Ren felt like he was having a beautiful dream.
In the dream, he lay on something soft like a sponge, rolling back and forth…
Vaguely, he also dreamed of a beautiful woman. That boundless softness made him linger, unwilling to leave.
He didn't want to wake up from such a pleasant dream.
But no matter how wonderful a dream was—
It always had to end.
"Ugh…"
When Ren slowly opened his eyes,
His whole body felt sore.
Then—
The first thing he saw were two enormous mountains.
Above the mountains was a pretty face, flushed with anger.
She glared at him with embarrassment and irritation.
"Brat… have you rubbed enough?"
"Tsunade-nee?"
Ren's eyes widened.
For a moment, he was completely stunned before fully waking up.
"Bang!"
The next second—
His entire body flew through the air and slammed into the wall.
Meanwhile, Tsunade stood there with a blush on her face, grinding her teeth.
Her right hand was still in the posture of having flicked him.
"Little pervert…"
She glared at Ren, who was lying there looking dusty and miserable.
"You forget the pain once the wound heals. Even in your sleep you can't behave!"
"Huh?"
Ren blinked blankly.
His gaze subconsciously drifted downward.
The heavy pendants looked incomparably majestic.
But very quickly—
Feeling someone's burning glare—
Ren suddenly felt a chill.
Realizing what had happened,
He quietly wiped the suspicious droplet from the corner of his mouth.
Scratching his head as if nothing had happened, he said,
"Tsunade-nee, what happened?"
Inside, however—
He couldn't help savoring the memory.
That had been 100% natural… completely additive-free!
"Ren, you're finally awake!"
At that moment,
Shizune walked in from outside.
The pink pig followed at her feet.
Tonton rubbed against him worriedly.
"Ton~ Ton~"
"I'm fine. I just used up too much chakra yesterday and fainted."
Ren patted Tonton's head.
Thinking back to yesterday, he confirmed that he had indeed collapsed from exhaustion.
"When we came back and saw you lying there covered in blood, you scared us half to death…"
Shizune placed a hand on her chest, still shaken.
"Lady Tsunade's hemophobia even flared up!"
"Tsunade-nee's hemophobia?"
Ren looked at Tsunade.
"It's nothing. Although I was frightened at the time, it ended up curing itself."
Tsunade finished adjusting her clothes and walked over.
She glared at Ren irritably but didn't mention his earlier misconduct.
Her eyes fixed on him with a serious expression.
"Now tell me—what happened yesterday?"
"Who injured you like that?"
"And why do your wounds carry the traces of Monster Strength Fist?"
"Uh…"
Ren scratched his head awkwardly.
"You misunderstood. No one attacked me. I injured myself."
He hadn't expected that he would trigger Tsunade's hemophobia because of this.
And judging by what Shizune said—
The hemophobia that even Tsunade, the greatest medical ninja, couldn't cure had somehow been miraculously healed?
"You injured yourself?"
Tsunade and Shizune both froze.
Tsunade clenched her fist and glared fiercely.
"Explain. What exactly happened?"
"I was training my taijutsu by having my wood clones fight me using only taijutsu. So… I ended up getting beaten like that."
Ren shrugged.
He didn't plan to hide it.
After all, both Tsunade and Shizune were people he trusted.
He would also need their help treating his injuries during future training.
Besides—
There might be more than one person in the ninja world he couldn't defeat.
But someone capable of killing him?
That might not exist.
Unless it was some Ōtsutsuki hiding in the shadows.
"You brat…"
Tsunade was furious.
She almost slapped him.
Yesterday, when they saw him lying there covered in blood,
Both she and Shizune had been terrified.
They thought someone had attacked him.
Who would have guessed—
Ren had done it himself.
"Hey, hey… Ren, that's way too reckless!"
Shizune looked completely speechless.
Letting your own clone beat you nearly to death—
Probably no one else in the entire ninja world had done something like that.
Still—
Using clones to spar with yourself…
It was quite an imaginative idea.
"You brat… your wings have grown, huh? Acting so recklessly…"
Tsunade flicked his head hard.
"How many wood clones did you have attacking you?"
"To injure you like that, it couldn't have been just one."
"Not many. Just two wood clones."
Ren shrugged.
"Just two?"
Tsunade suddenly understood.
As the granddaughter of the First Hokage, she knew quite a bit about Wood Release.
"Wood clones are far more realistic than shadow clones. If you allocate enough chakra, their taijutsu can be almost equal to the original body. No wonder you ended up like this."
