Chapter Summaries

After the Third Great Ninja War ended, Kenichi Amamiya returned to Orochimaru’s laboratory, where he used his scientific talent and a secret analysis ability to aid research while seeking a way to improve his own strength. His analysis of Hashirama Senju’s Sage Body neared completion, and he turned his attention to researching the Sharingan.

• Kenichi Amamiya asked Orochimaru whether Hiruzen Sarutobi would step down after the war, and Orochimaru cautioned him not to speak disrespectfully of the Hokage.
• Orochimaru told Kenichi Amamiya that his and Danzo’s research on the First Hokage’s cells had progressed enough that they might begin live testing.
• Kenichi Amamiya recalled that Orochimaru had protected him from Danzo’s attempts to recruit him into Root and place a Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on him.
• Kenichi Amamiya checked his secret panel and saw that research on Hashirama Senju’s Sage Body was 99.8% complete.
• Kenichi Amamiya asked for his test tube and continued researching the Sharingan.

Kenichi Amamiya prepared to study a One Tomoe Sharingan as Orochimaru summoned him to begin a live experiment. At a hidden test base, Shimura Danzō supplied captured orphans from the Land of Rain, and Kenichi prepared to document the experiment.

• Kenichi Amamiya examined the Sharingan and considered how its inherited traits might differ genetically from those of ordinary people.
• Orochimaru summoned Kenichi Amamiya to join the first stage of a live experiment.
• Kenichi stored the Sharingan in a special container and followed Orochimaru to a test base outside the Hidden Leaf Village.
• Shimura Danzō presented several orphans captured in the Land of Rain to Orochimaru as experimental subjects.
• Orochimaru told Kenichi to keep experimental records as the experiment began, while Shimura Danzō dismissed him as insignificant.

Kenichi Amamiya assisted Orochimaru and Shimura Danzō with failed experiments on Hashirama Senju's Cells, then learned that Danzō was preparing to challenge Hiruzen Sarutobi amid the aftermath of the war. Orochimaru took Kenichi to eat at the Akimichi Clan's barbecue restaurant, where villagers celebrated Orochimaru and Minato Namikaze as Konoha's heroes.

• Kenichi Amamiya recorded seven experiments on lab mice, but only one survived the initial fusion of Hashirama Senju's Cells, and Orochimaru explained that more trials were needed.
• Shimura Danzō ordered Root to secretly capture test subjects from other villages for further experiments.
• Orochimaru told Kenichi that Danzō was likely to exploit Konoha's heavy wartime losses to challenge Hiruzen Sarutobi for the Fourth Hokage's position.
• Orochimaru took Kenichi to the Akimichi Clan's barbecue restaurant, where the crowd let him skip the line and praised him and Minato Namikaze for their wartime service.

Kenichi Amamiya discussed Orochimaru’s experiment, then encountered Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, and Kakashi Hatake. After Kushina asked him to befriend Kakashi, Kenichi agreed while continuing to consider his future if Orochimaru defected.

• Kenichi Amamiya shared his observations about Orochimaru’s experiment, and Orochimaru told him they would discuss it on the way back.
• Kenichi Amamiya and Orochimaru met Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, and Kakashi Hatake outside the barbecue restaurant.
• Kushina Uzumaki embraced Kenichi Amamiya, and Orochimaru pulled him away before Minato introduced Kakashi as his disciple.
• Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki invited Orochimaru and Kenichi Amamiya to eat with them, and Kenichi ended up accompanying them.
• Kushina Uzumaki asked Kenichi Amamiya to be friends with Kakashi, and Kenichi agreed.

Kenichi Amamiya escorted Kakashi home while considering his trauma and his own research. Back at his house, his research progress reached completion and granted him Hashirama Senju's Sage Body.

• Kenichi agreed to take Kakashi home after Kushina and Minato left them together.
• Kenichi tried to draw Kakashi into conversation and considered using genjutsu to treat his nightmares, but decided against it.
• Kenichi escorted Kakashi home, then returned to the small house Orochimaru had given him.
• Kenichi examined his collection and kept samples of blood from Mount Myōboku's toads and Manda, along with Katsuyu's secretions.
• Kenichi's research progress completed, and he obtained Hashirama Senju's Sage Body.

