"As expected, it is the Cloud," Amamiya Kenichi watched Kakashi and Guy disappear into the forest and sighed inwardly.
"So war is coming again, huh? …But it shouldn't be a big one."
The Third Great Ninja War had only just ended, and now Kumo was already testing Konoha's defenses.
If it were going to turn into a full-scale Fourth Ninja War, the timeline wouldn't match what he remembered.
"Cloud Village, huh…" Kenichi rubbed his chin.
War was bad news for most people.
But for him and Orochimaru?
It was an excellent opportunity.
An excellent opportunity… to restock test subjects.
And compared to Konoha's familiar "standard models," the muscle-heads from Kumo were honestly more appealing.
Kenichi really wanted to understand what kind of training method produced those lightning-infused bodybuilding monsters.
"In theory, using electricity to stimulate cells is doable. You could force the muscles into rapid vibration and get absurd speed…"
He looked at his hands.
Of course, he wasn't actually planning to develop some cursed move like Lightning Release: Five Maiden Vibration Technique or anything.
…Probably.
He just remembered the feeling from when he first learned Chidori—gripping that crackling lightning in his palm had made his entire arm shake. He'd had to hold his wrist with his other hand to stabilize it.
If you regularly used electric current to stimulate your muscles, you might get a pretty interesting training method out of it.
Though this kind of thing was only possible in the ninja world.
Kenichi was pretty sure that, biologically, shinobi and ordinary humans were already two different species.
Once Kakashi and Guy had moved on, Kenichi sprinted toward Orochimaru's backup lab. If he didn't get there soon, the samples in his storage scroll were going to go bad.
Kakashi did double back once, sensing something was off in the area.
But after searching, he didn't find anything concrete—just a vague feeling that someone had been there.
"Sensei's lab here is still usable, huh?"
Kenichi examined the surroundings with interest.
This base was built into a cliffside, in a recess under a sheer rock wall. You couldn't even reach the entrance without chakra-enhanced wall-walking.
That alone made it almost impossible for normal people to ever stumble across it.
So far no such accident had happened, but better paranoid than exposed. Once civilians saw something they shouldn't… cleanup got messy.
Compared to the previous, well-maintained lab, though, this one felt cold and abandoned.
No personnel. Most of the equipment completely powered down.
At least one thing in this world was convenient: electricity.
Once he got the fuel generator running, the base slowly hummed back to life.
"It always feels so off…" Kenichi scratched his cheek as he watched the generator spin up.
The longer he lived in this world, the stranger its "science" felt.
On the surface, society looked almost medieval—wooden buildings, paper doors, open markets.
But then you noticed the electricity, engines, and even poor little Wave Country had motorized fishing boats.
Power lines ran along some streets. Streetlamps glowed at night.
Still, underground facilities like Orochimaru's obviously weren't hooked up to the civilian grid. Generators only.
Once the power stabilized, Kenichi hurriedly unsealed everything from his storage scroll and transferred it into the proper equipment.
At least now he didn't have to worry about the really sensitive samples spoiling.
Even so, he quickly noticed that some of the bacteria cultures in the petri dishes had died.
"You've gotta be kidding me. You little punks fight chakra, immune systems, and antibiotics inside a human body like it's nothing, but step outside for a bit and you just keel over?"
Kenichi couldn't help complaining.
Big talkers in the body. Total pushovers in the real world.
Looking at the dead cultures, he suddenly had a strange idea.
What if he could give bacteria chakra?
Let them learn to mold it on their own?
What kind of world would that create?
A chakra-powered bacterial revolution?
An undead pandemic?
A full-blown Zombie Ninja Apocalypse?
Honestly, it didn't sound impossible.
Unfortunately, he already had too many projects on his list. That idea could only be scribbled down in his "inspiration notebook" for later.
"For now… I definitely can't do any more explosive tests inside the lab," Kenichi winced, remembering the last crater. "If I blow up another base, sensei really will kill me."
He carefully took out the raw materials for his thermobaric mixture. Time for more trials.
This time, no chakra.
First, he had to solve the ratio problem—find the mixture that maximized power as a pure thermobaric explosive. Once that baseline was fixed, he could slowly work on merging chakra into it.
Obviously, all actual detonation tests had to be done outside.
He wasn't rich enough to blow up a lab every week.
He would mix and measure the compounds in the lab, carefully label each batch with its proportions and a serial number… then take them outside and set them off one by one.
As for building a full thermobaric bomb each time?
He'd been tempted.
But the materials weren't exactly easy to restock, and it wasn't worth wasting shell casings while he was still guessing ratios.
First, get the optimal fuel mix.
Then worry about weaponizing it.
It was tedious, delicate work.
Sometimes changing a single gram of one ingredient completely changed the result.
Kenichi even prepared a separate notebook just for ratio tests, recording every combination in detail. You never knew when you'd stumble into a wonderful "accident."
Meanwhile, in the Land of Rain…
Orochimaru had just gotten a firsthand lesson in what the Rinnegan could really do.
The overwhelming, absolute repulsion of Shinra Tensei had left her eyes gleaming with heat.
So this was the power of the Sage's eyes.
This Akatsuki organization?
She was definitely joining.
Up above, Nagato looked down at Orochimaru and felt… tired.
"What is wrong with these two teacher–student weirdos? Do they both have holes in their heads?"
First the disciple, now the master—each meeting him and immediately wanting to "test" his eyes.
"Orochimaru," he said coolly, "don't forget your mission."
Right now, Akatsuki needed money. Lots of it.
"…Tch. I know," Orochimaru lowered her gaze slightly—but the hunger in her eyes didn't dim at all.
Those eyes.
That power.
She would unravel their secrets.