Mabui followed the Raikage's orders and prevented her younger brother from sending meat from the Sea King's rear to the ruler of the Land of Lightning. Chad always took his older sister's words seriously, so he agreed—and instead sent a portion of the Sea King's scrotum to the Daimyō, hoping the old man's virility would work so well that he'd suffer cardiac arrest from lack of blood.
"You really hate the Daimyō," Mabui laughed.
"I don't see you wanting or trying to stop me," Chad pointed out, briefly looking away from the laboratory microscope.
Besides, sending rear meat to the Daimyō last time hadn't even been his idea…
Who was it that gave that old man the nerve to suggest Mabui could be his next concubine?
"Stop you? I'm assigning a squad to deliver the meat to the capital today."
Mabui and Chad bumped fists, sharing a smile.
"Shouldn't you still be with the Raikage?"
It was still office hours.
"He gave me the rest of the day off," Mabui replied as she glanced around the lab. "It'll take him a while to wash the blood off, then he'll train for a few hours and sweat like crazy, so he'll have to shower again. I'd rather avoid the smell."
"Two showers in one week—must be a new record!"
"Don't be like that," Mabui said with an amused shake of her head, unconsciously glancing at her younger brother's arms.
She was still amazed at how Chad could wear suits or lab coats and make them look normal, instead of like fabric-stretching masses of muscle on the verge of tearing or popping buttons.
"By the way, the hospital's deputy director wanted to speak with you later."
"Again?" Chad pinched the bridge of his nose. "I swear, if he weren't the son of one of those damn councilors, I'd have demoted him to reception work—no, to dishwasher in the cafeteria. He can't even apply anesthesia properly!"
"And who asked you to also be the hospital director?"
Chad stared at her blankly.
"Oh, right," Mabui remembered. "That was the Raikage."
"It doesn't matter. I'll just send a clone," Chad said, forming a seal. A clone appeared beside him, jumped out the window, and headed for the hospital.
"...How many clones are you running today?"
"Right now? Ten. And I still feel like I have too much to do."
Since most of his backlog was intellectual work, his clones didn't need to be strong—just durable—so he only allocated them a small portion of chakra.
"Well, I have the rest of the day free. How can I help?"
"You know what? I won't turn down your help," Chad said as he stood and opened a cabinet, pulling out a box of syringes filled with an unknown substance and a pile of honey candies. "I was planning to go to the orphanage this afternoon to administer these injections, but if you could do it, it'd help a lot."
"The orphanage?" Mabui asked, confused. "These injections are—"
"Sis, I mean the other orphanage," Chad clarified.
The one he was also the director of.
"Oh… that one."
Kumo used to have a single orphanage for all children orphaned for various reasons. But a few years ago, the village had to establish another orphanage to have enough space and staff to properly care for the growing number of orphans.
At least, that was the excuse given to the public.
Because if you really thought about it, why not just expand the existing orphanage?
The answer: the children in this orphanage were different. They would not exist without Chad's actions and intervention.
"Alright. It's been a while since I've seen them," Mabui said as she stored the box and candies. "It'll be nice to see how they've grown."
"Thank you," Chad replied. He'd already used plenty of clones—using more would give him a severe migraine.
"What do you think about making Sea King meat burgers for dinner tonight?" Mabui suggested. Her little brother had had an intense week and needed to relax. "We can call the others and make it a big meal."
"That sounds good."
Mabui said goodbye and left Chad to continue working in the lab.
She crossed the village, taking a little-used path where she could feel herself entering the orphanage's surveillance range.
"Four jōnin guarding children under ten years old," she sighed inwardly.
It might seem excessive, but she knew very well that if the children here were discovered before finishing the academy and integrating into the village, it would cause serious trouble.
It all began years ago, when her brother had just obtained his laboratory position and hired the services of a rogue ninja from Takigakure named Kakuzu.
Mabui had never liked that man, but she couldn't deny that—for the right price—he did good work.
Originally, even Kakuzu had refused Chad's request once he learned what he wanted. But with the correct payment and very clear, specific objectives, Kakuzu eventually realized it wasn't what he thought and took the initiative himself, pounding his chest confidently.
Three months later, Kakuzu returned with a special refrigerated briefcase and completed the job.
Half a year after delivery, construction of the second orphanage was approved and began. Another half-year later, the village started "finding" newborn orphans who were taken directly to this orphanage.
Hearing the commotion ahead, Mabui raised an eyebrow.
"Yugito?" She spotted the Two-Tails jinchūriki playing with the orphanage children. "I was expecting to see you here."
Unlike Killer B, Yugito still had issues with many villagers due to her jinchūriki status—especially with the council. That was why she liked visiting this orphanage. She not only acted as an extra guard (having already eliminated three spies who had bypassed the jōnin on watch), but also enjoyed playing with the children because they didn't judge her.
"Ah, Mabui," Yugito stood and bowed quickly, her eyes darting around nervously. "Did Sensei come with you too?"
Ah—another reason Yugito visited was that Chad was her sensei.
"I'm afraid not," Mabui said, lifting the box of syringes. "He's swamped with work and asked me to administer the injections. Will you help me?" she asked. "By the way, we're making Sea King burgers tonight. You should come—I'll invite the others."
"Oh, I don't want to be a bother," Yugito said as she took some syringes and candies to help her sensei's sister. Meanwhile, the children had already begun lining up obediently the moment they saw the needles, though their faces clearly showed they'd rather avoid them. They didn't like getting poked twice a year.
But they also saw the candy!
"Don't be silly. Everyone will be happy you came."
As they chatted and administered the injections, handing out sweets to the "brave," they couldn't help but feel amazed as the children passed by.
