Fortunately, Orochimaru wasn't hiding any more secret perversions inside him and didn't kiss me. Just as his face was about to touch mine, he licked his own lips and spoke in an unsettling whisper.
"This isn't a moisturizer, but don't worry, it's something much more exciting, Eren. I just want to tell you about it later. Look at you. How calm you are. It's no coincidence that you've come this far in Konoha's swamp without support from any clan."
I took advantage of Orochimaru stopping to look deep into my eyes and asked him to step back a little, avoiding the risk of accidentally kissing him.
Apparently, I wasn't calm enough, because when I asked him to step back, my voice was so low that even I couldn't hear the words coming out of my lips.
And he just laughed. His usual silent snake laugh. "Hehehe." And he moved away from me.
Once he reached my feet, he grabbed the stretcher with one hand and began dragging it behind him. This was the first moment I found to fully examine him.
He had an upright gait, his steps were as calm as possible, he was wearing what looked like a kimono, and from what I'd seen in the Hyuga clan, it must have been a woman's kimono. I could tell this even though it was mostly black and patternless because the sleeves of the kimono were much longer than Orochimaru's arms.
His free arm, not having to carry the stretcher, was completely tucked inside the kimono.
I remember Orochimaru having a suspicious child in the future, I think. Some fans said it was a reference to the movie Predestination or something, damn it, I'm starting to forget.
Anyway, the important thing is that Orochimaru isn't planning to have a baby with me, right?
[A hint from Arataka Reigen: Well done! You finally found a way out. Make him fall in love with you and endure a little humiliation (tears), then you can be free. A good survivalist can make sacrifices when necessary.]
FUCK!
Damn system, do something useful and stop that fucking moron from talking to me. I don't know, mute the notifications or something. I've survived in this world with my mouth and my brain since I came into it, I can do much better than some con artist who can only fool old fools about ghosts.
[Of course, host]
At least the system isn't arguing with me in this situation.
Damn it!
The sudden light blinded me, so I reflexively tried to cover my face with my arms, but since my arms were tied, all I could do was make a sour face like I'd eaten a lemon.
Then, before I even had a chance to open my eyes again, I heard Orochimaru's voice.
"Tell me, Eren, do these look familiar to you? All these shiny things."
At Orochimaru's prompting, I started looking around and saw a lot of high-tech stuff, like a memory from the past coming back to life. The information I got from the S-level farming card came in handy for the first time.
An incubator, an old-generation large PCR machine, a centrifuge, judging by the position of the tubes on it, and that thing over there that looks like a gas cylinder is probably not a gas cylinder but rather a cryopreservation tank used to prevent DNA degradation.
Although the lab had many other strange tools and equipment, there was only one thing that constantly caught my attention: the PCR machine.
Because this machine, sitting in the corner of the room, possesses technology far beyond even those machines that mummify people in a strange solution.
And because this device can be used to observe microcellular effects like DNA, and can even map genetics if used correctly. Although it takes up much more space than the devices in my previous world, if I remember correctly, a microscope capable of allowing us to see the micro world was invented in Kumogakure only a few years ago.
Of course, I'd only heard about it from afar, and since then I'd assumed the people of Kumogakure were at the pinnacle of technology, but apparently I was wrong.
Orochimaru is on a completely different level.
With the devices he has, he can even perform simple cloning experiments. I wonder how well he knows how to use a PCR machine?
If I use it with a simple one-way airflow cabinet, I think I could produce super-efficient, mutated corn similar to the one in 7 Days To Die, eliminate the luck factor, copy the genetics of the best mutated product, and create a field of them.
"You have something to say, I guess?"
"Fuck off!"
Orochimaru got so close to me while my attention was elsewhere that I was almost scared out of my wits.
"Hehehe, since you're so focused, you must have been in this kind of environment before. I'd expect that from someone who's traveled the world as much as you have, but your eyes especially seem fixated on my masterpiece. Now start talking, Eren. Even though I'd like to devote my whole day to you, I'd prefer to do it with your genes."
It'll be a bit improvised, but I guess my first plan is to get his attention and keep it.
If I show nothing but fear like the previous people who lay on this stretcher, he'll probably think I'm boring. I don't want a psychopath to decide I'm boring.
I have to prevent him from mummifying me until I find a way to escape.
"Yes, it's the first time I've seen that device, but it resembles a drawing I've seen before. I bought something similar on the black market."
"Hmm, did the drawings I left behind when I left Konoha end up on the black market? If only Sarutobi sensei paid as much attention to other things as he did to protecting his seat. He doesn't even know what a treasure he missed out on. Poor guy."
"If I'm not mistaken, that must be a cell observation and replication device?" I was about to continue talking when I felt cold metal pressed against my neck. Orochimaru was looking at me with a completely different gaze this time. "Now you've piqued my interest, Eren. I'm sure my drawings weren't that detailed."