After gaining Hashirama Senju's Sage Body, Kenichi Amamiya discovered that his Chakra capacity and talent had greatly improved, though he had not awakened Wood Release. He considered new research tasks and trained with Might Guy before meeting Orochimaru to begin the day's research.

• Kenichi Amamiya felt his body transform after completing his research and found that he could refine far more Chakra than before.
• Kenichi Amamiya saw two new elective tasks: obtain Kushina Uzumaki's body tissue and establish his own laboratory.
• Kenichi Amamiya decided he needed a way to secure funding and looked at a photo of himself with Orochimaru.
• Kenichi Amamiya trained by frog-jumping around the village with Might Guy and continued building their friendship.
• Orochimaru met Kenichi Amamiya near the forest, noted his stronger Chakra, and said becoming a Chunin was close.

Kenichi Amamiya proposed screening test subjects for compatibility with the First Hokage’s Cells to reduce rejection and avoid wasting subjects, then asked Orochimaru to help him study the Kaguya Clan’s Shikotsumyaku. Orochimaru assigned him three test subjects for rejection experiments, leaving Kenichi to prepare a report.

• Orochimaru acknowledged Kenichi Amamiya’s progress and led him to their laboratory.
• Kenichi Amamiya described his findings about rejection and proposed screening candidates before trying to suppress the reaction to the First Hokage’s Cells.
• Orochimaru considered the proposal and asked Kenichi what reward he wanted.
• Kenichi Amamiya chose to study Kekkei Genkai and specified the Kaguya Clan’s Shikotsumyaku rather than the Hyuga or Uchiha bloodlines.
• Orochimaru said studying the Shikotsumyaku would have to wait, then assigned Kenichi three test subjects for rejection tests and requested a written report.

Kenichi Amamiya reported his First's Cells experiments to Orochimaru, who gave him an A-rank genjutsu scroll and advised him to maintain ties with Minato Namikaze. Kenichi began researching the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and reflected on the Uchiha Clan's position in Konoha.

• Kenichi Amamiya reported that two Land of Wind test subjects had died and described the First's Cells as highly invasive.
• Orochimaru ordered the surviving subject, who had lost a hand, sent to Lab 3 for Sharingan research.
• Orochimaru gave Kenichi Amamiya the Temple of Nirvana Technique scroll and told him to strengthen his ninjutsu training.
• Kenichi Amamiya recounted Minato Namikaze's visit, and Orochimaru advised him to maintain a good relationship with Minato and the Hatake Clan.
• Kenichi Amamiya checked his research panel and saw that his Three-Tomoe Sharingan research had reached 0.12% progress.

Kenichi Amamiya worried about funding a laboratory and met Anko Mitarashi while considering how to advance his research. Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi agreed to step down as Hokage, and Kenichi decided to look for research opportunities at the hospital.

• Kenichi Amamiya lamented that he could not afford laboratory equipment and rejected the idea of taking over Orochimaru's laboratory if his teacher defected.
• Kenichi Amamiya met Anko Mitarashi, who told him she had finished a Genin mission and expected to become a Chunin, and he treated her to ramen and sweets.
• Shimura Danzō urged Hiruzen Sarutobi to step down and recommended Orochimaru as the next Hokage, but Hiruzen planned to support another candidate.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi considered reports that Kenichi Amamiya often left the village, while Kenichi continued avoiding Orochimaru's laboratory for fear of attracting the Anbu's attention.
• Kenichi Amamiya decided to visit the hospital, where he thought he had a better chance of finding a patient relevant to his research.

Kenichi Amamiya learned that Konoha Hospital had no known cancer cases, then unexpectedly met Hiruzen Sarutobi and grew suspicious of his interest. Orochimaru later took Kenichi on a mission to find a squad of ninja who had defected during the war.

• Kenichi asked Konoha Hospital medical staff about cancer, and an elderly Doctor confirmed that they had no knowledge of the disease.
• Kenichi encountered Hiruzen Sarutobi outside the hospital and learned that Hiruzen knew he was Orochimaru's student.
• After returning home, Kenichi worried that Hiruzen's chance meeting might have been intended to draw Orochimaru out, and he burned the clothes Hiruzen had touched.
• Kenichi excitedly told Orochimaru about meeting Hiruzen, but Orochimaru said little and ordered him to join a mission.
• Orochimaru told Kenichi that they would hunt down a squad of ninja who had defected during the war, leaving Kenichi uncertain about the danger.

