For three days, Rinto did nothing else.
Apart from meticulously organizing over a decade of experimental records by date and configuration category, he engraved three more pieces of black iron with configurations of different attributes-a Fire Release ignition configuration, a Lightning Release paralysis configuration, and an Earth Release defensive configuration. All were the most basic kinds, but they offered the most direct proof of his theory.
He had no inclination to ponder how to please Orochimaru, nor any time to think about establishing himself in the Research and Development Department. His mind was full of which composite configuration to test first once he obtained crystal jade, how to optimize the patterns' energy conductivity, and how to push the dissipation rate down further.
By early morning, the Research and Development Department was already packed.
The two-story building in the backyard of the Hokage's office building was Konoha's most important ninjutsu research facility. Anbu guarded its entrance, checking the identities of everyone entering or leaving. When Rinto presented his scroll, the Anbu on guard checked it three times and looked him up and down several times before finally letting him in with a frown.
The building was noisy, yet there was a rigor to the atmosphere. Every room had its door open, and from within came metallic clangs, the muffled bursts of ninjutsu, and researchers arguing. People bustled through the corridors, all wearing matching white coats and carrying scrolls and experimental samples.
Wearing his coarse cloth jacket washed pale with age, Rinto cradled a stack of rough paper tied with hemp cord and clutched a cloth bundle containing the engraved pieces of black iron. He looked utterly out of place among the crowd.
No one greeted him. People passing by merely glanced at him with puzzled, dismissive eyes, then leaned toward their companions to whisper a few words.
"Who's that? Is that the Uchiha clan crest? How did he get in dressed like that?"
"Never heard of him. Apparently, Lord Orochimaru specifically requested him. Who knows what strings he pulled?"
"What else could it be? Some Uchiha branch family member trying to sneak into the Research and Development Department for benefits. Look at that pile of scrap paper he's holding. What legitimate work could that possibly be?"
The gossip drifted into Rinto's ears, but he acted as though he hadn't heard it. He didn't even care about the mockery within the Uchiha clan, much less the mutterings of these strangers. All he cared about was where Orochimaru's laboratory was and when he could meet him.
He stopped a passing researcher and asked evenly, "Where is Lord Orochimaru?"
The researcher paused, looked him up and down for a long moment, then sneered and pointed toward the large room at the far end. "Lord Orochimaru is in the main laboratory, but not just any nobody can go in. If you're here to report for duty, register in the hall first and wait to be assigned."
Without waiting for Rinto to ask anything else, he turned and left, still muttering, "They'll let anyone into the Research and Development Department these days."
Rinto asked no further questions and carried his things toward the hall. Over a dozen long tables stood inside, where numerous researchers were organizing data and adjusting experimental equipment. There was also a registration desk in the corner.
As soon as he reached the registration desk, the clerk in charge looked up and saw him. The warmth on his face instantly faded, and he perfunctorily handed over a register. "Name, department, research field. Fill those in."
"Rinto. No affiliation. Research into chakra configurations and their fixation in carriers." Rinto took the pen and carefully filled it out.
The clerk curled his lip at what Rinto had written, the disdain in his eyes growing more obvious. Chakra configurations? Never even heard of them. He's obviously here to coast along. He casually put the register away and pointed at an empty table in the farthest corner of the hall. "Sit over there. Don't touch other people's things or wander into the laboratories. No one's taking responsibility if something happens."
Rinto nodded without speaking and carried his things toward the corner.
A layer of dust covered the table; clearly, no one had used it in a long time. He set down the rough paper in his arms and placed the cloth bundle beside it. Rather than wiping the table right away, he first untied the hemp cord and flipped through his experimental records, checking whether he had forgotten any crucial data.
People around him kept glancing his way, and the whispers grew a little louder.
"He really is here to coast along. Look at that pile of scrap paper. He doesn't even have a proper experimental scroll."
"Have the Uchiha fallen this far? He isn't even a ninja, yet he has the nerve to come do research here?"
"Leave him alone. Lord Orochimaru brought him in, after all. Once he shows he's out of his depth, he'll be thrown out."
The speaker was a middle-aged man in a white coat named Kawakami Kenta, a senior researcher in the Research and Development Department who worked on improving explosive tags. He had worked here for nearly twenty years and was as arrogant as he was experienced. He had disliked Rinto from the start. What right did a useless wretch without even the aptitude to be a ninja have to enter the Research and Development Department and take up a table?
