Konoha: This Uchiha is extremely sneaky

Chapter 518 Cooperation

In the training grounds of the Uchiha headquarters, Fugaku, looking relaxed, watched his second son, who was sweating profusely.

"That's about it, Sasuke."

"Your physical strength has reached its limit. Continuing to train will put unnecessary strain on your body."

This isn't wartime, and there's no need to push children too hard. Besides, Sasuke's talent is still somewhat inferior to Itachi's.

call!call!

Gasping for breath, a hint of resentment flashed in Sasuke's eyes.

His father's concerned gaze, in particular, wounded his strong sense of pride.

"Father, I... can still hold on!"

"That's enough. If you keep going like this, you'll damage your body."

With a frown, Fugaku showed some dissatisfaction with his second son's attitude.

However, out of a father's concern for his child, he firmly refused Sasuke's request for extra training.

"Sasuke, don't rush. You're still young. You have time to catch up with your older brother, and there's also Naruto!"

He was well aware of his second son's ulterior motives and, unusually, offered words of comfort.

"...But~"

Sasuke opened his mouth, wanting to ask if he still had a chance to catch up with his older brother. And Naruto, his rate of progress was no worse than his, or even faster.

Can I really surpass them?

"Father, I don't know about the Hokage..."

Seeing his father's stern gaze, Sasuke changed the subject and began to question Toshiro.

Clearly, he wanted to find a solution from the Hokage.

"...There's no hope!"

Fugaku pulled a towel from behind him and handed it to Sasuke, who was covered in sweat. Fugaku's reply shattered Sasuke's hopes.

"Before you graduated, your father approached the Hokage, hoping he would take you as his disciple, but unfortunately..."

Before Sasuke graduated, Fugaku sought out Toshiro, hoping he could tutor Sasuke because of his troublesome son.

Not only him, but many parents in this year's generation want to entrust their children to the Hokage for instruction.

"Why? According to tradition, shouldn't the Hokage take on a group of disciples to carry on the Will of Fire?"

Sasuke was somewhat disappointed when he heard Toshiro refuse. This meant he had one less option to choose from.

"According to Konoha's tradition, the Hokage position is chosen from among the Hokage's disciples or disciples of disciples."

"The Fifth Hokage had never taken on any disciples. Everyone originally thought that the Hokage was dissatisfied with the previous graduates. This year's graduates are very suitable in terms of both status and quality."

"It wasn't just my father; many parents approached the Hokage, but without exception, they were all rejected."

"Reject them all?"

Hearing his father's words, Sasuke was somewhat bewildered. Although he was young, he was no longer in the free-range state depicted in the original story, and he understood the meaning behind his father's words to some extent.

However, he never expected his father's expectations for him to be so high.

"Ah! I refuse them all."

He patted his young son's head, and a rare hint of regret appeared in Fugaku's eyes.

"Unfortunately, the Hokage has no intention of taking on disciples, nor does he like the so-called Hokage system."

Toshiro is actually a very lazy person and has absolutely no interest in things like taking on apprentices or taking care of children.

Even this Hokage position was something he was forced into; he planned to retire in a few years, after the Fourth Shinobi World War ended.

As for the future succession of the Hokage, whoever has the best abilities should be allowed to succeed.

"Is that so~"

Although he was happy with his father's expectations, was it really possible for him to reach the heights his father hoped for, given his current abilities?

Thinking about what the bespectacled man had said, Sasuke hesitated.

He didn't know what choice he should make.

On the other side, Toshiro was walking slowly in a somewhat dark basement.

"Orochimaru, how come even your habits are starting to resemble those of a snake?"

Looking at the dark and damp environment around him, Toshiro couldn't help but complain.

"Also, how's your research on those materials I sent you a few years ago coming along?"

This is not the Land of Fire, but Orochimaru's base in the Land of Rice Fields.

"Hehehe, the materials that the Hokage sent over are truly astonishing."

Orochimaru licked his lips. Although his snake-like eyes remained cold, Toshiro could see a hint of excitement in them.

"If it weren't for the Hokage giving me this material, I would have suspected that Konoha had truly grasped the secret of the First Hokage."

After Toshiro and Orochimaru reached an agreement, Toshiro gave him his collection of White Zetsu for research.

He wasn't a research genius; making eye drops was already his limit.

With Orochimaru, a research fanatic, researching White Zetsu, and combined with the First Hokage's cells in his possession, the progress should be quite impressive.

"I wonder where the Hokage got this kind of thing from."

He was very curious about who had the ability to create artificial humans using the cells of the first generation.

