20demayo Chapter 87 Evolution, Corpse Bone Pulse
Chapter 87 Evolution, Corpse Bone Pulse
Chapter 87 Evolution, Corpse Bone Pulse
early morning.
Sousuke wakes up.
He sat up and subconsciously raised his left hand to rub his eyes.
The movement stopped.
In the morning light, a coin-sized mark appeared on the back of his left hand.
It's not a scar, nor a callus.
It was a patch of extremely fine, grayish-white scales.
It's not obvious; if you don't look closely, you might mistake it for dry, flaky skin.
But Sosuke tapped it lightly with his right fingers.
"Tap, tap."
It made a tapping sound on the hard stratum corneum.
Its hardness is comparable to that of a fingernail.
Moreover, this scale has a temperature, and even—it has consciousness.
Sosuke's heart sank for a moment, but then a surge of curiosity welled up within him.
He got up and went to the laboratory.
Chiba is dissecting a white mouse.
"Mr. Sosuke, good morning—your hand?"
Chiba's gaze was drawn to the scale.
He put down the scalpel and took Sosuke's hand.
Under the magnifying glass, Chiba observed very carefully.
"This is not a disease. This is assimilation."
"Your cells are mimicking the gene expression of that snake."
"The snake's eyes absorbed natural energy and transformed it into a special biological enzyme. This enzyme flows throughout the body via the bloodstream and is inducing keratinization changes in your skin."
Sosuke looked at the scale. He sensed that beneath this piece of skin lay a greater resilience than the surrounding skin.
"Is this evolution?" Sosuke asked.
"From a biological point of view—yes."
Chiba picked up a silver needle and pierced the scales.
The needle tip slipped.
It took Chiba a great deal of effort for the needle tip to barely pierce the scales and ooze a drop of blood.
"Their defense has improved a lot."
Chiba recorded the data with a fervent gaze.
"Mr. Sosuke, if these scales covered his entire body—"
"Then I'll become a lizard man, or a snake man."
Sosuke withdrew his hand.
"Moreover, this mutation is uncontrollable."
He touched his left eye.
This snake is both a tool and an intruder. It provides vision and also modifies his body.
This transformation appears to be beneficial at present.
Because it gave Sousuke, with his mediocre body, the ability to fight against ninja tools.
"Continue to observe."
Sosuke picked up a roll of bandage and wrapped it around his left hand.
Record the speed and extent of the spread.
"Also, how is Yugao doing?"
"The rejection reaction has further decreased." Chiba pointed to the collection bottle. "We only extracted 3 milliliters of waste liquid last night."
"very good."
Sosuke put on the blindfold.
"It seems she won't have to suffer anymore."
One week later. Moving.
Several horse-drawn carriages were parked in front of the warehouse on West Street.
"Be gentle! That box is full of glass instruments!"
Chiba directed several laborers to carry his precious equipment.
Those expensive microscopes, centrifuges, and bottles and jars filled with various specimens.
Xi Yan sat in a carriage.
She looked much better and was holding a rag doll in her arms—a new one that Kaori had bought for her.
Kaori came to help too. She doesn't have any missions lately.
Hyuga Katsu was placed on a specially made stretcher and carried by Tsubaki and Ryoma.
His condition was terrible; he was completely paralyzed. The brutal behavior of the clan elders last time had once again left him completely paralyzed.
Bellflower Pavilion.
The renovated Western-style building looks brand new.
The exterior walls were painted a grayish-white, giving it a low-key and solemn look. The weeds in the yard had been cleared away, and neat bluestone slabs had been laid on top.
Sosuke stood in the hall.
The floor is made of solid wood and feels very solid underfoot.
"The first floor will be used for reception and storage."
Sosuke began assigning areas.
"The second floor is the living area. Everyone has their own room."
"Third floor————"
He pointed to the rooftop.
"That's my private area. It's also my office."
"As for the basement—"
Sousuke looked at Chiba and Ryoma Aburame.
"That area is a production workshop and laboratory, a no-go zone for insects. It's to maintain the hygiene standards for clean water."
Sosuke was very blunt.
"As long as the water production meets the standards, I have no interest in the basement," Ryoma said.
