XX-level Hokage

At Konoha Hospital, looking at the doctors and nurses disguised as researchers, Mashiro calculated the time; Orochimaru should be arriving soon.

Chapter 118: Like a God

There are two main reasons why researchers were asked to pose as doctors and nurses.

One reason is that Zhen Zi is, after all, a guest, and it's impossible to directly say that she's doing research. Changing the name to "physical examination" would sound much better.

The second reason was to avoid Danzo and Orochimaru. Danzo was an old friend of the Third Hokage, and he knew very well what kind of person his friend was. Orochimaru's actions were also becoming increasingly extreme. Therefore, the Third Hokage wouldn't let Danzo and Orochimaru know about time travel until he himself had figured it out.

"Ms. Izumi, may we draw blood now?" a researcher asked Mashiro. In the examination room, Mashiro was sitting on a bed, her legs gently swinging.

"I'm a little squeamish about blood, so I need to prepare myself mentally and wait a bit longer," Mashiro said with a smile. The researchers had no way to deal with this and could only silently wait for the girl in front of them to finish preparing. After about five minutes, Mashiro sensed a familiar presence.

"Alright, all ready, we can start drawing blood now," Mashiro said softly, stopping her leg from shaking.

The researcher in charge of drawing blood was overjoyed and hurriedly prepared his tools, ready to begin the blood draw. Just then, the door to the examination room suddenly opened.

"What are you all studying, everyone?" Orochimaru asked with a sinister smile, scanning the familiar faces in the consultation room.

Two ANBU ninjas were following behind Orochimaru, clearly unable to stop him. "Orochimaru, this is fire." A researcher was about to say something when Orochimaru stopped him.

He stepped forward, took the syringe from the researcher in charge of drawing blood, and said, "Thank you all for your help. Leave the rest to me. I will give Lord Hokage a good answer."

The other researchers wanted to say something, but seeing Orochimaru's cold gaze, they had no choice but to leave the examination room.

After everyone left, Orochimaru closed the door to the examination room, looked at Mashiro who was smiling lightly in front of him, and calmly asked, "Tell me, what are they researching?"

Looking at the still somewhat immature Orochimaru, Mashiro sat cross-legged on the bed in the examination room and said, "This is really interesting. I didn't expect you to actually get angry because of the Third Hokage's favoritism."

"What are you saying?" Orochimaru's face darkened.

Mashiro gently raised her hand, and an invisible force tightly bound Orochimaru. Orochimaru was shocked and tried to break free, but found it was futile.

Orochimaru couldn't help but look at Mashiro, and then he saw those pale blue Rinnegan eyes. What are those eyes?

Orochimaru's pupils dilated involuntarily.

“Orochimaru, you must be feeling hopeless about life that is so easily corrupted,” Mashiro said softly. Orochimaru didn’t speak; he was still shocked by Mashiro’s eyes.

"Who exactly are you?" Orochimaru asked seriously. "I am a sage," Mashiro said with a light laugh.

"Immortals? Hmph, do you think I would believe such a thing?" Orochimaru sneered.

But soon, his smile vanished. Mashiro snapped his fingers lightly.

Suddenly, an invisible force began to brew. Shinshiro's Rinnegan emitted a faint blue light, her hair turned silver-white and floated in the air, and a small silver-white horn grew on her head. She sat cross-legged, one hand supporting her face, and floated in the air.

Under the gaze of those eyes, Orochimaru felt incredibly small, like an ant peering at the starry sky.

This is Mashiro's complete form, Otsutsuki Mode! "Orochimaru, do you desire immortality?"

Faced with Mashiro, who now seemed like a god, Orochimaru's defenses were completely breached. After all, Orochimaru was no longer as lawless as he was when he became a rogue ninja.

Seeing Orochimaru's speechless expression, Mashiro landed in front of him and gently patted his shoulder. "Eye Technique: Sura - Bewitching God" activated.

"You mean Orochimaru broke into Konoha Hospital and kicked out all the other researchers?" The Third Hokage frowned as he listened to the Anbu's report. "Yes, Lord Orochimaru is currently examining Izumi alone," said the Anbu guarding Konoha Hospital.

"I understand. Go to Konoha Hospital and wait there. After Orochimaru finishes his examination, have him come to see me," the Third Hokage said, exhaling a puff of smoke.

At this moment, Orochimaru was merely seen as somewhat rebellious and extreme by the Third Hokage, but in the Third Hokage's heart, Orochimaru was still his most prized disciple. "Yes, Hokage-sama." After saying this, the Anbu member used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear from the spot.

"Orochimaru, what exactly are you trying to do?" The Third Hokage muttered to himself, looking out at the scenery of Konoha.

