Rinto was woken by a needlelike pain in his neck.
He had slept slumped over the desk, and half his face had gone numb. When he raised his head, charcoal dust and iron filings smeared all over his face. His drool had soaked a large patch of scrap paper, blurring the anchor-point lines drawn on it into a black mass. He sat dazed for a long while, his eyes too dry and sore to open. Only after rubbing them for ages could he make out the gray sky outside the window. He could not tell whether it was afternoon or nearly evening, and had no idea how long he had slept.
His throat felt dry enough to smoke. He reached for the water bottle on the desk, but it had long since emptied. He casually knocked it to the floor with a clatter. Muttering, "Fuck," he braced himself against the desk and stood, only to stumble on his numb legs. He steadied himself against the edge for a long while before noticing the insulated container and oil-paper parcel Kabuto had left by the door.
He unscrewed the insulated container. The water inside still held a little warmth. Lifting it, he gulped down more than half before the burning in his throat subsided. He unwrapped the oil-paper parcel. Inside were two rice balls and a small dish of pickled vegetables, all long since cold. The rice was hard against his teeth. He wolfed down one rice ball in a few bites, and the cramping pain in his desperately empty stomach eased a little.
The piece of starfall iron he had finished engraving yesterday lay discarded beside the desk. He picked it up, walked over to the steel target plate, and infused it with chakra. He switched between Lava Release and Explosion Release five or six times. It remained perfectly stable, the metal only faintly warm, no longer too hot to hold as it had been before.
Some of his irritation from waking up dissipated. He tossed the metal onto the desk, and a thought surfaced in his mind: Two attributes worked. What about three?
Say, water-and-earth Lava Release, fire-and-wind Explosion Release, plus Lightning Release? Could three attributes switch seamlessly within the same carrier?
Once the thought appeared, he could not suppress it. He pulled over a fresh sheet of scrap paper, grabbed a charcoal pencil, and began drawing. He had barely drawn two strokes of the main channel before his brows furrowed.
Two attributes only needed one transitional state, making it easy to dismantle the old structure and build the new one. But with three attributes, whether switching in sequence or jumping across attributes, the number of anchor points had to double. The structures packed into the main channel were too dense. The slightest carelessness would make the anchor points collide and cause a blowout.
"Fuck." He cursed around the pencil shaft between his teeth, moving its tip back and forth across the paper as he drew a structure with two transitional states. The moment he finished, he knew it was wrong-linking two transitional states stretched the channel too long. The chakra would flow slowly, and the power would drop so drastically that it would be useless.
He crossed it out and started again, trying to make a shared transitional state. But the configurations of the three attributes differed too much for a single transitional state to accommodate them. Halfway through, he could draw no further. He irritably tossed the pencil aside and leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed. His mind was full of densely packed lines, winding around and around, all tangled in dead knots.
Less than two minutes later, he abruptly sat up again and rifled through his old discarded drafts, sending sheets flying everywhere. He was not searching for anything specific, just flipping at random: discarded Ice Release drafts, diagrams of the tracking anchor points for Hashirama cells, whatever he came across. His gaze swept over those lines, but his mind remained a jumble. Eventually, he came across the first wind-release solidification diagram he had drawn when he first arrived at the Sound Ninja R&D Department. Its edges had yellowed. He paused for two seconds, then casually tossed it back into the pile.
When the door was gently pushed open, he did not even look up. Kabuto wheeled in a small cart carrying garbage bags and cleaning tools. Seeing the discarded papers, fragments, and spoiled food containers littering the floor, he sighed helplessly and quietly began cleaning.
He said nothing, afraid of disturbing Rinto. Crouching on the floor, he picked up scrap paper, swept shattered crystal jade and starfall iron fragments into a garbage bag, and loaded the empty food containers and spoiled meals that had piled up for days onto the cart. When he reached the desk, he noticed that the scabs on the back of Rinto's hand had split again and were beading with blood. Without commenting, he placed fresh gauze and povidone-iodine at the corner of the desk, then set the fresh insulated flask and rice balls he had brought beside them.
