed to wait for Naruto to save the world while he did nothing?
I'd been taught since elementary school that man could triumph over nature!
Beneath the cold moonlight, Chen made up his mind.
But a thick fog still clouded his heart, leaving him uneasy:
This path is fraught with dangers. Can I make it to the other side?
Before you continue