Now that it was confirmed that producing purified water required a special bloodline limit, Mitomon Yan did not allow him to further monitor the details. It wouldn't make much sense.
As long as it didn't affect the village's interests, he didn't want to pursue the matter too much. After all, Mitokado Homura wasn't Danzo.
The move went smoothly. Everyone is happy with the new environment.
Especially Chiba. The underground laboratory is a hundred times better than the previous ones.
"Mr. Sosuke, this place is wonderful."
"As long as you like it."
"By the way, Mr. Sosuke, I have a new plan for the nerve repair of Hyuga Masaru." Chiba remembered the important matter.
"Simply using drugs to nourish the body is too slow. We need a regenerative medium."
"What medium?"
Sosuke sat down, twirling two iron pills in his hands—these were custom-made to train finger strength, each weighing one kilogram.
"marrow."
Chiba uttered an unexpected word.
"marrow?"
"Yes. I consulted a large number of ancient books."
Chiba took out a tattered book, "The Bloodline," and turned to the Kaguya Clan's Corpse Bone Pulse.
"Shikotsumyaku, the bloodline limit of the Kaguya clan. They can control osteoblasts and osteoclasts, allowing bones to grow indefinitely and become as hard as steel."
"But this is not just a physical attack."
"Have you ever thought about how much activity their hematopoietic stem cells need to support such an incredible rate of bone regeneration? An ordinary person's body would have collapsed long ago, but they are able to survive on it."
"You mean—"
"In other words, the bone marrow of the Corpse Bone Vein contains extremely strong active factors."
"If we can extract this active factor and inject it into Hyuga Masaru's spine, we can use this domineering life force to forcibly stimulate the growth of his nerve bundles."
Sosuke understood. This was to use the life force of the Kaguya clan to save people.
however.
The Kaguya clan should still be in Kirigakure (Hidden Mist Village) in the Land of Water.
"Where can we get samples of the Corpse Bone Pulse? The Hidden Mist's pursuit team is known for its ability to destroy corpses; they won't let even a single finger slip through their fingers."
"I heard—"
Chiba hesitated for a moment.
"Recently, a shipment of special goods from the Land of Water has been circulating on the black market near the border. The seller appears to be an extremely skilled rogue ninja who intercepted the shipment before the pursuing forces arrived."
"One of the corpses had exceptionally hard bones, and it is said that it unleashed a ninjutsu technique resembling a forest of bones before it died."
"You mean, someone is selling the corpses of the Kaguya clan?"
This is a major taboo in the ninja world. Bloodline limit families have extremely strict control over corpses, and such behavior will invite retaliation.
But the Kaguya clan is an exception. They only care about killing, not collecting the bodies. Moreover, they are all madmen, often putting themselves in dire straits.
"Where is the location?"
Chiba pulled a black market flyer from his pocket, which contained information about the goods.
"Seller's code name: Sawtooth".
"The transaction took place at a black market outpost called Red Phosphorus Port, located at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water."
"That's a no-man's-land."
Sousuke frowned.
"This seller, who managed to escape from the Hidden Mist Village, is definitely not to be underestimated. If I were to go it alone, I'd probably be double-crossed."
Chiba smiled slightly.
"Mr. Sosuke, where do you think I got this information from?"
"Huh?" Sosuke was surprised to realize that Chiba was just a child, how could he have information about the black market?
Once he came to his senses, he easily guessed it.
"Could it be—in that case, I'll take the deal."
He did it not only to save Hyuga Katsumi, but also for the corpse itself.
The Kaguya clan are among the direct descendants of the progenitor of chakra, inheriting the "bone" bloodline of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. The Shikotsumyaku (Corpse Bone Pulse) is essentially a weakened and mutated manifestation of the "All-Killing Ash Bones" in the bloodlines of its descendants.
Discovering the secrets of bone regeneration would be a tremendous temptation for someone like him who relies on external aids to strengthen his body.
"I need to report to the village before heading to the black market. Becoming a regular ninja is troublesome."
If he leaves the village without permission, he will be considered a rogue ninja and hunted down by the Anbu and Root.