Only when he had nearly finished cleaning did he casually mention a couple of things, keeping his voice very soft. "Those people from the R&D Department downstairs are still hanging around the department entrance every day, hoping to ask for your advice. I've kept them all outside and haven't let them come up."
Rinto gave a nasal grunt without looking up, still staring blankly at the lines on the paper.
"Also, Anbu from the Hokage Building came to the R&D Department yesterday. They checked the recent material requisition records and specifically asked about your research progress. I didn't say much. I just followed Lord Orochimaru's earlier instructions and told them you were conducting classified auxiliary research on military ninja tools," Kabuto added, his tone a little cautious.
Rinto's pencil paused. His brows drew together, and his voice was full of impatience. "Don't bother telling me about this crap in the future. Just turn them away. Don't let them bother me."
"All right, understood." Kabuto hastily agreed. Wheeling the loaded garbage cart, he quietly withdrew, making no sound even as he closed the door.
Rinto was alone in the room again. He stared at the half-drawn three-attribute structure on the paper. The longer he looked, the more wrong it seemed; the more he drew, the more irritated he grew. Finally, he threw down the pencil, crumpled the paper into a ball, and hurled it hard against the wall.
Irritated or not, he still had to solve the problem. Gritting his teeth, he took another sheet and tried a different approach-rather than using fixed transitional states, he would let the tracking anchor points adapt to the transitions themselves. Whatever the attribute, the anchor points could adjust along with the chakra's attribute, without preset transition structures.
But this approach was even harder. The adaptation logic for the anchor points was too complex. After drawing for ages, he could not even establish a basic framework. He swore, tossed down the pencil, and got up to pace around the laboratory, circling it again and again. His mind was a tangled mess of anchor points, attributes, and channels.
After pacing for nearly half an hour, he stopped and grabbed a piece of starfall iron. He decided to try a simplified version first, switching strictly in sequence: Lava Release → Explosion Release → Lightning Release, with two transitional states added. He would see whether it worked first and revise it if it did not.
He secured the starfall iron in the vise with a click, turned on the desk lamp, and lowered his engraving blade with particular care. Three layers of anchor points, two transition segments-every groove had to be engraved with absolute precision. The slightest deviation would cause a blowout. Halfway through, his blade hand went numb. He shook it out for a long while. The splits in his fingertips pulled painfully, but he did not stop, gritting his teeth and continuing to carve.
By the time he finished the last stroke, the sky had gone completely dark. He removed the starfall iron. His hand was terribly stiff, and he worked it for a long while before approaching the steel target plate, taking a deep breath, and infusing chakra.
The first Lava Release shot was stable, its acid melting a deep pit into the steel plate. He pressed the trigger point and switched to Explosion Release. That went smoothly too. The shock wave slammed into the steel plate without any problems.
He had barely begun to relax when he pressed the trigger point again to switch to Lightning Release, and something went wrong. The transitional anchor points between Explosion Release and Lightning Release failed to keep up. Residual fire and wind collided with lightning release chakra, and the starfall iron instantly grew scorching hot. Just as he was about to withdraw his chakra, it exploded right in his hand with a crack.
Fragments blasted across his face, and his palm burned with searing pain. He instinctively flung away the remaining pieces, cursed, "Fuck," and shook his burned hand for a long while, clenching it until even his fingertips went numb.
When he finally recovered, he looked down at the fragments on the floor, then at his reddened palm. With a bellyful of anger and nowhere to vent it, he kicked a table leg, only to grimace from the pain.
He had already been stuck. After all that work for most of the day, it had still exploded. All that effort for nothing.
He irritably raked his fingers through his hair. It was as messy as a bird's nest, and the charcoal dust and iron filings caught in it fell all over him. Just as he was about to sit down and catch his breath, someone knocked on the laboratory door.
