_________ POV Narration_________
"So... What exactly are these cells?"
Ken's voice was laced with curiosity as he walked over to one of the shelves and took one of the jars in his hand.
He couldn't completely feel the shape within that jar, not that he was trying all that much, but he could tell that it had those special cancerous cells within it.
"These, Lord Ken, are what I refer to as 'Hashirama Cells'.
These are extracted samples of DNA from the First Hokage, the first God of Shinobi, all grown and mutated into body parts and organs and skin tissue in a rather laborious process.."
Orochimaru answered with honesty, rather glad to hear Ken's curious tone. After all, it meant that Ken was much more accepting than his teacher.
'Maybe his young age makes him more impressionable?... Doubtful, from what the teacher said he has been playing the political game for quite a while now...
He's a powerhouse in both strength and cunning, rather creepy for a teenager. Alas, who am I to judge?'
"Remnants of the First God of Shinobi? You sure know how to pique one's interest...
If I remember correctly, he is touted to have been as strong as the infamous Madara Uchiha, correct?" Ken took a few seconds to remember the few history books that had been read to him by his First Blade.
"Well, Konoha's more guarded texts go further in depth about how their final fight had gone down... And to call them equal would be quite strange." Orochimaru stroked his chin, a creepy smile spread across his face as he spoke.
"Strange? They were both said to be the founding fathers of Konoha, it wouldn't be strange if they were similar in strength. Care to enlighten me?" The Blind Assassin tilted his head to the side in confusion.
Ken's head was directed towards Orochimaru, almost as if he was looking the Sannin's way. A rather unnerving action for someone famously lacking eyesight.
"W-well. In their final battle, Madara and Hashirama faced off, and it was said to be quite equal. But in truth, Madara was also controlling and fighting with the help of the 9 Tails at the time.
Without the 9 Tails, it could be argued that Madara is a significant bit weaker than the First Hokage, as even with the 9 Tails, Madara still lost. "
Orochimaru remembered hearing his teacher talk about that fact at some point while he was drunk.
Hiruzen had after all been a direct disciple of the 2nd Hokage, Tobirama, Hashirama's younger brother.
Tobirama had likely filled his head with quite a lot of ideas regarding both Madara and the Uchiha clan.
Thankfully, Hiruzen didn't quite share his late teacher's hatred towards the Uchiha, otherwise, the situation within the village would have been a lot more dire.
Orochimaru went on to explain a few more intricacies about the fight between the two legends, thinking that maybe Ken was rather interested in the Leaf's history.
Unbeknownst to him, Ken had already somewhat stopped listening, instead, he directed his attention to the jar in his hands.
With the slightest strength applied, the Blind Monster squeezed the jar in question, and cracks spread throughout the glass's surface for a second. And in the very next second, glass shards flew everywhere in the room.
Ken's hand was now directly in contact with the Hashirama cell-created body part, which Ken could now tell was a liver.
The organ seemed to almost have a life of its own, as it reacted strangely to Ken's touch.
The Blind Assassin's body was constantly filled with Nature Energy, and for some reason, it seemed that the Hashirama Cells within the liver were trying their damn best to attract the nature energy from their surroundings.
'Seems somewhat similar to me... But on a much lesser scale.'
Orochimaru didn't ask any questions nor did he make any effort to stop Ken, not even as a glass shard flew by his head and left a thin red line on his cheek.
"Hashirama Cells are wonderous indeed, if an implant is successful, then one is bound to gain an increase in their chakra pool, slight regenerative abilities and a much greater and enhanced strength."
The Snake Sannin continued with his explanation, his long tongue coming out of his mouth for a second to lick his bleeding cheek for a second, stemming the blood flow with his saliva.
"But perhaps the most important factor... A truly successful implant within a compatible patient could lead to them gaining the fabled Wood Release, the bloodline limit which made Hashirama the strongest in history."
Ken couldn't help but smile when hearing that.
'Wood Release, huh? I may have met some of its offshoots, now that I think about it...'
The Blind Swordsman clearly remembered the Grass Release he had fought against when destroying the Village hidden in the Grass.
