Malphegor
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Ch. 105: The Slug's Adventure: Lagh
🕑 Added 2024-09-23 21:07:56 +0000 UTCTsunade removed the pin, and Anko's face suddenly disappeared. I'm sorry, Anko. I'll find a way to fix this, I swear.
What she said earlier wasn't meant to comfort Anko—it was because she genuinely wanted to restore Anko to her original state. In fact, Anko's body was still in the Mi-Go's tank, and her brain remained active and conscious. All Tsunade had to do was reattach her brain to her body.
But this was where the tricky part began.
The brain is connected to a complex system of nerves. While severing these nerves is simple, reattaching and reactivating them is extremely difficult.
Even if the nerves were successfully reconnected, it would be hard for Anko to return to her original state.
Depending on the success of the surgery, the worst-case scenario would be Anko gaining her body but being completely paralyzed, with only the nerves in her head functioning. This is because the nerves there are the shortest and have the highest chance of success.
In the best-case scenario, Anko could regain the ability to live independently and carry on a normal life. However, the reconnected nerves would be too weak to support the flow of chakra, meaning her career as a shinobi would be over.
Of course, these are all outcomes in cases where the surgery is successful. Even if Anko ends up fully paralyzed, it would still be considered a surgical success.
As for failure, it would mean permanent brain death due to mishandling the operation.
The brain is incredibly fragile. If it's exposed to the environment for too long or if there's a minor mistake during the procedure, irreversible brain death could occur immediately.
The possibility of it is high, considering she had never performed such a surgery before.
If it was that easy, humanity would have already achieved immortality.
Finally, there was another critical issue: her hemophobia.
Unless she overcomes her fear of blood, performing this surgery would be nothing but a dream. Memories of past trauma flashed through her mind.
"Damn it!"
Tsunade angrily slammed her fist on the wooden table. The impact echoed through the cave, matching the frustration in her voice. Some medical ninja I am. All this skill, and I'm useless when it really matters.
Looking over at the corner, where a weakened Mi-Go lay, she walked over and asked, "You have a way to put the brain back into the body, right?"
The curled-up Mi-Go slightly twisted its body, and emitted a buzzing sound.
"Speak in a way I can understand. I know you can."
From prior experience, she knew that a Mi-Go was an extremely intelligent species capable of communicating with humans.
This was precisely why she had spared this Mi-Go's life.
Additionally, the nutrient fluid used in the brain jar was made from the green liquid produced by its body. Tsunade had to keep it alive to continue supplying the nutrient fluid to the brain jar.
"Sugar..."
"Give me sugar."
"Shizune, I need you to go down the mountain. Get sugar powder and anything else we might need to keep this... thing alive," though Tsunade felt disgusted, she ordered instructed.
Shizune hesitated for a moment. "But Tsunade-sama, is it safe to-"
"We don't have a choice."
From what she learned from Ishitaro, Mi-Gos had the ability to travel across vast distances of space. To prevent it from escaping, Tsunade was prepared to stay here for an extended period.
Ironically, the long, narrow tunnels that the Mi-Go had dug to hide itself actually hindered its escape. Aside from its highly defensive biological armor and various weapons, its strength and speed were not particularly impressive.
Soon, Shizune returned with the necessary supplies from the Abe household, including the sugar powder the Mi-Go craved. "I've brought everything I could find, Tsunade-sama," she reported, setting down the items.
"Good work. Now, let's see if it is ready to talk," Tsunade said.
Tsunade picked up a bag of sugar and walked over to Mi-Go.
Sensing the scent of sugar, it began speaking in human language again.
"Sprinkle... sprinkle the sugar."
It didn't specify where it wanted the sugar sprinkled, but Tsunade poured it all over its oval-shaped head.
Immediately, the tendrils on its head began to frantically wriggle, like fish fighting for food. The pink tendrils absorbed all the sugar powder they could touch, like a grotesque sugar vacuum.
These tendrils absorbed the sugar powder and converted it into energy. It appeared that as long as it had a steady supply of sugar, it could gradually heal itself.
Tsunade didn't sprinkle the entire bag of sugar, only half of it. The Mi-Go quickly absorbed the half-bag through its tendrils and continued to beg Tsunade for more.
