Since Itachi informed Hiruzen that Shura and Hikari had visited Fugaku, nothing major has happened.
After Itachi joined the Anbu, Kakashi was mainly responsible for leading his actions. He would also monitor the Uchiha Clan, and any radical voices within the clan would be reported to Hiruzen.
Although Shisui had lost one of his Mangekyo Sharingan, he remained an Elite Jonin. Moreover, because he was more inclined to ease the tensions between the village and the Uchiha Clan compared to other Uchiha Clan's members, Fugaku increasingly valued him.
Days passed like this, with Menma frequently traveling between Konoha and the Land of Stars, occasionally hanging out with Naruto and Hinata.
However, he learned something from Hinata, that her mother seemed to be pregnant again.
It seemed that because Hinata's dual personality was unstable, Hiashi was concerned. Additionally, after the Hyuga Clan's main family's elders had their eyes taken by Shura, they had mostly retired, leaving the Hyuga Clan's main family in low spirits.
As a result, Hiashi decided to have another child, hoping for a boy. If the child turned out to be a boy with a good personality, he could inherit the position of the Hyuga Clan's head.
Little Hinata didn't understand these things, but Big Sis Hinata knew very well. Although she had a younger sister, Hanabi, in the Limited Tsukuyomi World, she still felt somewhat unhappy about it.
…
Today, Menma was conducting various experiments in the capital of the Land of Stars, as usual.
"Alright, it's very stable now. From now on, you can move around the capital's vicinity. But if you experience any discomfort, remember to tell me immediately." Menma said, wearing a white lab coat and a white mask, as he put away the testing equipment in the medical lab.
"Thank you, sir!" Gotta got up from the hospital bed, happily buttoning up his shirt.
After nearly half a year of experiments, Gotta, who had been injected with the bloodline gene-regulating serum, showed stable physical traits. Menma decided to let him walk under sunlight.
"Wait another six months, then select three more clansmen to inject with the bloodline gene-regulating serum." Menma took off his mask and said to Gotta, "No need to rush and take your time. At this rate, in a few more years, your entire clan should be able to walk under the sun."
"The Iburi Clan pledges eternal loyalty to you, Shura-sama!" Gotta exclaimed emotionally, kneeling on the ground.
After sending Gotta away, Menma changed out of his lab coat and headed to Kanon's house.
Now, Kanon's home had become something of a daycare center.
Apart from Karin, Kimimaro and Haku also lived there, all taken care of by Kanon.
Before Menma could even get close, he noticed a thick mist surrounding Kanon's house.
Soon, he spotted Kimimaro and Haku engaged in a combat drill within the mist.
Meanwhile, Karin sat on the engawa, munching on snacks while curiously watching the sparks flying within the fog.
Though she didn't have the Byakugan, she could vaguely make out some silhouettes.
"Ah! Menma-nii-chan!" Karin called out enthusiastically when she noticed someone appearing beside her.
Kimimaro and Haku, who had been sparring in the yard, also stopped.
As the mist dissipated, Kimimaro walked out, his body covered in bones like a little porcupine, with several senbon sticking out of him. His pale skin paired with Byakugan gave him a somewhat eerie appearance.
"Menma-sama." Kimimaro still preferred to address Menma this way, seeing him as someone to pledge his life and loyalty to.
Haku also approached and bowed slightly to Menma in greeting.
Though the two were only five or six years old, they already possessed Chunin-level strength. Their mastery of their Kekkei Genkai and Ninjutsu was remarkably proficient.
After receiving a pair of Byakugan, Kimimaro's genetic illness had been alleviated. With his Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai, his combat power had skyrocketed, leaving Haku to serve mostly as his training partner,
Menma considered that Kimimaro might benefit from training under Hikari and Kakuzu.
The former was the strongest Ninja under his command, while the latter, having lived for seventy or eighty years, had encountered countless Ninjutsu and Kekkei Genkai, making him an excellent teacher for Kimimaro.
"Where's Kanon?" Menma asked when he didn't see Kanon.
"Mom's still at work." Karin said, offering him her bag of potato chips.
Menma took a chip and said to the three kids, "Have fun and cherish this time. You'll be starting school next year."
The education system in the Land of Stars had been running for over half a year, and the first batch of children with Ninja Talent, about thirty in total, had been selected from across the country. Their ages ranged from five or six to sixteen, and they were all enrolled in the capital's Ninja Academy for training.
