Chapter 379: Sigh!
"Naruto finally found a wife; truly worth celebrating."
Orochimaru licked his lips and smiled. In truth, he didn't care about the romance; he was far more interested in whether Neji's power had been fully developed. That was the only thing useful to them.
Tobitake Tonbo chirped in, "Ha! I didn't expect you to care about that. Here's some even better news: my wife is pregnant again. When are you two 'single dogs' going to invite me to your wedding feasts?"
That's right—he was going to have another child. Now that Orochimaru had brought up the subject, what was happening with Neji didn't seem as important. This would be his fourth child. He had already achieved his goals for coming to this world; the rest was just about staying alive, nurturing his descendants, and providing them with a good environment.
"No... who said they wanted to know about you having kids?" Orochimaru was speechless. He had made a passing remark, and Tonbo had pounced on it. However, he had long since come to understand Tonbo's peculiar sense of humor.
Ignoring the topic, Orochimaru turned to Kabuto. "Collect the data. We need to start developing the other projects."
Kabuto replied, "Understood."
Kabuto followed Orochimaru's lead now, mainly because the man actually provided funding. Lately, the environment at the orphanage had improved drastically. He had hired many construction ninja to renovate the buildings and brought in various teachers to educate the children. He had even built a small playground for them. The children were finally eating nutritious food. He was deeply grateful to Lord Orochimaru. Since joining the R&D Department, the orphanage's development had taken off like a rocket.
That fellow Tobitake Tonbo really had an absurd amount of money.
"You two are so boring. While Neji's project is important, reproduction is vital for the human race," Tonbo complained. "Besides, experiencing a different kind of life through raising the next generation is much better than staying cooped up researching this or that. After all, all research is meant to solve the problems we encounter in life."
Two research addicts. They had even influenced his son with their habits; now Keigo only slept four or five hours a day, running out every morning to study his own projects. If the boy hadn't already mastered chakra, he'd probably have dropped dead from exhaustion by now, especially at such a young age.
Orochimaru said, "You don't understand me."
Kabuto added, "You don't understand Lord Orochimaru."
"What the hell? What have you two been doing behind my back?" Tonbo felt from their tone as if Orochimaru had actually gone and had a kid himself.
"I'll go pick up Neji. You guys chat." Kabuto hurried out of the lab.
Orochimaru silently opened a screen. An infant submerged in liquid appeared on the monitor. The baby's breathing was steady, as if it could breathe perfectly fine underwater. Data readouts flickered next to it.
"Department of Research and Development, Sector 5, Experimental Project: Clone." Tonbo read the words one by one. So it was in Sector 5; no wonder he didn't know. It was hidden incredibly well.
"Don't worry, this is a clone created using my own biological information," Orochimaru said with a proud smile. "Of course, I wouldn't create someone exactly like me. His genetic makeup includes other things—Hashirama's cells and some of the Otsutsuki physical data you're so good at. I added those in."
"He will be my child from now on. The process of nurturing life is also something worth researching."
"You're something else," Tonbo muttered, speechless. Asexual reproduction. Come to think of it, was the current Orochimaru male or female? He looked at Orochimaru with genuine curiosity.
"Neji is back. His chakra is over-exhausted; he probably hasn't adapted to those eyes yet, leading to inefficient use," Kabuto said as he helped Neji walk back in.
Orochimaru ignored Tonbo and rushed forward, using ninjutsu to place Neji on the diagnostic table. He began operating the machinery to start a full investigation. Neji didn't resist; he just lay there quietly.
"Power obtained suddenly is indeed easy to lose oneself in, just like Sasuke back in the day. Fortunately, Neji's talent is better than Sasuke's in certain aspects," Tonbo noted as he watched the data stream by.
In his perception, the neural responses he had left on Neji's body had vanished. Orochimaru had already found a way to crack his nerves and suppress them. Truly a formidable scientist.
Luckily, Tonbo's own development of Forced Execution had progressed further, reaching an atomic level of depth. He didn't believe Orochimaru's inventions could suppress him at that level. Aside from occasionally coming to the R&D Department to ask Orochimaru for data, he spent most of his time in Kaguya's Dimension, using the Urashiki data to decode Kaguya's body. He was making progress too.
Hokage's Office.
"What? Neji possesses that kind of power?" Hiashi Hyuga arrived, having been summoned by Kakashi. He was utterly shocked. Naruto, Hinata, and Hanabi were also present. It was hard to imagine Neji being capable of such high-intensity attacks. How had he done it?
Hanabi chirped, "Neji is so cool! Um... though I didn't actually see how cool he was." She had been asleep in Toneri's palace and had zero sense of participation—though, since her eyes were used by Toneri, she technically contributed.
Naruto said, "Yeah, Neji's power has already surpassed the Five Kage." He had seen it with his own eyes. It was incredible.
Hiashi smiled. "That is wonderful news." Now that the Hyuga clan had abolished the Caged Bird system, he felt relieved. Still, he was curious about how Neji gained such strength. "Where is Neji?"
Kakashi replied, "He went to the R&D Department. I heard Tonbo assigned him a top-secret mission a while ago. It seems that mission was related to Neji becoming stronger; they must have researched something truly extraordinary."
Lately, Tenten had been bothering him constantly, trying to get Neji released from his secret mission. It wasn't that Tenten didn't understand the importance of secrecy, but for two people in the middle of a passionate romance, the separation was agony.
"Human experimentation?" Hiashi immediately thought of this. The Director of the R&D Department was Orochimaru, after all.
Kakashi said, "With Tonbo watching, I'm at ease. Besides, the three elders of the R&D Department just solved the meteor problem."
The power shown by the three earlier had allowed him to see the potential of the Department—especially with Neji involved now. However, there was a problem. It seemed they had developed several technologies behind his back without reporting a single thing. He hadn't cared before because Tonbo was watching, but now that the people in the Department were undergoing such drastic changes, he had to demand an explanation.
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