Holding a cup of water, Kawakami Kenta deliberately sauntered over to Rinto's table and looked down at the rough paper spread out before him. It was covered with crooked lines and numbers, like incomprehensible scrawls. He couldn't understand a single bit of it.
"Kid, what is this stuff you've written?" Kawakami Kenta sneered and reached out to leaf through Rinto's papers. "You're not trying to pass off children's doodles to freeload here, are you?"
Rinto raised a hand to hold his papers down and glanced up at him. His gaze was indifferent, without much anger; he simply found this annoying. His time was precious. He had none to waste on these people.
"It has nothing to do with you." Rinto's voice was level. He withdrew his hand and continued organizing his records.
"Heh, quite the attitude." His manner infuriated Kawakami Kenta, whose voice abruptly rose, drawing the attention of everyone in the hall. "The Research and Development Department is a place for serious research, not for Uchiha trash like you to coast along! You can't even master the Three Body Technique, yet you dare talk about research? I suggest you get out now, before someone throws you out and you disgrace your Uchiha clan!"
Rinto frowned.
He didn't want trouble, but this man was blocking his table and making so much noise that he couldn't organize his data. He was holding up his work.
He put down his charcoal pencil, took the piece of black iron engraved with the Wind Release configuration out of the cloth bundle, and set it on the table.
"You don't understand my research. That doesn't mean it's useless." Rinto lifted his chin toward the thick earthen wall at the end of the hall, a target wall specifically intended for researchers to test techniques. "Watch."
He pinched the black iron between his fingertips and fed in a trace of chakra.
Just as it had three days earlier, a pale blue-green light flashed, and a concentrated wind blade instantly shot out. With a hiss, it pierced the earthen wall over a dozen meters away, leaving a hole deeper than the last one, with cleaner edges.
The entire hall fell silent in an instant.
Everyone stopped working and stared wide-eyed at the black iron on Rinto's table, then at the hole in the wall, their faces full of disbelief.
Kawakami Kenta's face went white, and even the hand holding his cup trembled.
He had spent his entire career improving explosive tags and ninja tools, so he understood better than anyone what that strike meant. No hand seals, no incantations-just a scrap of iron and a trace of chakra had unleashed a Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique comparable to Chunin level?
How was that possible?!
"There's more." Rinto took out the piece of black iron bearing the Fire Release configuration. He pinched it between his fingertips and fed in a wisp of chakra. A steady flame instantly sprang up at the tip of the iron, so hot that even the surrounding air distorted. He casually set the black iron on the table, and the flame went out without so much as a spark scattering.
"I've already gone through seventeen rounds of optimization on the basic elemental configurations." Rinto looked at the deathly pale Kawakami Kenta, his tone as even as ever. "Whether I'm here to coast along has nothing to do with you. Stop blocking my way, and stop disturbing me."
Kawakami Kenta opened his mouth but couldn't say a word for a long time. His face alternated between red and white before he finally slunk away, not daring to glance toward Rinto again.
The whispers in the hall vanished. No one dared look down on the youth in the corner anymore. Their gazes had merely changed from disdain to shock and curiosity, with a hint of wariness.
Rinto paid those looks no mind. He returned the black iron to the cloth bundle and continued organizing his experimental records as though nothing had happened.
To him, this was merely getting rid of a nuisance so his work wouldn't be delayed. What other people thought of him didn't matter at all.
About a quarter of an hour later, footsteps suddenly sounded in the corridor. They were light, yet carried an inexplicable sense of pressure. The noisy Research and Development Department instantly quieted, and even the sounds of experimental equipment stopped.
Everyone in the hall straightened and looked toward the doorway with awe on their faces.
Rinto also raised his head.
Someone walked through the doorway.
He had pale skin, waist-length black hair, and golden, snake-like slit pupils filled with cold scrutiny. He wore fitted black clothes beneath a white coat, with a faint brown medicinal stain on the cuff. His steps made little sound. His entire presence resembled a venomous snake lying in wait, sinister and carrying an aura that made people afraid to look him in the eye.
It was Orochimaru.
Two assistants followed behind him, their heads lowered, not daring to breathe loudly. Orochimaru's gaze swept across the hall without lingering on the deferential researchers, finally settling on Rinto in the corner and the rough paper spread across his table.
