The sudden movement on the test bench startled Tanuki Shigaraki, who had been nervously observing from the side.
He stumbled back several meters, staring in horror at the hunk of Hashirama cells perched on Hyuga Yu's fingertip. He was terrified that Yu might spontaneously explode right then and there, just like the previous experimental subjects who had been transplanted with Hashirama cells.
"Hyuga Yu, what happened?!" he demanded loudly. "Did the surgery fail?"
"No." Yu arched an eyebrow as he looked at the lump of flesh on his fingertip. Though it clearly lacked a brain, it had developed "emotions" through the influence of chakra. "It seems... it was a success."
"A success...?" Tanuki looked over, his voice laced with disbelief.
Veins bulged around Yu's eyes as he activated his Byakugan to examine the piece of Hashirama cells. Through the vision of the Byakugan, he could see that the long, tube-like proboscis the Hashirama cells had morphed into—designed to drain chakra—already possessed a "chakra pathway system."
In other words, the procedure had been a complete success. The Hashirama cells had easily digested and recombined the genetic molecules of the Zero-Tails. While transforming into a new state, they had enhanced their original abilities and gained entirely new ones.
This mass of Hashirama cells—or rather, the "Progenitor Nue"—was now explicitly demonstrating its future ability to [Absorb Chakra]. Through its "tail"—the tail-like proboscis it had morphed into—it latched onto Yu's index finger and began to draw out a cyan-colored chakra that even Yu himself hadn't fully analyzed yet.
At this stage, the Nue had not yet been cultivated into a complete physical form. Theoretically, without a brain, it should have been impossible for it to possess something like emotions.
However, after swallowing a drop of Yu's blood and completely absorbing it—breaking down the spiritual and physical energy within the cyan chakra—Yu's "will" and spiritual energy had temporarily become its "brain." Much like the Three Laws of Robotics, this established the creature's fundamental perception of the world and an "ideological stamp" within its consciousness.
Through this accident, Yu realized another capability of his cyan chakra—[Mental Control].
He could clearly perceive the existence of the Progenitor Nue that had fused with his chakra. Furthermore, it felt as though he could send commands to the Nue with just a single thought.
For example:
"Show me your dance moves," Yu commanded the Nue.
After a few seconds of confusion, the Nue—still just a lump of flesh—extracted a fragment regarding "dancing" from Yu's spiritual energy.
Then, the mass of flesh first collapsed into a shape resembling a "fried egg." It then used its tail to sprout "limbs" and a "head," standing upright like a human before performing a bizarre, unrestrained dance.
In Yu's mind, a corresponding background track immediately began to play:
"Two little tigers love to dance Little bunny, be good and pull the radish"
Tanuki Shigaraki stared at the dancing Nue, his eyes filled with profound bewilderment. But as he watched the eccentric dance, he couldn't help but blink in surprise.
Wait, what is going on here? No, this is too weird... let me look again.
"Stop, stop it now!"
Yu's temple throbbed slightly as he immediately ordered the happily dancing Nue to halt.
Seeing the Nue actually stop, a flash of regret appeared on Tanuki's face, but he quickly turned to Yu in astonishment. "What exactly is this?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself. However, the good news is—the creation of the 'Nue' was a success. It can use consumed chakra as nourishment for its own growth."
Yu gazed at the Nue, then frowned slightly. "But the bad news is—aside from being able to absorb chakra to increase its size, it doesn't seem to have any other abilities."
A complete Nue possessed Space-Time Ninjutsu, enhancement abilities similar to a Tailed Beast Cloak, chakra absorption, the terrifying physical power of a summoning beast, and a self-destruction ability.
However, Tanuki let out an excited laugh. "That's enough!"
"With these initial results, we can use this to sc—no, we can use this to request funding from Lord Danzo and the Third Hokage to restart the project! As long as we interface this with Orochimaru's Cursed Seal project, turning it into the true 'Nue' is only a matter of time."
Hearing this, Yu understood how the next stage of the Nue's cultivation would proceed.
Ordinary people could not withstand Orochimaru's Cursed Seal. However, the Nue, cultivated with Hashirama cells as its foundation, was the perfect vessel. Even the Cursed Seal itself would likely be devoured as nourishment by the creature.
This was likely why the Nue in the original series possessed the face of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the limbs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake.
Thinking of this, a slight smile touched Yu's lips.
However, just as Yu was about to use the surgical results to ask the excited Tanuki for the remaining two Zero-Tails samples—
BOOM!
A massive explosion suddenly erupted at the entrance of the abandoned laboratory!
Following the blast:
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Over a dozen dark shadows blurred into the room with their hands behind their backs, rapidly surrounding Yu and Tanuki.
Then, a Root ninja wearing a bird-head mask stepped out from the shadows.
He surveyed the laboratory, his eyes sweeping over the expensive equipment before finally landing on Tanuki Shigaraki. He gave a cold, dismissive command:
"Take him away!"
More than a dozen Root ninjas immediately stepped forward, intending to seize Tanuki.
The situation had changed in an instant.
Watching this, Tanuki's heart skipped a beat. He immediately grabbed the Nue from the table, stuffed it into his lab coat pocket, and clutched the pocket tightly. He shouted nervously at the closing Root ninjas, "Wait, what are you doing?! Did you get permission from Lord Danzo?!"
"If you don't want to die, shut up!"
The bird-masked ninja stared at him coldly and waved his hand.
The crowd of Root ninjas swarmed forward, pinning Tanuki Shigaraki to the spot.
In his desperation, Tanuki didn't have time to explain the situation to Yu. He could only shoot a meaningful look at Yu—who appeared not to know what was happening—and silently mouthed:
"Wait for me—"
At that moment, although Yu didn't know what Tanuki had done to provoke so many Root ninjas into arresting him, he hadn't forgotten why he was there.
Taking advantage of the chaos, he discreetly swept the remaining two Zero-Tails samples from the test bench into his own pocket and backed away, clearing the floor.
The bird-masked ninja leading the arrest finally turned his head, staring coldly at Yu through his mask. He didn't seem surprised to find Yu there.
However, being fellow members of Root—and subordinates of the same master—he couldn't help but offer a cold word of advice:
"This man is nothing but a failure."
"You'd best not have any other ideas. Just focus on doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing!"
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