Naruto: I'm in Konoha, my name is Uzumaki Menma

Chapter 89: Research Findings on the Ibri Clan
Hidden Leaf Village.

Menma, who was playing with Hinata and Naruto in the park building a snowman, suddenly paused.

The shadow clone had already placed the items at home using the Flying Thunder God Technique, and then deactivated itself, allowing a massive amount of information to flood Menma's mind.

"Menma?" Hinata keenly noticed Menma's unusual behavior, and concern appeared in her snow-white eyes.

Naruto, however, was completely oblivious and kept sticking a twig into the snowman's head as a nose.

"It's okay, let's keep playing." Menma shook his head, indicating to Hinata not to worry, and continued playing the snowman-building game with them.

Menma is now the king of the kids in this park. The kids around him either avoid him or acknowledge him as their leader. Even Naruto occasionally gets to be treated kindly by the kids his age.

Of course, this is on the premise that the adults of those children are not present.

This at least prevented Naruto's childhood from being so lonely.

After Naruto attends the Ninja Academy in two years, Shikamaru, Choji, and the other descendants of the ninja clans will no longer discriminate against him, and Naruto will be able to make more friends.

"Menma-kun! Look!" Naruto exclaimed.

Menma and Hinata looked over and saw that Naruto had taken off his own red scarf and wrapped it around the snowman.

"You've gotten the scarf dirty. It'll take days to dry after you wash it." Menma vaguely remembered that this scarf was something Kushina had knitted for Naruto.

"It's okay, I have another scarf at home, though it's a darker color." Naruto grinned, not caring at all.

This question startled Menma: "There's another one?"

"Hmm." Naruto nodded, and after thinking for a while, he said, "It's not just the scarf, but also the clothes, hats and stuff, there's one that's a darker color, I don't know why."

Upon hearing this, Mianma's heart skipped a beat.

'So, Kushina and Minato were prepared for two children...' Menma lowered his head and gently bit his gums.

He didn't know why the Third Hokage hadn't searched for the Fourth Hokage couple's missing children, nor had he investigated the extra orphans that appeared on the night of the Nine-Tails' rampage.

However, it now appears that Kushina was indeed pregnant with twins and had prepared clothes and other items for both children.

I wasn't born into the Limited Tsukuyomi world. Instead, my body came first, and I was conceived and born by Kushina before entering the Limited Tsukuyomi.

So, was it Obito who was behind this?

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After parting ways with Naruto and Hinata, Menma returned home and took a sample from the Ibri clan.

Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, they arrived at the secret base in the Land of Rice Fields.

As Menma, wearing a white three-eyed fox mask, appeared in Otogakure, his black robe brushing against the snow at the village entrance, the sky had already completely darkened.

Now the village is completely under Orochimaru's control, and the villagers depend on Orochimaru's power to survive.

In such turbulent times, villages protected by ninjas were extremely rare.

Orochimaru also looked down on these ordinary people; he only wanted the villagers to produce some basic necessities.

"Lord Shura." The red-haired girl at the village entrance had been waiting for an unknown amount of time when she finally saw Shura walking out of the darkness. She went up to him somewhat nervously.

"Lead the way." Menma looked down at Tayuya, who, like Orochimaru's other subordinates, had already wrapped a shimenawa around his waist.

Many of Orochimaru's subordinates are orphans and troubled children who have a strong admiration for him and are even willing to offer their bodies to become his vessels.

This kind of brainwashing-like ideological education was a crucial cornerstone for Orochimaru's establishment of the Sound Village. "Yes!" Tayuya bowed slightly and then led the way.

Compared to last year, there are many more buildings in the village this time, and the entrance to Orochimaru's underground base has also changed drastically.

Entering from a wooden building in the village, and passing through a downward-sloping passageway, Menma once again arrived at Orochimaru's base.

In some of the cages, various experimental subjects are still imprisoned, and the air is filled with the smell of blood and disinfectant.

Beneath the white mask, his brows furrowed slightly.

"So you really were in the Land of Bears." Orochimaru, disguised as a woman, emerged from a laboratory, pleased with his correct guess.

"Where is the stuff?" Menma walked up to Orochimaru, crossed his arms, and slightly raised his white three-eyed fox mask to meet Orochimaru's gaze.

Orochimaru snorted twice, stepped aside, and gestured for Menma to follow him into the laboratory.

After Menma entered Orochimaru's laboratory, Orochimaru began to explain: "Thanks to the White Zetsu you provided, I used its cellular tissue to neutralize the genes of the Ibri clan, thus achieving free control over the smoke transformation."

"However, these have all been done on flesh and blood tissue, and no human experiments have been conducted yet. If you could provide a few Ibri people..."

Orochimaru was interrupted by Menma before he could finish speaking.

"It's not at the point where we can conduct human experiments yet," came the voice of refusal from behind the white three-eyed fox mask.

Orochimaru frowned slightly upon hearing Shura's reply.

"Shura, aren't you a little too concerned about the life and death of the Ibri clan?" Orochimaru's golden vertical pupils narrowed slightly.

He couldn't understand why a top-tier powerhouse like Shura, who could wreak havoc in Konoha and Kumogakure, would value a weak clan so much.

"Orochimaru, do you know what the biggest difference is between you and the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju?" Menma tilted his head slightly, his white three-eyed fox mask looking at Orochimaru behind him.

"Aside from strength, I might not be as good as him. In the field of scientific research, I don't think I'm inferior to the Second Hokage in any way." Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and licked his cheek, very confident in his achievements in scientific research.

"That's the bottom line, Orochimaru." However, Shura's seemingly casual words struck Orochimaru's heart like a hammer blow.

Orochimaru's pupils dilated slightly as he recalled various pieces of information about the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

This second-generation leader, who is also a scientific research expert, seems to have never conducted experiments on living people...

Even in his attitude towards the Uchiha clan, he was better than the current Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

After all, Tobirama Senju also took an Uchiha as his disciple.

The Second Hokage probably genuinely wanted to change the Uchiha clan.

"Let's not talk about this anymore." Orochimaru suddenly grinned, walked to a cabinet next to an experimental table, took out a scroll from it, and tossed it to Menma.

"What are your thoughts on the Meteorite and Hell Valley matters?" Orochimaru then mentioned his plan to establish a base in the Land of Bears.

"There's no need to establish a new base. I'll just assign your people an experimental building at my base in the Land of Bears." Menma opened the scroll, glanced at the research data, and nodded slightly. It was roughly the same as his own research direction, only the progress was much faster.

After closing and storing the scroll, Menma took out a storage scroll and tossed it to Orochimaru.

"It doesn't matter. I'm just interested in the meteorite and the poison gas in Hell Valley." Orochimaru caught the storage scroll and put it directly into his mouth.

As he said, the poison gas and meteorites in Hell Valley were only meant to satisfy Orochimaru's curiosity until a greater use was discovered.

"So, how about the trip to Kirigakure?" After swallowing the storage scroll, Orochimaru licked his lips and extended an invitation to Shura.

(End of this chapter)