You are always so indifferent and sensible. You don't look like a child over ten years old. You're really not cute at all! Compared to you, little Hongdou is much cuter." Orochimaru held his forehead with his hand and revealed a very troubled expression.
"I want to be cute too, but I want to live even more," Asakura China said casually while treating the "experimental material."
"This is what I admire most about you. You're very self-aware and can recognize reality very clearly," Orochimaru said with a smile, his tone and eyes full of admiration. However, Chao Yanqian could clearly feel that there was a hint of murderous intent in Orochimaru's voice.
Chao Yanqian didn't know where the killing intent Orochimaru suddenly displayed came from whether it was a threat, or if he had become aware of some of her small secret actions.
She turned to face Tsunade, her expression changing into a calm smile, and said respectfully: "The most important thing for a person is to recognize reality. Only by knowing where you stand can you adjust your attitude."
"How are your research results?" Orochimaru did not continue the topic, but suddenly asked about Chao Yanqian's progress.
When she first entered Orochimaru's laboratory, Chao Yanqian proposed the idea of suppressing the First Hokage's cells with toxins. Afterwards, Orochimaru kept his promise, and during negotiations with Sunagakure, he obtained their experience in poison formulation.
Although Sunagakure would never hand over their deepest secrets, they generously provided Konoha with poisons that had already been deciphered. It was also a gesture of goodwill in support of their 'peace talks'.
However, for the past year, Chao Yanqian had been busy with her training and rarely found time to study poisons, so progress had been minimal.
"It seems Orochimaru noticed this. Was that his way of warning me?" Chao Yanqian wondered silently.
"There has been no progress so far," Chao Yanqian said. "The vitality contained in the First Hokage's cells is too strong, and ordinary toxins are completely ineffective. Although powerful toxins can suppress the cells, they severely damage the human body. I haven't found a solution to this problem yet."
"You should put in more effort. There are many wounded in the medical corps you can test the poison's effects on them," Orochimaru said hoarsely, in an indifferent tone.
Damn it, I knew Orochimaru wasn't going to make this easy.
"I understand, Lord Orochimaru," Chao Yanqian replied from under the eaves, temporarily agreeing to Orochimaru's request.
"There's nothing else here. You may go back now," said Orochimaru.
"Yes!"
After leaving Orochimaru's lab, Chao Yanqian realized she had broken into a cold sweat. She could sense that Orochimaru was very dissatisfied with her lack of results over the past year, and if things continued like this, it would be difficult to gain any benefits from him.
Now is not the time to fall out with Orochimaru. With her current strength, if she were to oppose him, it would only result in death.
But testing poisons on wounded members of the medical corps? That was something Chao Yanqian absolutely couldn't bring herself to do. Though she had been complicit with Orochimaru for over a year, Chao Yanqian still had a deep resistance to human experimentation. But since it was Orochimaru conducting the experiments, she couldn't stop him at all.
It seemed she would need to find another way.
She returned to the medical corps' camp heavy-hearted and headed to the medicine storage area, hoping to spark a new idea.
"Squad Leader Chao Yanqian, you're back from training so early today!" said the medical ninja guarding the warehouse, enthusiastically.
"Mm. The fighting with Sunagakure is intense. I need to conserve some strength for treating the wounded," Chao Yanqian replied. "Show me the list of medicines."
"Yes, please wait a moment!" said the medical ninja.
Holding the list, Chao Yanqian silently recalled the materials and effects of each medicine and tried to mentally combine them with Sunagakure's poison formulas. Her goal: formulate a medicine that wouldn't harm the human body but could suppress the First Hokage's cells.
"Squad Leader Chao Yanqian, what are you looking at?" the medical ninja asked curiously, seeing her staring at the list in a daze.
"It's nothing," Chao Yanqian replied, handing back the list. "Just taking a look."
"Alright!"
After leaving the storage area, Chao Yanqian felt her thoughts were in chaos. Orochimaru's attitude today had made her feel a sense of urgency, and she also realized that Orochimaru might be preparing something new.
That thought immediately brought to mind Yamato from the original work.
Yamato was the result of Orochimaru's experiments with the First Hokage's cells. But Yamato's Wood Release was nowhere near the level of the original. His technique merely manipulated wood, while the First Hokage infused it with life force. The difference was like night and day.
If Orochimaru was moving to restart his First Hokage cell transplantation experiments, then his attitude today made perfect sense.
Orochimaru was simply putting pressure on Chao Yanqian to produce results so his experiment could proceed more smoothly.
And likewise, Chao Yanqian was also anticipating the success of the experiment, hoping to eventually transplant the First Hokage's cells into herself. To achieve this goal, she would have to assist Orochimaru in pushing the experiment forward.
What to do?
It's clearly very difficult to develop a drug that can suppress the First Hokage's cells. Even with Orochimaru and Danzo's combined resources, they hadn't achieved that.
She had only studied medicine under Tsunade for just over a year. With her current level of knowledge, it was impossible.
Maybe Tsunade could do it.
But how would she convince Tsunade to help?
There's no way she could talk to her directly. If Tsunade found out that Asakura and Orochimaru were researching the First Hokage's cells, she would likely kill Asakura on the spot and sever all ties with Orochimaru.
And deep down, Chao Yanqian didn't want to drag Tsunade into this.
So, the only option was to take one step at a time.
Back at her camp, Chao Yanqian lay on her bed, thinking about what to do next.
If she wanted to gain enough power to go head-to-head with Orochimaru in a short time, she needed to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique. That meant, in this war, she had to accumulate enough merit to get the Third Hokage's attention.
Thinking that far, Chao Yanqian suddenly sat up from her bed. A plan she had previously abandoned returned to her mind.