Kenichi Amamiya left the village with Orochimaru and discovered that his teacher had captured an unsealed Hyuga with Byakugan. Orochimaru noticed the test subject’s cells resembled the First Hokage’s, and Kenichi wondered if they were Cancer Cells.

• Orochimaru examined Kenichi Amamiya’s Insect Amber and asked where he had bought it.
• Kenichi Amamiya and Orochimaru left the village, and Orochimaru asked why the Third Hokage had visited Kenichi.
• Orochimaru led Kenichi into a hidden laboratory, where Kenichi found a man with Byakugan preserved in a Glass Jar.
• Orochimaru explained that the man was an illegitimate Hyuga child who had never received the Caged Bird Seal.
• Orochimaru observed that the test subject’s cells resembled the First Hokage’s Cells, prompting Kenichi to wonder if they were Cancer Cells.

Kenichi Amamiya studied cancerous growths on a living Hyuga Clan member, hoping to develop a unique ninjutsu by stimulating Cancer Cells with life force. He found that his Chakra killed the cells outside the body and realized he could not yet direct Yang Release Chakra to specific cells inside someone else.

• Kenichi Amamiya asked Orochimaru to let him study the Hyuga Clan member’s condition, and Orochimaru revealed that the growths were in the man’s brain and eyes.
• Kenichi Amamiya scraped tissue from the man’s eyeball while he was alive and examined the sample under a Microscope.
• Kenichi Amamiya found that Chakra suppressed the cells’ activity and reasoned that his lightning and fire attributes were unsuitable for sustaining them.
• Kenichi Amamiya tried to use Yang Release Chakra on the Hyuga Clan member but could not direct it to the cancerous cells, and Orochimaru mistook his attempt for the Mystical Palm Technique.

Kenichi Amamiya stayed at Orochimaru’s Test Base while his teacher investigated the strange cells affecting a Hyuga prisoner. After testing the cells’ reaction to Yang Release Chakra, Kenichi prepared to begin live experiments.

• Orochimaru rejected transplanting the Hyuga prisoner’s Byakugan because the eyes were conspicuous and affected by abnormal proliferating cells.
• Orochimaru compared Kenichi’s Insect Amber with a book’s account of ancient mind-controlling insects and concluded they were different species.
• Orochimaru told Kenichi to remain at the Test Base and ordered him not to kill the Hyuga prisoner before leaving.
• Kenichi tested scraped cancer cells with Yang Release Chakra and recorded that they multiplied rapidly before dying.
• Kenichi noted that the growth had disappeared from the prisoner’s eyes and decided live experiments could begin.

Kenichi Amamiya experimented on a weakened Hyuga Clan illegitimate child, trying to use Yang Release Chakra and Nicotine to create Cancer Cells in the lungs. When Orochimaru returned, Kenichi had made progress injecting Yang Release Chakra into a target’s lungs, but his test subject was nearly dead.

• Kenichi Amamiya concluded he could simplify his Cancer Cell experiments by creating the cells directly inside a target’s body.
• Kenichi extracted Nicotine from cigarettes and sprayed the solution onto the test subject, considering its potential as a poison against shinobi.
• Kenichi continued experimenting for eight days and fed the test subject better food so he would survive longer.
• Orochimaru returned and found the Hyuga Clan illegitimate child on the verge of death.
• Kenichi told Orochimaru that he had studied the man’s special cells and could now inject Yang Release Chakra into a target’s lungs.

Kenichi Amamiya returned to Konoha with Orochimaru, learned more ninjutsu, and heard that the village was preparing to elect a Fourth Hokage. While waiting out the political transition, he obtained a hair sample from Kushina Uzumaki and met Might Guy at the training ground.

• Orochimaru confirmed that the Hyuga Clan illegitimate child was alive, returned him to the tank, and took Kenichi Amamiya back toward Konoha while teaching him Lightning and Fire Release ninjutsu.
• Kenichi Amamiya asked about Kumogakure's body-tempering techniques, but Orochimaru could not teach him the secret technique.
• Orochimaru told Kenichi Amamiya to stay home until the Fourth Hokage was elected, and Kenichi decided to set up his own laboratory and seek Kushina Uzumaki's hair for research.
• Kenichi Amamiya visited Minato Namikaze's home, met Kushina Uzumaki, and quietly collected a strand of her hair after she directed him to the training ground.
• Kenichi Amamiya did not find Kakashi at the training ground, but he met Might Guy and challenged him to a contest of youth; Guy proposed twelve laps of frog-jumping.

