"Little Chen, you are back."
The sound was not loud, but it instantly grabbed all the attention in the laboratory.
Anko's irritated expression instantly collapsed. He subconsciously stood up straight and bowed his head respectfully in the direction of the source of the sound.
Kabuto Yakushi bowed his body lower as a reflex, and the humble smile on his face seemed to be welded to death, but the eyes behind the lenses flickered quickly, and finally fell silent.
Senju Chen let go of his hand, the gentle smile on his face remained unchanged, and nodded slightly towards the shadowed area deep in the laboratory.
"Teacher, I'm back."
Footsteps sounded, and a slender figure walked out of the darkness.
The person coming is none other than Orochimaru.
He was wearing a loose white research suit, and his pale skin looked a little sickly and transparent under the light. His golden vertical pupils were like the finest amber, but they also revealed the unique coldness and indifference of reptiles. He stretched out his long tongue, licked his lips gently, and his eyes wandered over Senju Chen for a moment, and finally landed on Anko and Kabuto.
"Anko, Kabuto, you go out first." His voice was calm, but with an unquestionable command tone, "Check the experimental data outside again, I don't want to see any errors."
"Yes, teacher!"
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru!"
Anko and Kabuto didn't dare hesitate for a moment, responded in unison, and then quickly exited the core area. Before leaving, Anko stuck out his tongue at Senju Chen, and then disappeared together with Kabuto Yakushi behind the sliding stone door.
When the stone door closed again, cutting off everything from the outside world, only the master and the apprentice were left in this huge underground space.
"Follow me."
Orochi Officer Without unnecessary greetings, he turned around and walked deeper.
Senju Chen followed up, and the two walked through a long corridor paved with cold metal. The walls on both sides were inlaid with huge glass, which was soaked with various bizarre biological specimens, some of which were even twitching slightly. The formalin-like smell in the air became increasingly rich, mixed with a faint smell of blood and ozone.
Finally, Orochimaru stopped in front of an alloy door as thick as a vault door.
He made several complex and quick seals, then pressed his palm into a groove on the door. With a low sound of machine operation, the alloy door slowly slid open to both sides.
The scene behind the door made even Senju Chen, who was used to seeing various scenes, couldn't help but shrink his pupils.
This is a circular space several times larger than any other area outside.
In the center of the space is a huge, bottomless culture tank with a diameter of dozens of meters. Dark green nutrient solution is churning in it, emitting strange bubbles. Countless thick pipes extend from the dome and surrounding walls, like the blood vessels of a giant beast, and are all connected in the center of the culture tank.
And where countless pipelines converge, a huge figure is quietly suspended in the nutrient solution.
It was a half-human, half-animal monster.
Its lower body has five huge and thick tails, covered with white carapace, like some kind of ferocious insect. As for its upper body, the outline of a human can still be vaguely seen, but the skin all over its body shows a metallic gray-white color.
Its head was covered by a huge metal helmet, with only a pair of closed eyes exposed.
The experimental body in front of me no longer has a human image, but is more like a carefully crafted... war weapon waiting to be awakened.
Isn't this just a "little" Five-Tails?
"How is it? It's spectacular, isn't it?" Orochimaru opened his arms, with a look of almost obsession on his face, and the golden vertical pupils shone with the unique light of the creator, "The form of life is never fixed. Kekkei Genkai, Jinchūriki... These so-called 'talents', in the face of the real 'truth', are nothing more than data that can be copied and optimized."
He walked to the console, his long fingers beating rapidly on it.
As he operated, the five tails slowly unfolded in the liquid, stirring the huge Uzumaki.
A majestic and violent Chakra aura, even through the thick special glass, made Senju Chen feel palpitations.
"I removed his redundant consciousness and retained the most perfect part as a 'container'. I optimized it through Hashirama Cells, combined with the gadgets I got from 'Land of the Sky', to create a brand new body and energy circulation system for him. "Orochimaru's voice was full of bragging, "This is my current highest masterpiece - 'Chimera'. An ultimate weapon that can perfectly control some Tailed Beast Chakra and can be mass-produced."
