The pain gradually receded, and the modification of the body by the Hashirama cells seemed to be over.
Naraku slowly opened his eyes, propped himself up from the stone platform, and casually wiped the semi-dry blood from his face.
"How do you feel?"
Black Zetsu floated up from underground, his pair of small yellow eyes staring intently at Naraku, trying to detect if anything was amiss with him.
Although Madara had modified the Hashirama cells several times to treat bloodline limit sickness with almost certain success, no one knew the outcome until the very end.
"I don't feel anything special."
Naraku jumped down from the experimental platform, then bounced on his toes a few times, felt his body up and down, and his small face fell.
"Lord Madara's craftsmanship has deteriorated? — Ouch!"
A pebble hit Naraku on the head without missing, bounced a few times on the ground, and disappeared into the darkness at the edge of the laboratory.
Naraku looked towards the door, holding his head and muttering grumpily, "How mean, not only did he not cure my sickness, he also has to beat the patient..."
Madara felt that he really should have smashed this idiotic brat to death with a stone just now, to save himself from daily annoyances.
"Alright, alright, just kidding."
Seeing Madara's face growing darker, Naraku decisively raised his hands in surrender, then placed his hands in front of him to form a few hand signs, carefully sensing the changes in his body.
"My Chakra seems different from before, and my Dōjutsu Power (Pupil Power) has also become much gentler."
"The First Hokage is truly amazing. He's been dead for so many years, yet his cells still have such an effect."
Naraku looked at the flashing text prompts on the system interface, which stated that his bloodline limit sickness was indeed slowly improving under the effect of the Hashirama cells.
If he was more careful in the future and didn't over-exert his Dōjutsu Power (Pupil Power), his lifespan would be significantly extended, and he would no longer have to spend popularity points to sustain his life.
However, when it was time to play the victim, he still had to.
Suddenly, he clapped his hands as if struck by inspiration, trotted behind Madara, and leaned on the back of the chair, tilting his head as his thoughts wandered: "Lord Madara, have you ever studied your own cells? Maybe they're very special too."
"You're so noisy." Madara closed his eyes, impatiently waving him away: "If you're bored, go advance the plan. Don't chatter here and annoy me."
"Mmm."
Naraku puffed out his cheeks in dissatisfaction, let out a small "hmph," and as he turned to walk away, he silently mimicked what Madara had just said, full of sarcastic undertones.
Even Black Zetsu felt that this 'Jhin' fellow was truly brave, exuding a kind of beauty that showed no regard for life or death.
The root white zetsu, who was showing off his new name to the other White Zetsu, saw Naraku come out and greeted him, asking, "Are you going out again?"
"Mm," Naraku grinned, "Konoha should be very lively right now."
"Oh, yes, the Uchiha and the others are almost fighting."
Naraku raised an eyebrow: "So they haven't started fighting yet? Come on, let's add some fuel to their fire."
...Konoha.
Ever since the Uchiha brought back the witness, the highest-ranking individuals tried every means to silence him, but no matter what tactics they used, the Uchiha firmly blocked them.
Although Shimura Rō had not spoken yet, with such a bomb in the Uchiha's hands, none of them could sleep soundly.
That was the Uchiha, one of the top bloodline families in the Ninja World skilled in genjutsu. They might have already pried open Shimura Rō's mouth, but had not yet released any news, just waiting for the right moment to deliver a fatal blow.
Danzo Shimura was also frequently called to the Hokage Office by Hiruzen Sarutobi. The two would first routinely argue, then one would sit in the office chair smoking his pipe, filling the room with smoke, while the other sat on the guest sofa, leaning on his cane in contemplation, tirelessly spouting his "Uchiha Harm Theory."
Hearing Danzo constantly talk about "going all the way," "nipping it in the bud," and "better a short pain than a long one," Hiruzen Sarutobi, being an old fox, gradually caught on.
--Could it be that this old scoundrel Danzo deliberately messed things up?
Using Shimura Rō to escalate the conflict between the Uchiha and the Village, if a fight really broke out, the Uchiha would have no place left.
He had thought that after eliminating Uchiha Naraku, Danzo would behave for a while, which was why he had given permission to rebuild Root. He didn't expect the other party to become even more aggressive, forcing him to choose between stabilizing the Village and sparing the Uchiha.
As events had unfolded, it was unlikely that the Uchiha would settle down. So there was only... no, Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, it was still too early. Konoha could not do without the Uchiha now.
Danzo Shimura saw his indecisiveness and knew that this weakling, Hiruzen, was still hesitating.
He needed something more drastic.
He leaned on his cane and left the Hokage Office, returning to the Root base.
"Someone."
A dark figure appeared at the doorway, kneeling on one knee, awaiting orders.
"Those Uchiha children with good talent, find a way to take them and put them in the Inu Base (Dog Base)."
The figure said not a single word, bowing his head to indicate he had heard, then vanished on the spot.
Since Hiruzen refused to make a move against the Uchiha Clan, then he just needed to give him an opportunity to "counterattack," didn't he?
No one would believe that the Uchiha had actually lost children; everyone would only think it was an excuse for the Uchiha Clan to cause trouble — at least publicly, they all had to believe that.
Then, the "clan of sin," the Uchiha, who disturbed Konoha with baseless excuses, deserved to be eliminated... Outside Konoha, deep within a certain dense forest.
"Tsk tsk tsk."
Naraku listened to White Zetsu's report, word for word, and recalled, stroking his chin.
"Inu Base (Dog Base), I remember it's related to Orochimaru? That old man Danzo doesn't want to get any dirt on his hands at all."
White Zetsu nodded, chuckling twice: "It seems even without your intervention, Konoha and the Uchiha would have fought."
"It was bound to happen sooner or later."
Naraku smiled and casually added, his thoughts moving, his Chakra circulation paused for half a second, then returned to normal.
Seeing his unusual expression, White Zetsu leaned over and asked, "What's wrong, Jhin?"
"Probably the Hashirama cells."
He took a few deep breaths, pretending to relieve discomfort, and only after a while did he straighten up and complain repeatedly.
"I told you Lord Madara is getting old and his craftsmanship isn't what it used to be, but he wouldn't believe it... Am I going to die even faster than before?"
"Probably not?" White Zetsu replied uncertainly, "Otherwise, should we go back and have Lord Madara take a look?"
"Forget it, watching the excitement is more fun."
Even if White Zetsu wasn't very smart, he felt that ignoring physical abnormalities just to watch some fun wasn't a good idea.
But Jhin never cared about his life. If he tried to persuade him, he would probably end up having his limbs torn off and reattached again.
After thinking for a long time with his small brain, White Zetsu still chose to shut up.
Who cares, as long as Jhin is happy, and he himself will be dismembered a few less times...