Northern Border, Land of Snow Research Institute.
This was once the core area used by Doto Kazahana to develop Chakra Armor, but now it has been completely taken over by Orochimaru's team.
Inside the deep corridor, two sets of footsteps echoed.
"Naruto-kun, although we've made a breakthrough, I must admit that the material is still more overbearing than imagined."
Orochimaru led the way.
His hoarse voice echoed in the corridor, his tone carrying a hint of calm following his previous fanaticism.
"To solve the rejection reaction, that woman Tsunade has been losing her temper for a full three hours."
"Is that so?"
Naruto followed behind with a calm expression.
"If even the two of you working together find it difficult, then it must indeed be quite challenging."
Click.
Orochimaru stopped and swiped open the airtight door.
The heavy metal door slowly slid open, and the scene inside came into view.
On the experimental table in the center, a white mouse used for testing let out a shrill squeak in its cage.
Just a few seconds later, its body rapidly lignified, turning into a twisted small tree that forcibly shattered the glass cover.
"Failed, failed again!"
With the crisp sound of glass shattering, Tsunade irritably slammed the data-recording notebook onto the table.
"How many hundreds of experiments has this been?"
She turned her head, looking at Orochimaru and Naruto as they walked in, and spoke crossly.
"Its aggressiveness is too strong; ordinary organisms cannot coexist with it."
"Unless everyone undergoes a precision customized surgery like Kimimaro's, there's no way to mass-produce the super soldiers you're so obsessed with."
Tsunade looked at Orochimaru, her tone unfriendly.
"Orochimaru, is this the perfect material you spoke of?"
"It's nothing more than another poison that turns people into trees!"
Orochimaru walked into the lab and shrugged, not refuting Tsunade's anger.
He spoke with a hint of helplessness.
"As you can see, the individual experiments were indeed successful, but we're stuck at the mass-production stage."
"To eliminate this devouring instinct and retain the pure strengthening effect, an extremely complex gene-editing process is required."
"If we want to arm an army of a thousand—at our current speed, it would take about eighty years."
The laboratory fell into a dead silence.
Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice; this was already the limit of mortal wisdom when faced with a physical gap.
Naruto didn't speak.
He walked slowly to a huge culture tank containing only a small piece of White Zetsu tissue.
He looked at the white lump of flesh slowly wriggling in the nutrient solution, exuding aggressiveness.
"So, the problem is that the 'raw material is too fierce' and the 'yield is too low'?"
Naruto reached out and pressed his hand against the culture tank through the thick explosion-proof glass.
"Since the raw material is too fierce, make it learn to be obedient."
"Since the yield is too low, then make it grow faster."
"Is that hard?"
Tsunade's mouth twitched.
She wanted to retort that this was unscientific, but in the next second, her words were caught in her throat.
An invisible yet terrifying spiritual pressure erupted from Naruto without warning.
With the help of the Hōgyoku, Naruto felt his spiritual power act like an invisible scalpel, precisely stabbing at the biological instinct of the White Zetsu cells in the culture tank.
The cluster of cells, which was originally restless and full of devouring desire, shuddered violently as if it had encountered a natural enemy.
Immediately afterward, its violent activity instantly shriveled and stopped, finally turning into a mass of pure, unconscious white dead matter.
"The cell's self-awareness—was 'killed'?"
Orochimaru's pupils dilated in shock.
It was the first time he had seen someone use killing intent to "kill" a cell's instinct!
Even though it wasn't the first time he had seen the Hōgyoku's wonderful use, this power still made him tremble.
"Since it's obedient now, let's grow some more."
Naruto ignored the shock of the others.
Under the shine of the Hōgyoku's blue light, the ocean-like Nine-Tails chakra within him, mixed with the Yang Release life force of the Uzumaki Clan, was crudely poured into the culture tank through his palm.
This wasn't precision laboratory cultivation at all.
It was like flood irrigation, and the effect was extremely fast.
The cell cluster, which was originally only the size of a fist, expanded frantically like a balloon the moment it came into contact with this terrifying energy.
Double, tenfold, a hundredfold—
In just a few seconds, the white active substance filled the entire huge culture tank.
"This—this—"
Tsunade was completely speechless.
In just a short moment, Naruto had completely changed the biological characteristics.
Such a method—
Naruto slowly withdrew his hand and looked at the top scientists.
He calmly ordered them.
"Now, the raw material is here, and it perfectly meets your requirements."
"I don't need to teach you the subsequent preparation work, do I?"
For the next three days, the lights in the lab never went out.
Everyone had heavy dark circles under their eyes, yet a fanatical light flickered in them as the first batch of finished products was finally...
...born.
The raw materials became like docile little animals.
Orochimaru and Tsunade only needed to handle the final preparation and characterization.
Naruto sat in a chair, looking at the three test tubes of different colors placed before him.
"This is Strengthening Type I—the Basic Type."
Yakushi Kabuto, with somewhat messy hair, introduced them excitedly.
"After removing most of the activity, the White Zetsu cells only retain the repair and strengthening functions."
"After injection, it can repair old injuries, strengthen bone and muscle density, and allow ordinary people to have a genin-level physique."
"The side effect is that food intake will triple within a week after injection, which is basically negligible."
Naruto nodded.
"Very good."
"As long as they register their identity information and swear loyalty, it can be distributed to all civilians for free."
"I want to ensure their labor efficiency."
Yakushi Kabuto nodded and then began to introduce the second one.
"This is Strengthening Type II—the Elite Type."
"It incorporates a small amount of special White Zetsu cells fused with Karin's cells, which can significantly improve physical fitness and the amount of chakra, and grant a weak self-healing ability."
"It's roughly to the extent of being able to recover quickly after cutting one's hand."
Naruto nodded.
"Not bad, it will be standard equipment for formal members and the army."
Finally, he gestured to the red reagent in the middle.
"This is Strengthening Type III—the Evolution Type."
Orochimaru's voice held a hint of obsession.
"An improved version of the previous gene drug."
"Injecting this on top of the first two potions has a high probability of forcibly breaking through the human body's limiter and unlocking the first stage of the Gene Lock."
"Although it has been processed and the mortality rate has dropped below five percent, risks still exist."
Naruto picked up the potion and shook it under the light.
"This kind of power doesn't need to be popularized; use it as a high-level reward."
"Only those who have proven their loyalty and made indelible contributions can obtain it through points."
Naruto stood up, looking at the potions being packed into boxes.
"Next, expand the production of the potions."
"It's time to make this state machine truly start turning."