Red-haired Uzumaki children bursting with energy, calm white-eyed Hyūga kids, ambiguous-gender Yuki clan children, discreet Aburame with ant terrariums, even Uchiha children with stern—but adorable—expressions…
"The clans are still stuck in the mindset of the Warring States Era," Chad had said mockingly in the lab back then, handling vials taken from Kakuzu's briefcase. "If they think things like the Caged Bird Seal protect bloodlines, they're just outdated fools."
Kakuzu's job was simple: find multiple men and women from various clans with acceptable bloodline concentration (it didn't matter if they were survivors or from other villages), kill them, extract sperm and ovaries for preservation, and destroy the bodies—or at least everything below the waist—with explosive tags, jutsu, or wild animals to erase evidence and conceal the true purpose of their deaths.
Chad took that genetic material and, using artificial matrices, created fetuses from a small portion of it. Once they matured in artificial amniotic fluid, they were "found" and sent to the orphanage. The unused material was frozen to be used later, so future appearances would seem natural.
Furthermore, once the orphanage children grew up and their loyalty to the village was firmly established, they could have children of their own—giving Kumo an ever-growing variety of clans.
The Raikage demanded a way to obtain bloodlines like the Byakugan and the Sharingan, and Chad delivered far beyond expectations. He could have force-matured the fetuses, but the goal was true integration—not disposable cannon fodder as the councilors expected.
As for criticism, threats, and countermeasures from other villages, that wasn't Chad's problem—it depended on how thick-skinned the Raikage was when making excuses.
Once all the children were vaccinated, sweets distributed, and some time spent playing, they said their goodbyes and headed to Mabui and Chad's home to prepare dinner.
Calling it a home was being modest. Due to special circumstances, Chad had acquired a small complex, and Mabui had moved out of the apartment they once shared.
But they still kept the apartment and cleaned it regularly.
"So how's your training going?" Mabui asked Yugito while chopping vegetables they'd bought along the way.
"My fingers and legs are wrecked!" Yugito groaned as she helped slice thick meat with a santoku knife. "If Sensei weren't such an amazing medical ninja—and if I didn't have Matatabi's recovery—I think I'd already be crippled!"
She knew that some people who had tried to secretly imitate her training had ended up hospitalized, especially because they didn't understand how she actually trained and only copied the goals and methods arbitrarily.
"So, do you regret choosing my brother as your sensei instead of Killer B?"
"Never!" Yugito bowed her head. "I don't have to listen to his awful rap, I don't use swords, I get VIP passes to Kiyui's concerts, the councilors don't dare scheme behind my back as much anymore, and even though the training is brutal, the results speak for themselves."
Maybe Killer B would've kept the councilors in check too, but their fighting styles weren't even similar. How was that sunglasses-wearing guy with terrible musical taste supposed to train her?
Just because they were both perfect jinchūriki? That wasn't how it worked.
"Which techniques are you practicing now?"
"Finger Pistol and Lunar Step," Yugito replied while marinating the meat. "Sensei said I'm an agility-type kunoichi, so I should maximize that while refining my Fire Release for now."
Speed was power.
If she hadn't learned to reinforce her body with chakra—especially her fingers—and release small bursts of flame from the soles of her feet like wheels, she doubted she could even train these techniques, no matter how many times her sensei demonstrated them.
And he did it with his physical body alone.
"When people see you, they'll think you're fast but physically weak and try to close in," Chad had told her before training began. "Now imagine they rush you for close combat—and instead of retreating, you lunge forward and stab their heart or head with your finger. Especially with that claw-extension jutsu of yours."
Yugito could already picture it. Even if someone blocked her finger pistol with a tanto or kunai, it'd be metal on metal. And she could suddenly extend her claws—or fire a fireball from her fingertip, just like she'd been practicing.
She had plenty of fingers to choose from.
"It's also great for escaping," the jinchūriki added shamelessly. "Lots of people can chase someone running—but what if I run into the sky?"
She knew who she was and what was expected of her—but she also knew being captured could be even worse. Her sensei would never say she had to die for the village, so he made sure she knew how to run if things went bad.
Pride? Honor?
She was a kunoichi.
"Now that you mention it, didn't Kiyui have a concert tonight?" Mabui recalled.
"Yeah. They'd set up a stage for one of Killer B's rap concerts, but he was sent on an urgent mission and it was canceled two days beforehand," Yugito explained. "Since everything was ready, Sensei stepped in and gave her the stage."
Chad wasn't just Kiyui's squadmate—he was also her manager—so of course he wouldn't waste the opportunity.
"Hmm, the concert ends right around dinner. We should invite her," Mabui mused. "We should also see if we can find Samui, Atsui, and Hibui. The more, the better."
"I know where the siblings are," Yugito said, referring to Samui and Atsui. "I saw them returning from a mission this morning, so they should still be resting at home."
"Good. Go get them. I'll take care of Hibui," Mabui nodded. "I think I know where she might be."
Like Kiyui, Hibui was also part of Chad's permanent three-person squad. When no missions required them, they handled their own affairs.
Kiyui was a singer with a career spanning the Land of Lightning and beyond, gathering intelligence during tours and concerts. Hibui, despite her lazy appearance, excelled at business and politics, often traveling to the capital to apply her skills—ensuring funding for Chad and Kiyui beyond village allocations, which in turn benefited her as well.
"Should we invite Karui, Omoi, and Darui?" Yugito hesitated before asking.
Karui and Omoi were Killer B's apprentices, while Darui was the Raikage's right-hand man, holding authority comparable to Mabui's in different areas.
Mabui thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"My brother doesn't get along with Killer B. If we invite Karui and Omoi, he might think we're provoking him while he's out of the village," she replied. "As for Darui—if we run into him, we can invite him."
A casual invitation was better than a deliberate one with that type; otherwise, from what Mabui knew, he'd start inviting himself to meals.