At this moment, Kaito felt the tingling sensation coursing through his body, somewhat pleasurable, and he knew it was the effect of the electric arc from earlier. He couldn't help but sigh.
Indeed, compared to the bodies from the previous world, the physical constitutions in this world were anything but ordinary. If it were in the previous world, such a sensation wouldn't be pleasant—at best, it wouldn't have paralyzed him.
However, lightning attribute chakra, shape transformation, and body reinforcement led Kaito to ponder.
Thinking about using lightning attribute chakra to strengthen the body, one could not help but think of the Cloud Village. Their Lightning Release Chakra Mode was an outstanding secret technique.
Unfortunately, the secret technique of Cloud Village was not available to Konoha.
Of course, Kaito believed Konoha and probably all the other ninja villages were trying to develop similar Lightning Release secret techniques. After all, the performance of Cloud's secret technique was quite remarkable, and its principle wasn't too complicated.
But just because the principle was simple doesn't mean it's easy to develop, especially for secret techniques like the Lightning Release that could easily damage the body if used carelessly.
Kaito was sure that Konoha might have already developed a similar jutsu in secret, but its side effects were likely significant, and its effects couldn't match the Lightning Release Chakra Mode of Cloud. Thus, it was shelved, with no ninja willing to use it.
More importantly, learning the principle behind it allowed Konoha and other villages to devise countermeasures against the Cloud Village ninjas using this mode.
But from what Kaito saw, the research efforts by other villages hadn't been very successful. After all, it was a secret technique the Cloud Village used as its core, so naturally, it wasn't easy to replicate.
For Kaito, the Lightning Release Chakra Mode was more of a fantasy. He knew it was highly unlikely he could obtain this technique.
A step down from that might be temporary body reinforcement, which he could achieve—something similar to what Sasuke demonstrated during the Chunin Exam.
But no matter what, Sasuke was a protagonist. The way protagonists achieve things can't be compared with an ordinary person. The way Sasuke strengthened his body likely carried significant risks, such as overstimulating the muscles, potentially even frying them.
This type of reinforcement was something Kaito desired. However, he currently didn't need an immediate boost in combat power, so he could take his time experimenting with safer methods.
First, he would need to study more about the human body in the library. This way, the stimulation process could be done more safely and comprehensively, yielding better results.
Kaito sighed. He had already read some books on the human body, but he hadn't gone into depth. It seemed now there was yet another task on his list.
To be honest, at this moment, Kaito found himself sympathizing with Orochimaru a bit. He also wanted to conduct research.
The quickest way to obtain a technique like the Lightning Release Chakra Mode would naturally be to steal it, but very few ninjas could achieve that.
The next fastest way would be Orochimaru's approach—the path of forbidden research. Using living people for experiments would greatly accelerate the speed of development, and it would be even better if those captured were Cloud Village ninjas who used the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Even if they were dead, it could still work. Even after death, the secrets of their bodies wouldn't vanish right away. By studying bodies that were enhanced by the secret technique, a sufficient number of samples could allow one to deduce the secret technique.
It might even be possible to deduce some of their ninjutsu since each ninja has habitual chakra pathways they use when performing jutsu. By studying these paths, the jutsu could potentially be reconstructed.
However, there were too many different jutsu that a ninja could know, creating interference factors, so deducing them would require a lot of samples and prior knowledge of what techniques the ninja knew.
With secret techniques, because of the unique way in which they were trained, it was easier to deduce, and that's why the corpses of ninjas were valuable assets for their villages, often being recovered by the Anbu or, failing that, destroyed on the spot to prevent their secrets from being stolen.
Still, deducing it wasn't an overnight endeavor, and it's not like you'd have an abundance of corpses of ninjas skilled in the Lightning Release Chakra Mode available for experiments. Once you start experimenting on ordinary people or animals, efficiency drops drastically.
In short, it wasn't easy. If Kaito had access to forbidden means, he was confident that before the start of the original storyline, he could develop something useful, even if it had significant side effects.
But the problem is, where would he get so many test subjects? Even if Root—the black-ops faction—were to capture people for experiments, the quantity required would be impossible without causing a major uproar. He'd be caught before making any progress.
Not to mention that no one would allow a six-year-old boy to conduct experiments—maybe as a test subject, sure.
So, from the start, Kaito knew that becoming a researcher wasn't an option for him. The timing of his arrival in this world was too late; there wasn't enough time to do proper research, and he had no one to sponsor him.
Would anyone fund a child to conduct research? The best scenario for an aspiring researcher would have been to arrive earlier—around the same time as Orochimaru, perhaps. Then it would be feasible to shift blame to him if anything went wrong.
Kaito sighed. If it were possible, the researcher's path might have been a good option for an 'ordinary genius,' but unfortunately, it was one he could never take.
First, there wasn't enough time. Secondly, his aptitude wasn't geared towards research. And finally, Kaito didn't want to cross too many lines—at most, he could study deceased ninjas.
However, even if that path was closed, Kaito still wasn't worried. His aptitude for the orthodox path of ninjutsu was promising enough.
There was also the possibility of exploiting his foreknowledge of the story. But for that to work, everyone around him would need to be fools, or he'd need wisdom that made others seem foolish by comparison.
Is that possible? Kaito didn't think so. He didn't have the intelligence for it. Better to focus on straightforwardly becoming stronger.
Kaito crossed his legs, sitting down, and once again, arcs of electricity flickered around his body. He might not be able to research high-level secret techniques for body enhancement, but could he at least use this to alleviate his bodily fatigue?
As the arcs of electricity danced across his body, he began to feel a numbing, tingly sensation all over, which he rather enjoyed.
The more fatigued areas of his body tingled more intensely. When the electricity reached the areas most heavily exercised, Kaito almost let out a moan.
After a while, Kaito opened his eyes. He was out of chakra. Using just one C-rank jutsu earlier had consumed quite a bit.
Still, after just this short while, he could feel his body recovering faster than usual, even though he had only done a very shallow 'massage' for safety.
With increased proficiency, Kaito believed the effect would only grow stronger. Faster body recovery also meant faster chakra replenishment.
His current training plan would need some adjustments. The chakra form transformation could now be practiced in the Void State, while the remaining chakra could be used to 'massage' his fatigued body.
Kaito's eyes shone. The discoveries of the Void State and Lightning Release gave him a new sense of hope for the future. He was starting to get a little excited. The road ahead was looking bright.