Pavlov's Dog

"Sensei, who is that girl in the cell?" Kenichi Amamiya asked his teacher with an odd expression.

"Consumable material sent over by Root. I left Konoha in a hurry before." Orochimaru answered bluntly. He was eating Pork Cutlet Rice, made by Kenichi Amamiya.

After all, they were no longer in Konoha. If they had been in Konoha, Orochimaru could have eaten anywhere with ease; he only needed to pick a shop, and many of them would even give him discounts.

But after leaving Konoha, they had to handle it themselves for the time being. After tasting the food Orochimaru made, Kenichi Amamiya had given up on the idea of letting his teacher cook. He chose to do it himself.

Kenichi Amamiya nodded. It seemed that although his teacher had defected from Konoha, he still had some ties to Root.

That seemed fairly normal. Kenichi Amamiya thought of the person he had seen in another room earlier. That person looked strange, but his teacher valued him highly.

But in the underground prison just now, Kenichi Amamiya had also seen someone familiar: the female ninja from the Ninja Squad they had captured before.

She had been sent here as well, and her treatment seemed somewhat better. At the very least, she could still eat her fill, unlike the others, whose meals were terrible.

This made Kenichi Amamiya even more certain that his teacher intended to use that girl as the vessel for Living Corpse Reincarnation.

Kenichi Amamiya shoveled down a few more bites of rice.

"Sensei, I'm finished." Kenichi Amamiya set down his chopsticks and left. He still needed to collect the meal trays and such from the imprisoned consumable materials.

But that was not the main reason for his enthusiasm.

"The human brain is fascinating. Memories are stored within it, and the formation of subconsciousness and habits is also related to the brain." Kenichi Amamiya slowly walked through the dim stairwell.

He was carrying out something quite unusual.

"Yuki, have you finished your meal today?" Kenichi Amamiya placed a hand on the female ninja's head and asked with a cheerful smile.

At the same time, Lightning Release Chakra gathered in his hand and surged through the imprisoned female ninja Yuki's body, making her shudder violently. She looked at Kenichi Amamiya before her in terror.

Yuki felt that these two were definitely madmen, especially the boy in front of her. He was clearly still young, yet everything he did was as terrifying as a demon's.

"F-finished." Yuki lowered her head in fear, trembling all over. If she failed to answer whenever he questioned her, she would be punished.

She was treated like this every day, to the point that Yuki now felt intense fear toward Kenichi Amamiya.

Watching Yuki tremble, Kenichi Amamiya's lips curved slightly upward. This was exactly the effect he wanted.

Kenichi Amamiya had once heard of a scientific experiment called Pavlov's Dog.

It was an interesting experiment. It stated that after a period of regular training, living creatures would develop specific responses to certain stimuli. For example, if someone always turned on a light and rang a bell before feeding a dog—

Then after some time, as long as the light was turned on and the bell was rung, even if no food was brought out, the dog would instinctively salivate.

It was like an instinct, beyond the dog's own control.

This was what was known as a conditioned reflex.

Although souls existed in the ninja world, so Kenichi Amamiya was not sure whether memories were entirely governed by the brain, he only intended to conduct this experiment casually.

It would naturally be best if it produced results, but it would not matter if it did not.

The only trouble was that this experiment needed to be maintained for a long time in order to strengthen that conditioned reflex.

At the thought of casually placing his hand on his teacher's head someday and making his teacher shudder all over, Kenichi Amamiya felt a strange sense of delight.

Of course, that would also be extremely dangerous. Fortunately, he had enough time to arrange what he wanted to do.

After leaving Yuki's cell, Kenichi Amamiya went to the other rooms to gather the meal trays and such. These consumable materials did not receive such good treatment.

His teacher's requirement was simply that they remained alive.

Kenichi Amamiya deeply agreed.

"Even the cleverest housewife can't cook without rice." Kenichi Amamiya smacked his lips. Everything cost money after coming out here. If not for the valuables and supplies he had looted during the Nine-Tails Attack, he would practically be declaring bankruptcy by now.

Naturally, he had no interest in improving the living conditions of these consumable materials.

After collecting the trays, Kenichi Amamiya returned to the floor where he and his teacher lived and conducted experiments. By then, his teacher had finished eating and was drinking tea.

Kenichi Amamiya was not surprised. His teacher loved tea and drank it every day. He had no idea when that habit had formed.

"Kenichi, do you know the Land of Rain?" Orochimaru suddenly asked. Kenichi Amamiya froze for a moment, then nodded. Of course he knew the Land of Rain.

He even knew what a dangerous place the Land of Rain was at present. Akatsuki was there, though Yahiko should already be dead by now, right?

Kenichi Amamiya was not sure. After all, the Timeline of the ninja world had always been a mystery.

"I plan to build a force of my own in this chaotic ninja world. There seem to have been some changes in the Land of Rain recently. Go investigate." Orochimaru spoke calmly.

"Yes, Sensei." Kenichi Amamiya did not hesitate at all. Being able to leave the base for a while was not a bad thing, though it was a pity to interrupt his conditioning of Yuki.

At that thought, Kenichi Amamiya paused. Was his teacher aware of what he had been doing to Yuki, and had deliberately sent him away because of it?

Fortunately, he knew that ninja often had to leave to carry out missions anyway, so he had deliberately increased Yuki's training each day.

"Then I'll be going, Sensei." Kenichi Amamiya packed his things and left. Going to the Land of Rain to make contact with Akatsuki was inevitable; it was only a matter of time.

Kenichi Amamiya had originally planned to implant Obito's eye, but it seemed he could postpone it for now. After all, he did not know whether Obito would appear in the current Akatsuki. It would be troublesome if Obito saw it.

Fortunately, his research was nearly complete. By then, he would be able to obtain the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. He just did not know whether the Three Tomoe would be controllable, though they most likely would be.

Watching his disciple leave the base, Orochimaru closed the door and set up several protective barriers and spell formations. He intended to try that ninjutsu of his.

His battle with Jiraiya and Hiruzen Sarutobi earlier had not been easy. He had still suffered some injuries, and now was the time to test Living Corpse Reincarnation.

Sorry, relatives came over today and kept me talking for a long time. It was not really convenient for me to use the computer, so I could only delay until now.

The next update will be made up as soon as possible.