It was not Kabuto's almost inaudibly light knock, but three very measured, heavy knocks, carrying a stiff, official air.
Rinto's temper flared instantly, and he roared, "Get lost! I'm busy!"
The people outside did not leave. A low voice came through the door. "Mr. Rinto, we are Anbu Directly Under the Hokage, here on the orders of the Third Generation Lord Hokage. We would like to ask you to come to the Hokage Building to discuss matters concerning military ninja tool development, as well as the confidentiality and ownership of your research results."
Rinto's expression darkened instantly.
Danzo's people had bothered him, Orochimaru's probing never ended, and now even the Third Hokage had sent people. Who was he bothering by doing his research? Every one of them came to pester him and hold up his experiments.
Without opening the door, he coldly snapped through it, "I'm not going. My research has nothing to do with Konoha, or any defense matters. Stop bothering me."
"Mr. Rinto, these are Lord Hokage's instructions. This concerns Konoha's defense and security, so please cooperate." The Anbu outside remained stiff, his tone brooking no refusal. "Your research has already gone beyond the scope of ordinary ninja tools. If it leaks, it will pose an enormous risk to Konoha. Lord Hokage wishes to speak with you in person."
Rinto lost his temper outright and pulled open the door. Two Anbu wearing cat masks stood outside, chakra fluctuations emanating from their bodies, their hands already resting on the ninja tool pouches at their waists.
Without wasting words, he lifted his fingertips. A blade of energy wrapped in wind-attribute chakra flew past the foremost Anbu's ear and slashed hard into the corridor wall behind him, scattering stone chips and leaving a deep gouge.
"I said, get lost." Rinto's gaze was frighteningly cold, his voice full of anger he could not suppress. "My things are mine to do whatever I want with. They have nothing to do with the Third, or with Konoha. If you dare knock on my door again, next time it won't be the wall I cut."
The two Anbu clearly had not expected him to be so overbearing. They froze, exchanged a glance, and were about to say something else. Rinto raised his hand at once, chakra lighting up at his fingertips again. The barrier at the entrance activated instantly, and lightning-attribute locking patterns lit up along the doorframe, making it clear that another word would mean a fight.
The Anbu gritted their teeth. Knowing that dragging this out would accomplish nothing and might actually lead to a clash, they could only leave behind the words, "We'll be back," before turning and leaving.
Rinto slammed the door hard, locked it with a click, and raised the barrier straight to its highest level. He even added two layers of sensory arrays to the air vent. If anyone approached again, he would know immediately.
After that interruption, his already irritable mood became an utter mess. He leaned against the door, closed his eyes, and took a breath. The burn on his palm still hurt. The three-attribute configuration, the Anbu's words, Danzo, and Orochimaru all jumbled together in his mind, clamoring until his head ached.
He walked to the desk and swept the spread-out diagrams, scrap metal, and pencils aside. He was in no mood to draw or engrave anymore. Opening the blastproof cabinet, he took out the half-written Chakra Configuration Experiment Log and turned to a blank page, intending to fill in yesterday's two-attribute experimental data.
He picked up a pen and wrote down two parameters, then decided they were wrong and crossed them out with a swish. He tried again and made another mistake. Irritably tossing the pen onto the desk, he pushed the experiment log aside and stopped writing.
The sky outside was completely dark. He had not turned on the room lights. Only a faint glow from the corridor's emergency lights filtered through the gap under the door, barely illuminating the mess on the desk. He leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, his whole body submerged in darkness, utterly still.
His mind was still in a clamor: one moment it was how to arrange the three-attribute anchor points, the next it was the Anbu's talk of "research ownership," then the cooperation Orochimaru had proposed before. It all irritated him so much that his temples throbbed.
He simply sat there without turning on the lights or moving, and did not touch the engraving blade or diagrams again. Only the night breeze blowing through the air vent stirred the scrap paper scattered across the desk, its soft rustling exceptionally clear in the quiet laboratory.