"I'll make sure you find a suitable resting place," Tsunade said calmly to Hidan, who stood trapped inside the wooden cage.
"Bastard! Let me out right now, or Evil God will punish you!" Hidan shouted furiously, violently struggling within the cage.
As soon as his body touched the wooden bars, his chakra began rapidly draining away. Even the weapon he relied on couldn't cut through this prison.
The ground beneath the wooden cage started to sink as White Zetsu performed an Earth Release technique, sending the cage back toward the Palace of the Land of Hot Springs.
Soon after, Tsunade returned too.
"Truly impressive, Tsunade-sama. This technique isn't something you created yourself, is it?" Hiroki Hyuga joked lightheartedly.
"Just a simplification," Tsunade answered matter-of-factly.
Hiroki Hyuga turned his gaze toward Hidan.
That guy hadn't stopped cursing for even half a minute.
"Can we knock him out?"
"..."
"Forget it. Just proceed with our plan. Bring him along!"
Hiroki Hyuga and Tsunade stormed into Mount Shumisen.
Noisy commotion spread as numerous subordinates collapsed unconscious. A man with long white hair stepped out from one of the buildings, wearing a high-collared coat.
At the sight of him, memories flashed through Tsunade's mind.
"Shimon Hiruko?"
Shimon Hiruko glanced in her direction, equally stunned.
Without giving either of them a chance to reminisce, Hiroki strode directly toward the laboratory.
"Hey, stop right there!" Hiruko called out.
Tsunade ignored him completely, following Hiroki into the lab.
Inside the laboratory, numerous cylindrical containers were set up around the room, each filled with liquid and containing a person suspended inside.
Tsunade scowled, barely holding back the urge to smash them all.
Hiroki looked around curiously. "These are all ninja possessing bloodline legacies, right?"
Hiruko didn't answer. His eyes remained fixed on Tsunade, who stood leaning against a wall with arms crossed, expression ice cold.
A flicker of caution passed through Hiruko's gaze.
He recalled his student days. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't match Jiraiya, Tsunade, or Orochimaru. They were all shining stars, and he was just the green leaf beside them.
Driven by jealousy and insecurity, he secretly began studying forbidden techniques—just to prove he was better than them.
And because of that forbidden research, he became a rogue ninja.
In Hiruko's plans, once his forbidden techniques reached completion, defeating Tsunade and the others would be effortless.
Yet standing before them now, he still retained some sense of rationality and self-awareness.
"Hiruko, you're attempting bloodline fusions. But do you even understand which bloodline legacies are truly supreme? The Senju, Uchiha, Hyūga, Uzumaki, and Kaguya clans..."
Hiruko scoffed disdainfully. As if anyone wouldn't know that.
"If I fuse these bloodlines together, I shall become the greatest ninja in history."
"Oh? So even ninja from these prestigious bloodline families can still fall victim to greed."
While speaking, Hiruko kept stealing glances at Tsunade.
In his eyes, the real decision-maker between the two should be Tsunade. As for this Hyuga speaking now, he was merely playing the role of someone pretending to be important.
"You came all this way just to talk about this? Tsunade, this is forbidden human experimentation that goes against Konoha's Will of Fire."
Shimon Hiruko's tone carried a hint of mockery.
Heh, never thought I'd see the day when you elite types would come seeking my help.
A silent Tsunade stayed expressionless: "..."
"Shimon Hiruko, don't you want to see that most perfect masterpiece? Don't you desire the most perfect bloodline?"
"Do you think I'm the only madman in this world?" Shimon Hiruko said.
"That kind of thing is absolutely impossible to achieve. Even combining two bloodlines has never been successfully done, let alone all of them."
"I've heard that Konoha itself has conducted experiments related to the Senju bloodline, haven't you? Right, Tsunade?"
Tsunade looked away, clearly unwilling to respond.
"Hmph." Shimon Hiruko grunted discontentedly.
Hiroki Hyuga found himself slightly annoyed.
We're having a conversation here, yet you keep staring at Tsunade like always.
You've got some serious obsession going on.
Coughing lightly, he continued, "There's no such thing as an impossible task, only inappropriate test subjects."
Right after his words, a cage containing Hidan emerged from underground.
"This person possesses Immortal Body — no matter how many experiments you conduct on him or what kind of agents you inject into him, he won't die. He's the ideal test subject — perfect for testing any theory," Hiroki Hyuga introduced.
"Is he really immortal?"
"Feel free to test it yourself."
Shimon Hiruko paced back and forth, frowning in thought for a long while before muttering, "Perhaps it could work."
"Tsunade, let's make a deal. I can hand this person over to you, and also provide cells with Senju, Uchiha, Hyuga, Uzumaki, and Kaguya bloodlines. In return, if the final fusion bloodline succeeds, you must share the results with me."
"Deal." Smiling, Shimon Hiruko extended his hand.
But in his mind, he was thinking: Once I perfect the ultimate Kinjutsu and become the strongest being in the world, then no one — not Tsunade, not Jiraiya, not even someone like Orochimaru — will stand a chance against me. I'll conquer the Five Great Nations and unify the entire world. A promise means nothing. How naive...
Hiroki Hyuga shook hands with him.
As they left Mount Shumisen, Hiroki Hyuga couldn't resist teasing, "Tsunade, maybe he has a little crush on you."
"...We used to be comrades." After saying that, Tsunade's tone suddenly turned colder, apparently suppressing her displeasure. "Now he wants to extract Senju cells from me too?"
"Don't you remember? He mentioned Konoha itself has done experiments on Senju bloodline before. Even Hashirama Senju didn't die naturally."
If we need Senju cells, do we really have to go elsewhere? Doesn't White Zetsu already carry those cells?
Tsunade stayed quiet for quite a while, clearly wanting to drop this topic. She asked, "Giving him everything, are you not worried that Shimon Hiruko might break his promise?"
"He definitely will break his promise. To make someone submit willingly, you must defeat him at least once first. We haven't even done anything yet, yet things are going extremely smoothly."
"But I know he's a man with ambition. Once he achieves results, he won't be able to resist coming out to show off."
"That's our moment to move," Hiroki Hyuga said coolly.
"React? Beat him into submission? You never seem to consider the possibility of losing."
"If heaven collapses, won't the Five Great Nations still be holding it up? Hiruko's hypothetical enemy has never been me. He'll certainly choose experts from the Five Great Nations as his opponents."
"If they end up both severely injured or he gets critically wounded, that'll be just perfect. If he dies, I'll also find a way to drag him back from the Pure Land (Buddhist paradise)."
Tsunade thought about it for a while, but just couldn't wrap her head around it.
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