Another bright weekday.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, with mixed emotions, located Jiraiya's communication frog left in Konoha and sent him a letter.
He hoped to bring Naruto back to the village.
On Mount Myoboku, Jiraiya felt physically and mentally drained after receiving the letter from Hiruzen and hearing news from the frogs about events in the outside world—all while battling his worsening illness.
He had only gone away for a short trip. How come he no longer had a home?
Even while traveling, his heart had always remained with Konoha.
Forcing himself upright, he wrote a reply to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Only I can teach Naruto how to control Tailed Beast chakra."
Naruto had already woken up, but instead of his usual energetic self, he seemed scared and unusually quiet.
Although somewhat pained, Jiraiya offered little comfort.
Every ninja has to learn what it means to take a life—or face losing their own.
Fukasaku hopped over to where the master and apprentice were resting. "The Great Toad Sage has awoken."
Jiraiya, unsteady on his feet, led Naruto deeper into Mount Myoboku toward the temple.
The sealing scroll was opened, and Jiraiya retrieved the corpse of White Zetsu inside.
Gamamaru fell silent for a moment before speaking solemnly, "He was once human, but was absorbed by the God Tree planted by Kaguya and transformed into this form. The Tailed Beasts are part of the God Tree, which is why I say Naruto is our last hope."
Naruto remained deep in thought.
Sighing, Jiraiya said, "Great Toad Sage, we encountered four people related to Kaguya, but nothing else."
As if sighing lightly too, Gamamaru replied, "Little Jiraiya, you won't succeed fighting alone—you must unite more people."
"After all, even Kaguya Otsutsuki chose different individuals, so shouldn't we?"
Rubbing his face tiredly, Jiraiya looked helpless.
Even within Konoha, not everyone would listen to him. Who else could he possibly rally?
Mount Shumisen.
Hiroki entered Shimon Hiruko's laboratory.
Seeing his arrival, Shimon Hiruko—who had been busy—glanced over with a mocking tone. "You never show up, Tsunade never shows up. I thought you'd both died."
Hiroki handed him the container holding Kimimaro's cells. "The bloodline of the Kaguya Clan."
"Why not just give me everything at once?"
"It'll be soon," Hiroki shrugged, then asked, "How's the experiment progressing?"
Upon hearing this, Hiruko gained some enthusiasm. With pride showing on his face, he led Hiroki to another area.
This same location also held Hidan captive.
Inside the stone prison, Hidan lay on the ground with chains binding all four limbs, staring blankly at the sky.
Day in and day out, all he did was eat, sleep, and get stuck with needles by Hiruko—he was slowly losing his mind.
Hiroki looked in Hidan's direction, surprised. "Why did Hidan's hair turn red?"
"Red represents vitality," Shimon Hiruko said smugly. "He's successfully integrated the Senju cells."
"Seriously, I've been using Yeguoyuedu to read novels and track updates recently. It supports source-switching and offers various TTS voice options. Works on both Android and iOS."
"So fast?" Hiroki first expressed surprise, then confusion. "Don't you think your conclusion is problematic? Which Senju Clan member has red hair? The Uzumaki Clan are the ones with red hair."
"No, you're wrong," Shimon Hiruko shook his head. "Senju Clan members can have any hair color. Maybe I should put it like this — you mixed up the Senju and Uzumaki cells."
"That's impossible," Hiroki immediately denied.
But then he remembered that the Senju and Uzumaki shared a common ancestor, so perhaps there was some genetic overlap. He decided not to dwell on Hidan's hair color anymore.
To prove that Hidan had successfully integrated Senju cells, Shimon Hiruko opened the prison cell and walked in. He took out a small knife and made a shallow cut about one finger long on Hidan's body.
A wound appeared briefly before healing completely within a few seconds. Hidan's skin returned to its original state without even a scar.
Such recovery speed was clearly far beyond normal human capability.
Enraged, Hidan spat at Shimon.
Shimon calmly wiped his clothes clean, then turned his gaze toward Hiroki, proudly saying, "Well then, do you believe me now?"
Hiroki gave him a thumbs-up in approval.
Without missing a beat, Shimon went on, "During the time when you two weren't around, I read through various books and discovered bloodline connections between different clans. The Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki Clans share deep ancestral bloodline ties. Similarly, the Hyuga and Kaguya Clans also share close origins."
"In the earliest times, the relationships between clans weren't as distant. Before the Warring States period began and chaos emerged, different clans were connected by bloodlines. The closer their blood relation, the tighter their bonds."
"Therefore, I reasonably suspect that the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki Clans originated from the same lineage, and the Hyuga and Kaguya Clans also share a common origin."
"To combine these five bloodlines together, we should first fuse the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki bloodlines into Bloodline A, merge the Hyuga and Kaguya bloodlines into Bloodline B, then perfectly integrate Bloodline A with Bloodline B."
Hiroki nodded repeatedly.
"A scientist's wild imagination really is something else — he was already dangerously close to uncovering the truth."
"Let's go with that plan."
"What I mean is, I need more test subjects," Shimon Hiruko raised his eyebrow, saying indifferently.
Hiroki remained silent. Since only one Hidan existed, they would ultimately still have to take the path of sacrificing White Zetsu.
After their conversation, Hiroki was enveloped by White Zetsu's body and returned to Kiri using the Kagero technique.
Terumi Mei was away. The servants left at home lacked strength and no one noticed his absence. They just assumed he'd never left his room.
"Any important news recently?"
"Yugao Uzuki has taken control of Snow Country, while Jiraiya sneaked into Hot Springs Country but got driven away by Tsunade."
"What about Konoha?"
"Shisui Uchiha has died long ago, and Obito has contacted Itachi Uchiha."
Hiroki nodded in understanding before asking, "Then why did Three-Tails attack me last time?"
"It was Obito," White Zetsu answered with a laugh.
This outcome didn't surprise Hiroki.
He had no idea why Obito suddenly turned on him, but he was already thinking about how to handle the situation.
If they crossed paths again, another confrontation was inevitable.
He could run for now—but not forever.
It'd be better for that crazy bastard to just vanish.
Obito himself wasn't overwhelmingly powerful; what made him dangerous was his Mangekyo Sharingan.
Just one eye with that space ability let him move freely across most of the Ninja World.
If he couldn't crack that space jutsu, there was no way to catch or even hit him.
Hiroki had several plans in mind.
Konoha's Flying Thunder God was another space jutsu—though he had no idea how long it'd take to master.
Kaguya also possessed a technique called [Yomotsu Hirasaka] (Otsutsuki Teleportation), but he had never seen her use it. Whether it was too risky or too draining—he couldn't say.
The other Kamui Mangekyo Sharingan eye was now in Kakashi's possession.
Beyond these options, Hiroki believed that using the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan might also unlock spatial abilities.
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