Outside the former weapons shop turned factory in the Uchiha Clan Compound.
"Thirteen seconds!"
Orochimaru's eyes widened in disbelief. In just thirteen seconds, they'd gone from Ichiraku Ramen at the edge of the village to the heart of the Uchiha compound.
"It's the Second Young Master! Back to check on things today?" One of the background blacksmiths, carrying iron ore into the factory, called out when he saw Shen.
"Yeah, how's today's progress?" Shen asked urgently.
"Just finished the last component. The assembly line is still under construction."
"All right, tell everyone to come back tomorrow." After giving his instructions, Shen led a disheveled Orochimaru—his hair messy and clothes wrinkled—into the factory.
Only after entering did the excited scientist Orochimaru snap out of his shock. "Shen, exactly how did you get here in thirteen seconds?"
"That? It's a chakra mode I came up with."
"Explain how it functions."
Seeing the other man's eager expression, Shen knew Orochimaru's scientific side was fully engaged again. If he didn't explain, he'd probably be pestered endlessly.
Anyway, the principle was simple. Even if it got out, it wouldn't really matter much. Without supernatural calculation abilities or compatible elemental chakra traits, others would find it nearly impossible to replicate. With that in mind, and determined to keep pushing forward with his "kidnapping" plan, Shen decided to share some details generously.
"Transform your chakra's nature first, then inject it into your cells. Once the chakra fills them, you can activate the mode. As for the side effects, those can be neutralized by injecting opposing element chakra at the edges of the cells..."
"So simple? What a brilliant idea!"
Satisfied with the explanation, Orochimaru stopped asking further questions—it wasn't why he came here in the first place.
"Then let me help assemble everything."
After leading Orochimaru to the warehouse with stored components, Shen started assembling each part meticulously.
"!!!"
Orochimaru was stunned as he watched Shen work without hesitation or error. Flipping through the scroll in his hand and carefully checking against it, he couldn't find a single mistake.
"This... This is still human? How can someone assemble so many intricate parts so quickly? Even if he created this himself, there's no way every step could be flawless!" Clearly, Orochimaru—who was now deep in thought—had already stopped seeing Shen as an ordinary person.
If Shen ever found out someone had finally stopped seeing him as human, he'd be thrilled. That was actually one of the reasons he had been stirring up trouble lately.
"There we go. Snake Uncle, come have a look!" Shen said to Orochimaru after sealing fire and wind attribute chakra into a custom scroll made by Nekobaa.
Nekobaa—that didn't sound right anymore. She prefers to be called Cat Sister now. Cat Sister had once owned the weapons shop. Kazushi had promised her a spot on the commercial street in exchange for the store, which was later converted into a factory for Shen.
Pushing these thoughts aside for now, Orochimaru walked straight to the plain-looking, unattractive washing machine and shared his opinion. "Ugly design, Shen. Couldn't you make its appearance at least somewhat attractive?"
"This is just a prototype, and machines are meant for use—the exterior doesn't matter!"
Shen said that out loud, but secretly he was already planning to design something stylish and high-end looking—the kind that could specifically target and cash in on the wealthy families of Konoha!
"You're absolutely right! Appearance isn't that important!" Orochimaru mused over this seemingly philosophical statement.
If Shen had known beforehand that this would be exactly why all the things designed by Orochimaru in the future looked so ugly, he would definitely regret saying those words.
Since the prototype washing machine didn't contain any circuit boards inside, it used specially made paper from Cat Sister to display the operation mode. The internal chakra transmission wires were made using the same technique as sealing scrolls, which was also a choice made in preparation for future improvements once large-scale power stations were built.
After connecting the water pipe and ensuring it was sealed properly, Shen placed his "Uchiha coat," now covered in quite a bit of dust, into the washing machine. Then he pressed the switch and selected the quick wash cycle.
"Now it's time to witness the miracle!" Shen dramatically spread his arms wide, signaling Orochimaru to come closer for observation.
"Are you serious? This actually works!"
"Of course! Although the prototype is rough and rather noisy, at this very moment, the first fully automatic washing machine in the ninja world has just been born!" announced the great scientist Shen proudly.
The successfully activated prototype proved the possibility of replacing electricity with chakra. Therefore, all those electrical appliances from his past life—he could bring them to life someday, if he had the time.
"!!!"
Orochimaru was extremely excited at this moment. Reality had proven the correctness of his theory, and more importantly, this breakthrough could extend to many other types of machines—like heating meals? Cooling drinks? Even transmitting images? He had so many ideas he wanted to bring to life, until Shen handed him several scrolls.
"Shen, what are these?"
"They're microwave ovens and refrigerators, but since both require simultaneous usage of two different chakra natures, I haven't figured out much about them yet. And the last one is a TV; that's the most complicated among them. Right now, I still haven't figured out how to transmit signals at all."
"???"
Orochimaru was now totally clueless too. Just moments ago he had been pleased with his own new ideas, but now he felt totally deflated.
"How does his brain even work? Scientists and ninjas have nothing to do with each other!" Internally raging, Orochimaru began having difficulty understanding this world.
"Snake Uncle, do you have any ideas?"
Stunned and unable to respond verbally, Orochimaru shook his head without even bothering to object to being called 'Snake Uncle'.
"What should we do then? I honestly don't have a solid idea right now," Shen said, gently nudging Orochimaru toward thinking.
"I've got an idea: using two copper wires to transmit chakra separately should work," said Orochimaru, his voice slightly trembling as he offered his suggestion.
"But if we don't shield the chakra lines from each other, they'll easily interfere," Shen questioned while reminding the other person. He really didn't have time to test every material available in the Naruto world to see if they could insulate chakra. Right now, after throwing out this bait, he was just waiting for the other to take the hook.
"I've got it! What if we wrap the copper wires up? This way, stability can be maintained while preventing chakra interference."
Orochimaru excitedly presented his solution.
Shen smiled upon seeing the other bite: "Then what material should we choose? There aren't many things that can insulate against chakra interference, and I still have many ninjutsu techniques needing improvement."
"Material?" Orochimaru didn't even register the second half of Shen's words.
In Orochimaru's opinion, improving ninjutsu was merely about increasing its power. This couldn't compare to the washing machine before him—something outwardly ugly yet hiding inner beauty within. Machines will always be a man's greatest romance, no matter what world they come from.
"How about this, Snake Uncle," Shen pulled out his long-planned offer. "Uchiha Corporation's R&D department still lacks a chief consultant. Why don't we hire you for the position?"
Only now did Orochimaru realize this had all been a setup—an elaborate trap set by a mere child.
But for someone like him—a science fanatic—it was a trap worth stepping into anyway. Without much thought, he almost immediately agreed: "No problem. I accept."
Two pairs of eyes—one old, one young—met each other's gaze. In perfect unison, they extended their hands and shook.
"Looking forward to our cooperation!"
"Same here!"
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