"Sugar…"
Tsunade shook the remaining sugar in her hand and asked, "Where do you come from?"
"A faraway place... the planet Yuggoth." the Mi-Go responded after a brief silence.
Yuggoth?
Although Ishitaro's maddened brain had mentioned this place before, Tsunade had no recollection of it, likely because it wasn't part of this world.
"Why did you come here?"
"For the sacred..."
"The sacred symbol guides us."
"Bzzz…"
It uttered a string of words that were difficult to understand, but the gist of it was that its species revered a certain symbol as divine.
Wherever this symbol appeared, even in the far reaches of the universe, it could sense it and would fly to the location to protect it.
The symbol on the metal cylinder perhaps?
Tsunade immediately rushed to the wooden table and picked up the metal cylinder. Sure enough, on the bottom of the cylinder was a strange design she couldn't decipher.
It was a collection of twisted symbols that formed an oddly aesthetic pattern. According to the Mi-Go, they could sense the existence of it from anywhere in the universe and fly to it.
This astonished Tsunade once again.
The idea that a symbol could reveal this world's location was beyond her comprehension. Or rather, there were many things in this universe that defied imagination.
Since the Mi-Go could detect its presence, she couldn't allow the symbol to remain intact, as it would attract more of its kind.
So, she used her chakra scalpel to destroy the pattern on the bottom of the metal cylinder, rendering it undetectable to the Mi-Gos.
However, this act infuriated the weakened Mi-Go, which buzzed angrily at Tsunade in a high-pitched tone.
"Buzz! Buzz!"
The alien was distressed, but she felt no sympathy.
"Is it possible to put a human brain back into a body?"
"No... Never done. Never needed." When it gave this answer, it spoke in a completely emotionless tone, devoid of any regret or apology.
Although its species was inherently emotionless despite their high intelligence, this still enraged Tsunade. As a result, she didn't keep her promise and took the remaining half-bag of sugar away.
Even if it had offered to help restore Anko, she would not have relied on its power.
Creatures like Mi-Gos were beyond simply being foreign. They weren't even from this world. Therefore, Tsunade had to find another way.
"Tsunade-sama, what's our next move?" Shizune asked-
"We stay. We research. We find a way."
Over the next few days, Tsunade stayed in the cave, contemplating how to restore Anko's body, while also studying the Mi-Go. She began organizing the cave, setting up a makeshift research area. If I'm to solve this, I need to understand everything about these creatures, she arranged her notes and equipment.
The research on Mi-Go was primarily conducted through conversations. She used sugar powder as bait, and it easily revealed many of its secrets.
"Tell me about your technology. How does it work?" Tsunade demanded, holding a bag of sugar just out of its reach.
"Sugar... first sugar," the alien creature responded, its tentacles twitching eagerly.
Tsunade sighed in frustration. Always with the sugar. Fine, but this better be worth it, she sprinkled a small amount of sugar for the Mi-Go.
Mi-Go was a race passionate about science, having developed a variety of advanced technologies. Besides the brain containment device and electric gun, which she was already familiar with, there were other technologies she didn't fully understand.
For instance, its bio-armor.
This bio-armor clung to its body and could not be forcibly removed. It had incredibly high defense.
She already knew that this bio-armor could even withstand punches from her in her Reverse Seal mode.
However, the use of this bio-armor came with strict requirements—the Mi-Go had to regularly expend green fluid from its own body to maintain the armor. It was somewhat like charging the bio-armor; without regular charging, it would gradually deteriorate.
Humans could also wear this bio-armor, but removing it would tear off some skin and muscle tissue. Moreover, humans couldn't recharge the armor, making it a single-use item for them.
Aside from the bio-armor, there was also the sprayer that the Mi-Go had used to attack Tsunade in the tunnel.
This was a weapon that sprayed freezing mist, and if she hadn't been in her Reverse Seal state, an ordinary person would have been frozen and immobilized instantly.
Like the electric gun, the sprayer used the Mi-Go's green fluid as energy, without which it wouldn't work. There was also the huge cube in the middle of the cave.
"What's the purpose of this machine?" Tsunade asked, pointing at the massive cube.
"Bring up deep earth. Find Lagh metal," Mi-Go replied in its monotone voice.
Once activated, this machine could bring up sections of land thousands of meters below the surface, making it easier for Mi-Go to access the metal ores they wanted.