Of course, Grass Release was nothing but a pale imitation of Wood Release, not even coming close to a fraction of the original's power.
Ken was well aware of that, hell, the hidden scroll containing the Grass Village's techniques was still with the Dark Brotherhood, how couldn't he know?
One of Akira/The Third Blade's many contributions to the Brotherhood.
Still, from what Ken could feel, Hashirama's cells were much weaker than his own. If he were to try and implant some to gain Wood Style, then he would likely make his actual body and nature energy control weaker.
It was not a trade-off that Ken was willing to make. He did consider if it could help some of his children in the brotherhood, but he needed to know a bit more about the procedure first.
"And how often is a compatible host found, and what is the success rate of the operation?"
It was only at that question that Orochimaru went silent. He scratched the back of his head for a second before sighing.
"Well, the operation can be successful, but results may vary depending on the person as well.
If one is incompatible, then the body would reject the Hashirama cells, leading to a rather bad case of necrosis as the body would essentially start trying to fight the cells. That usually leads to the death of the test subject."
That drawback immediately took that idea out of Ken's head. The only person that he knew they could risk for something like that was Akira, and that was just because the Third Blade was bound to survive one way or another.
Even then, it was not like Akira was guaranteed to be compatible with the cells, if he wasn't he'd still suffer a lot.
Before Ken could comment that he had lost interest in the surgery, Orochimaru continued.
"I've only really had one person gain Wood Release. It was a mission I was carrying out for Danzo, a child named Yamato I believe. Whether or not his Wood Release is as powerful as that of the First Hokage, then that's still left to see."
Orochimaru sighed as he looked over some documents off to the side of his desk.
The results of the operation were abysmal. He still had some time to improve before, as Danzo had not yet requested his operation.
With Danzo out of the picture Orochimaru no longer had a timeline, fortunately, but his funding and backing had also vanished.
But upon hearing Orochimaru, Ken was not exactly thinking about funding.
"So... You experimented on a child?" Ken's voice sounded just as curious, with no hint of malice whatsoever. Outside of Orochimaru's view, however, Ken had clenched his other hand into a fist.
"Well, it was an organ transplant. The child was a sick orphan from what I remember. He was strangely compatible with Hashirama Cells.
I believe the new organ helped better his health, although that was not exactly the purpose of the experiment, I admit..."
Orochimaru was as honest as he could be. He truly hadn't cared about curing the boy in question, it just so happened that the two things aligned, and Orochimaru accidentally helped the young child and saved his life.
Unbeknownst to him, that small twist of fate also had now saved his life, as Ken nodded with a smile and unclenched his fist.
The Hashirama Cells on his arm were still acting strangely, Ken just placed the liver on a shelf and shook his head.
"It feels odd holding a disembodied organ that feels so... Alive." Ken sighed and slowly turned towards other shelves.
'Says the assassin that had once ripped the still-beating hearts of others from their chests...' Of course, Orochimaru refrained from commenting. He still very much valued his own skin.
Ken 'looked' over a few of the other shelves before walking back towards the door. He only stopped when he reached Orochimaru, he patted the Snake Sannin's shoulder as he left him with some parting words.
"Well, it seems that everything is normal here then... Make sure not to harm innocents in your research. You'll be in trouble if I find out you do so from now on...
If you ever require funding don't hesitate to seek me out whenever I get back to the Dark Brotherhood, after the Chunin Exams."
With that, the Assasin vanished, and Orochimaru was finally able to take a deep breath and sigh in relief.
Despite explaining things so earnestly to Ken, he was a tad too afraid to even breathe loudly in his presence.
'... His offer is nice, but if I am ever to talk to him in the future, I have to be prepared to at least hold my own in case negotiations break down...
I guess I should start experimenting on myself now...'
And just like that, the Immortality-obsessed Sannin got back to work.
Ken walked out of the hidden laboratory without making any sounds, and he left the premises undetected just as he had come in.
He also had to get to work now, teaching Ume had to take priority.
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Hope you liked the chapter!
I like introducing chapters and concepts like Hashirama Cells tbh. Mad scientist characters like Orochi can always lead to interesting stuff
Next one we're back to the tournament ;)
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