Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha is not motivated.

"What are your plans for the Land of Rain next?"

That's how conversations between adults are; they chat about everyday things, then the topic often veers towards international affairs. While exchanging drinks with Chiyo, Uchiha Gin suddenly asked a seemingly private question.
"The Land of Rain is an important ally of the Land of Wind, so naturally we're united against a common enemy at a time like this!"

Chiyo took a small sip of the slightly sweet fruit wine, a captivating smile playing on her rosy cheeks.
"Onoki is not easy to deal with."

Shaking his head, Uchiha Gin put down his empty glass, and Chiyo, understanding the situation, refilled it for him, her smile growing even wider.

"Is Uncle Yin worried about me?"

"Should I worry about that short guy?"

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Gin couldn't help but roll his eyes. If it were the Fourth Hokage, he wouldn't mind mediating the conflict between the two sides.

But Onoki decided to let it go. That little dwarf just needed a beating. Did he even know how long his loan to the Land of Waves Bank in Iwagakure was overdue? Only after he'd been thoroughly humiliated would they be able to settle down and mine to pay off their debts.
"Don't worry, the young people in the village are now capable of handling things on their own."

Having received an affirmative answer, Chiyo felt sweeter than the wine in her cup, and her half-closed beautiful eyes curved into lovely crescents.
"You mean that person?"

An image of a black, spiky-haired figure flashed through his mind, and Uchiha Gin nodded thoughtfully.

That kid's talent for Magnet Release is not bad, even a bit stronger than Shamon. Following a normal growth trajectory, his current strength should be comparable to Hiruzen Sarutobi, making him a formidable fighter.

"That's right. With the puppet army that Xiu has created, Sunagakure is no longer the bottom of the Five Great Nations."

Speaking of her village, Chiyo's rosy cheeks were filled with pride.

As for Rasa, whom she didn't mention, it's not that the child isn't strong enough, but rather that his economic value far exceeds his strategic value. Sunagakure couldn't bear to let such a precious child, who was worth a fortune every day, suffer even the slightest harm.

I really don't understand why the Sand Village in the original timeline would let him take only a few cats and dogs abroad to observe the Chunin Exams. What's the difference between this and a fair-skinned, beautiful woman with long legs wearing a bikini going to sneak into an Indian slum at night?
Is that YoRHa guy really reliable?

Uchiha Gin frowned in confusion. He had just met YoRHa, whose fighting strength was probably above average for a Chunin. Under overload conditions, she might be able to unleash the power of a Jonin.
On paper, YoRHa's combat strength looks good, but YoRHa is a special individual among YoRHa. According to Xiu, other YoRHa do not have a system with such high intelligence as YoRHa. In battle, it depends more on the operator's skill and is very unstable.

"Uncle Yin, you haven't visited the YoRHa Legion yet, have you?"

Looking at Uchiha Gin's questioning expression, Chiyo thoughtfully stroked her delicate chin, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
"How about I take you to see their power later?"

Although Chiyo's words didn't seem to have any other meaning and appeared to be simply a way of showing off her new toy, for some reason, Gin Uchiha felt a strange chill creeping down his spine, causing him to instinctively gulp down some sake to ward off the cold.

"Next time."

Uchiha Gin's trip was short-lived. After meeting with Victor, one of Xiu's subordinates, and figuring out the origin of the cloning device inside YoRHa's abdomen, he would have to take the fruit home. Otherwise, his wife and her tigresses would tear him to pieces.

"That's such a pity. I was hoping to give you a surprise, Uncle Yin."

The power of the Bogang Legion cannot be described solely from a physical perspective. Even with Chiyo's strong mental fortitude, she almost lost her composure when she first saw it. Sending this terrifying legion to the battlefield would be an indelible nightmare for the enemy.

Bang Bang Bang!
"Come in."

Just then, a rapid knocking sounded at the door. Chiyo, feeling her private time being disturbed, frowned.
“Hoo hoo. Auntie, Grandpa Yin.”

Having received permission, Xiu, panting, pushed open the door and entered, his fairly handsome face showing a mixture of emotions.

"What happened? Why are you so flustered and pale? What kind of behavior is this?"

Seeing her eldest nephew behaving so erratically, Chiyo raised an eyebrow.
"Victor, Victor... he's missing."

After catching his breath, Xiu revealed some surprising news.

"Uh?"

Uchiha Gin blinked in confusion. Why did Victor have to disappear now of all times?

