Chapter 240: Is It Still the Same Person If Memories Differ?
"Mr. Amemiya," Amado asked suddenly, "if a person's memories are different, but the body is the same, is it still the same person?"
Kenichi froze for a beat.
It was a genuinely interesting question.
Beside them, Kakashi was quietly drinking coffee as well. He'd noticed Kenichi drinking it first. If Kenichi could swallow it without dropping dead, then it was probably safe.
Still, hearing that question, Kakashi couldn't help glancing at Amado with curiosity. Why did it sound… so heavy?
"I think that's hard to answer," Kenichi said after a moment. He shrugged and took another sip. "If the body is the same but the memories are completely different, then at a certain point, even they wouldn't think they're the same person anymore."
The coffee really was good.
"That question reminds me of a condition called dissociative identity disorder," Kenichi continued with a faint smile. "People with it develop two or more personalities."
In his previous life, people often mixed that up with schizophrenia. But the core idea many understood was this: one natural person could end up with multiple personas for various reasons. Their personalities and behavioral patterns could be completely different.
And once you went deeper, the problem stopped being theoretical. It became an issue tangled in ethics, law, and medicine.
Some mentally ill offenders couldn't be held fully criminally responsible. In extreme cases, even murder might not result in a death sentence, only confinement in a mental institution under strict supervision.
But setting criminal cases aside, there was still a more uncomfortable question. If those separate personalities were truly distinct, could they be treated as separate people with the full rights of ordinary individuals?
Just debating it could take days.
Kenichi set the cup down lightly, then looked at Amado with interest. "But you didn't ask that for no reason. Did something happen, Mr. Amado?"
Amado hesitated, gaze lowered to the coffee for a moment. Then he spoke, voice quieter than before.
"A friend of mine," he said slowly, "someone I was very close to… lost his memory due to an illness. Now his personality is completely different from before."
Kenichi raised an eyebrow.
Are you sure it's your friend and not you?
He didn't say it out loud, but he understood the shape of the problem immediately.
Amado's "friend" was still physically the same person, but their temperament had flipped into something almost unrecognizable. Amado couldn't accept that change, so he'd been searching for a way to understand it, or fix it.
And that gave Kenichi an opening.
From their earlier fight and the conversation afterward, Kenichi could tell Amado was strong. More importantly, he was a dangerous scientist, the kind that didn't just study ideas but built tools that could change the rules of combat.
Kenichi still hadn't forgotten that tuning fork that could reflect ninjutsu.
Even if Kenichi couldn't drag Amado into his lab permanently, he couldn't let someone like this simply walk away.
"Mr. Amado," Kenichi said, leaning back slightly, "I have some personal insights when it comes to memory and the soul."
"Is that so?" Amado lifted his eyebrows, took a sip, and didn't say anything else.
Kenichi understood what that meant. Talk was cheap. Amado wanted proof.
So Kenichi shifted the angle.
"Is your friend dead?" he asked.
There had been something off in Amado's concern. It felt too deep, too personal.
Amado went silent for a long time. Then he nodded once.
"He's dead."
"Then do you have any body tissue?" Kenichi asked calmly. "If you give it to me, I can temporarily revive your friend for a short period."
He said it plainly, like offering a medical consultation.
He wasn't joking. He intended to use the method behind Edo Tensei to pull Amado closer. And frankly, Edo Tensei was useful in its own right.
"Revive him?" Amado's eyes widened. "For a short period?"
He understood ninjutsu well enough to know how absurd that sounded. As far as he knew, there was no technique that could bring someone back.
"Yes," Kenichi said. "For a short period… though it's not necessarily that short. It can usually last several days, as long as your friend is willing to."
Edo Tensei had a problem. Those brought back often clung to the Pure Land as if it were their true home. Many preferred staying there rather than returning to the living world, even temporarily.
Amado didn't answer right away. He stared into his cup, thinking.
Kenichi didn't rush him. He sat with his arms folded and drank the coffee Amado had brewed.
It had to be said, this old gentleman didn't just know science. He knew coffee.
After a while, Amado finally spoke again.
"Must it be from the deceased's body?" he asked. "Would other clones work?"
Kenichi blinked, genuinely surprised.
So this man had researched cloning.
The implication was obvious. A cloned body didn't carry the personality Amado wanted. Or rather, even if the body matched, it still wasn't the same person.
"It has to be from the deceased," Kenichi said. "Otherwise, if you give me a different clone, then it's possible that clone is what gets revived instead."
If anything, Kenichi's interest only grew.
Kakashi, off to the side, watched his friend with a complicated expression.
Was it really fine to discuss this in front of him?
Logically, this belonged in a mission report, handed straight to the Hokage.
Kakashi's jaw tightened. He looked torn for a moment.
Then, instead of listening anymore, he simply got up and went off to do some physical activity.
.....
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