Orochimaru was a little surprised by Nagasawa's arrival.
He was mentally prepared that Nagasawa would not show up even after a few more months.
"Nagasawa-san, have you read the data? What do you think?" Orochimaru said in his hoarse voice.
Nagasawa put the information on the table and said, "Since I come all the way here, I clearly have read it. To be honest, I'm a little bit surprised."
"Oh, why is that?" Orochimaru's cold face showed a smile.
Since Nagasawa did not directly confront him about Hashirama's cell experiment, it meant that there was a chance that Nagasawa was also interested in Hashirama's cells.
"Orochimaru, do you know who I am? Aren't you afraid that I will report you if you show this to an Anbu Commander?"
"Haha, I am also a special member of Anbu. If you want to report me, go ahead." Orochimaru smirked.
The record of Hashirama's cell experiments itself was available to everyone in the village, so Orochimaru didn't care if Nagasawa report him with only that data.
Moreover, if Nagasawa wanted to report him, he wouldn't meet him like this.
"Although I don't want to say this, you are right. I am also a little interested in Hashirama's cells." Nagasawa said.
"Only a truly wise person would want to figure out the secret of Hashirama's cells." Orochimaru chuckled.
The first reason was that the First Hokage's Wood Release was simply very powerful, and it was very effective against Tailed-Beasts.
Even Hashirama's cell itself was amazing as it contained abundant life force, completely different from ordinary cells.
"How far has your research on Hashirama's cells progressed?" Nagasawa asked.
He remembered that in the manga, Orochimaru's experiment on Hashirama's cells worked on Yamato.
Moreover, Orochimaru thought that he had failed, and Yamato was picked up by Danzo. In the end, he became the Third Hokage's Anbu.
Orochimaru did not answer Nagasawa's question. Instead, he said to Nagasawa, "Come with me."
Nagasawa silently followed Orochimaru.
The two of them walked around until they reached a remote forest west of Konoha, where Orochimaru's underground research lab was located.
Orochimaru brought Nagasawa to the entrance. It was a well that was hidden by a huge boulder and bushes.
Orochimaru made a hand seal, and the boulder began to move away, revealing the entrance slowly.
Orochimaru jumped down first, and Nagasawa did not hesitate to follow him.
After that, Nagasawa looked around. Orochimaru did not spend too much time at the entrance. He was surrounded by uneven stone walls, and there was also a metal gate at the base.
Orochimaru opened the door, and Nagasawa followed him in. The inside was spacious, and Nagasawa could see a lot of large transparent tanks filled with green liquid everywhere.
The big ones were even seven or eight meters tall, while the small ones were only as tall as an average adult.
Some tanks were filled with snakes, some were empty, and some were filled with people.
Looking at the people in the tanks, Nagasawa stopped and said to Orochimaru, "No matter what happened in the past, I don't want to see the Konoha villager from now on."
This was the only thing Nagasawa couldn't allow.
He was not Danzo, who wouldn't bat an eye as he sacrificed countless people.
Orochimaru looked at Nagasawa in surprise. He did not expect that Nagasawa loved the village so much.
"They were all sent by Danzo. I do not know their origins. I am only responsible for experiments." Orochimaru immediately sold Danzo off.
In the end, Orochimaru brought Nagasawa to an ordinary two-meter-long tank and said, "I'm stuck in my research of Hashirama's cells. I tried both ordinary people and Shinobi, but none of them could withstand Hashirama's cells. Shinobi died just a little slower than ordinary people."
After saying that, Orochimaru flipped through the papers and handed it over to Nagasawa.
Nagasawa took the papers and began to read them carefully.
Orochimaru was also very patient. After Nagasawa finished reading it, he gave Nagasawa some time to process it before asking, "Nagasawa-san, where do you think my problem lies?"
Orochimaru's eyes were filled with anticipation.
Even if he was patient, he was still irritated by the countless failures.
If there was any progress, he would not be like this.
Without a glimmer of hope, the experimental subjects were decayed by Hashirama's cells and died.
That was why he decided to bring Nagasawa onboard.
This was a very big risk.
If Nagasawa was actually secretly investigating him and pretended to agree, then Orochimaru would have to betray the village.
However, Orochimaru didn't mind taking this bet in order to succeed in the experiment.
For the current him, everything in the village didn't really matter to him. He wanted to obtain eternal life and every knowledge.
Nagasawa thought for a moment and said, "Did you overlook something?"
"What is it?" Orochimaru was interested. Nagasawa actually discovered something.
Nagasawa did not immediately answer Orochimaru's question but asked again: "What does transplanting Hashirama's cells achieve?"
"It greatly enhances the body's life force, allowing it to use Wood Release, and increasing Chakra." Orochimaru quickly replied, wondering why Nagasawa asked this question.
There was no way Nagasawa was just testing him about his knowledge of Hashirama's cells. He had been researching it for so long. If he didn't know about this, why else could he research it?
"Balance, this is the reason why your experiment failed. Your experiment subject's physical strength and spiritual energy are too unbalanced." Nagasawa said.
"Hashirama's cells have strengthened their physical strength too much. An ordinary person's spiritual energy would not be able to withstand it. Shinobi, on the other hand, had more experience on the battlefield, so their spiritual energy was relatively high, so they could last longer than ordinary people.
However, ordinary Shinobi's spiritual energy was still not enough to withstand the powerful Hashirama's cells, so they could not escape death.
"Balance, spiritual energy!" A glint flashed through Orochimaru's eyes.
Yes, that made sense.
He always thought that it was because the body of an ordinary person was not strong enough that it could not withstand Hashirama's cells, but he always ignored the spiritual energy.
Thinking carefully, Orochimaru felt that what Nagasawa said was reasonable.
Orochimaru licked his lips with excitement and said, "Nagasawa-san, what you said is indeed very reasonable. I have always ignored the problem of spiritual energy."
At this moment, Orochimaru was very glad that he had decided to bring Nagasawa onboard. At first, he only wanted Nagasawa to offer him a little inspiration, but Nagasawa actually discovered the reason why he failed.