The metal the Mi-Gos sought was called Lagh, which didn't exist in their original world. They traveled across the universe primarily to obtain this metal.
So that's why they're here. Not invasion, but mining, her understanding of the alien creatures shifted slightly.
The metal ores capable of producing Lagh had already been discovered by the Mi-Go in this world—the large black stone that appeared on Mount Bikyū after the flood was something it had excavated with the seismic mining machine.
For humans, using the seismic mining machine was virtually impossible, as the irregular glass blocks on its surface were actually a type of shifting password.
Only the Mi-Gos could sense this constantly changing password, meaning only they could operate the machine. Unless some human got incredibly lucky and happened to guess the correct combination out of billions of possibilities.
In addition to these technological devices, the male and female servants in the Abe family were actually bio-puppets made from human skin by the Mi-Gos.
They had no thoughts and were only controlled by it, needing to be regularly soaked in diluted nutrient fluid for energy.
Tsunade was not only shocked by their advanced technology, but she also picked up on some subtle information in its words.
Most of the technology in the cave wasn't brought by them; it had already been there. They had just followed the guidance of the sacred symbols of their race and came to this world.
This suggested that the Mi-Go might not be visiting this world for the first time. They could have arrived in ancient times, leaving behind these advanced technologies.
This ancient era was far older than the time of the Sage of Six Paths, or else there would be some human historical records about creatures like Mi-Gos.
Moreover, the Mi-Go's attitude in revealing these high-tech secrets was somewhat suspicious. Sometimes, Tsunade merely wanted to know the function of a technology, but it would explain how to use it.
It would always emphasize that humans couldn't use these technologies, only Mi-Gos could. This might indeed be true since a race with such advanced technology would surely create devices only usable by themselves.
But there was no need for it to share this information with Tsunade.
These technologies either required the Mi-Go's green fluid as energy, or could only be operated by it. And it had also told her that if it died, its body would disappear within hours.
It's trying to make itself indispensable. Tsunade saw through the alien's strategy.
What Mi-Go didn't know was that she wouldn't kill it, even without these technologies, because she still needed its green fluid to sustain the brains in the jars.
Despite its high intelligence, it couldn't comprehend this sentiment. In its worldview, the brain wasn't something worth negotiating over; it didn't matter if it was lost.
It couldn't understand human emotions or the concept of companions, so it believed that these vital technologies, which only it could operate, were the key to ensuring its survival.
In short, it valued technology, while Tsunade valued her comrades.
As for the Mi-Go not wanting to be killed, it was likely driven by the biological instinct to survive, but it was also possible that it wanted to stay alive to inform its companions.
To prevent this, she had Shizune order a set of iron chains from the blacksmith in Bikyū.
Shizune looked puzzled. "Chains? But Tsunade-sama, is that necessary?"
"This creature can't be allowed to escape or contact others," Tsunade said firmly.
These chains would completely trap it in the cave, and it wouldn't be able to break free with its strength. As Tsunade secured the chains around the alien creature, the Mi-Go buzzed, "Chains... unnecessary. I cooperate."
"This isn't about cooperation. It's about certainty," she responded sternly, tightening the final link.
During this time, she also sent Shizune to deliver a letter.
"Deliver this to the Third Hokage. Be discreet, but emphasize the urgency," Tsunade instructed Shizune as she handed over the carefully worded letter.
"Understood. But Tsunade-sama, what will you do while I'm gone?"
"Continue my research. We're running out of time," Tsunade replied.
After all, since the Minister of the Land of Fire's Daimyō, Heiji, had been turned into a brain-in-a-jar, this was something that couldn't be concealed.
The letter explained the events that had transpired, including the capture of a Mi-Go and the fate of Anko and Heiji.
Tsunade asked Hiruzen to explain the situation to the Daimyō and to select a trustworthy ninja from the village to help her.
After several days of thought and research, she concluded that it was impossible to reattach a brain to its original body and reconnect the nerves.
"Damn it!" Tsunade exclaimed, slamming her fist on the table in frustration. "There has to be a way!"
Given the circumstances, she had to consider an alternative definition of restoration: finding a controllable body for the brains of Anko and Heiji.
And the only person who could make this possible was that individual.
