The Double-Edged Sword: Speculations on the Ten-Tails

Kakuzu crouched down, pulled open the prisoner's eyelids for a look, then reached out to check his carotid artery. He stood back up and shook his head.

"He's not dead, but he'll need at least three months in bed to recover—assuming it was diluted five hundredfold."

Uchiha Jun set down his charcoal pencil, picked up the sheet filled with data, scanned it from beginning to end, then nodded lightly and asked,

"A five-hundredfold dilution can temporarily raise an Elite Chunin-level recipient's chakra reserves to the Pseudo-Kage Level for one and a half to two minutes. The cost is a significant depletion of Life Force, along with a complete loss of conscious awareness and chakra control."

"This result basically matches the properties of Hero Water recorded in the materials—it massively enhances chakra in a short time, at the cost of overdrawing the user's own Life Force."

"But how did you treat something this uncontrollable as 'backup hidden energy'? Did you swallow Hero Water and charge in to explode when you encountered an enemy you couldn't match? Or dilute it even further?"

Hearing this, Kakuzu shook his head. A trace of confusion appeared in his dark green eyes as he said,

"I don't know either. In my time, we just swallowed Hero Water directly. Jonin could reach the Kage Level, while Elite Jonin could gain chakra reserves several times greater than the Kage Level. They could even reduce the number of hand seals and cast ninjutsu ahead of time."

"But once the battle ended, they would die on the spot. At best, their organs ruptured or they died of cerebral hemorrhaging, leaving an intact corpse. At worst, their bodies exploded."

"Takigakure had tried diluting Hero Water before to avoid death, but due to a lack of resources and talent, they couldn't formulate a suitable dilution solution. Every diluted result lost Hero Water's effects."

"The harmful effects remained instead, so further research was halted. Hero Water was sealed away in portions and treated as a treasure."

"Is that so..."

Uchiha Jun stroked his chin and murmured,

The dilution solution did not come from Takigakure, but from Orochimaru's experimental base. When Uchiha Jun had met Orochimaru last time, he had specifically asked for some, considering the preservation of Kekkei Genkai and bodily tissues.

This stuff had quite a few uses. It could serve as a dilution solution while also ensuring the vitality of flesh and blood tissue and preserving its inherent chakra properties.

Naturally, its cost was not low. Just one hundred milliliters cost a full five hundred thousand ryo.

Orochimaru had only given Uchiha Jun five hundred milliliters because he saw that Uchiha Jun was quite interested in research and wanted to nurture him.

Uchiha Jun raised his head and looked at Kakuzu. "Next, try one-hundredfold and fiftyfold dilutions. See whether we can preserve the effects while reducing the degree of mental erosion."

"Yes!"

Kakuzu nodded and turned to prepare the next batch of diluted solution.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Jun's charcoal pencil returned to the paper, making soft scratching sounds.

The entire experiment lasted a full three hours.

Three dilution gradients, nine prisoners, nine experiments. The data from every trial was recorded in detail, forming an experimental report more than a dozen pages thick.

The conclusion was shocking, but also disappointing—

Hero Water's effects were beyond doubt.

Whether diluted two hundredfold or used directly in its original form, it could cause the drinker's chakra reserves to explode in a short period of time—the worst record still raised an ordinary Jonin to Elite Jonin level;

The best record allowed an Elite Chunin to touch the threshold of the Kage Level after consuming Hero Water diluted fiftyfold!

But the cost was equally unavoidable.

Every prisoner who underwent the experiment suffered varying degrees of Life Force depletion after the effects faded.

The least affected one lost the equivalent of two years of natural lifespan; the worst—the prisoner who drank the original solution directly—had every blood vessel in his body burst less than thirty seconds after the effect began, dying on the spot.

More importantly, aside from the prisoner who drank the original solution directly, not a single test subject was able to retain clear consciousness and normal chakra control during the drug's effects.

"This thing is practically a double-edged sword—no, it's a blade that was never sharpened."

Kakuzu wiped the blood from his hands, his tone carrying a rare seriousness. "Its power is certainly enough, but the side effects are too severe for practical combat use—unless it's for expendable men carrying out suicide missions."

Uchiha Jun closed the experimental report, which was as thick as a finger. After a moment of silence, he said,

"It's not unusable. We simply haven't found the right way to use it yet."

"The essence of Hero Water is trading Life Force for chakra reserves—but what if the recipient's Life Force is already enormous? For example, the constitution of the Uzumaki Clan."

Uchiha Jun paused and thought to himself, Or a body modified with Hashirama Cells!

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes and said,

"There really haven't been any cases of Uzumaki Clan ninja drinking Hero Water. Does the boss need me to capture an Uzumaki Clan ninja?"

"...There's no need for that in the short term. Proceed according to the original plan. Manage Takigakure first, and put the experiments aside for now."

"Yes."

Kakuzu nodded at that. He had no interest in experiments anyway; the only reason he was conducting research was because Uchiha Jun had ordered it.

Uchiha Jun stood up and tucked the experimental report into his clothes. "As for the next stage, we'll decide how to proceed after my main body returns from completing its mission."

"Let's go. That's enough experimenting for today. There's already enough data to keep me analyzing for quite a while."

Kakuzu followed behind him and casually extinguished the oil lamp.

Darkness once again enveloped the entire dungeon.