Menma, seeing that Kimimaro and Haku had improved significantly, decided to send them, along with Karin, who would turn five next year, to the Ninja Academy as well.
"Nooo! I don't want to go to school!" Karin wailed, instinctively resisting the idea.
Kimimaro and Haku watched as the little girl clung to Menma's leg, both smiling gently. They adored their little sister and cherished their current lives dearly.
"Be good." Menma patted Kanon's head reassuringly.
In the evening, Kanon returned home from work, bringing groceries to prepare a lavish dinner. She also handed Menma a letter.
"Menma-sama, this is a confidential message from Orochimaru."
"Oh?" Menma took the letter. It bore no intricate designs, just a few concise lines and a familiar snake seal.
Upon opening it, he found sparse yet startling information.
Orochimaru had made a breakthrough in the cloning technology and had 'two interesting things' he wanted Shura to examine.
The wording carried Orochimaru's trademark eerie confidence.
Menma's lips curled into an amused smirk, "Well, it's been half a year since we last met in Kirigakure. It's indeed about time Orochimaru came up with something new."
He had always been intrigued by Orochimaru's research, and the mention of 'two interesting things' piqued his interest further. After all, in this era, no one else had pushed the fusion of science and Ninjutsu to such extremes.
…
The next day.
When Menma arrived at Orochimaru's base in the Land of Rice Fields as Shura once again, the once-small village now bore the plaque of Otogakure.
A perimeter wall had also been erected around the village, and two Ninjas wearing Otogakure's forehead protector stood guard at the entrance.
Menma had no interest in playing games with these small fries.
His figure flickered like a ghost along the edges of Otogakure, avoiding all patrols and surveillance, heading straight for Orochimaru's secret underground base.
As soon as he entered the vast and complex underground labyrinth, the air was thick with the stench of disinfectant, blood, and an indescribable rot, mixed with the unique aura of Chakra experiments, that sent chills down one's spine.
Menma passed through heavy stone doors reinforced with Sealing Techniques before finally arriving at a spacious laboratory.
In the center of the lab, Orochimaru's tall figure stood with his back turned, busy among countless cultivation tanks and experimental equipment.
Dressed in a white lab coat, his long black hair draped over his shoulders, the purple rope tied around his waist, and those cold, snake-like vertical pupils… everything about him was so familiar, reminding Menma of Orochimaru's appearance during the Konoha Crush.
Hearing the footsteps, Orochimaru slowly turned around, an unfathomable smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.
"Welcome, Shura." Orochimaru's voice was hoarse and low, carrying a unique, hypnotic allure.
Menma wasted no time on pleasantries. He strode straight up to Orochimaru, his sharp eyes scanning the surrounding experiment tables.
Several cultivation tanks held all sorts of bizarrely shaped tissues, but none contained what he was looking for.
"I'm only interested in things of value, Orochimaru." Menma's tone was calm, yet it carried an undeniable authority.
"Of course." Orochimaru licked his lips, the motion laced with excitement and a sinister grin.
He led Menma to a row of glass cultivation chambers. Inside, the liquid was a pale green, bubbles continuously rising, and suspended in the center were pairs of crimson eyeballs, faintly bearing the pattern of tomoe.
"Sharingan?" Menma's pupils contracted slightly.
Though these eyeballs were still in the cultivation stage, the clearly visible One-Tomoe pattern and the unique Yin Attribute Chakra's fluctuations confirmed their identity.
"Correct. These are the results of my latest research… cloned Sharingan," Orochimaru's voice carried a trace of barely concealed pride. Though he couldn't see the expression beneath Shura's mask, he imagined it must be one of shock.
Orochimaru was quite satisfied with his research, but that pride soon turned to regret, "However, at this stage, we can only replicate One-Tomoe Sharingan. Two-Tomoe, or even Three-Tomoe, requires deeper genetic modification and Chakra compatibility studies. It involves far more intricate research into Yin Attribute Chakra than initially anticipated."
Orochimaru picked up a One-Tomoe Sharingan between his index finger and thumb, holding it up toward Shura.
The eyeball glowed an eerie red under the light, the one tomoe clearly visible, as if it might start spinning at any moment.
"Even if they're only One-Tomoe, being able to mass-produce them on a small scale is already a qualitative leap." Menma praised.
'Truly, as expected of Auntie Snake.'
Combined with the Kekkei Genkai activation technique he had mastered, Menma could create an army capable of utilizing the basic abilities of the Sharingan.
