In reality, Hagoromo should absolutely not be allowed to come into contact with infants under six months old... or even children under six years old, for that matter.
While there are no absolutes in this world, this particular matter was a hard absolute.
Because he was indeed very "dangerous" in every sense of the word.
If the medical staff taking care of the twins, or the Anbu guarding Naruto, could see exactly what was happening, they would genuinely kick this guy out of the hospital.
Operating on the philosophy that "education must start from the cradle" and "one must win at the starting line," Hagoromo had already put his "nurturing" of the two infants into action.
He was...
Shocking the babies.
Actual electrical shocks, without any ambiguity.
Truth be told, Naruto was partly to blame for this. Inspired by their very first meeting, Hagoromo had a sudden flash of insight—or perhaps a short circuit in his brain—and began to wonder if shocking the babies would help enhance their physical constitutions.
To this end, he dug up a ton of theoretical basis and even had a discussion with a renowned scientist. Gradually, he figured out a tangible possibility (or so he believed).
Subsequently, he began using micro-currents to stimulate the infants' bodies. According to Hagoromo's logic, premature babies had weaker constitutions. Considering both of them were going to be ninjas when they grew up, they needed careful "maintenance" from a young age... He called his actions "maintenance," but according to the Konoha Women and Children Protection Foundation, this would absolutely be classified as severe abuse, and undeniably the choice of a complete moron.
However, to avoid unnecessary trouble, Hagoromo did this very stealthily. After all, if the Anbu or the Hokage found out he was electrocuting the Jinchuriki every single day, what would they think? That he was trying to build a Tesla Coil out of a baby?
In short, with utmost secrecy, Hagoromo persisted in giving them a little shock every day, keeping the dosage appropriate. Once his rampage had fully subsided and his control over his abilities returned, performing micro-manipulation of electrical currents was no problem for him at all.
It was just a pity that the fundamental technological environment here restricted his capabilities. Otherwise, he could have hacked into an enemy nation's central processors in minutes.
His excuse was "everything for the kids," but... ultimately, he really shouldn't have been allowed near babies. Kushina had made a terrible mistake.
But these two kids—with Naruto leading the charge—were surprisingly resilient. As it gradually became a habit, they would actually get cranky if they didn't get their daily shock.
Amidst his daily routine of eating, sleeping, and electrocuting the twins, Hagoromo's own injuries gradually healed.
During this period, Danzo also finalized his handling of the Uchiha. He ultimately didn't dare make any massive moves; he merely concentrated the Uchiha in one specific area and fenced them in.
By nature, the Uchiha clan liked to stick together anyway, but choosing to huddle up voluntarily versus being forcibly corralled felt completely different. Danzo forced them together purely for the convenience of surveillance. For the proud and arrogant red-eyed clan, how could they possibly tolerate this?
Well... they actually did tolerate it, though resentment was constantly breeding.
But Danzo had to stop there; he couldn't take any further measures.
If it were just the Konoha Military Police Force clashing head-on with Root, without Shisui Uchiha in the picture, Root would likely be suppressed. If Shisui joined his clan's side, Root would be completely wiped out.
But the tragic reality for the Uchiha was that aside from their own clan, the rest of Konoha was united on the other side. If they made a move, their enemies wouldn't just be Root. Even powerhouses like Hagoromo would be classified as enemies... Therefore, as strong as the Uchiha were, they had to swallow their pride and endure for now.
In short, when external threats fade, internal strife rises. The current atmosphere in Konoha felt like every faction was quietly brewing conspiracies, waiting to see who could outlast who.
Although Hagoromo was a freak, by birth, he was just an ordinary ninja. Matters like ninja sects and political conspiracies shouldn't have involved him. However, as a ninja, one word could connect all irrelevancies together:
"Mission."
After several months of recuperation, Hagoromo finally revived from his mummy state. But when the bandages were removed, the various medical ninjas who had organized expert consultations for him were completely dumbfounded.
Are you kidding me? Weren't you supposed to be disfigured? You were electrocuted by your own jutsu and nearly blown to bits... We'd count it as a win for modern medicine if you weren't horribly mangled, but how on earth do you not even have a single scar?!
His unscientific recovery immediately made a certain medical ninja question their entire life, furiously feeling that the patient didn't respect pathology at all and threatening to resign. Others felt their skills were inadequate and wanted to go back to medical school. Still others expressed a desire to just change their surnames to Kamishiro... At this rate, the Kamishiro name could rapidly expand into a major clan.
But the humble Hagoromo stated that he didn't need that many clan members...
Ahem... For a ninja like Hagoromo, as long as he could move, he basically had work to do, even though he didn't want to work at all.
Ninjas had a high income, but having too much money was actually useless to them. Executing missions wasn't so much for the profit, but rather a "have-to" driven by orders.
Hagoromo was just tagged along for this particular mission. He was idle anyway, doing nothing but raising kids... Actually, he wasn't even the one raising them. The Uzumaki siblings were being well taken care of in the hospital; he just went to look at them every day, and then shocked them.
Sometimes when he saw them cry, he felt completely at a loss. Sometimes when he saw them laugh, he felt equally at a loss.
"The reason for gathering everyone today is very simple. I believe you've all heard the rumors: Konoha has recently experienced a frequent series of ninja disappearances..."
The Third Hokage addressed the assembled ninjas before him.
This was a collective investigation mission. Hagoromo was truly just tagging along, though the surrounding ninjas clearly looked at him with a different kind of respect.
After the Fourth's passing, the Third had reclaimed full authority as Hokage, but no matter how you looked at him, he gave off a profound sense of exhaustion. The Third Hokage was aging rapidly... Overall, with the war now drawing to a close, Konoha could no longer present that feeling of top-to-bottom unity. The various underlying issues that had been suppressed by the war were gradually coming to the forefront.
The problems the Hokage needed to worry about were a tangled, endless mess.
"Although we have already deployed a large number of Anbu to investigate, we have yet to find any clues. Therefore, we require everyone's assistance in this investigation."
Hiding in the back of the crowd, Hagoromo instantly understood exactly who was behind this just from hearing the premise.
Missing people? You couldn't go wrong pinning it on Orochimaru.
The answer to this problem seemed very simple, but that was only to Hagoromo, because in his memories, Orochimaru was exactly the kind of guy who loved conducting human experiments.
This didn't mean the Hokage and the rest of Konoha were stupid; in reality, Hagoromo's perception was the one that was skewed.
His impression of Orochimaru came from the latter's image as a villainous boss. But the current Orochimaru was still one of the highly respected Sannin of Konoha. He was cold and obsessed with ninjutsu, but that fanatical mania for pushing the limits of forbidden jutsu hadn't been fully exposed yet.
Or rather, it was still being perfectly hidden by him.
To put it bluntly, what Orochimaru pursued wasn't immortality itself, but rather endless ninjutsu. It's just that researching those forbidden jutsu required a vast amount of time, and a single human lifespan was far from enough.
It was just a pity that anyone overly obsessed with something always experiences moments of impatience for quick success. This seemed to be a universal law.
And so, Orochimaru had targeted his fellow village ninjas.
To Hagoromo, this matter was incredibly simple. All he had to do was raise his hand right now and say, 'Report, Sensei, I know exactly who shoved the firecracker under your seat,' and this mission would be over.
However, he wasn't going to do that.
To him, Orochimaru was a very useful person... Extremely useful.
After receiving the mission, why would Hagoromo bother with any investigation? He would just go find Orochimaru directly.
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