"That's an interesting idea," Orochimaru said, a twitch at the corner of his mouth. His disciple was excellent in every way, except for these occasional bizarre notions.
Cutting off a piece of the Nine-Tailed for research? Anyone overhearing would think this kid had already become a Kage-class powerhouse, casually manhandling the Nine-Tailed.
Amemiya Kenichi grinned sheepishly. He was genuinely fascinated by the Nine-Tailed. After all, the Tailed Beast Ball was still a formidable threat in the early stages, and the Nine-Tailed provided an immense amount of chakra.
"The village will take this very seriously. Watch your actions carefully," Orochimaru warned. He knew his disciple had a decent relationship with the Fourth Hokage and his wife.
But a Jinchūriki pregnancy was a complex matter. If Kenichi got involved carelessly, it could cause serious trouble—for both of them.
After all, Kenichi was just a Chūnin. As his teacher, Orochimaru would inevitably be held responsible for his actions.
"Understood, Teacher. I'll be careful," Amemiya Kenichi nodded. Even if he stayed completely out of it, Obito would still return in his corrupted state to release the Nine-Tailed. Unless something unexpected happened, the Fourth Hokage and his wife would still die.
The more he thought about it, the more chilling it became. While the Fourth Hokage fought desperately, where were the Third Hokage, Danzo, and Orochimaru?
Not to mention the clan heads of Ino-Shika-Cho, Hyuga, and Uchiha. Even if the Third Hokage had given his all, Danzo had gone all out, and Orochimaru had provided support, the Fourth Hokage wouldn't have had to die.
The Fourth Hokage died, and the Third Hokage returned to power, still alive and well. It was hard not to suspect his true motives.
Moreover, Naruto's childhood experiences were utterly absurd. It wasn't that such things couldn't happen, but that a child who had endured such treatment could still inherit the Will of Fire and aspire to become Hokage.
It was unbelievable that he hadn't turned to the dark side.
"But I remember hearing that Naruto was originally supposed to be a short manga, so the character designs were simple. As the story grew longer, many characters naturally became inconsistent," Amemiya Kenichi mused, playing with the insect amber in his hand.
He vaguely remembered encountering similar arguments before, but he wasn't entirely sure if Kishimoto had actually said it. Still, this explanation seemed to make sense.
Amemiya Kenichi smiled as he gazed at the insect amber in his hand.
Looking back on his recent gains, his greatest achievement wasn't the development of Cancer Ninjutsu or even swindling more money from Teacher Orochimaru. It was this piece of insect amber.
Teacher Orochimaru had suddenly appeared with an ancient book, examined the amber closely, and after repeated inspections, finally confirmed its identity: an ancient parasitic insect.
Legend had it that the Sage of the Six Paths had casually eradicated these creatures long ago. Yet here was a piece of amber preserving a complete specimen.
The reason for the initial uncertainty was the scarcity of records about this insect. Orochimaru had only confirmed its identity after obtaining an ancient text and deciphering its cryptic descriptions.
It was a pity the insect was already dead, and there was no way to revive it. Orochimaru found it regrettable, as the ability to control others could be quite useful in certain situations.
"A parasite that can control others?" Amemiya Kenichi clicked his tongue. "I wonder what we could learn from studying this thing."
If this thing could actually control ninja, its utility would be immense. But ultimately, it would depend on its limitations.
After all, most mind-controlling parasites end up killing their hosts.
Take the horsehair worm, for example. It drives infected insects to jump into water, drowning them while the worms emerge from their bodies.
Or the bizarre Dicrocoelium fluke larvae, which burrow into snails' eyes and force them to climb to high places, wriggling incessantly to attract birds to eat the snails.
As these examples show, most parasites that manipulate consciousness are far from benign. The parasites in Resident Evil 4 are similar in this regard.
So, if this parasite has a similar effect, its practical use would be limited unless Amemiya Kenichi was willing to invest time in cultivating and breeding it slowly to select superior strains.
"By the way, Teacher," Amemiya Kenichi said, remembering something. He put away the insect amber he was holding and spoke to his teacher. "There's been a rumor in the village lately about people disappearing frequently."
What he really meant was simple: he was warning his teacher that it might be time to prepare to flee.
Although his teacher was strong, Amemiya Kenichi was still just a lowly Chūnin. Besides, there was nothing interesting to do in the village anyway.
It was so boring. Every day felt like he was just living to gossip.
He even had to carefully control his impulses, afraid he might one day kidnap someone and drag them to the lab.
"Hmm, from now on, you'll need to accompany me to the lab. You're free to do as you please at other times," Orochimaru said, unconcerned. Though he planned to defect, the time wasn't right yet.
Amemiya Kenichi felt a twinge of frustration. It seemed he'd have to lie low for a while.
Still, he could use this time to prepare.
He'd already completed the separation of Uzumaki Kushina's special genetic chain. Since he couldn't preserve it after separation and had no plans for experimentation, he'd simply frozen it for storage.
The mission reward, however, was quite peculiar: a blueprint.
"A thermobaric bomb design blueprint, complete with a list of required materials. Are they trying to make me learn from Deidara?" Amemiya Kenichi rubbed his temples, a headache already forming.
Just thinking about the blueprint gave him a headache. He knew all too well how devastating thermobaric bombs could be, capable of targeting underground and concealed structures with terrifying efficiency.
But with only a single blueprint, the road to fully manufacturing one would likely be long and arduous.
"Wait a minute... wasn't Deidara a prodigy with explosions?" Amemiya Kenichi's interest piqued. Deidara probably hadn't been recruited by Akatsuki yet, right?
Giving me this blueprint makes more sense now.