"Mag Release?"

  After a test-oriented battle, Habara was shoved bato his cell. Afterward, he received a bit of an expnatiarding his own abilities.

  Based on Habara's uanding of the "inal story," Mag Release was a kekkei genkai primarily used by the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Kazekage. It maed as rge-scale trol over specific types of metal – essentially, a "miniature, teenage Mago."

  But was he really a Mag Release user? Although he had, seemingly by diviervention, trolled that kunai at the st moment of the fight, calling that Mag Release felt… off. There was a strange dissonance, a subtle differeween that maion and his impression of Mag Release.

  So, was this just a subjective awkwardness, or was there an objective difference? Habara didn't know, so he decided to test it.

  "It should be this… and there it is."

  Habara opehe ninja tool pou his bad rummaged through it, finding a stack of chakra paper. He pulled o and held it between two fingers.

  "…This is how it's done, right?"

  As a surge of chakra flowed from his fiips, the thi of paper first wrihen was sliced apart, and finally crumbled into dust… This rea indicated that he possessed three chakra natures.

  Although Habara couldn't quite remember which chakra nature produced which rea, the core chakra natures were limited to Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Lightning. Therefore, using on sense and simple dedu, it wasn't difficult to match the physical ges to their respective natures – wrinkling was Lightning, slig was Wind, and crumbling was Earth. Thus, Habara's three chakra natures were Lightning, Wind, ah.

  As an average reader, his knowledge of the source material wasn't incredibly detailed. He didn't kly which two chakra natures prised Mag Release. However, as a kekkei genkai, it could only biwo chakra nature transformations. But what about a bination of three natures?

  He didn't know, but theoretically, that wouldn't be Mag Release. A bination of three chakra natures was called a kekkei touta, and as far as the entire ninja world was ed, there was only one known kekkei touta: Dust Release.

  Could it be…?

  Was the true nature of the "Inji no Jutsu" (Attra Teique) actually a kekkei touta?

  Well, pared to the mohat would appear ter, any kind of "Release" was child's py. After p for a while without figuring out what was going on with himself, Habara decided to give up.

  Whether it was a kekkei genkai or a kekkei touta, her could help him escape right now, and their future growth curves and strengths were… well, they were what they were. So… no point ihinking it. He'd just go with the flow for now.

  Taking a step back, even if he had the corresponding ability and potential, reality wouldn't give Habara the time or opportunity to develop them. He didn't know what Orochimaru was trying to do, but without a doubt, all of Orochimaru's experiments were extremely dangerous. Habara was pletely in the dark about what would happen to him , let alone how to escape his current situation.

  It was a deadlock.

  The first "BOSS" he faced after his rebirth was a bit too powerful.

  …………

  One day after the battle, the female ninja, Hotaru, once again came to Habara's cell.

  "The experiment is about to begin. Please follow me."

  "Experiment?"

  As before, it wasn't that Habara didn't want to resist, but what resistance could a fish on a chopping block offer? He could only lie there and wait. After the female ninja opehe cell door, he silently followed behind her once more.

  After walking in silence for a while, Habara spoke, "The person I fought yesterday…"

  "You should have killed him," the female ninja said in an exceptionally calm voice.

  Habara was taken aback for a moment, then tinued, "What do you mean… Why do you say that?"

  The female ninja gnced back at him, theurned her gaze to the path ahead. "Orochimaru-sama is someone who values his experimental materials. For him, high-value experimental materials have one use, low-value experimental materials have another… and corpses have yet another."

  "…I uand."

  Her answer rendered Habara pletely silent.

  His previous life's way of thinking wasn't suitable for this world. The kindness of his past life wasn't necessarily the kindness of this life. "Killing you is for your own good" – this bizarre logic actually made sense in the ninja world.

  They tio asd through the tunnels, eventually reag a shallower level of the earth. After passing through several tightly sealed doors, they appeared before Orochimaru.

  pared to the dungeons below, this pce looked more like a boratory… No, it wasn't like a boratory, it was clearly a boratory.

  A terrifying, biohazard boratory.

  Habara could see corpses hanging on one wall, but he didn't have time to feel shocked or sympathetic, because… he might soon bee one of them, a piece of jerky waiting to be dried.

  Orochimaru seemed to be in a good mood when he saw Habara. He waved his hand, dismissing the female ninja, and then turo Habara, saying, "Following the procedure, let's draw lots first."

  With that, Orochimaru handed a lottery tube to Habara.

  Habara raised his hand and randomly picked out a paper slip. As he unfolded it, he tentatively asked, "Orochimaru…-sama, this 'experiment'… what do I o do?"

