After stepping into the newly built Institute, Ren spent some time wandering around, but he couldn't find a single room that truly satisfied him.
He returned to the main lobby and found Tsunade about to take a small celebratory drink. "Tsunade-sama," he asked, "doesn't this place have a basement?"
Compared to working above ground, Ren preferred his labs to be subterranean. It felt far more secure.
Tsunade shook her head. "There is a basement level for storage, but I didn't pre-allocate any space for a laboratory down there. Why? Are you planning on doing your experiments underground?"
Ren nodded firmly. "A laboratory is something that only feels safe when it's buried deep!"
"And just how deep were you thinking?"
"Thirty meters down!"
...
Tsunade stared at Ren with a deadpan expression, eventually sighing in exasperation. "Thirty meters underground is impossible. I have no intention of burying a time bomb under my building. However, thirty meters above ground is doable. How about I have them build a suspended lab specifically for you?"
"Suspended?"
...
Two days later, Ren laid eyes on this so-called "suspended laboratory."
Several thick pillars rose straight toward the sky, and at the very top sat a pristine, pure-white room.
"How about it?! Feel that sense of security overflowing?" Tsunade laughed heartlessly.
Ren was beyond speechless. He genuinely wanted to crack open Tsunade's skull just to see what kind of gears were turning inside that head of hers!
Under Ren's predatory, "I'm-about-to-bite-someone" gaze, Tsunade chuckled sheepishly. "Ha... haha. Actually, this room was originally meant to be a watchtower for the village. Look, at thirty meters high, you can see for miles! You'll never have to worry about a sneak attack again!"
Heh.
Ren didn't even bother responding. He looked at the Institute in the distance, then decided to turn around and head back to his own private lab.
"Don't come looking for me unless it's an emergency!" he snapped, leaving behind a huffy remark before using Flying Raijin to vanish.
Once he was gone, Tsunade's smile turned a bit more pensive. "Stop wasting time over there... honestly, always being such a handful."
Ren's activities might have been hidden from some high-ranking officials, but could they really stay hidden from Mito and Tsunade, who saw Minato every day? Given Minato's sudden, explosive growth in chakra reserves, it would have been hard for Tsunade to ignore. Building this Institute wasn't just about stopping unethical human experiments—it was also a form of protection for Ren.
After all, he was her younger brother's master.
A master two years younger than his student...
Back in his private lab, the three vampires had been reduced to fragments. Their brains had been removed, and they had completely lost all sense of self-awareness.
During the dissection, Ren discovered that the man named Moody actually possessed a two-tomoe Sharingan. It was likely a "system reward" purchased from the Main God Space. Unfortunately, Ren's research showed that this particular pair of eyes was missing a specific genetic sequence; through normal means, they would never reach the three-tomoe level.
From the interrogation, Ren learned that their arrival in this world was a total accident. They had been "exercising" in the Main God Space when a massive explosion occurred. They woke up in the Naruto world and realized, to their delight, that they could no longer contact the Main God.
They were free.
Even though they were stuck in this world and badly injured, they were vampires. As long as they had blood, they were immortal. Their individual strength was currently low, but they didn't care; they planned to refine Blood Pills to increase their power and simply wait things out.
Who knew what the world would look like in a thousand years? Maybe the Otsutsuki and the Shinobi would wipe each other out. Aside from Skoll, the other two were perfectly happy to play "Hidden Overlords."
Based on their story, Ren suspected the Main God had likely been "taken care of" by high-level reincarnators. It was a classic trope: once a player reaches a certain height, they no longer want to be a puppet, often resulting in a mutually assured destruction.
Ren wasn't interested in why they were abandoned; he was only interested in squeezing the last bit of utility out of them to bolster his own strength.
After days of effort, Ren had fully parsed the Vampire bloodline. It was essentially a race with hyper-active cells capable of siphoning life force from blood to extend their lifespan and increase their strength. Beyond that, it was useless. Ren tried to modify the gene to allow them to derive life force from regular food instead of blood, but he failed. It seemed like a "hard-coded setting"—something that science alone couldn't overwrite.
"A hard-coded setting? Is there no logic anymore? Is there no law?!"
Sitting on the floor, Ren felt frustrated. He thought he had found a gold mine, but it turned out to be nearly useless—not even as good as a "chicken rib" (something of little value). He had wasted so much time. Furthermore, the trio's knowledge of the Main God Space was superficial; they had only been there for about a hundred years, barely past the "newbie protection period."
After preserving their brains and leaving two Shadow Clones to clean up the mess, Ren headed home.
Flying Raijin really is convenient.
He had barely sat down when Nawaki came sprinting in, looking frantic.
"MAS—TEEEERRR—!"
"Stop!" Ren caught him with one hand before the "rebel student" could tackle him.
"Master! Minato and Kushina developed a super-powerful sealing jutsu! They say they're going to strengthen some seal and need people to provide support!"
"A super-powerful sealing jutsu? Could it be that one?" Ren instantly perked up. He grabbed Nawaki, and in the next second, they materialized in Mito's courtyard.
Several high-ranking ninjas were already standing there. They tensed for a second before relaxing when they saw it was Ren. "It's Ren. You and Nawaki, get inside quickly," the Third Hokage said with a smile.
The two didn't delay. Inside the room, Minato and Kushina were standing tensely by Mito's side. As soon as Ren and Nawaki entered, the doors were sealed and a barrier flickered into existence, cutting them off from the outside world.
Mito smiled warmly at the tense youths. "Don't be nervous. With me here, that beast won't be able to hurt you."
Ren turned excitedly to Minato. "Minato! Is the Eight Trigrams Seal finally complete?"
Minato squeezed out a weak smile. "Mhm. We finished it yesterday, but we haven't confirmed the results yet."
Since it had never been used, Minato was incredibly nervous. Especially since Mito wanted them to use it on her to seal a legendary Tailed Beast. Kushina was even more terrified, fearing she might make a mistake and cause irreversible harm to Mito.
Mito reassured them, "Don't worry. I will suppress the beast personally. You just focus on the sealing process."
Ren stepped forward. "Mito-baachan, I'll take Nawaki with me into the seal's mental landscape. With his Wood Style to suppress it, the Nine-Tails won't be able to make any waves!"
Mito paused, then nodding with a smile as she recalled Ren's own mastery of sealing arts. "Very well. I shall bring the two of you into the mental space."
As the sealing process began, Mito connected her chakra to Ren and Nawaki. For a split second, she felt a strange sensation—as if something had scanned her entire being. Then, curiously, she could no longer perceive anything deeper within Ren's mind.