It was over a month after the Vegas incident that Project Lazarus was cleared for final testing with human subjects. Normally you would test for years to ensure something like Lazarus was stable. Theo cheated instead and used the time stone with Tao to check the test subjects.
It was a different way then Tao normally used the time stone. Since the focus was only on one person and specifically what was happening to them. It was a lot less intense and drained almost nothing of her mental stamina. The only downside to the process was it showed nothing of the wider world or the future. Tao and Theo didn't mind, they both already knew what might happen in the future and were planning for it.
The human test subjects were some of the prisoners they kept at the medical base. They were all placed in magic lined cells and kept in medically induced comas. It was easier to keep them in check that way. For the test subjects themselves, they were woken up from stasis to be used in the experiments.
It sounded bad, but they just needed them awake so it was easier for Tao to move their astral projection over to the new body and anchor it. It turned out that an astral projection was a person's soul. At least that was the simplest explanation for what it was. So transferring a person's astral projection to a new body was kinda like transferring a soul to a new body.
It seemed to work at first, but as they checked with the time stone. They found a weird issue. The astral projection liked to go back to the original body after a while. Normally within six months of the process happening.
The next step they took was to figure out why it happened. Tao with the help of Agatha looked into the issue and within a month had a possible solution. The old body had a deep connection to the soul and would pull it back over time. But if the old body didn't exist? The soul should bond completely to the new body and form a new anchor point. So that's what they did to one of the test subjects.
After their original body was destroyed, they used the time stone to check on the test subject. It was a resounding success, no issues found after checking on them for over fifty years. They also checked eighty years out and still found no issues with the transfer process.
Since the astral projection transfer process worked perfectly on cloned bodies. The next step was trying it on an altered clone body. They made slight adjustments to a clone and mixed in about five percent of Theo's unique DNA. Once the body was formed, they did another transfer and disposed of the old body.
Then Tao and Theo used the time stone to check for rejection first. Afterwards they checked for any issues that might have cropped up. It ended up working correctly and no issues were found even after checking back a hundred and twenty years out. That tiny bit of Theo’s DNA expanded a person's life expectancy by almost thirty years.
Since that test was a success, they moved on to the next step. They wanted to mix in more of Theo's DNA, a little over thirty percent. Again the tests were positive and the test subject ended up living three hundred and three years. With that test finished, they moved on to the final stage. A fifty percent mix of Theo's DNA with the subject's original DNA.
This is where they started running into weird issues. In the cloning process Theo's DNA would end up taking over the clone. Chalk white skin would be the most notable feature, but some had horns, others a third eye or pointed ears for some reason. It was pretty much a mess with every clone body they attempted.
They dialed back Theo’s DNA to forty percent and it ended up being stable. They even attempted a few clones with higher percentages, but past forty three percent it became unstable. So forty percent became the target number and they carried out extensive testing on numerous clone bodies. With a forty percent mix, the test subjects could live to be almost four hundred years old without much issue. Another nice bonus was they didn’t start looking older till they were over three hundred and fifty years old.
Since the testing was going well, Theo’s group worked on the last piece they wanted to integrate into the clone bodies. Logan’s x-gene. Theo and the others wanted to harness his healing factor. With Sarah’s help, Orochimaru was able to isolate just the healing factor from his x-gene. With the help of Beast, Kabuto and Tobirama, they were able to integrate it into the clone bodies without issue. Afterwards they moved into the testing phase again.
It only took about a month while abusing the time stone to double check. But they were able to determine that the final clone body would work properly and even increase a person's life span to over five hundred years. They wouldn’t have the ability to heal like Logan, but they could heal from a stab wound in less then a day and could even regrow limbs after a while. It was also stable and consistent with all clones they tested with. They considered the overall project a massive success. Another bonus and the reason they used Theo’s DNA in the first place was because of chakra.
Any body made using his DNA came with chakra pathways. The downside was the chakra the body produced wasn’t great compared to Theo’s. Everyone in Theo’s head working on the project had different theories as to why, but it was Hagoromo who had the best explanation. The pathways and chakra potency in the clone bodies were like those of his later descendants. Which made Orochimaru, Kabuto, Tobirama, Tsunade and a few others work to fix issues with the cloning process. They wanted to improve the chakra pathways and the chakra potency.