When did this happen?

Chiyo's expression turned cold upon hearing this. Victor was a technician who possessed crucial secrets about Sunagakure; his disappearance meant that the village's core secrets were at risk of being leaked.
"I saw him during the meeting this morning, but I just searched the entire research institute and couldn't find him anywhere."

"What about at home?"

"There was no one there, but the furnishings in the house didn't look like they had run away. There was soup simmering in a pot in the kitchen, and the rice in the rice cooker wasn't even cooked yet."

This is why Xiu classified Victor's disappearance as a missing person rather than a defection or escape.

“Interesting. Take me to his house.”

This seemingly simple missing person case, however, piqued the interest of Gin Uchiha, who was a detective.
"Okay?"

Xiu, who was reporting to Chiyo, nodded subconsciously upon hearing this, but when he turned to look at Uchiha Gin, his tone suddenly faltered, and his face was full of strange expressions.

"Grandpa Yin, when did you change your clothes?"

"The winds of the Land of Winds are somewhat noisy."

With a lightning-fast, one-click outfit change, Uchiha Gin, now a mature detective, lowered his head and gently adjusted his top hat. His deliberately deep tone left Chiyo and Kazushu speechless.
"Ahem! Just one cough, and I can't wait to find the answer to the case!"

"."

"There's really no other way, you'll just have to play with him for a while."

Chiyo watched Uchiha Gin's enthusiastic retreating figure, her tone tinged with helplessness, but her eyes were full of doting affection.
"Yes."

Following Xiu's directions, the two quickly arrived at an ordinary house. The Sand Village ANBU, who had been lying in wait, spotted them approaching and immediately sprang into action.

"Lord Xiu, who is this gentleman?"

The members of the secret service looked at the unfamiliar man dressed in a smart detective outfit with suspicion.

"Me? Just an ordinary ace detective."

Uchiha Gin lowered the brim of his hat, exuding a melancholic aura that was full of quirks and was hard to ignore.
"Never mind him. Have you spotted any suspicious individuals nearby?"

Xiu shook his head, his lips twitching slightly. Looking at the ANBU member kneeling on one knee before him, the usually carefree Xiu rarely displayed such a serious expression, exuding an imposing aura.
"Reporting to you, sir, there are no suspicious persons. Furthermore, there is no record of Victor leaving the village."

"Conduct a thorough search of the village and do not let any suspicious person slip through the net."

"Roger that!"

After watching the ANBU disappear at the end of the street, Xiu stepped forward and opened the door of the Viktor's house.
Upon entering the house, Uchiha Gin first smelled a faint aroma of food, but beneath this warm fragrance, he also detected a faint, familiar scent.

"Doesn't he have any family?" Gin Uchiha raised an eyebrow, surveying the room's simple, tech-savvy decor.

“Victor went to the Land of Wind alone to make a living, and I never heard him mention his family.”

Xiu shook his head. Victor was usually a man of few words; aside from topics related to his professional field, he rarely talked about personal matters.

"Don't you conduct background checks before hiring?"

"Uh, his basic information is fine, and he passed the lie detector test conducted by the Dark Division, so..."

Hearing this complaint, Xiu scratched his head awkwardly. This Victor was someone he had personally recruited.
Now that the person is gone, if the other party does something that harms the village's interests, he probably won't be able to compete with that other person anymore.

Is this really him?

He picked up a photo frame at random. The photo showed a young man in a white lab coat, with an ordinary, unremarkable face and a height similar to Onoki's.
He had a rigid demeanor, which fits Uchiha Gin's preconceived notion of a science and engineering man.

"Yes, I took this photo for him."

What was his major?

Putting down the photo, Uchiha Gin's gaze shifted from the steaming pot in the kitchen to the door of the study in the inner room.
That very familiar smell was coming from there.

"As you know, prosthetic modifications are essential to enhance the combat capabilities of puppets."

"Prosthetic limb modification?"

Uchiha Gin narrowed his eyes upon hearing this. He was supposed to be a specialist in mechanical prosthetics, so why did this room smell of chemical reagents?
"squeak~"

Gently pushing open the door, the study's interior was minimalist. Besides a standard bookcase, there was a display case filled with oddly shaped, unfinished prosthetics, and a pungent smell of butter wafted out.

The remaining space is quite spacious, which shows that the owner of the room did not plan the space very well.

The darker areas appear to have already undergone a preliminary inspection; there are signs that the desk drawers and cabinets have been opened.
"He is a person who is quite passionate about his work."

