Outside Konoha.
Orochimaru's secret base.
Ever since they arrived here a day ago.
Orochimaru and the others had eagerly thrown themselves into their research.
Their initial studies revealed that a certain energy was constantly present where Danzo's head joined the pig's body.
They all agreed that this energy was what prevented the rejection that should have occurred from affecting Danzo's health at all.
Orochimaru himself had conducted quite a few limb-transplant experiments.
Aside from a few successful transplants between people who were blood relatives, all the others had failed.
There was only one exception: Hashirama Cells. He had personally attached the arm grown from Hashirama Cells to Danzo.
Other than Hashirama Cells, which were compatible with all other recipients.
There were no other exceptions.
The discovery made them marvel all over again.
"Kimura Takuya really is a genius. Unless we figure out what this energy is, no one but him could pull this off."
If Kimura Takuya had been there, he probably would have modestly pointed out that Hiruko was another person who could do it.
After marveling, they continued their research.
Little did they know that they were all working for Kimura Takuya for free.
And Kimura Takuya was about to mess with their heads, too.
At Konoha's gates.
Everyone had taken care of things at home, packed their belongings, and gathered together.
"Yoshi! Everyone's ready, so let's go!"
"Um, Guy-sensei, where are we going? This mission doesn't give us any direction at all."
"Tenten, that's not a problem. When you don't know which way to go, you only have two choices: retreat or charge ahead! Konoha's ninja don't back down easily, so our direction is clear. We charge ahead!"
"That makes so much sense, I can't even argue with it! But why am I suddenly getting fired up, too?"
Tenten grumbled helplessly. She brought her backpack around to the front and began searching for something. It was mostly filled with Summoning Scrolls.
Ever since hearing Tuoye's advice, Tenten had developed a Konoha-Style Nintaijutsu technique that let her coat long-range weapons in chakra.
But for the past half month, she had been studying Summoning Jutsu and Sealing Jutsu.
She had realized that it was difficult to keep chakra on melee weapons for long.
To maintain chakra on a thrown weapon after it left her hand, she would need Chakra Metal.
But Chakra Metal was incredibly valuable. Even the Hokage's son could only afford a pair of knuckle blades.
Tenten's family could certainly afford to equip her with some, but she couldn't exactly throw them around like ordinary ranged weapons.
At first, Tenten had even considered making weapons out of the special wood used to produce Chakra Paper.
After all, chakra had been used to cultivate this special wood from the very beginning of its growth, giving it chakra conductivity on par with Chakra Metal once it matured.
It could be made into Chakra Paper that was extremely sensitive to chakra nature.
But after trying it out, she discovered that although the wood conducted chakra well, it was still just wood once chakra was applied to it.
Its power was even inferior to that of ordinary metal weapons.
Troubled, Tenten went to Kimura Takuya.
Kimura Takuya showed her a way forward. He said to the frustrated girl,
"Simply coating wood in chakra doesn't increase its power by much. But what if you added Sealing Jutsu?"
"Ah! Explosive Tags?"
The clever girl caught on at once.
After all, didn't Explosive Tags work by sealing Fire Release Ninjutsu into chakra paper, allowing a single sheet to unleash the effects of a high-level Fire Release technique?
Quite a few jonin skilled in Fire Release and Sealing Jutsu had contracts with her family to order Explosive Tags.
Ordinary chakra paper didn't have Chakra Paper's sensitivity to chakra nature.
It was simply more resistant to chakra, which made it ideal for crafting sealing scrolls and Explosive Tags.
And unprocessed special wood was actually more stable than ordinary chakra paper.
For semi-permanent seals, special wood was usually inscribed directly with sealing formulas to achieve better results.
For even better results, Chakra Metal was the only option, but its cost was clearly too high.
So in the end, Tenten still chose ranged weapons made from special wood.
She would simply inscribe sealing formulas on all of them, then get someone to seal various high-level ninjutsu inside.
In battle, all she needed to do was apply a chakra nature transformation similar to the Sound-Damping Technique to her weapons.
That would let them fly toward her enemies swiftly and silently, and she could use Chakra Threads to control the ninjutsu sealed inside the weapons and set them off.
With enough preparation, Tenten's combat strength was now on par with a one-card unit.
She might even be more lethal!
Because her lethality depended on how many weapons she could carry.
After all, triggering the seals on her weapons and throwing them cost almost no chakra.
"Finally found them!"
After rummaging through her backpack for ages, Tenten closed her hand around what she had found.
There was a delicate little box containing something that clinked and rattled like a handful of small stones.
She also had a pair of fingerless gloves. She handed both items to Kimura Takuya.
"Tuoye, I found the gems you asked me to look for. And here are these gloves, woven from special wood fibers."
"Oh, you found everything?"
Kimura Takuya had been wondering how to lead the group to Orochimaru's lab.
When Tenten handed him the items, he snapped back to his senses and took the gloves and gems.
The gloves weren't anything special. These tactical gloves woven from special wood fibers.
They were a little expensive, but they conducted chakra very well.
They also kept weapons from slipping out of your hands in close combat, and the metal plates sewn into the backs offered decent protection.
They were practically essential gear for elite ninja.
The same kind Kakashi often wore.
Lightweight and breathable—Kakashi swore by them.
"Ha! Tenten, you secretly prepared a gift for Tuoye? Why have Neji and I never gotten anything from you? You like Tuoye, don't you? Don't you?"
"N-no! This isn't a gift I specially prepared. Tuoye just asked me to find these things for him!"
Kimura Takuya looked at the gloves in his hands and realized they didn't seem to be a standard size sold in stores.
They were custom-made, and the size seemed to match his hands.
Well, it looked like the girl had misunderstood. Could she have knitted them herself, too?
"You're still saying it wasn't specially prepared? I clearly saw you knitting them halfway in your backpack last time—Mmph!"
"I'll kill you!"
Tenten instantly mastered a famous Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu move on the spot—the Rear Naked Choke!
Kimura Takuya shook his head with a smile, crouched down, and formed Hand Seals to perform a jutsu.
"Ninja Art: True Transformation Technique."
With a puff.
The gloves and gems on the ground fused into one, and the gloves' shape changed into a slimmer, feminine design.
True Transformation Technique wasn't often used on objects, so Kimura Takuya went to the trouble of forming Hand Seals again.
But his actions left everyone's jaws on the floor.
He had actually used the Transformation Technique to truly alter the gloves' shape. Geniuses really were impossible for ordinary people to understand!
Neji had nearly activated his Byakugan in shock and started questioning his entire existence.
"Try them on, Tenten."
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