Shizune didn't even know what to say anymore.
She stared at Ren resentfully.
After worrying about him so much yesterday—
It turned out he had done it to himself.
"Monster Strength Fist would cause huge destruction, but there's no damage here at all. Did you go outside the city to train?"
"No. I used the Mangekyō Sharingan's ocular ability to open another dimension."
Ren shrugged.
He decided it was time to tell Tsunade about his Sharingan.
Otherwise, misunderstandings might arise in the future.
"Mangekyō Sharingan?"
"Another dimension?"
Upon hearing this,
Both Tsunade and Shizune's pupils shrank.
They stared at Ren in disbelief.
"Ren… you have the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
"What exactly is going on?"
Tsunade took a deep breath.
Her expression turned extremely serious as she looked at him.
Although Ren was young, he was very calm by nature.
He wouldn't joke about something like this.
"It's like this. I discovered that my Wood Release seems a little special… It might be different from the First Hokage's Wood Release."
"Special?"
Tsunade frowned.
She looked at him seriously.
"I noticed that too. You can use Wood Release without hand seals… but no matter how special it is, it shouldn't give you Uchiha bloodline. Unless one of your parents or ancestors was an Uchiha."
She knew very well—
Without Uchiha blood,
Outsiders who transplanted Sharingan couldn't even turn it off.
Just like Kakashi.
Although the Sharingan made him famous as the "Copy Ninja,"
Because he couldn't close it like true Uchiha, it constantly drained his chakra.
A huge burden.
Which meant—
Ren likely hadn't transplanted a Sharingan.
As far as she knew,
Ren's mother and grandfather were ordinary ninja.
They couldn't possibly be Uchiha.
Could some distant ancestor have had Uchiha blood?
"That's not the case…"
Ren spoke frankly.
"But my Wood Release can directly absorb and devour other people's chakra and nutrients from their bodies, turning them into nourishment for myself."
"And if I obtain someone's blood, I can merge their genes with mine…"
"I can even replicate and seize their bloodline limits."
As he spoke,
He closed his eyes.
When he opened them again—
They had turned into crimson Sharingan.
Three black tomoe rotated slowly.
"What?!"
"Gasp… that really is the Sharingan!"
Seeing his scarlet eyes,
Tsunade and Shizune were completely stunned.
They stared at Ren in disbelief.
Even they couldn't help feeling their scalps tingle.
What kind of terrifying ability was this?
He could directly copy and seize other people's bloodline limits.
"So your Sharingan awakened after merging with Uchiha bloodline?"
Tsunade forced herself to calm down and asked.
"Two years ago, when I was catching fish by the Naka River and practicing medical ninjutsu, I accidentally found the corpse of Uchiha Shisui. But his eyes had already been taken."
"So I used Wood Release to absorb some of his chakra… and accidentally absorbed some flesh and blood."
Ren explained.
"That night my eyes suddenly heated up, and I discovered I had the Sharingan. That's when I realized my Wood Release was special."
"So after Nao died, the emotional shock caused you to awaken the Mangekyō?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
She remembered hearing from Tobirama that the Sharingan evolved due to intense emotional trauma.
But it often caused Uchiha to become more extreme.
"That's not it…"
Ren said helplessly.
"During the night of the Uchiha massacre, I couldn't resist my curiosity. So I secretly sent wood clones to investigate. Their concealment ability made it easy to infiltrate the Uchiha district."
"You brat…"
Tsunade's mouth twitched.
She had warned him not to get involved.
Yet he had still dared to send clones into the Uchiha compound.
If the higher-ups discovered it, it would be serious trouble.
"So you actually know what happened that night?"
Tsunade crossed her arms calmly.
"Ren… what really happened that night?"
Shizune asked curiously.
"Was it really Uchiha Itachi who slaughtered his entire clan?"
Although she was young,
Traveling with Tsunade had given her experience.
She never fully believed the official story from Konoha's leadership.
"When my clones arrived, I saw Uchiha Itachi killing his clan members. And I also noticed Root operatives under Shimura Danzō secretly collecting the Sharingan from the corpses."
Ren shrugged.
Half-truth, half-lie.
"But Itachi acted under Danzō's orders. If he killed the Uchiha clan, his younger brother Sasuke would be spared."
"So I took the opportunity to collect some Sharingan before Root could."
"And while I was there, I also took some ninjutsu scrolls from the Uchiha clan library."
…
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