Senju Chen watched all this in silence, his mind racing rapidly.
The idea of Orochimaru is very similar to the concept of the "Akatsuki" organization in his memory using Tailed Beast to manufacture war weapons. It may even be even more advanced on a technical level.
Eliminate consciousness, retain container, stabilize and strengthen with Hashirama Cells...
This is simply the youth version of "Demonic Statue of the Outer Path" in later generations.
"Teacher's idea is indeed ahead of this era." Senju Chen admired sincerely, and this was not a compliment.
Orochimaru tilted his head and looked at him with interest with his golden vertical pupils. "Oh? You don't seem to be just marveling at its size. Tell me what you think, Little Chen. There is always something in your mind that surprises me."
Senju Chen pondered for a moment and organized his words: "Teacher, you have solved the problem of Tailed Beast Chakra's violent transformation and the rejection of the container. These are the two most critical steps. Normal Jinchūriki is the same as Tailed Beast." "Balance", the two can be regarded as a "cooperative" relationship. But I think this 'Chimera' seems to have a threshold. Once the output Chakra exceeds this threshold, the energy circulation system may collapse due to overload, or even... backfire on itself."
Orochimaru's eyes became even more appreciative.
"Yes, this is also the bottleneck I'm currently encountering. I added cells from your Senju lineage. Although the cells are powerful, their fusion with Tailed Beast Chakra is more like a forced 'suppression' rather than a perfect 'symbiosis'. The maximum efficiency of energy conversion can only reach about 70%, and the remaining 30% has turned into unstable waste heat and energy turbulence, which puts a huge load on the core."
"Since it is 'suppression', why not go a step further and become 'devour' and 'transformation'?" Senju Chen walked forward and looked at the container in front of him. "Teacher, I met a group of very interesting people outside this time."
He briefly and comprehensively described to Orochimaru his encounter with Xuanyuan Group, as well as their "tail" technology that can absorb and transform Chakra, and store "Exploding Insects".
Especially that famous scientist and his transformation concept that perfectly combines the human body with machinery.
After listening to Senju Chen's words, Orochimaru turned around suddenly, and stared at Senju Chen with his golden vertical pupils. There was no longer the enthusiasm just now, but a strong and aggressive desire like discovering a new world.
"That scientist...? Are you sure that his transformation concept is to let the carrier 'adapt' to the human body, rather than using the human body to 'accommodate' the carrier?"
"Yes." Senju Chen nodded affirmatively, "Almost all of their tails are plug-in, but Chakra operates without any stagnation. It can even store "Exploding Insects" and release Ninjutsu. I think their core technology lies in the 'core' that can perfectly transform Chakra, and the 'tail' that connects the core and the body."
"Interesting... so interesting!" Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and licked his lips nervously, the expression on his face was a little distorted with excitement, "Quantifying, transforming, and storing metaphysical energy like Chakra through external carriers... This is a fantastic idea."
His eyes looking at Senju Chen became extremely hot.
"Little Chen, you must let them find that scientist! Bring him to me! No... next time you find a clue, I will go there myself! I must have a good 'communication' with him!"
"I will pay attention, teacher." Senju Chen responded calmly.
The atmosphere in the laboratory became more and more heated because of this new discovery. Orochimaru was pacing back and forth, constantly mumbling words such as "energy conversion" and "carrier symbiosis". He was obviously immersed in new research ideas.
After a long time, he finally calmed down a little from that crazy state.
He looked at Senju Chen again, his golden vertical pupils regained a bit of calmness, but the flames in the depths burned even more intensely.
"You came back this time not just to show me these gadgets, right?" Orochimaru changed the topic and his tone became deep.
"Tsunade asked you to come back? Is it because the teacher resigned Hokage Position?"