Chapter 105: Haku Is A Boy【5k Mega Chapter, Subscribe】
Cough cough—
Mei Terumi’s consciousness gradually awakened from chaos, only feeling limp and powerless all over. When she slowly opened her eyes, what came into view was a pristine ceiling and medical equipment flashing with cold light, with transparent medicinal liquid slowly injecting into her veins through an IV tube.
‘Was I rescued?’ After Mei Terumi fainted, her memory became somewhat chaotic. It took a moment before she remembered that she was supposed to be finished off by Captain Kisame in front of the cliff. Why had she survived?
Who saved her?
Mei Terumi tried to prop up her body, but found it extremely difficult even to lift a finger.
“You’re awake.” With the sound of the door opening, a medical ninja wearing a white coat and a mask walked in.
“Who are you? Where is this place?” Mei Terumi noticed that the other party was not wearing a Kirigakure headband and immediately became alert.
When the other party turned around, Mei Terumi saw that on the back of the white coat, there was an “81” printed, not knowing what it represented.
“You can call me No. ” The medical ninja said in a flat tone, then walked to the instruments nearby to check the data and usage.
“This is my number in this experiment zone. It seems your condition hasn’t recovered much, yet you can say so many words.”
“By the way, I advise you, this is a fully enclosed management. If you try to escape without permission, you might be killed by patrolling ninjas.” No. 81 shadow clone raised his right hand, extended one finger, and placed it in front of the mask, making a shushing gesture.
This voice… Mei Terumi’s pupils contracted slightly, feeling somewhat familiar.
“You’re… Lord Shura?” Mei Terumi’s voice tightened. She remembered the voice she heard before passing out and widened her eyes: “Captain Kisame he…”
“You’re still concerned about Kisame Hoshigaki now?” No. 81 shadow clone chuckled, a hint of playfulness flashing in his black eyes.
Kisame Hoshigaki’s appearance aside from being terrifying was also chilling, yet there was a beautiful girl so concerned about him.
In contrast…
No. 81 shadow clone clicked his tongue and said: “Don’t worry, he’s busy investigating Suigetsu Hozuki selling Kirigakure intelligence. The next time you meet, he might be a Kirigakure rogue ninja.”
“Suigetsu Hozuki?” Mei Terumi opened her eyes wide in shock.
She didn’t know that Suigetsu Hozuki was also Kirigakure’s Anbu Captain.
But she had heard this name more than once. He was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, one of the three ninja sword wielders promoted by Kirigakure after the Third Great Ninja War.
To actually betray village intelligence?!
“Rest well and don’t think about escaping.” No. 81 shadow clone changed some medicinal liquid for Mei Terumi. As he prepared to leave, he suddenly remembered something.
“By the way, what’s your name?” No. 81 shadow clone just realized that the main body hadn’t mentioned this female ninja’s name at all.
“Mei… Terumi.” Mei Terumi on the hospital bed said softly, the gloom between her brows lingering no matter what.
“A Terumi Clan ninja?” No. 81 shadow clone raised an eyebrow, not expecting the main body to have kidnapped a bloodline limit ninja.
——————
Inside the Hoshigakure Base.
After Menma sent Mei Terumi to the Medical Department for treatment, he always felt like he had forgotten something important.
“Strange, what was it?” Menma walked on the road to the family compound, arms crossed over his chest, brows furrowed tightly.
And the closer he got to the family compound, the stronger this uneasy feeling became.
“Menma bro!” Karin’s cheerful voice interrupted his thoughts.
The once skinny little girl now had a round face, carrying a vegetable basket and looking up at him.
“Isn’t this Little Karin? Where did you go to play?” Menma bent down and picked up Little Karin.
The little girl who was once as thin as a bamboo pole, after these past six months of carefree days, had developed some baby fat on her cheeks, making Menma unable to resist pinching them.
“Karin went to buy vegetables for mom.” Karin made a bitter face but didn’t resist, just letting Menma pinch.
“Menma bro should come eat too.” Karin said: “Big sis just arrived today, mom is preparing some good food to welcome big sis.”
“Big sis?” Menma was stunned for a moment, then suddenly had a realization and finally remembered the forgotten matter!
