Chapter 170: Chapter 172: Nothing Much, Just Wanted to Have a Little Fun
"Ah, I see."
The Naruto world had biology too.
But people in the Naruto world weren’t like people in the world Hanabi knew before.
Some called Naruto-world shinobi "vegetable people"—and in a certain sense, they weren’t entirely wrong.
The biggest biological difference between Naruto-world humans and the ordinary humans Hanabi was familiar with was cell count.
Naruto-world humans had upward of a hundred trillion cells. The average person in an ordinary world had less than half that.
In most other respects the two populations were similar enough—still forty-six chromosomes arranged in twenty-three pairs, which meant reproductive compatibility existed. Reproductive isolation was a non-issue.
But physically, Naruto-world humans were in a different league.
Hanabi had always felt it: most people ran a few steps and immediately needed to catch their breath. But in the Naruto world, even an ordinary civilian could sprint at full pace without their face going red—talking normally the whole time, not a wheeze to be heard.
The differences from Gundam SEED weren’t minor, but the gene-editing technology here could still be put to use.
This world probably holds more appeal for Orochimaru than it does for me.
Though the Naruto world had its own extraordinary techniques. Its eye-socket hot-swap surgery, for instance—a technology that in this setting would be considered absolutely transcendent.
Hanabi drank in the knowledge from a future civilization, insatiable.
The most distinctive technology in this world, outside of the Gundams themselves, was genetic engineering.
And from that engineering had come the Coordinators—the defining feature of this setting.
Because it was purely scientific in nature, this technology might conceivably be applied in the Naruto world as well.
The genetic profile of Naruto-world humans was likely different, of course. Whole-genome sequencing would be required first, and then years of complex research.
To be honest, for a performer, hard scientific research skills weren’t particularly useful.
But for stirring things up, this kind of knowledge was excellent.
To say nothing of the obvious targets: making Orochimaru genuinely immortal, restoring the Third Hokage’s youth, turning Naruto into Naruko for real—all of these fell squarely into "things that could massively alter the story."
That said, learning the material didn’t mean it could be deployed immediately.
It wasn’t just a question of matching each world’s development stage. There was also the matter of "plausible integration."
It wasn’t that simple.
"Hyuga Hanabi" as a character could hardly just go biu and pivot overnight into a biologist researcher.
"Getting it applied is going to take work."
She paged through the reference materials.
Theory was sometimes deceptively clean; practice was rarely so. Just finding an enzyme that could cut and reassemble genetic material at will wasn’t easy.
Fortunately, the Naruto world had substitutes.
Chakra, for one.
Or, in the extreme case of Isshiki Otsutsuki, one could even use the divine technique Sukunahikona—shrinking down and manually reconnecting gene sequences by hand.
When she thought about it that way, the Naruto world had quite a few workarounds.
"Do Coordinators struggle with studying?"
During the break, the young man beside her spoke up.
He seemed genuinely puzzled. Hanabi was clearly finding the material challenging.
"I’m not a Coordinator." Hanabi tilted her head.
"Ulen, stop it," the girl beside him said with a mild sigh. "Sorry about him. I’m Via—this is my boyfriend, Ulen Hibiki."
"Ara, ara ara."
What a coincidence.
She’d ended up seated next to the protagonist’s actual dad.
He looked young—very young, actually. Which meant the current era in the SEED timeline was probably quite early.
"I’m Mana Ouma. Pleased to meet you both."
Hanabi used the alias.
She’d said she was here to study, emotions disengaged, learning-machine mode. But having walked right into the main character’s biological father—it felt wrong not to do something with that.
Even outside a film set, Hanabi didn’t mind finding a little fun where she could.
A performer who didn’t practice outside of performances would only end up crying at the exam.
"Not a Coordinator?"
Ulen studied Hanabi with unconcealed skepticism.
"Mana Ouma’s" features were striking. Though she was Inori’s original template, in Hanabi’s estimation the original Mana Ouma’s face was actually a step below Inori’s—so Hanabi had used Inori as the base and made minor adjustments. The result was something considerably more beautiful.
(Inori Yuzuriha)
(Mana Ouma and Inori)
Calling her a Coordinator wasn’t unreasonable. But a "natural" beauty of this kind—the kind that came without any engineering at all—was actually quite rare.
"Human biology is fascinating to me. And I’m still not fully fluent in your language." "Mana Ouma" smiled, and the smile looked subtly off—like... a fake human?
Not in a threatening-romantic-rival way. Something else—the particular unease one creature feels when facing a creature of an entirely different kind.
Via felt it too, without being able to name it.
"But I am quite interested in Coordinators." Hanabi continued. "On April 1st, sixteen years before the Cosmic Era began, a scientist secretly produced a human infant through genetic modification. When that child grew up, he achieved remarkable things across athletics, science, politics—earning unanimous global recognition. That near-perfect human being—George Glenn—was humanity’s first Coordinator."
As she spoke, Hanabi gave deliberate emphasis to the word "humanity"—as though she were watching all of this from the outside, from a perspective that didn’t quite include herself.
"But the appearance of Coordinators also caused a great deal of conflict." Via’s expression grew somber.
"In CE 15, when the first Coordinator made his identity public—it certainly did cause a sensation." Hanabi didn’t have detailed records from this timeline, but she still had a rough outline.
Once Coordinators became known, the world engaged in fierce debate over whether they were right or wrong.
"Even so, the benefits of genetic modification are undeniable," Ulen said. "In the age of space, Coordinators are a necessity."
The modifications varied—appearance, capability—but the broad outcomes were consistent: superior intellect, superior physical performance, superior health.
"I heard the religious pushback in the early days was significant?" Hanabi asked with a smile.
"It was. But the resistance started to ease after Evidence 01—the Whale Stone fossil—was discovered near Jupiter," Via said. "Because it proved that extraterrestrial life genuinely exists."
"But current Coordinators still aren’t perfect," Ulen Hibiki said. "There are a lot of barriers to overcome at the genetic level. Are you really not a Coordinator?"
"Maybe I’m not even human."
Hanabi said it offhandedly.
She didn’t have any particular goal. She just wanted to have a little fun.
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