This is not something that can be done by an ordinary person or with simple technology.

"You should be very familiar with this white thing."

"I'm very familiar with this?"

Orochimaru frowned and began to ponder.

Toshiro had no reason to deceive him; since he said so, he must have a reason for it.

"Could it be... Absolute?"

After recalling in his mind, the only thing Orochimaru could find that was somewhat similar to those materials was the Akatsuki's Absolute.

"It seems there are still secrets I don't know about, Akatsuki!"

Recalling the feeling that Zetsu had given him, Orochimaru became more and more certain of his judgment.

He narrowed his eyes and began to ponder the Akatsuki organization.

"By the way, how's your research going, about using these first-generation cells to help those who have suffered cruelty to recover their limbs?"

The main reason Toshiro came here this time was to urge Orochimaru on the progress of his research.

"The First Hokage's cells are too corrosive. It's almost impossible for an ordinary ninja to withstand them."

"However, I can try to weaken the abilities of the first-generation cells, trying to retain only some limb functions. But in that case, they would be unable to perform combat missions."

This is also true. Not everyone can withstand the cells of the first generation of targets. Even if the function of those limbs is weakened, the chance of success is very small.

Even if they managed to succeed, the strength of these limbs would be unsatisfactory. As for relying on these limbs to restore the high-intensity combat and missions of ninjas, it would be virtually impossible.

"Is that so?"

As expected, Toshiro wasn't too surprised.

"Although it's a bit of a pity, let's still give it a try. Let's allocate some funds from the research budget to conduct some exploratory research."

"It's enough to let those people live like ordinary people in their daily lives, moving around freely."

In the original work, by the time of Boruto, this technology did not seem to have been widely adopted, which suggests that it was extremely difficult to implement.

However, Toshiro is not in a hurry. As long as he works hard in this direction and keeps upgrading and iterating, he will succeed one day.

Hehehe!

"I never expected that the Hokage would consider so much for those good-for-nothings. It's quite surprising."

Since the Hokage was paying for it, he naturally had nothing to say. However, he didn't expect that the Uchiha, known as an evil clan, would actually pity those disabled people who were missing limbs.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore!"

"You should know that I didn't come here for these trivial matters."

"This is the culmination of my research over the past few years, and the Hokage just took it so easily! How effortless!"

With a somewhat disgruntled complaint, Orochimaru produced a huge scroll in his hand.

These are the results of his research over the years on the first generation of cells and the White Zetsu body.

Toshiro came here for this very thing.

"It's like you're making it sound like I didn't pay anything!"

Taking the scroll, Toshiro completely ignored Orochimaru's sarcastic remarks.

Over the years, he has provided both funding and manpower. If Orochimaru doesn't deliver a satisfactory result, he'll have to seriously reconsider his future research funding and manpower.

……

"Lord Kazekage, this is a message from Konoha sent through a special envoy."

In Fengying's office, Luo Sha received a letter from his subordinate.

"Did Yashamaru send back any other information?"

It must be said that the special envoy system proposed by the Hokage was quite good.

This greatly enhanced communication between villages.

Just like now, if the Hokage wants to communicate with him, he only needs to write a letter and give it to Yashamaru, who is stationed near Konoha.

"Yes, a message from Scorpion was also sent along with it!"

"It seems the other party has entered the Bird Country for activities; I wonder if they will cross the border."

The information about Sasori was obtained by Yashamaru from Maki, who asked Yashamaru to deliver it to the Kazekage as quickly as possible.

"scorpion…"

Upon hearing this name, Luo Sha could hardly contain his anger.

This guy who killed his predecessor didn't even hide properly after escaping; instead, he's still wandering around the territory of the Land of Wind.

This shows they completely disregard him, the Wind Shadow.

"Um…"

"Give this letter to Elder Chiyo."

After reading the contents of the letter, Rasa instructed his subordinates to deliver it to Chiyo.

Konoha is actually ordering a batch of prosthetics. These are for puppeteers, so it's good to hand them over to Elder Chiyo.

It can also be used to distract the other person.

"Assemble a team of elite secret agents!"

Watching his subordinates leave to carry out their orders, Luo Shachong shouted at the empty office.

"yes!"

A sinister reply echoed through the empty office, before silence returned.

The Land of Birds is right next to the Land of Wind. Since Sasori dared to get so close to the Sand Village, Rasa decided to capture him himself.

He was not only the murderer of the Third Generation, but more importantly, he was Chiyo's grandson.

With this bargaining chip, his position in Sunagakure would be truly secure.

(End of this chapter)