Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

"Start preparations immediately!" Nara Masato ordered. "Process and forge this metal into a puppet!"

“Don’t rush this,” Shen’er interrupted, preemptively saying, “The Akatsuki Village may provide similar metals in the future. The research group’s current focus is on mastering the technology of fusing and coexisting metals with different properties.”

There is an unchanging rule in the ninja world: once something is divided, its power will weaken.

Just as the Ten-Tails was split into nine tailed beasts, resulting in a significant drop in overall combat power, Nagato's ability to divide the power of the Rinnegan into six parts, transforming them into the Six Paths of Pain, was far less powerful than the level of someone controlling the Rinnegan alone.

The same principle applies to the seven ninja swords; their combined strength far surpasses that of using them individually.

However, there are specific technical hurdles to overcome in order to achieve the fusion.

"Huh? There's more?"

Masato Nara's expression was slightly startled.

It's incredible that a small, impoverished ninja village like Akatsuki could produce even a single piece of metal, let alone more... It's practically an open declaration that their chakra metal was stolen.

What Konoha is doing right now is like dancing on a tightrope. If things are exposed, the consequences will be unimaginable.

But since the Hokage doesn't care, there's nothing more for him, as a mere tool.

"I'll assign a number to this piece of metal."

"Number: Samehada"

"Alright, alright, let's call it Samehada."

Nara Masato immediately agreed. He had no idea where the code name "Samehada" came from, but that didn't stop him from offering a few compliments.

Orochimaru and Taisho were about to return to their posts when Shinji called out to them.

"Orochimaru, come here."

After finishing the important matters, Shen Er finally had some time to have a good chat with his somewhat restless adopted son.

Upon arriving at his private office, he didn't waste any time and went straight to asking:

"How well is it adapting to the roots?"

"Everyone here is talented, and they all speak very nicely. I really like it here."

Orochimaru did enjoy working here, but he didn't seem to notice whether the people here were pleasant or unpleasant to talk to. He just wanted to appear more cheerful and outgoing in front of his adoptive father... his biological father.

"I'm glad you like it. How's your Yin Seal cultivation going?"

"You haven't even scratched the surface yet."

“Well, we can’t slack off on our cultivation.” Shen paused for a moment before finally getting to the point: “Is there something you want to say to me? You can speak frankly. There shouldn’t be any barriers between us.”

"Only communication can solve problems."

"I promised your mother I would take good care of you."

You've been seen through!

Orochimaru's breath hitched. He thought he had hidden it well, but he hadn't expected that his thoughts hadn't escaped Shen's notice at all. In a few breaths, he forced himself to calm down and not show weakness in front of Shen.

You took good care of me, but you didn't take good care of Mother...

Orochimaru kept these words to himself and didn't say them aloud.

He wasn't ungrateful, nor was he oblivious to gratitude. He knew that Shen Er treated him extremely well, so he would do his best to complete all the tasks assigned to him without ever slacking off.

He just couldn't get over his mother's matter. He had to beat Shen'er up to make him apologize to her.

In terms of endurance, Orochimaru inherited the fine tradition of the Zen clan.

"Teacher, you misunderstand. I've just been thinking about my mother lately. If she were still alive, she would be so happy to see you become Hokage."

That's it?

Before even starting the pursuit of immortality, I've already become sentimental.

Jump over the Gale Snake, and transform into Boruto Snake...

"Don't overthink it. Focus your energy on your studies; it'll make you feel much better." Shen Er gave Orochimaru a deep look, patted him on the shoulder, and said nonchalantly, "In that case, go ahead and get busy."

"Yes."

I've finally passed the test with my biological father.

Orochimaru breathed a sigh of relief and left the office.

Shen Er felt that Orochimaru wasn't telling the truth, but he remained relatively calm, not like he was holding back something big.

Since that's the case, let him be. Considering Orochimaru's performance in battle, as the administrator of the Edo Tensei, Jin isn't worried about Orochimaru causing any uncontrollable chaos.

After dealing with Orochimaru, Shen Er decided to take the opportunity to visit the secret arts research group next door.

Before he even met Hiruko and Tsunade, he encountered Yakushi Masajō.

When Yakushi Masayu saw Shinji, he reported to him in a tactful tone: "Lord Hokage... your disciple may not be suitable to stay in the Secret Technique Research Group."

"Oh? What happened?"

"He seems to be neglecting his duties, having been engrossed in observing and studying celestial phenomena lately."

Clearly, in the eyes of these traditional research-oriented ninjas, secret techniques and celestial phenomena have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

Hiruko is wasting the resources the Hokage gave him.

"Has he completed the research tasks assigned to him?"

"His chosen research direction is chakra nature fusion. There are no senior researchers here to guide him. He has to do most of his research independently. Researchers only give him guidance on experimental matters periodically..."

Because it was independent research, it appeared to outsiders that Bei Liuhu was neglecting his proper duties.

