At the school gate, Yamanaka Ino cheerfully bid farewell to Shishou.
"It's winter now, and school won't start again until two months later, in the new year."
"Yeah, see you next year."
Shishou waved goodbye to Ino as well.
Seeing Ino leave, Hyuga Hinata hurried forward, looking at Shishou nervously. Before she could speak, her face had already turned red, blushing deeply.
"Shishou-kun, see you next year."
After saying this, Hinata ran away with a red face, her heart pounding.
If she didn't run, she feared she might faint again like she did yesterday.
That would be too embarrassing.
"I don't bite. Why is she running so fast?"
Watching Hinata run off, Shishou couldn't help but laugh.
"Shishou, aren't you coming to our house this year?"
After everyone else had left, Aburame Shino approached Shishou and asked.
Although Shishou was nominally adopted by Shino's father, he mostly lived on his own and rarely visited Shino's house.
"Yeah, I'm busy studying ninjutsu and really don't like crowded places. I believe you understand how I feel."
Shishou patted Shino on the shoulder, explaining.
"Yes, I understand."
Shino, who also disliked crowded places, nodded in understanding.
"Say hello to your father for me."
"Okay."
...
Back home.
Shishou sat at his desk, took out paper and pen, and began planning his future activities.
"The animals in the Forest of Death have almost all been influenced by me. If I continue, it will attract Konoha's attention. I need to find another place to cultivate my destructive bugs."
"Although I've already awakened my Mangekyo Sharingan, I still have issues using ocular genjutsu. This is because my basic knowledge of genjutsu is too poor, so I need to find a teacher to learn from properly."
"At the same time, the search for Hashirama cells needs to be prioritized. Otherwise, these eyes won't last long."
"I also need to start looking for a sensory technique to pair with the Flying Thunder God technique, otherwise, I can't utilize its full power."
"I need to find ways to further increase my chakra reserves..."
"I also need to attempt to control some mineral resources in Fire Source City..."
"I need to find ways to further increase Mikoto's and the others' chakra reserves as well..."
Shishou kept pondering these issues, writing and drawing on the paper.
Half an hour later, Shishou slumped in his chair and sighed.
"Sigh~"
"So many things to do."
He casually burned the paper he had just written on, walked to the window, and stared at the sun, lost in thought.
"However, to obtain the Kekkei Genkai and become an immortal like Kaguya, all of this is necessary."
Since the day he acquired the system, Shishou had set his sights on becoming an immortal like the lunar goddess, Kaguya.
After the paper burned to ashes, Shishou used the Flying Thunder God technique and disappeared from his spot.
...
Forest of Death.
Danzo's newly established experimental base.
"Lord Danzo, the experiment failed again."
"All subjects have died."
In an office, Aburame Ryoma reported to Shimura Danzo.
"What went wrong?"
Danzo's face showed no emotion as he inquired about the reason for the experiment's failure.
He had no emotional attachment to the deceased subjects.
They were just tools, after all.
Tools didn't warrant emotional investment.
"The original experimental data was mostly taken by Orochimaru."
"Trying to replicate the process now will be very difficult."
Hearing Ryoma's words, Danzo frowned and remained silent.
Back then, he and Orochimaru conducted the Hashirama cell transplantation experiments together, but Orochimaru carried out most of the work, and Danzo wasn't heavily involved.
Although Danzo successfully transplanted a Sharingan-implanted arm to suppress the Hashirama cells,
his understanding of the cells was limited.
This wasn't much help in restarting the Wood Release experiments.
Without successfully transplanting Hashirama cells, Danzo couldn't defeat the powerful Sarutobi Hiruzen and claim the Hokage seat.
Moreover, Konoha's higher-ups were already aware of his Kotoamatsukami in his right eye, ensuring he had no opportunity to use it.
Besides, Danzo planned to use Kotoamatsukami to control the heads of various ninja clans after becoming Hokage.
He wouldn't use it unless absolutely necessary.
"Orochimaru, huh."
Danzo regretted not keeping in touch with 'Orochimaru' during their last encounter.
"Orochimaru, huh."
In the shadows of the experimental base, Shishou sighed as he listened through his destructive bugs.
During their last face-off, he had attached a few bugs to Danzo and ordered them to go dormant, planning to track Danzo.
He intended to steal or deceive Danzo's research once it succeeded.
Unexpectedly, Danzo got stuck at the first step.
"Danzo, you old dog, are you up to this or not?"
Shishou cursed inwardly.
"But it's not entirely useless."
Shishou withdrew his focus from Danzo and quietly headed towards the underground laboratory.
The failed experimental subjects were all discarded in a deep pit at the base's lowest point.
Although they failed, these subjects still contained some Hashirama cells and a lot of energy.
By having his bugs devour these corpses, Shishou might gain some of Hashirama's power through feedback.
Even if he didn't gain Hashirama's power,
he would at least obtain some chakra, which was beneficial.
An hour later.
In the Forest of Death.
"As expected, nothing happened."
"I should have used this energy to breed more bugs."
After sensing no change within himself,
Shishou sighed. Last time, he had devoured and fed back from two to three hundred Uchiha clan members to gain the Uchiha bloodline and awaken the Sharingan.
This time, he had only devoured ten experimental subjects with a bit of Hashirama cells, so it was unlikely to gain Hashirama's power.
With Danzo's failure, if Shishou wanted to obtain Hashirama cells,
he had to seek out Orochimaru or Uchiha Obito.
However, Obito's Kamui was too troublesome, and he wouldn't share the Hashirama cell transplantation technique.
That left Orochimaru as Shishou's only option.
As for snatching some Hashirama cells from Danzo?
Shishou hadn't even considered it.
Even though he had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, the success rate of transplantation was higher than others, but he wouldn't take that risk.
Since there was a safe way to obtain Hashirama's power,
Shishou wouldn't take unnecessary risks.
"Forget it, let's do something else first."
Shishou sighed and disappeared from the spot.