Orochimaru's New Technology: Creatine

The thing Masaichi did most on the front lines was train his body.

At the very least, he could not be as kidney-deficient or lacking in endurance as Kakashi. That was his bottom line.

Today was another day without killing.

"Master Dai, could you check whether I'm engaging my trapezius muscles properly?"

"Oh~ Masaichi, youth means constantly pushing yourself to the limit. They're all muscles in your body anyway—what difference does it make which ones you train?"

Masaichi continued working out when Orochimaru arrived, bringing cart after cart of food and protein powder, all supplies intended for the frontline ninja.

"Teacher."

Masaichi wiped away his sweat and went to greet him. Might Dai felt a little regretful. If only Masaichi wore his bodysuit. Even dressed as he was, Masaichi had already attracted so much attention.

Because Masaichi loved working out, he had sparked a fitness craze among Konoha's civilian ninja.

They sincerely admired Masaichi, who had led them through the Land of Lightning like a blade through flesh. Besides, Masaichi and Orochimaru alike had come from the bottom and known hardship.

The ninja clans naturally did not train alongside them. They had their own inherited secret techniques and practiced only those. They even looked down somewhat on those without any secret techniques or bloodlines, who only knew how to train their bodies relentlessly.

The bullying had been passed down through the generations.

"Brother Masaichi, look what Teacher and I brought you."

There were not only crates of protein powder on the trucks. The lead truck also carried bottles and jars without labels, things Masaichi could not identify just from the shapes of the glass containers.

"Teacher, don't say it. Let me."

"This is creatine." Anko Mitarashi took out a small bottle for Masaichi. It was filled with powder that smelled like peeling paint.

"Holy shit." Masaichi stared at Orochimaru in disbelief.

Was it what he thought it was?

Creatine, an essential for fitness enthusiasts in his previous life.

After Anko finished her proud introduction, Masaichi truly wanted to kneel before Orochimaru and kowtow a few times.

"You inspired me as well, Masaichi. I discovered a substance in the human body. I am willing to call it ATP."

According to Orochimaru's explanation,

ATP could be viewed as the human body's backup battery. Whenever explosive force was used, this battery was consumed.

The way to recharge that battery was to have enough creatine stored in the body.

It was difficult for people to consume enough creatine to meet their daily requirements—nearly impossible, in fact. It was even harder than getting enough protein.

That was why technology was needed. By taking the creatine he had developed, they could replenish their body's creatine stores and bring them to sufficient levels.

Suppose someone could originally grip a 100-kilogram stone pillar. Once their creatine levels were full, they could grip an extra 5 to 15 kilograms.

That was what creatine did.

It did not matter if they did not understand. Orochimaru ate the stuff himself, so they knew how valuable it was.

Taking it could even improve the brain's reaction speed.

Such was the sanctity of science!!

Masaichi swallowed a heaping scoop of creatine and felt as if he could punch Hashirama to death. Of course, that was just psychological.

A scoop that large would need at least another half month or so before it took effect.

After Orochimaru became smarter, he realized something else. At that moment, he had Masaichi take off his clothes and bask in the sun. "There are substances in sunlight that our bodies need too, though Teacher has not yet studied their specific functions."

Masaichi could only tell him roughly what the substance did to speed up Orochimaru's research. After all, Orochimaru was a scientific madman who needed to uncover the exact principles behind everything and study them in great detail.

For instance, Masaichi had once said that magnets with like poles repelled each other while opposite poles attracted. What Orochimaru cared about was why two magnets behaved that way.

"Vitamin D3?"

"Once Teacher runs a few more comparisons, we'll know."

Orochimaru still favored Masaichi somewhat.

After all, who would not appreciate a student who provided emotional value and handled matters appropriately?

There was plenty of protein powder, but due to insufficient production capacity, he had only prepared one person's worth of supplements like creatine for Masaichi.

The others were lucky enough just to get yeast protein powder.

Yeast protein powder was another of Orochimaru's inventions. By fermenting yeast, it could be rapidly reproduced and extracted. It was hundreds of times easier to obtain than the whey protein powder Masaichi drank, though it was absorbed and utilized less efficiently. It also tasted awful, like drinking soybean pulp.

"You've done well lately." Orochimaru rarely praised anyone.

Everyone was stunned. If Orochimaru's tacit approval of Masaichi killing Sarutobi Soku had merely been their speculation before, now it was confirmed beyond doubt.

Did Lord Orochimaru really dote on his student this much?

According to Konoha law, only the Hokage had the authority to deal with Special Jōnin and Jōnin. Even if a Genin committed a crime, the village had to discuss the matter before giving a response.

Masaichi had completely overstepped his authority. The Hokage was not a puppet, and this was a serious taboo.

After delivering the supplies, Orochimaru took Anko away again. Yes, he now trusted his student greatly and had no need to ask questions at all.

As they looked at Masaichi's personal supply allotment, the civilian ninja of Konoha could only envy him.

There were supplements called zinc tablets inside. According to Lord Orochimaru, they could replenish something in men's bodies called testosterone.

Only with high testosterone could one build muscle and increase chakra.

Only with high testosterone could that aspect...

As men grew older, their testosterone secretion decreased year by year, and as a result, that matter got worse year by year too.

Ahem. He meant chakra endurance.

In any case, there was not a man among them who was not envious.

"What are you looking at? You're not getting any." Still, Masaichi was fairly generous. He would never keep this glory all to himself.

After keeping one month's worth of supplies, he divided everything except the zinc tablets among the ninja present.

Recently, Cloud Ninja Village's scouts had noticed something from far away.

The Konoha ninja had started working out in their camp.

Every day, they were either running while carrying wooden posts or running while carrying wooden posts. The stench of sweat could be smelled from a great distance.

The ninja of the Inuzuka clan had long since requested transfers to the most dangerous Hidden Rock Village battlefield.

They would rather face Hidden Rock Village's two more formidable Jinchūriki.

"Konoha people really are hardworking." Darui, who had just graduated from the ninja academy, lay lazily on a tree branch. From where he was, he could vaguely see what was happening in Konoha's camp.

Recently, Hidden Cloud Village and Konoha had entered a brief period of peace.

The Fourth Raikage A and the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki had a blood feud over their fathers' deaths.

The tragedy of Hidden Cloud Village's Raikage had turned the entire village's anger toward Hidden Rock Village.

Yet A had not reduced the manpower guarding against Konoha in the slightest. He had even sent out children who had just graduated from the ninja academy.

Basically, A believed that since Konoha had so many young geniuses, like Masaichi and Kakashi, Hidden Cloud Village surely had them too. He simply had not discovered them yet, so he wanted to give those geniuses a chance to step into the spotlight.

"Hm? Where did that cow come from?" Samui, already beginning to fill out, stood on a tree branch. The cow was black all over, and she found it strangely familiar.

It looked a lot like the Black Bull unique to their Land of Lightning.

"Maybe Konoha bought it from the Land of Lightning." Darui yawned. When the town had fallen before, Masaichi had distributed everything to the civilians and taken nothing for himself, so the cow could be ruled out as stolen or looted.

"Perhaps." Samui still did not think so.

She was impressed as well.

The Land of Lightning had recently seen frequent worker uprisings and peasant uprisings, demanding higher wages and better treatment.

The country was in chaos.

Lord A had to avenge himself, guard against Konoha, and suppress domestic unrest.

How could five fingers have any strength if they could not all clench into a fist?