"I believe in Hiruko's talent. He must have his reasons for choosing to study celestial phenomena. So, let's trust him as well."

Even so, he was not clear about the specific development process of the Ghost Sprout Technique.

He only remembered that in the original timeline, Hiruko deliberately chose the day of the "Golden Ring Solar Eclipse" for the final ritual of fusing multiple bloodlines. Perhaps, Oni-Garra himself needed to rely on the power brought by special celestial phenomena.

Since the general direction is correct, Shen Er, as the teacher, naturally has to overcome all objections and give his disciple the greatest support.

"Yes, I understand."

Hiruko, under the protection of two secret agents, went to the outskirts of the Death Forest to study celestial phenomena; he was not at the research institute at the time.

They even met Tsunade, who was researching "cell regeneration".

Tsunade is not old, but she has a lot of airs.

Having only been in the research group for a short time, he already exudes the aura of a group leader.

In Konoha's workplace, seniority is not the only factor; lineage also plays a significant role. Compared to the other two, Tsunade is more than just a Hokage disciple...

Upon seeing Shen, Tsunade quickly changed her tune, presenting her research report as if it were a precious treasure.

"Teacher, this is the research result I obtained from my experiment using my grandmother's cells."

While Mito was distracted, Tsunade, Mito's granddaughter, extracted Mito's cells for research.

"Look, this is the reaction of a normal ninja's cells after being injured, but this is Grandma's cellular state. Her cellular structure is more stable, and the maximum amount of chakra she can extract is dozens of times that of a normal ninja!"

Tsunade then pointed to the imaging on the report: "In the experiment, the damaged vortex cells degraded quickly, while healthy cells rapidly divided and proliferated... This is the source of the super self-healing ability."

"Ordinary ninjas do not possess this trait in their body cells."

"I extracted my own cell tissue for experiments, and although it was better than that of ordinary people, it was still far behind the Whirlpool cells," Tsunade said excitedly. "According to Grandma, Grandpa's self-healing ability is even stronger than hers."

"My plan is to analyze my grandmother's cell samples first, and then study my grandfather's. Ultimately, I'll simulate the innate self-healing mechanisms of their cells, using precise manipulation of chakra to stimulate somatic cells, to artificially achieve rapid healing..."

Tsunade truly deserves to be called a genius in the field of medical ninjutsu.

She has the patience and the talent to analyze ninja knowledge at the cellular level. Even he himself couldn't do that. Most of the medical ninjutsu he developed were rough, simple techniques, or surgical procedures relying on the Heavenly Compassion Thread.

Many of the research conclusions expressed by Tsunade have exceeded his existing knowledge.

But this does not affect his grasp of the overall direction.

Tsunade is on the right track.

It's said that her ultimate move is Hashirama's passive ability, and that's actually true.

First, analyze the self-healing mechanism of the grandparents, complete the theoretical replication, and then rely on the massive amount of chakra accumulated by the Yin Seal to conduct high-intensity stimulation, forcibly driving the body into an overclocked regeneration state...

The line of reasoning is completely correct.

Tsunade, standing nearby, was still excitedly saying, "Teacher, could you draw some blood from me to use as material? Every time you release the Heavenly Compassion Line, your wounds heal very quickly, so your cells should also have self-healing factors."

"My blood?"

After a slight hesitation, she finally nodded in agreement.

He wasn't without concerns; he worried that Tsunade might discover something she shouldn't have.

But then I thought, creating the artificial human body to seal the tailed beasts would inevitably require my own cells, something I couldn't avoid sooner or later. It would be better to hand it over to Tsunade now, helping her gain experience and improve her abilities, and perhaps even reap unexpected rewards.

Moreover, Tsunade's trust in herself was almost overflowing; even if she really noticed something amiss with the cells, she could easily make up an excuse to cover it up.

They even extracted two large tubes of blood, and at the same time confirmed Tsunade's research direction.

With this recognition, Tsunade became even more motivated.

...

He toured the area.

Shen'er was quite satisfied with the performance of his three disciples. Even disregarding the significance they represented, in terms of individual potential alone, they had all achieved development beyond the timeline.

After leaving the Root Research Institute.

Even a casual glance revealed that Hiruzen Sarutobi was training with Ken'yuu and Jiraiya.

After Danzo's defection, Hiruzen Sarutobi behaved quite well and kept to himself.

He did not disappoint Shinji's expectations. Following the example of Tobirama Senju, he developed many simplified versions of ninjutsu over three years and popularized them to the Konoha ninjas through the village, enriching the Konoha ninjutsu system and improving the overall strength. His contribution was considerable.

In his spare time, he served in the ANBU, doing dirty and tiring work to atone for his sins. Even Shen Er benefited greatly from this, further improving his fire-style techniques.

All of this made Shen realize that he had made the right decision to spare Hiruzen Sarutobi's life.

As dusk fell.

She had no interest in going up to scan her face again, so she turned around and went home to take care of her own business.

To create humans.