After Minato Namikaze was chosen as the Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru told Kenichi Amamiya that he planned to leave Konoha and warned that the village would make Kenichi a scapegoat. Kenichi agreed to go with him and received a share of the test subjects for his own experiments.

• Kenichi Amamiya trained while Orochimaru stayed away, then followed him to the woods when Orochimaru returned to discuss the future.
• Orochimaru said he planned to leave Konoha and warned Kenichi that Danzo might force him into Root and blame him for the experiments.
• Kenichi explained that he had decided to leave because he could not survive the fallout over the First Hokage's Cells if Orochimaru fled and Danzo shifted the blame.
• Orochimaru told Kenichi that his Rejection method had been added to future experiments and offered him thirty-two of the eighty-two surviving test subjects.

Kenichi Amamiya experimented on captives to learn how Yang Release Chakra could affect organs and explored using it to cause sudden cardiac death. After exhausting his ordinary test subjects, he persuaded Orochimaru to provide a Genin for further research.

• Kenichi Amamiya told Orochimaru he wanted to study a previous case and considered having his teacher provide him with a laboratory.
• Kenichi Amamiya used Yang Release Chakra and nicotine on a captive, cutting open his chest to observe the effects on his lungs.
• Kenichi Amamiya noticed the captive developed hyperventilation and heart problems, then experimented by stimulating the heart until the subject died.
• Laboratory cleaners buried eight bodies in one afternoon while Kenichi Amamiya concluded his method would not work well against alert ninja.
• Kenichi Amamiya asked Orochimaru for ninja test subjects, and Orochimaru agreed to provide one Genin.

Kenichi Amamiya tested a cancer-inducing ninjutsu and handed its victim to the Medical Team to see whether they could cure him. Orochimaru then offered to teach Kenichi the forbidden Impure World Reincarnation, and Kenichi eagerly accepted.

• Kenichi Amamiya injected Yang Release Chakra into a test subject’s cancer cells, making them grow and spread rapidly.
• Kenichi stitched the subject back up and sent him to the base’s Medical Team to test whether they could treat the cancer.
• Kenichi noticed signs of Impure World Reincarnation in Orochimaru’s laboratory but pretended not to recognize the technique.
• Orochimaru gave Kenichi a scroll of Impure World Reincarnation and asked what he thought of the forbidden technique.
• Kenichi described its power and risks, then agreed to learn it when Orochimaru asked if he dared.

Kenichi learned Impure World Reincarnation from Orochimaru and suspected his teacher was preparing to leave the village. As Minato Namikaze became the Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru watched the celebration with contempt for Konoha, leaving Kenichi beside him as the village cheered.

• Orochimaru formally taught Kenichi the forbidden Impure World Reincarnation technique and advised him to stay ready.
• Kenichi asked Orochimaru about souls and the Pure Land, then learned that a man in Orochimaru's photograph was Hiruko, who had been abandoned by the village.
• Kenichi encountered Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki while shopping, and considered how he might later obtain materials from them for reincarnation.
• Minato Namikaze's inauguration as the Fourth Hokage was announced, and the village celebrated his achievements.
• Orochimaru told Kenichi that he saw a decaying village, power-hungry leaders, and villagers being manipulated.

After Minato took office as Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru and Kenichi Amamiya continued experiments at Root’s underground laboratory, where Kenichi began researching Orochimaru’s chakra-absorbing Exotic Metal. Kenichi left inspired by the metal’s potential, and Orochimaru revealed that the Third Hokage knew about and tacitly approved their experiments.

• Kenichi watched Orochimaru gaze at Hokage Rock before leaving, then asked whether Danzō smoked as they headed to Root’s laboratory.
• Orochimaru said they would continue testing how to help people control the First Hokage’s Cells, but he allowed Kenichi to pursue his own research.
• Kenichi experimented with Orochimaru’s chakra-absorbing Exotic Metal and imagined developing it into Chakra Armor with a conversion and storage core.
• Orochimaru said the metal had a low absorption limit but encouraged Kenichi, who declared that science could create something from nothing.
• As they left the laboratory, Kenichi asked whether the Third Hokage knew about their experiments, and Orochimaru confirmed that he did and had tacitly approved them.