When he stepped into the Uzumaki House yard and looked up, he saw Uzumaki Kushina sitting on the veranda, holding a cute child wearing a kimono in her arms, combing his hair.
The child was wearing an exquisite kimono, obedient like a doll.
Also obediently sitting in Uzumaki Kushina’s arms, quietly enjoying this moment of beauty.
Hiss ha?!!
Menma became alert. That child who looked like a girl no matter how he saw it… could it be…
“Ah, Lord Shura is back.” Uzumaki Kushina also noticed Menma, put down her actions, and placed the child in her arms to the side.
“Lord.” The cute child who looked like a girl also stood up and bowed obediently to Menma.
Little Karin took the chance to jump down from Menma’s shoulder, held this ‘big sis’s’ hand, and looked left and right.
“Hiss…” Hearing this sound, Menma confirmed once again without a doubt.
He patted his forehead and said to Uzumaki Kushina: “Did I forget to tell you that White is a boy.”
“Eh?” Uzumaki Kushina, still holding the comb, tilted her head, then turned to look at White standing on the veranda, not yet reacting.
“Aunt, I’m a boy.” White raised his head, his timid voice coming, shattering Uzumaki Kushina’s last bit of hope.
“Boy… boy… boy?!!” Uzumaki Kushina was shocked, her voice changing pitch, looking up and down at White who was wearing a kimono and looked gentler and more ladylike than her own daughter no matter how she saw it.
If Menma weren’t here, and afraid of hurting White, she would want to check personally.
Uzumaki Karin stared blankly at White, woodenly took off her glasses to wipe the lenses repeatedly, then put them back on.
Her little head couldn’t figure out no matter what, how that cute and pretty big sis turned into a boy?
“So, why didn’t you refuse these clothes just now?!” Uzumaki Kushina gestured helplessly at White’s girl’s clothes.
Earlier, some government affairs needed her approval, so she let White bathe himself and put some unused clothes originally bought for Karin on the stool outside the bathroom.
When she finished processing that batch of documents and came back, White had already put on the new clothes and was obediently sitting on the veranda blow-drying his hair.
That pitiful appearance immediately aroused Uzumaki Kushina’s maternal glow, so she found a comb and personally combed White’s hair.
“Because… I like them a lot…” White lowered his head, tears welling up in his eyes, not daring to meet Uzumaki Kushina’s gaze.
He really wanted to say that since his parents died, no one had been so good to him.
He had spent this past year living a wandering life exposed to the elements, traveling from cities in the north of the Land of Water to the south, scavenging for food in trash cans when hungry, drinking dew when thirsty, not only often having to fight wild dogs for food but also possibly bullied by other beggars and wanderers.
Although he had awakened the Ice Release bloodline limit, the shadow of killing his father and the villagers always lingered in his heart.
For those wild dogs robbing food, White could still use Ice Release, but when facing ordinary people, he had some psychological shadow.
“Okay okay, it’s fine.” Uzumaki Kushina was also a person with a bitter fate. Seeing White like this, she instantly softened, squatted down, and hugged White.
“Tomorrow aunt will take you to the market to buy some new clothes for boys to wear.” Uzumaki Kushina stroked White’s head and said with a smile: “Aunt also wants a son. If you don’t mind, you can live with aunt.”
After saying that, Uzumaki Kushina turned to Menma and requested: “Let me adopt this child, Lord Shura.”
Menma didn’t mind. Unlike Kimimaro’s bloodline disease that required long-term treatment in the Medical Department, White had no bloodline disease. As long as given a normal environment, in a few years he could reach jonin strength, even among the elite jonin.
“Of course.” Menma nodded, then looked at Karin who still hadn’t come back to her senses beside him, raised his hand and lightly knocked on Karin’s head.
“Ow!” Karin clutched her head, teary-eyed looking at Menma: “Bro, big sis is gone…”
Hahahaha~~
Menma let out a cheerful laugh.
Uzumaki Kushina also covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
In the evening, Menma stayed at the Uzumaki House for dinner.
Uzumaki Kushina made a table of sumptuous dishes.