This would undoubtedly be a massive addition to the power system of the Land of Stars.
'If the Sharingan could be cloned, what about the Byakugan? The Akaigan? Or even the Ketsuryugan?'
These Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai belonged to only four clans in the entire Ninja World, with the Akaigan-wielding Red-Eyed Clan and the Ketsuryugan-wielding Chinoike clan having dwindled to single-digit numbers.
Just imagining the Land of Stars deploying large numbers of Sharingan, Byakugan, and Akaigan's users in a few years made Menma eager to see the reactions of the other villages.
'Oh, right… where was the Chinoike Clan again?' Menma couldn't quite remember, 'Was it from a Movie or one of Sasuke's novels?'
"With these ten pairs of One-Tomoe Sharingan, you should be able to accomplish quite a bit. Of course, as part of the deal, you'll need to provide me with some live samples of the Uchiha, particularly cell tissue from Ninja with powerful Dojutsu." Orochimaru's sharp gaze bore into Shura's white three-eyed fox mask, as if trying to peer into his thoughts.
The mask revealed nothing of Shura's expression. A cold voice emerged from beneath it: "Is this what you call a 'major breakthrough'?"
Orochimaru smirked mysteriously, "This is merely the appetizer. The truly exciting part is over there."
He turned and led Shura to another laboratory.
Inside the new lab, a boy around ten years old lay quietly on an experiment table, connected to several thin Chakra conduits. The boy had delicate features, pale skin, and tightly shut eyes… as if he were merely asleep.
"His name is Shin. A… very special test subject." Orochimaru's voice lowered slightly, carrying an almost fanatical excitement, his tongue even flicking out unconsciously.
"Shin?" The name triggered a memory in Menma.
'If I recall correctly, wasn't this guy a villain or something?'
Orochimaru continued his introduction, "I found him by chance. His body possesses an almost perfect biological adaptability, and no matter what organ or Kekkei Genkai is transplanted into him, there is absolutely no rejection. I've experimented with implanting cells from various Kekkei Genkai into his body, and the results were astounding. He's like a living... perfect vessel capable of bearing anything."
As Orochimaru explained, Menma finally remembered.
'Uchiha Shin.'
'One of Orochimaru's former test subjects. Later, after Orochimaru transplanted Sharingan onto his arms and traded them to Danzo, Shin led a group of clones and defected.'
'In the spin-off short and Boruto, he appeared as a villain, dressed in Akatsuki's robes, his body covered in transplanted Sharingan like some kind of 'Hundred-Eyed Demon'.'
'He called himself Orochimaru's disciple, was obsessively infatuated with Itachi, and even changed his surname to Uchiha.'
'Judging by Orochimaru's deal with Danzo, where Shin's arm, embedded with multiple Three-Tomoe Sharingan, was traded, it was likely that Shin defected after the Uchiha Clan Massacre.'
Though Menma wasn't exactly shocked, Shin still lived up to Orochimaru's claim of a 'major breakthrough'… and was worth the trip.
'If we could obtain his flesh and blood for research, then fuse it with Hashirama's cells and White Zetsu's cells to mass-produce clones-'
'Wait!'
'The Chimera Technique!'
'What if we used Shin's tissue, or his clones, as the base for Chimera Technique?!'
The thought made Menma's anticipation grow.
Uchiha Shin was practically a perfect 'human laboratory'.
"Right now, he's just a child, not yet fully matured. But his potential... is limitless." Seeing that Shura was still unmoved, Orochimaru licked his lips again, his eyes gleaming with greed.
"With him, many previously impossible experiments will become feasible. For example—developing a perfect fusion of Hashirama's cells and White Zetsu's cells as experimental vessels! Of course, all of this will take time."
Menma stepped closer to the experiment table, carefully observing Shin, whose eyes were tightly shut.
Using his Mind's Eye of the Kagura, he sensed the unique vitality within Shin's body and the immense potential hidden deep within his cells.
'This body... was practically made for all the Kekkei Genkai and forbidden techniques of the Ninja World. It was the perfect material for Kekkei Mora!'
"So, what's the price?" Shura's white three-eyed fox mask tilted slightly as he turned to Orochimaru, his voice low.
He knew Orochimaru wouldn't reveal Shin without wanting something significant in return.
'Since I'd already taken advantage of Orochimaru several times before, maybe it was time to give him a little reward.'