When Ryosuke returned to the research institute, he saw Aoba holding up a thick steel plate like a crane, assisting in the assembly of the Sky Mothership.
On the other side, a pitch-black suit of armor that covered the entire body was undergoing its final testing.
"This is the result of everyone's work over the past month," Samui said.
Ten days ago, she had rotated back to the institute to resume her management duties.
However, since Ryosuke had been repairing things deep in the forest this whole time, this was the first time they'd met in a month.
Samui held a cup of iced coffee in her hand. She wore a white lab coat, but the top few buttons couldn't be fastened because of her figure, so she simply left them open. A mesh, semi-transparent undershirt was faintly visible beneath, and under that, a deep, shadowy cleavage could be vaguely seen.
Below were two smooth, fair legs, and on her feet were black high heels, the contrast between the shoes and her pale skin was visually striking.
Even the simplest white lab coat, when worn by her, looked like a misty shroud of pure desire.
"Long time no see," Ryosuke greeted.
Samui nodded. Her expression was as cool as ever, though her large eyes didn't leave Ryosuke for a single moment.
'Still… no... Even better-looking than before.'
Being stared at like that made Ryosuke feel a little embarrassed. Just as he was about to look away, Samui turned first, picked up a file from the table, and handed it to him.
When Ryosuke opened the file, a faint cool fragrance belonging to Samui drifted from the paper. It was obvious from the meticulous markings and notes that she had reviewed every line with great care.
As Ryosuke read, Samui stood beside him and explained, "First, the Hidan Laboratory."
"In the beginning, the concept was to mass-produce Hidan, to assist puppet techniques and carry out long-range control and combat reconnaissance, reducing actual human casualties. But because of the head, the butt, and…"
Samui paused.
Ryosuke nodded slightly, signaling that he understood, and let her continue.
"In short, because we lacked a complete body, the Mass-Production Hidan Project couldn't proceed. We had to shift toward studying flesh and blood, until we obtained Orochimaru's technique."
The Art of the Ghost Incarnation.
It allowed a ninja or a summoned beast to fuse with their own body, even merging bloodline limits and special jutsu.
Of course, the Ghost Incarnation Technique had strict limitations. It wasn't something that could be used freely.
It required the harmony of Heaven, Earth, and Man.
Heaven, a solar eclipse.
Earth, Mount Sumeru.
Man, a bloodline limit bearer.
Only when all three conditions were met could one temporarily merge various bloodline limits and attain an immortal body…
"But our requirements weren't that high. We just needed a basic, partial fusion, so while sacrificing some effects, we achieved flesh-and-blood fusion."
Samui explained, "You should also know that there are two kinds of bloodline limits."
"One is when two chakra nature transformations merge to form a new type of release."
"Wind+Water=Ice."
"Earth+Water=Wood."
"However, this requires extremely precise control over the ratio, timing, and progress of the fusion."
"Throughout ninja history, only a very small number of ninjas have ever been able to develop such new releases on their own."
Ryosuke nodded.
That was the technical type of bloodline limit.
Like Haku's Ice Release.
"The other type," Samui continued, "is when a ninja's organ differs from ordinary people, granting them special abilities, like you two with your Sharingan."
Ryosuke and Sasuke exchanged looks, coughed lightly, and neither said a word.
Seeing their reaction, a faint smile appeared on Samui's lips before quickly fading as she went on, "The research team tried two approaches."
"The first was to inject chakra with a single nature transformation into two pieces of Hidan's flesh, then fuse them, creating an artificial bloodline limit."
"The second was to keep fusing Hidan's flesh repeatedly, causing internal genetic mutation and developing special organs, also achieving a bloodline limit."
Ryosuke glanced down at the report in his hands.
"The first method worked?"
Samui nodded slightly.
Hidan's genes were abnormally stable and durable. To call him human was inaccurate, he was more like a product of advanced biotechnology, incapable of mutation.
That was why, as long as life energy was supplied, Hidan's ashes could endlessly regenerate, producing new, identical individuals.
"After tens of thousands of trials, we identified four types of bloodline limits that could successfully fuse and manifest within Hidan's flesh."
Ryosuke flipped through the data.
The four bloodline limits were: Ice Release, Storm Release, Boil Release, and Steel Release.
Of course, these artificially created bloodline limits couldn't be sustained for long, they would dissipate within about ten seconds, and the chakra output was small, only enough to perform B- to C-rank jutsu.
"That's good enough," Ryosuke said.
Four types of bloodline limits greatly expanded their tactical options, and more importantly…
He looked toward the armor being used in live-fire testing.
Two testers, clad in black armor, continuously unleashed bloodline-limit jutsu at humanoid puppets twenty meters away.
Each time they released a jutsu, the armor on their arms emitted a hiss, spraying a burst of hot blood mist.
The grotesque black armor, venting clouds of blood-red vapor, looked straight out of a villain's army.
But seeing the puppet explode twenty meters away, Ryosuke couldn't deny, the results were impressive.
When the blood mist cleared, one of the testers detached a black armor module, stored it in a pack, took out a fresh one, loaded it into the arm guard, and activated it again.
Each palm-sized armor module contained Hidan's flesh. Every use, every release of a bloodline-limit jutsu, consumed its internal life force.
Once retrieved, it could be recharged with life energy and reused.
Ryosuke skimmed the file.
"A fully equipped Extinction Armor can carry thirty Hidan energy cores, meaning thirty chances to use bloodline-limit jutsu. Enough for a full-scale battle."
"And most importantly," Samui added, "it's mass-producible."
Ryosuke asked, "How many sets do we currently have?"
"Fifteen. At our current pace, the factory can produce one per day."
"How long until the Sky Mothership can take off?"
"Estimated within a week. It still needs final maintenance and to load the war weapons designed by the Hidden Cloud Village."
Ryosuke nodded, handed the file back to her, then walked over and lightly tapped a suit of armor resting on the rack.
Solid. Cold. Heavy… and a bit sharp.
"One week from now, twenty sets of armor, the Sky Mothership airborne, we'll head to the Land of Snow for a snowball fight."
"Got it. I'll make the arrangements."
Samui tucked the file into her arms, turned, and walked away in her high heels. Her hips swayed as she moved, the loose lab coat hiding her waistline but unable to conceal the full curve of her hips beneath.
But Ryosuke's eyes never left the black armor.
Sasuke came over, tapping the armor with his finger. "Ryosuke, you seem to really like this armor. Is it that useful to you?"
"To me… it's not."
With Ryosuke's physique and the enemies he faced, B- or C-rank bloodline limits meant little.
"But with this, our people can bleed a little less."
"Send a telegram to Hayato Kamihara. Tell him we'll depart in a week. If he's free, he can come along, and remember to tell him to bring that runaway princess."
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