Chapter 452: Delta
"If we have to trouble Lord Jigen over every little thing, then what good are we?" Victor countered. He had no desire to burden Jigen.
In truth, he had his own hidden motives: gaining Lord Jigen's approval through his own capabilities—or better yet, achieving their objectives without needing Jigen at all—would be the ideal outcome.
Perhaps in the future, they might even surpass Lord Jigen himself.
After all, the power of science was advancing at a breakneck pace.
With it, Victor's personal ambitions were swelling exponentially.
In the past, his sole desire had been to obtain the Divine Tree fruit from Jigen to grant his wish.
Now, alongside the rapid evolution of technology, Victor was no longer satisfied with just that.
He wanted far more.
He wanted to bring the entire world under his absolute rule.
And that day was fast approaching.
Thanks to the aggressive proliferation of Scientific Ninja Tools and the resources of the Kara organization, his personal research had made swift strides.
He was no longer restricted to basic regenerative capabilities.
His right leg was now a prosthetic made of high-grade steel—one of Kara's latest innovations in Scientific Ninja Tools.
Combined with his own research, the leg he had injured during the Fourth Great Ninja War was finally stronger than ever before.
Yet even this fell short of his true desires. What he craved was a far more perfected body—one that belonged entirely to him.
As powerful as this steel leg was, it wasn't what he truly wanted.
His real ambition was to master every single ninjutsu in existence while simultaneously extending his own lifespan.
To achieve that, he needed the power of the Divine Tree fruit.
He had already devised a scheme and was simply waiting for the right moment to execute it: he would plant a new Divine Tree to siphon the natural energy flowing throughout the Shinobi World, harvesting a smaller, localized Divine Tree fruit for himself.
He would extend his life.
Hearing this, Deepa said, "Understood, Lord Victor."
"Victor, as for your company in the Land of Valleys, hold off on managing it in person for now. Just send a clone over instead. Otherwise, the Shinobi Alliance might end up locking onto you," Amado advised calmly.
"Tch! Mind your own business and focus on your own tasks, Amado! Don't think for a second that gaining Lord Jigen's trust gives you the authority to boss me around. Your experiments on the Vessel haven't even met Lord Jigen's final requirements yet," Victor snapped irritably.
Curse this insufferable bastard. Both of them were scientists, yet why did Lord Jigen place his absolute trust solely in Amado?
If Victor held the ultimate authority over Kara's primary laboratory instead, he could conduct far more advanced research.
It might have even surpassed Amado's work.
Lord Jigen truly made a mistake in who he chose to rely on.
Amado calmly lit a cigarette and took a drag. "My goals are different from yours. I'm simply warning you so you don't compromise Kara's grand plan. You know as well as I do how difficult it is to keep Kara hidden from the Shinobi Alliance in its current state. If we're exposed because of your recklessness, it won't just affect you."
Amado didn't care for Victor's petty posturing.
However, obtaining the Divine Tree fruit to revive his daughter required Kara's operational stability.
He could not allow Kara to be wiped out by the Shinobi Alliance before then.
Although they had heavily modified their own bodies to achieve formidable strength, they were still far from capable of taking on the combined might of the Shinobi Alliance head-on.
"Hmph! It's precisely because you lot act like spineless cowards that Kara operates like a turtle hiding in its shell! If I were in charge, I would make the Shinobi Alliance feel the full force of my power," Victor scoffed bitterly.
"Is that so, Mr. Victor? Your company was nearly dismantled by a single Anbu Jonin from Konoha. How can you still talk so big?"
Beside Amado, a white-haired old man wearing a mask and a long cloak spoke up.
Just a few years ago, because of an issue involving Tsunade, every medical equipment company in the Land of Valleys had been targeted by that Konoha Jonin—Ino Yamanaka—nearly exposing Kara's identity in the process.
Fortunately, Kara had taken precautions in advance and protected him.
After all, a world-class medical equipment company still served a purpose for Kara's operations.
Victor's impatience grew, though his confidence remained unshaken. "Hmph! Kashin Koji, your raw strength may be impressive, but you are nothing more than a new test subject for cyborg modifications! Don't go mistaking yourself for a real human being. At the end of the day, you're just a replica of Jiraiya of the Sannin—and calling you a replica is being generous. You're merely a clone created from a few of his cells."
From his posture, it was clear Victor held little regard for anyone from Konoha.
As for Kashin Koji...
He was simply a clone Amado had engineered recently. Who knew where Amado had managed to retrieve the corpse of Jiraiya—one of the Legendary Sannin—to produce such a clone?
Victor had reviewed the combat assessment data on Kashin Koji, and while the clone indeed possessed impressive capabilities, Victor wasn't about to back down. After all, he had mastered all basic elemental nature transformations.
Given a few more years, he would master Kekkei Genkai as well.
By grafting various Kekkei Genkai onto his own body, he would become a supreme shinobi transcending all others.
Kashin Koji replied indifferently, "I couldn't care less about your opinions. I'm only concerned with whether you can withstand Lord Jigen's wrath when the time comes."
"You..." Victor started to snap back, but held his tongue.
Kashin Koji was right: if Lord Jigen were to lose his temper, Victor had no power to resist him right now.
"I'm leaving. Continue monitoring Konoha's Technology Development Bureau if you like. I have experiments to attend to—I will definitely engineer something Lord Jigen can make use of."
Victor turned on his heel and walked away.
None of the others attempted to stop him.
They all knew Victor was an exceptionally arrogant, self-important man.
Worse yet, he had a short fuse.
He was hardly anyone's ideal teammate.
"That guy Victor is as quick-tempered and arrogant as ever," Boro, a burly middle-aged man who had been listening to the conversation, chimed in.
Kashin Koji added neutrally, "If Victor weren't arrogant, he wouldn't be Victor."
Boro shrugged. "Whatever. I have business to report."
Turning toward Amado, Boro continued, "The Scientific Ninja Tool components you requested have been fully assembled. I hope they prove useful to you. They are currently stored at the laboratory in the Land of Waves; you can retrieve them anytime using the organization's Summoning Technique. I've already set up the spatial coordinates."
"Thanks. My research happens to be at a critical juncture right now. We will soon gain an even more powerful combat asset, making it far easier to deal with the Shinobi Alliance when the time comes," Amado noted.
Boro shifted his gaze toward Kashin Koji, then over to Delta, who had remained silent nearby.
"Indeed. Your technical expertise is even more impressive than Orochimaru's in Konoha, seeing as you can produce combat assets of this caliber. I hope this new asset yields higher fighting potential for Kara as you claim, because what we have right now is still not enough."
As confident as Boro was, he harbored no illusions that their current roster could wipe out the Shinobi Alliance.
In truth, even facing off against Konoha alone was not something they could guarantee victory over.
Konoha was currently enjoying an unprecedented golden age—it was not an organization that could be dismantled by a mere handful of individuals.
Figures like the Hokage, Tobitake Tonbo, and Sasuke were by no means easy targets.
Even if Lord Jigen's physical vessel suffered no issues, taking them on would be a daunting task.
Not to mention the rest of Konoha's formidable forces.
No one could afford to underestimate them now.
After all, Konoha possessed an incredibly sophisticated shinobi training system.
Even though Kara had grasped the underlying principles behind these training systems, it was useless to them.
Their current technical means were simply insufficient to replicate such facilities.
The Illusionary Battlefield Simulation System housed in Konoha's Ninja Academy alone was something Kara was incapable of producing on their own—unless they could persuade Lord Jigen to surrender his memories to construct an illusionary system filled with extensive combat data.
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