At the table, Uzumaki Kushina looked at White eating elegantly in small bites, then at Karin on the other side piling up various dishes and wolfing them down, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: ‘If only White were a girl, then I would have two daughters.’
‘It’s not that boys are bad, it’s just… White is so pretty, he looks even more like a girl…’ Uzumaki Kushina looked more and more, feeling it was such a pity that White wasn’t a girl.
After dinner, Uzumaki Kushina got busy.
She had to wash dishes and clear the table, and also prepare a room for White.
Originally she wanted White and Karin to room together, so the two kids could keep each other company, but now that she knew White was a boy, it wasn’t appropriate.
So Kushina cleaned out a room originally used for storage to make a bedroom for White.
Seeing Kushina so busy, Menma felt that staying longer might make her nervously flustered, so he stood up to say goodbye and leave.
In the underground laboratory of the medical building, Menma’s shadow clones were busy conducting various researches.
The medical building was located between the experiment zone and the family compound, at a moderate distance. Since the research on medical ninjutsu was still in the development stage, although Menma had mastered some medical ninjutsu, he wasn’t specialized in it, so progress in training medical ninjas was relatively slow.
In the end, relying on his shadow clones alone was too difficult; he needed to recruit more scientific personnel.
“You’re here.” One of the shadow clones with “11” on his back raised his hand to greet the main body.
“Have you fully digested Orochimaru’s research materials?” Menma walked to a computer in the laboratory.
Although these computers looked somewhat outdated, like those from the early 2000s on Earth, their processing capabilities were still very powerful.
“I have to say it’s Uncle Snake. It hasn’t been long since we gave him that White Zetsu, and he already has achievements.” No. 11 shadow clone pressed a switch.
The next moment, the large screen in front of the computer lit up, displaying detailed data materials and human body structure diagrams.
No. 11 shadow clone explained: “The Iburi Clan worships the forest. They live long-term in tree holes in the forest, possessing earth attribute chakra and water attribute chakra in their bodies, which can serve as the soil to nurture Wood Release.”
“Then Orochimaru used the God Tree gene extracted from White Zetsu as the seed, used Hashirama cells for incubation, achieving a neutralizing effect, and extracted the most stable cells from it, implanting them into the skin tissue of Iburi clansmen, effectively solidifying the Iburi Clan’s genetic structure.”
“But to continue in-depth research, live experiments must be conducted.” No. 11 shadow clone said, turning his gaze to Menma’s main body.
“Live experiments…” Menma stared at the various data materials on the large screen, his brows slightly furrowed under the mask.
Even in the ‘Limited Tsukuyomi World’, he adhered to the bottom line of not using ordinary people for live experiments.
“Gōta has already voluntarily applied to participate in the experiment.” No. 11 shadow clone pressed a switch nearby and spoke into a microphone: “Call Gōta up.”
Soon, the Iburi Clan’s clan head, Gōta, walked into the laboratory with a solemn expression.
Upon seeing Shura wearing the white three-eyed fox mask, Gōta knelt on one knee: “Lord, let me participate in the experiment.”
“The initial experiments have a high mortality rate.” Menma’s low voice came from under the mask.
“Lord, I am already twenty-three years old this year.” Gōta raised his head to look at Shura, his gaze firm and sincere: “My time is running out.”
Gōta’s volunteering reminded Menma of what Gōta had said when he introduced the Iburi Clan situation to him back then.
‘Due to the instability of the bloodline limit, Iburi clansmen basically don’t live past twenty-five.’
This was no different from a bloodline disease.
It could be said that Gōta’s life was already in countdown. If no way to stabilize the Iburi Clan’s bloodline limit could be researched within two years, Gōta would turn into a puff of smoke and dissipate with the wind.
So Gōta was offering both his loyalty to Lord Shura and his own life, striving for more opportunities for his clansmen.
Understanding Gōta’s determination, Menma no longer refused and asked: “Then have you prepared for the worst?”
Gōta answered solemnly: “My wife is already pregnant, and with other pregnant women in the clan, there should be five children born next year.”
“For the clan head position, I hope to pass it to Yukimi according to Iburi Clan tradition. I ask for your permission.”