An inscrutable smile curled Orochimaru's lips, and he spoke in a drawn-out, hissing voice. "Oh? Were you the one who just released Wind Release with a piece of iron?"
The entire hall was utterly silent. No one dared speak. Every gaze fell on Rinto and Orochimaru.
Rinto stood. Unlike the others, he didn't bow in greeting, merely nodding as he spoke in the same even tone. "Yes. Rinto."
He wasn't afraid of Orochimaru. He had come here precisely to find him. He cared more about the experimental resources in Orochimaru's hands than the sinister aura surrounding him.
Orochimaru watched him with interest, his golden slit pupils looking him up and down as though examining a novel experimental specimen. He walked over slowly and stopped before the table. His gaze fell on the spread-out papers. One glance at those densely packed lines and numbers deepened the inquisitiveness in his eyes.
"Chakra configurations?" Orochimaru picked up a sheet of rough paper. His fingers were pale and slender, his nails faintly bluish. "An interesting term. This is the first time I've heard anyone call chakra nature transformation that."
"Nature transformation is only the surface." Rinto looked at him and spoke directly. "At its core, the structure of the chakra's flow has changed. Hand seals construct that structure temporarily. What I do is engrave that structure permanently into a carrier."
Orochimaru's fingers paused. He looked up at Rinto, the smile on his lips deepening. "Then tell me, where is the problem in the cursed seal experiments I've been conducting lately?"
Everyone around them sucked in a breath. The cursed seal experiments were among Orochimaru's most closely guarded secrets. No one in the entire Research and Development Department knew the details. How could this kid possibly answer? This was clearly both a challenge and a test.
But Rinto answered without the slightest hesitation. "You're forcibly inserting a foreign chakra structure into the test subject's chakra pathways. The two structures reject each other. Either the foreign structure overwhelms the subject's chakra, or the foreign structure collapses. The subject is certain to die. If you want the foreign structure to coexist with the human body, you need to resolve configuration compatibility first, rather than blindly strengthening the cursed seal's power."
He had never seen a cursed seal and knew none of the details of Orochimaru's experiments. But he understood chakra structures all too well. Any fusion of foreign chakra with the human body was fundamentally a question of compatibility between two configurations. He had studied this for over a decade and could see the central problem at a glance.
The smile on Orochimaru's face vanished instantly.
He stared at Rinto. For the first time, genuine surprise appeared in his golden slit pupils, along with an almost fanatical light at finding someone of his own kind.
He had spent so long conducting cursed seal experiments, losing over a hundred test subjects, and had remained stuck at the hurdle of "compatibility," unable to find the root cause no matter what he tried. Yet this youth before him, who wasn't even a ninja, had pinpointed the central problem from just a single question.
This wasn't a wild guess. He had truly grasped the fundamentals of chakra.
Everyone in the hall was stunned. They didn't even know what the cursed seal experiments were and could only watch Orochimaru's expression change, inwardly overwhelmed with shock-did this unremarkable-looking kid actually understand? And he dared to point out flaws in Orochimaru's experiments directly?
Orochimaru suddenly laughed, a low, hissing sound that made people's scalps prickle. He placed the sheet back on the table and looked at Rinto, undisguised interest in his voice. "Come with me. To the underground laboratory. Let's have a proper talk."
Those were the exact words Rinto had been waiting for.
He tied the papers on the table back together with hemp cord and cradled them in his arms, then picked up the cloth bundle containing the black iron and nodded. "All right."
He followed Orochimaru out, not even raising his eyes as he passed Kawakami Kenta. Everyone in the hall watched their retreating backs. Only after the two disappeared at the end of the corridor did the hall erupt.
No one dared call Rinto useless anymore, nor mock him for coming here to coast along. Someone Lord Orochimaru valued so highly, someone who could identify the problem in Orochimaru's experiments at a glance-how was that useless? This was a monster who had kept his abilities deeply hidden.
Meanwhile, Rinto was already calculating how much crystal jade to request first once they reached the laboratory, how large a workbench he needed, and whether he could apply for a separate workspace so others wouldn't disturb his experiments.
As for everyone else's shock and Orochimaru's regard, he didn't take them to heart at all.
He cared about only one thing-his research could finally move forward.