The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, obviously wasn't going to stroll into this underground lab to have his arm replaced.
So he chose the safer route—let Orochimaru send the arm back to him.
Honestly, Kenichi couldn't blame him.
If he were the Third, there's no way he'd come down here alone either—
especially while missing an arm.
If the previous prosthetic had already become unusable, his ability to weave signs would be affected.
Sure, even one-handed Hiruzen could still mop the floor with most ninja…
But against someone like Orochimaru, a full-blown Kage-level monster?
Yeah, no. That was asking to get farmed for organs.
"Sensei, what exactly are you planning to do?"
Kenichi glanced over.
Orochimaru was fastening Hōjun Shin—today's "special guest"—onto the operating table.
The man's whole body shook, but he grit his teeth and stayed silent.
That alone made Kenichi look at him twice.
By now, Kenichi knew the story:
this guy had volunteered to become an experimental subject just to learn cloning techniques.
A real psychopath.
Kenichi silently gave him一个"狠人"评价.
Kenichi liked science, sure.
But turning yourself into a full-time lab rat just to study cloning?
Yeah… he wasn't that crazy.
"Take a look," Orochimaru said lazily. "Think you can induce cancer in this arm as well?"
As expected.
Kenichi almost laughed.
Of course. This was what Sensei wanted.
"In the arm, huh…"
That made it trickier.
Most people only ever heard of cancers tied to organs—lungs, liver, stomach—all the greatest hits.
But there was a type that fit an arm quite nicely.
The problem was the trigger.
Lung cancer? Easy—cigarette smoke, tar, all that fun stuff.
But bone cancer… that took something else.
"Sensei, do we have crude oil?"
Kenichi asked suddenly.
Orochimaru's brows arched.
"Crude oil? What do you need that for?"
Kenichi nodded seriously.
If he could get crude oil, he could refine out exactly what he wanted—
benzene.
And benzene was a fantastic carcinogen.
Perfect for inducing bone cancer, easy to work with, and the raw material was everywhere.
This world had fuel and engines. Where there's fuel, there's crude. Where there's crude, there's benzene.
But after discussing it with Orochimaru, Kenichi realized he was overthinking it.
This world already had benzene.
People just… called it something else.
"Fragrant oil."
Yes.
Benzene. Sold under the name fragrant oil.
And not just that—
it was a luxury product reserved for rich nobles.
When Kenichi heard that, his expression instantly变成"地铁老人看手机".
Considering benzene was colorless at room temperature and had a noticeable scent,
it kind of made sense people would bottle it as some kind of "fine fragrance"…
But what really broke him was what Orochimaru said next.
"Some wealthy types like to bathe in it, you know," he remarked casually.
Kenichi went silent.
Bathing.
In benzene.
Truly, there was no shortage of lunatics in this world.
If someone on Earth had told him they liked to shower in benzene,
Kenichi would've quietly called a mental hospital and had them picked up on the spot.
Then again, back in his previous life, when radium had just been discovered,
people had put it into cosmetics and health tonics, calling it a miracle beauty product.
Compared to brushing your face with radioactive death, bathing in benzene suddenly didn't seem that far-fetched.
Maybe one day the ninja world would also realize this stuff was deadly.
Assuming anyone lived long enough to figure it out.
Given the average life expectancy around here… yeah, that might take a while.
With benzene secured, the rest was easy.
Orochimaru injected anesthetic, then sliced open a long section of Hōjun Shin's arm.
The skin and muscle were pulled aside, exposing white bone.
"Go ahead," he said. "Before the drug wears off."
Inducing bone cancer with benzene was a hassle,
but after his lung cancer experiments, Kenichi had more than enough experience.
Soon, aggressive-looking cancerous tissue began to form along the arm bone.
Bone cancer—successfully induced.
"Sensei, I want to take a small sample."
Kenichi spoke up.
Since this man was a once-in-a-lifetime zero-rejection experimental subject,
Kenichi absolutely wanted to get a closer look at what cancer cells were like in that kind of body.
Orochimaru didn't mind.
He casually brushed some hair away from his face and nodded his approval.
Kenichi's gaze sharpened.
…Had Sensei just… tucked his hair behind his ear?
That gesture looked… oddly feminine.
Is there a problem with his Living Corpse Reincarnation technique?
Kenichi wasn't sure.
But he noted it down in his mind.
If he got the chance, he really wanted to dissect—
cough no, study—his teacher's condition.
Especially since Orochimaru himself didn't seem to notice anything off.
That alone made Kenichi more cautious.
Research on souls really did require maximum care.
If something went wrong… the results could be terrifying.
Leaving the operating room, Kenichi returned to his own lab.
He wanted to culture the cancer cells while they were still fresh.
If they died off, all this would have been a waste.
Cancer cells were classic "bullies inside, losers outside."
Inside a human body, they were absolute monsters, nearly unbeatable.
But taken out into a Petri dish?
They instantly turned into the frail sickly type.
Actually, that applied to most cells and bacteria.
When you cultured them in vitro, they were all fragile, picky little divas—
But once they were back in the wild, suddenly it was all:
"Life will find a way."
Kenichi enveloped the sample with Yang Release chakra.
Soon, the cancer cells began to divide and multiply.
"Good. That's enough for now."
He placed the Petri dish into a specialized incubator for further culture,
then turned and left the room.
The cancer could wait.
Right now, his priority was still the thermobaric bomb.
He wanted to first test a standard version—no chakra added—
figure out the baseline performance.
Only afterward would he start attempting a chakra-infused thermobaric weapon.
After all the work he'd done fine-tuning the fuel mixture,
actually assembling the bomb wasn't complicated.
It was just painstaking.
Follow the blueprint.
Measure, weld, seal.
Over and over again.
"The legendary hand-crafted thermobaric bomb, huh…"
Kenichi wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling a strange sense of accomplishment.
This world's industrial system was a joke,
but thanks to chakra—and his Sharingan—
he could actually manually manufacture a weapon that, in his past life, would've taken an entire factory line.
He just had to be careful not to blow himself up in the process.
He stared at the nearly completed device in front of him, throat dry.
If this went off inside the lab…
Yeah. There wouldn't be anything left to clean up.
He licked his lips.
"One way or another… we're gonna make history with this."
Note: If you're interested, you can read up to Chapter 102+ at patreon.com/nakai01.