Gin Uchiha glanced at the thick mechanical engineering textbook on his desk; it was filled with neatly written annotations. He then nodded.

“Victor is truly exceptional when it comes to his work, so I suspect his disappearance was due to being kidnapped by spies.”

Xiu, following behind him, nodded in agreement. Of his entire team, apart from the couple who were strategizing, Hatake Sakumo was only busy being affectionate with his Cyber ​​wife, leaving only the diligent Victor working overtime day and night.
If it weren't for Gin Uchiha smelling something strange in the study, Xiu's conjecture would indeed be plausible. After all, Victor was a key figure in creating the YoRHa army, and that alone would be enough to warrant a spy taking the risk.
"Don't jump to conclusions."

As Uchiha Gin spoke, he walked to the source of the smell.

"Grandpa Yin, the hidden parts of this cabinet have been checked; they're just some models and samples."

Xiu looked at Uchiha Gin, who was examining the prosthetic limb display case with a puzzled expression.

"is it?"

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Uchiha Gin reached out and picked up a delicately crafted arm. To Xiu's astonishment, he bent the middle finger of the lifelike arm backward.
Boom!

"What?!"

Xiu's pupils contracted slightly as he watched the miniature scroll slide out from the hollow middle finger of the prosthetic limb. It was hidden so well!
"It's time to reveal his true identity."

Running his fingers over the storage scroll that reeked of pungent medicine, Uchiha Gin lifted the brim of his hat, revealing a confident smile.
"untie!"

bang~
As a plume of white smoke rose, a sophisticated workbench appeared out of thin air in the spacious study.

"Hmm, this looks just right."

Uchiha Gin nodded in satisfaction. With this workbench, the problem of the remaining space in the study was properly solved.

"This is...human modification?"

After the initial shock, Xiu strode forward and scanned the entire control panel with his professional gaze. He quickly spotted the research data left on the table, and his expression changed drastically.
"Victor is actually researching this!"

No matter the circumstances, human research is something that must be kept secret. Even with official endorsement, it's conducted clandestinely, never daring to be publicized.

Victor's unauthorized research was nothing short of taboo, and would have resulted in imprisonment and execution anywhere.

Senju Hisa: So what if I did it?
"No wonder he keeps quiet about his past."

Uchiha Gin picked up the documents on the table and glanced through them. His brow furrowed slightly. The data on the human body inside was clearly collected by the author himself; behind each entry was likely a living, breathing human being.

"Oh?"

As he delved deeper into the documents, a piece of information about human cloning caught Uchiha Gin's attention.

How to avoid congenital defects in clones

"I see."

Looking at the familiar cloning device in the documents, Uchiha Gin nodded in realization.

The mystery of YoRHa's pregnancy has finally been solved; it turns out the other person was a sample from Victor's secret cloning experiments.
"But why is he doing this research? Is he trying to resurrect his deceased loved ones?"

Uchiha Gin stroked his chin thoughtfully, a complex expression appearing on his face.
According to the usual plot, Victor's descent into darkness should have some unspeakable reason. His research into perfect clones was merely to make up for some unknown regret.

This explains why Victor never talks about his past; he's trying to avoid reopening old wounds.
"Uh?"

Just as Uchiha Gin was imagining a deeply moving and tragic drama for Victor, whom he had never met before, an envelope slipped out from a thick stack of documents.

Is this all there is to Victor's past?
Are they parents, or wife and children?
Filled with curiosity, Uchiha Gin opened the envelope, and a gold-rimmed invitation immediately came into view.

Explorers with exceptional skills:

When your gaze falls upon this letter, you will have stepped into a new era that transcends humanity. I sincerely invite every scientific research elite who possesses cutting-edge technology and creative abilities that will disrupt cognition.

A mediocre end to your life is unworthy of your talent and ambition. Therefore, I hereby promise you a timeless vow: to grant you an endless life, free from the erosion of time, and to keep birth, aging, sickness, and death at bay, so that your talent and wisdom may flourish in eternal time.

Looking at the ornately worded invitation, Uchiha Gin, who vaguely understood why Victor was researching human cloning, twitched slightly at the corner of his eye. He skipped over the utterly meaningless platitudes and focused his gaze on the inviter's signature at the end.

[Inviter: Tzu-Hsien]

"Damn it, what a waste of my imagination, what a waste of my effort!" (End of Chapter)