After injecting the special Sakon-Ukon cellular serum, Suguru fell ill. He became bedridden for the next week with a high fever and constant muscle spasms.
At times, he would be shaking uncontrollably with cold sweat pouring out of his body. Many times had he coughed up large amounts of congealed blood, staining his lips red. The most alarming side-effect, however, was that he had begun shedding layers upon layers of skin and flesh.
Every morning, he woke up dehydrated and starving. All the pain that he must've been feeling was replaced by a numbing adrenaline rush that never seemed to end. Suguru could barely stomach the image of his own body breaking down and repairing itself several times a day.
He consumed inhuman amounts of food and water, so much so that he had to force himself to stay away just to keep eating and drinking. If he fell unconscious, he feared that he would become a dried-up husk.
'If only I had the life forces of the Uzumaki!' Suguru was experiencing his calculations and theories firsthand.
The real thing included such hideous sensations that he felt his sanity teetering on the edge of a deep, dark ravine.
'No wonder Orochimaru is like that. Restructuring his entire body into a weird serpent made of white snakes...'
Suguru shivered.
'Will that be my future too?'
Soon, he shook his head. Suguru focused on weaving hand signs, moving his chakra in the manner he had theorized, changing the properties of both his body and his spirit.
Not one moment, even in sleep, did he stop moving his ever-regenerating chakra. His eyes switched between the Sharingan and the Byakugan again and again, using both to supplement his chakra control.
Slowly but surely, Suguru's body completed its metamorphosis.
***
Two weeks later, Suguru's illness completely died down. His fever receded, and his muscles stopped spasming in the middle of the night. His erratic chakra flow stabilized.
His room was rancid from all the blood, skin, and flesh he had shed. His bed was better off being reduced to ashes and replaced with a new one.
"...I need to clean up."
Getting out of bed, Suguru wrapped his skin shedding in his blood-stained sheets, and threw them out. He swept the floor, opened the windows, and dragged his bed to the trash bin behind the building.
Once enough fresh air had circulated, he then took a much-needed shower. When he was done, he sat back down on his desk. Then, his irises shattered as he activated his Kaisugan.
—Crack.
'Sharingan!'
Mirroring an active Sharingan, Suguru began analyzing the changes in his body. After a few anxious minutes, he sighed in relief.
"I can't believe it worked..."
Although he had the theoretical data to back him up, the fact that he achieved such a seamless success was worth celebrating. He had planted the seeds for his future. Building his foundations would be much easier from now on.
It was time for the next step in his plans:
A suitable talent.
—And the only way he could get a suitable talent was through assimilating the flesh and blood of others. Unfortunately, nothing in the world was perfect.
'There's a drawback to this technique...'
If Orochimaru had to change bodies every three years after using Living Corpse Reincarnation and taking another body as his, Suguru's Living Corpse Assimilation worked inversely.
Theoretically, instead of switching bodies every three years, he could absorb the body of a living being. In the process, his body would form a cocoon, and only after a certain amount of time would he emerge, completely renewed. The drawbacks of rejection and looking for a suitable host had been eliminated.
The price? Suguru would be vulnerable in that state. On top of that, he would not experience any growth in strength.
It was like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly — a metamorphosis.
'In fact, just taking the Sakon-Ukon serum caused a similar instance. If I assimilate an entire person...'
Based on his calculations, Suguru would spend at least three years in his cocoon. It truly was the inverse of the Living Corpse Reincarnation.
'If I assimilate anyone with a Kekkei Genkai, this number could very well double!'
In comparison, Suguru theorized that assimilating someone with a powerful life force would reduce this number drastically. Assimilating Uzumaki clan descendants should only take a year at most.
'As for Hashirama's cells... I can't be sure. It would either be really long or instant.'
Perhaps if he assimilated Hashirama's cells to obtain Wood Release, then it would take a long time. If he wanted to achieve the same chakra changes that people like Danzo or Obito had experienced, the assimilation would most likely be instant.
"Sigh..."
Suguru fell into thought.
Who would be his target? There were a lot of candidates but some were more viable than others. After a few hours of careful consideration, Suguru's eyes flashed as he made a decision.
***
A few days later, Suguru moved towards the outskirts of the village, where sparsely scattered homes could be seen among the bushes and trees. The people here walked calmly from place to place, wonderfully disconnected from the bustling central markets.
He found a shaded area and sat down at the base of a tree. Upon covering his face with his hat to feign slumber, he activated his Kaisugan.
—Crack!
His irises shattered into several pieces, and his gaze moved elsewhere in an instant.
"Found you," Suguru couldn't help but smile.
Looking at the nearby unfamiliar laboratory shrouded by a seal-filled basement, Suguru didn't find it odd that he wasn't alone. Others were researching ways to increase their talent, just like him.
Unlike Orochimaru who prioritized eternal youth and immortality, it seemed like there was another shinobi who was very much desperate for talent.
Someone willing to dabble in Kinjutsu just like Suguru and Orochimaru to modify their own body.
"Honestly, I'm not surprised."
Suguru only noticed this shinobi's secrets when he was combing through Konoha, stumbling upon an unfamiliar laboratory. It wasn't structured the way that Orochimaru usually built his own labs and the seal formations were nowhere near as exquisite.
However, this laboratory still exuded a deep taboo. To Suguru, who bore the Kaisugan, all of this darkness was as clear as the sun shining above his head.
Over the months, Suguru's curiosity led him to see things of a slightly different nature from Orochimaru's work, yet disgusting nonetheless.
So, Suguru watched as a man dragged an unconscious boy into an eerie candle-lit room. The man then placed the child in the center where seals spread out in all directions, crude and seemingly still in the process of refinement.
'You haven't made much progress.' Suguru thought upon noticing the boy's familiar face. 'It's clear that you still have a long way to go...'
Suguru gazed at the man, greedy for strength and tired of living as a shadow of the Sannin. A man who bore sickly white hair and red eyes.
'...Hiruko,'