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Unfortunately everything they attempted failed. The only way to improve it was making a clone with a higher percentage of Theo’s DNA. So after a few months of failures they dropped that portion of the project and declared the project ready for implementation.
The only issue they had after the project was completed was deciding who would get the chance to have a new body. The bodies made with the forty percent mix would be extremely powerful. Not only would they have an extended lifespan, healing factor, and chakra.
They would be able to improve their bodies like only a ninja with chakra can. With some training they would be stronger than Steve at his peak and that wasn’t even close to how strong they could become. Guy and Lee were a great example of just how strong someone could get with just body training.
The best idea was to just enhance most people with a weaker five percent mix into their clone body. But enhance people like Steve and Peggy with the forty percent mix in their clone body. It seemed like the best solution to Theo after debating with Tao, Agatha and some of the people living inside his head.
The clone bodies were also aged up to be around eighteen or so. They debated on starting them younger, around seven or eight. Since it would help to raise the overall chakra levels when they were older. But decided against it, since they would already have slightly higher than genin chakra levels.
With time and proper training they should be able to reach jonin or possibly kage levels of chakra if they were lucky. But that was only for the higher quality bodies. The bodies made with the five percent mix would max out around high chunin levels if they trained properly, or maybe even low jonin levels. Most would be stuck with mid chunin levels of chakra though.
So after another month of deciding who would get what and why, Theo called in the first person he wanted to do the procedure on.
Theo was currently in the medical base henge’d as Ezekiel. He glanced at the new clone body laying on the bed as he waited for his guest of honor to arrive. He had to admit, the new bodies were a little weird to look at. They always looked like they were asleep until a soul was placed inside them. Then they would suck in a deep breath as their eyes snapped open and looked around in shock. Some of the test subjects would even sit up and let out screams, that shit was just creepy. Tao said it had something to do with them not having any previous experience with astral projection.
Ezekiel glanced at the body next to him and couldn't help but snicker as he thought of all the new jokes he could use now.. As he was lost in thought, the door to the room opened and in walked Tao and Agatha. Ezekiel couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face as he made sure to memorize the look on Tao’s face, it was priceless.
She stood at the foot of the bed staring down at a face she hadn’t seen in eight hundred years. After a few moments she asked, “How did you even get a sample of my DNA?”
“Your favorite tea cup. You know it’s kinda gross, you never wash the thing… Or the teapot now that I think about it”
Tao gave Ezekiel a frown as she said, “It adds to the flavor of the tea.”
Agatha nodded as she said, “I also have a favorite tea cup and teapot I never clean.”
“You’re both disgusting.” Ezekiel shook his head before he asked, “So, what do you think?”
Tao let out a sigh as she said, “I appreciate what you are trying to do for me, but I would be weak for months while my soul adapts and anchors to the new body. The earth can’t go that long without me to watch over it.”
Ezekiel smiled as he said, “It’s a good thing I found you a replacement!”
Tao glanced from Ezekiel to Agatha who nodded as she said, “While I would never take the job permanently, I can handle it for a few months while you recover. Plus this new body will be a lot stronger and won’t be tainted by the dark dimension.”
Tao smiled at both of them before she said, “Thank you, both of you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
Agatha smiled in return as she said, “It’s fine. Now go on, the faster you do this, the less time I need to cover for you.”
Tao nodded as she moved to the other bed in the room. She stopped and removed her outer robes and a few other items before she laid down on the bed. Afterwards she forced her astral projection out of her body and moved over to her new body. After she entered it, the body inhaled deeply before it sat up.
Tao took a few moments to study her new body before she smiled as she said, “Chakra feels weird.”
“You’ll get used to it. I’ll start you on control lesson after you adjust to your new body. Till then don’t worry about your chakra, it’ll be too hard to control.”
Tao nodded as she slowly tested the rest of her body. After about a minute she gently stood up from the bed she was on. After testing each leg a few times, she walked over to her robes and other pieces she removed. As she began to redress herself Ezekiel said, “I have to admit, you proved something very important today.”
Tao glanced back as she was adjusting her robes and asked, “What’s that?”
Ezekiel smirked before he said, “The age old question of whether or not gingers have souls.”