As Lord Shura’s private property, Gōta had handed everything of the Iburi Clan to Shura, including the appointment of the clan head.
“Oh?” Menma slightly turned his head.
Yukimi was only fourteen or fifteen, not fully grown yet, and the Iburi Clan had other elder clansmen. Why not pass the clan head position to other clansmen?
Gōta explained: “Our clan’s lifespan is too short; we die before twenty-five. So each clan head is designated by the previous clan head when feeling death approaching, to inherit from a youth in the clan.”
“This way, it ensures eight or nine years of stability.”
Children in the ninja world mature early in general; some outstanding ones have adult thinking at twelve or thirteen.
But in the Iburi Clan, succeeding as clan head at that age, bearing the clan’s heavy responsibility until the new clan head dies, is less than ten years.
Cycle after cycle, the Iburi Clan’s clan head position is more a heavy responsibility.
“If so, then go prepare.” Menma looked at Gōta who faced death with equanimity and slowly nodded.
“I’ve already said goodbye to the clansmen before coming!” Gōta stood up and took a blue-and-white striped patient gown from an experiment personnel’s hand.
Menma nodded. While Gōta changed into the patient gown, he walked to the glass window of another experimental ward.
In the ward, Kimimaro lay trembling lightly on the hospital bed, with several tubes inserted into his body infusing sedatives and various medicinal liquids. Several shadow clones were conducting detailed investigations and condition checks on his body.
“Has the treatment plan for Kimimaro been determined?” Menma asked the nearby No. 12 shadow clone.
The No. 12 shadow clone specifically in charge of Kimimaro nodded, took out a document, and reported: “According to research confirmation, the problem with Kimimaro’s Corpse Bone Pulse bloodline limit stems from Yang Release chakra imbalance. Fortunately, we didn’t rashly use White Zetsu’s God Tree gene or Hashirama cells for adjustment experiments; otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.”
Yang Release is the power of yang sourced from life physical energy, giving form to the intangible.
In other words, changes in body nature are related to Yang Release, such as the Akimichi Clan’s multiplication technique, the Uzumaki Clan’s physique, and the Senju Clan’s body healing, all within the scope of Yang Release.
Corresponding to it is Yin Release, sourced from mental energy of imagination, with the characteristic of creating substance form from nothing.
For example, the Nara Clan’s shadow binding technique, the Yamanaka Clan’s mind ninjutsu, and—Sharingan!
Sharingan synchronizes with mental power; the stronger the emotion, the greater the awakened power.
This also explains why Sharingan’s illusion technique, ‘Izanagi’, can rewrite reality.
“So, we suggest implanting a Sharingan or Byakugan into Kimimaro to test if Yin Release chakra can neutralize the Yang Release chakra imbalance in his body.” No. 12 shadow clone proposed the experimental plan.
“Transplant an eyeball?” Menma pondered briefly.
It wasn’t that transplantation was difficult; Sharingan and Byakugan in the ninja world all came with plug-and-play ‘USB’.
“I remember the Kaguya Clan and Hyuga Clan are distant relatives, right?” What Menma thought of was that as distant relatives, transplanting Byakugan should yield the best effect.
“Yes.” No. 12 shadow clone nodded: “The Hyuga Clan, Kaguya Clan, and the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon are all descendants of Hamura.”
“Correspondingly, the Senju Clan, Uchiha Clan, and Uzumaki Clan. They are all descendants of Hagoromo.”
‘Byakugan…’ Although Menma had two different Sharingan, he really didn’t have a Byakugan.
Moreover, the sources for Byakugan were too singular. The Hyuga Clan’s Caged Bird seal, once the eyeball leaves the body and loses connection, would trigger Caged Bird to destroy the Byakugan.
Although Menma had the ‘Caged Seal’ to temporarily seal the Caged Bird curse mark, it wasn’t a long-term solution.
Byakugan not restricted by Caged Bird, besides the Hyuga main family members, there was only Ao from Kirigakure.
But Ao’s Byakugan still needed to be kept to cause some trouble for Obito; otherwise, letting Obito continue controlling Kirigakure wouldn’t do.
It seemed he could only find a way starting from the Hyuga main family.