  Orochimaru took back the lottery tube, maintaining a seemingly "approachable" demeanor as he replied, "You don't have to do anything. You'll mainly be pying a supp role.

  Don't worry, as long as the theory is corred the method is feasible, it's just a matter of dosage. So, if we keep repeating it, we'll succeed eventually, whether it's after a thousand tries or ten thousand… That's how stific experiments work."

  "Exhaustive eion…" Habara muttered the term silently.

  And ing from Orochimaru, the term was utterly chilling.

  "The number?" Orochimaru asked.

  Habara had already unfolded the slip, so he showed the o him: "97."

  "97. In a sense, you're lucky. But to a greater extent… you're really unlucky."

  What did that mean? Had Habara drawn something exceptionally rare, something that wasn't necessarily a good thing? Ihat was the case. The different numbers represented different dosages, and 97 was clearly a rge dose, basically a "lethal dose."

  Orochimaru picked up a rge syrihe kind Habara had only seen used by veterinarians treatiain docile, even-toed ungute mammals during his time experieng rural life. The syringe was filled with a pale purple liquid… The whole thing looked incredibly uling.

  Habara instinctively wao escape, but under Orochimaru's gaze, he found himself pletely uo move. He could only watch helplessly as Orochimaru ied that syringe full of dangerous liquid into him.

  Even after Orochimaru fihe iion, Habara remained frozen, arm raised. He stared at the puncture mark, his entire being ed by intense ay.

  Habara even held his breath, beiremely cautious. After a short while, surprisingly, everything seemed normal. Huh, there didn't seem to be any particur rea…

  Just as he started to eain this optimistic thought, an indescribable, excruciating paied from every cell in his body.

  Tearing, swelling, stinging, pounding…

  Uhe assault of intense and plex pain, Habara colpsed to the ground. The overwhelming agony made him want to scream, but the muscles in his face were tracted so tightly they felt like stone, and his jaw was ched so hard that he couldn't force out any sound beyond a series of muffled, tinuous groans.

  A person try to eernal pain, but this pain, rooted in the deepest parts of his body, was utterly impossible to resist. Within just two minutes, Habara pletely lost sciousness.

  Just like he had experienced once before, the dark, long night seemed to desd again…

  Well, not really. When Habara woke up again, the excruciating pain was gone, repced by a deep soreness and fatigue.

  Habara tried to lift his head, finding even that simple movement difficult.

  "g!"

  As he shifted his body slightly, a series of crisp, metalligs echoed. Habara felt a bit strange. He looked around and realized he was lying inside a human-shaped "iron shell."

  "Unbelievable, you actually survived… gratutions, the experiment seems to be a success."

  A voice came from not far away.

  Habara struggled to move. He shifted backward little by little, until he was leaning against the wall behind him. With his body supported, he slowly sat up. Theiced a rge, square iron cage opposite him. Ihe cage was a chair, and sitting on the chair erson.

  The person who had spoken was this individual.

  Judging by their build, it was likely a child. They were "wearing" something that looked like a straitjacket used ial institutions, their entire body tightly bound to the chair. Even their eyes were covered by a blindfold with some unknown sealing formu drawn on it. And around the chair, on the floor, were circles upon circles of a rger array.

  This wasn't Orochimaru's b where Habara had been before. It was aner cell.

  "How long has it been…?"

  As he spoke, Habara found his voice to be exceptionally hoarse and strained.

  "You were struggling in there for about seven days," the other person said.

  Seemingly because they hadn't spoken to anyone in a long time, the child's voice had a slightly cheerful tone.

  " you… see with your eyes?"

  "Of course, I see."

  "So… what exactly happeo me?"

  "What happened? Let me think… Just like the previous test subjects, your body kept twisting and expanding until you became a five or six-meter-tall mohen, boom, you exploded. Well, that's the normal process, but clearly, you survived."

  The child said with great i, "Mag Release ninja, your ability saved your life. When you could no longer suppress the violent ges in your body, you instinctively activated your ability – you pletely bound yourself with yers upon yers of iron. The situation at that time was really iing."

  Thanks to the other person's reminder, Habara realized that there should have been a rge iron cage in the pce where he was inally located, just like the ohe child was ioo had been locked in a simir cage.

  But most of that cage was now gone.

  Looking at the human-shaped iron shell left on the ground, he could imagine what had happened… He hadn't in down in the iron shell. Rather, when he lost sciousness, he had trolled the iron cage to transform into the shell, eng him.

  Like coating a fish with batter before frying… It was a crude analogy, but regardless, he was alive. That was the best news.

  "O question, kid… Who are you?"

  "Me? I don't have a name. As for my identity… Just like you, I'm just one of Orochimaru's test subjects."