...
I sat up on the stretcher in surprise and looked at Orochimaru. I wasn't sure if it was a good sign that he suddenly cut the ropes and told me to get up.
Orochimaru looked at me impatiently and gestured for me to speak.
I don't know why, but the information I had was making him nervous for some reason.
Maybe he thought that if too much was known about the technology he developed, people could understand his technique or develop a weak point. Or maybe he realized the danger of the technology early on and, as a scientist, feared the cloning technology would get out of hand.
"Speak."
The coldest words I've ever heard from Orochimaru.
I need to do something before it's too late. I have to take a gamble.
"I understand why you brought me here. Members of the Uzumaki clan are born with an excessive amount of chakra. You probably want to research this and achieve something similar through genetic mutation..." Just as he was about to continue speaking, Orochimaru suddenly vanished from his spot and appeared right in front of me at an unimaginable speed. "I said tell me everything you know about this device. Period. That's all I asked. Do you understand me?"
"Huh, yes, I'll answer your questions, but I want a guarantee." I was going to wait for him to ask me my condition before speaking, but when I saw the look in his eyes, I realized waiting wasn't a good idea. "I don't want to be one of those mummies over there. I want to be treated as human as possible until the experiments are over."
"Hehehe, Eren. You don't need to worry about that for nothing. You're too valuable to be locked up in those capsules." The anger in Orochimaru's eyes disappeared so quickly that I was surprised. This time, I couldn't even hide my surprise, and he probably noticed it because he let out a small laugh before speaking in his own strange voice.
"Since we're on the same page, let me put it this way. You probably think I'm only interested in trade, but I have some friends outside Konoha, and sometimes I use their labs to do research on plants. After a friend of mine saw your device design, we got together with some other friends and tried to build this device based on his advice."
"Why? How did you figure out what it could be used for?"
"We didn't understand. They were curious about it and started researching. Then, as the device neared completion, some ideas emerged. The idea I created using those ideas was to use this device to permanently achieve the highest success rate in vegetable mutations."
Orochimaru moved away from me for a while and started pacing back and forth in the lab.
He continued walking for about ten minutes, then suddenly came and sat next to me, startling me. I thought he was going to do something perverted again, but he didn't, and another ten minutes passed. Finally, he summoned a small snake and fiddled with a tree leaf that came out of the snake's mouth before turning back to me.
Just in case, I sat there waiting the whole time.
"So what happened next? Were you able to develop the device?"
"We made something similar to this one, but it was about five times bigger than yours, and every heat cycle destroyed all the DNA. After a while, we had to abandon the project because the whole process was too expensive. And all this was a year ago. I lost contact with them a year ago."
Orochimaru looked at me silently, his suspicion evident.
Fortunately, he wasn't interested in asking more questions about this topic and cornering me.
What followed was not only the acceptance of my request, but also a test and an unexpected freedom.
"Hehehe, you know? Sometimes I have too many experiments to deal with at once. That's why I decided to train an assistant. But I couldn't take just anyone as my assistant. They had to be as trustworthy as they were intelligent. Don't take offense, but even though you're smart, you don't meet my reliability criteria." Orochimaru paused as he was about to continue speaking and summoned a small snake, telling it to call Kabuto.
Kabuto was waiting nearby and entered through the door within a few seconds.
Since he spent most of his time in the village as a slave to the root organization, this was the first time I had seen him. Contrary to what I expected and imagined, Kabuto was not a little child when I saw him. At least, he looked to be about my age.
Orochimaru smiled, placed his hand on Kabuto's shoulder, and continued talking.
"Can you trust a prisoner? Of course not, but you can trust a friend. That's why I started looking around and found him. I saw that a talent like Kabuto's was being wasted in Danzo's hands. Danzo had set a trap for him and ordered him to kill the only person he loved..." Orochimaru noticed that Kabuto was uncomfortable with the subject before he could continue speaking, so he removed his hand and changed the subject. "And that's when I found Kabuto. I agreed to be his teacher and friend if he stayed by my side. Moreover, I realized that Kabuto was as eager to live as I was. By staying with me, he could grow stronger and have the opportunity to take revenge in the future, and he could also live like a human being... You may go now."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."
Kabuto stood there the entire time with cold, emotionless eyes, and when he received the order from Orochimaru, he immediately left the room.
"Danzo was probably trying to turn him into a cold-blooded ninja, wasn't he?"
"Absolutely. Danzo is an extremist who always believed that emotionlessness was a ninja's ultimate weapon. The fact that you even noticed this side of him impresses me. That's why I have a proposal for you: allow me to take blood samples from you over the next year, train Kabuto in my absence, and monitor my test subjects as my lab assistant while I'm gone. In return, I'll leave you alive in Konoha a year from now."