After a long while, the door to the examination room opened, and Masashi walked out with a light laugh. "The examination is finished. May I go back?" Masashi asked softly. "Of course, I'll take you back," Ang said.

Ang had been waiting nearby for Mashiro. As for why he didn't help when Orochimaru broke in, it's simple: it wasn't his responsibility. His only task recently was to guard and protect the young girl.

Mashiro left with Ang.

A short while later, Orochimaru also came out of the consultation room.

"Lord Orochimaru, the Hokage requests your presence," said the guard in charge of Konoha Hospital.

"Understood, I'll be there." Orochimaru said, then followed Kagami towards the Hokage's office. "Orochimaru, why did you suddenly barge into Konoha Hospital?" the Third Hokage asked calmly, looking at Orochimaru.

"It's nothing, teacher. I was just curious about what you were doing behind my back," Orochimaru said with a smile.

"Now you should know, so what results did you get after your research?" the Third Generation asked, puffing on his pipe.

“Everything is normal. If I had to say something, her eyes seem a little unusual. I need to study them for a while longer. I’ve asked her, and she’ll cooperate,” Orochimaru said.

"Don't go too far, take it one step at a time," the Third Generation said slowly and deliberately, but his words seemed to have a hidden meaning.

"My teacher never seems to trust me," Orochimaru said suddenly after hearing the Third Hokage's words. The Third Hokage did not reply.

"Don't worry, Master, I won't tell Danzo. I'm just a little curious; I won't do anything outrageous," Orochimaru said. The Third Hokage looked into Orochimaru's eyes, and facing his most prized disciple, finally nodded slightly.

Orochimaru nodded slightly and turned to leave the Hokage's office. Meanwhile, Ang escorted Mashiro towards the Minato residence.

Mashiro suddenly spoke up, "I want to go visit the Hyuga family." Subaru looked at Mashiro.

"What? Is that not allowed?" Mashiro asked with a smile. "Sure, I'll take you there right away."

In the Hyuga clan's underground training grounds, Mashiro, Hiashi, and Orochimaru were gathered together. "Did you bring it?" Mashiro asked softly.

Hiashi nodded, took out a sealing scroll, formed a hand seal, and a dozen glass jars appeared on the spot, each containing a pair of white eyes.

To prevent the Byakugan from being leaked out, the Hyuga clan destroys the Byakugan of branch families using the Caged Bird Seal when a member of the clan dies, while the main family members destroy their own eyes. If someone is sent back with severe injuries and cannot be cured, their Byakugan is retrieved and preserved after death.

"Is that all?" Orochimaru asked.

“These are from the branch family. If that doesn’t work, I’ll bring over the main family’s,” Hiashi said. “It doesn’t matter, let’s begin,” Mashiro said softly.

"The experiment regarding the artificial Tenseigan. In the evening, Mashiro returned to the Minato residence. 'Are you back?' Kushina asked."

"Yes, I'm back," Mashiro said with a smile.

"Why are you back so late?" Minato asked, coming out of the kitchen. He should have been back by noon after finishing the inspection. "I went to Hyuga," Mashiro said.

Chapter 119: Mikoto

In her previous life, Mashiro and Orochimaru researched the artificial Mangekyou Sharingan. They initially thought it had failed, but now it seems they succeeded.

Therefore, Mashiro wanted to replicate his previous approach and conduct an artificial Tenseigan experiment. This time, Mashiro not only joined forces with Orochimaru but also brought in Hiashi, who provided the Tenseigan, while Orochimaru conducted the research, and Mashiro was responsible for providing the ideas and methods.

However, what Mashiro didn't know was that the Tenseigan was not designed to match the Square Flower Sharingan, but rather the ultimate form of the Sharingan, the Rinnegan. This meant that Mashiro's experiment was destined to fail.

The Hyuga clan's underground training grounds had been transformed into a laboratory by Orochimaru and Hiashi.

"Another failure." Orochimaru said, looking at the exploding eyeball in his hand. This was the third time the experiment had failed.

“At this rate, even if we use the remaining Byakugan from the main clan, we might not succeed,” Hiashi said, frowning. Each Byakugan represented the life of a Hyuga clansman, which made him feel extremely reluctant.

"Something must be wrong," Mashiro muttered to herself.

She and Orochimaru are now using the method from their previous life to create the Mangekyou Sharingan. They first extract the special chakra from the ordinary Byakugan, then combine it, and finally inject it into a Hyuga clan member's body.

But they ran into trouble at the very first step; they couldn't extract it. Although the Byakugan contained energy different from ordinary chakra, it couldn't be extracted. "Stop the experiment for now. I need to study the Byakugan carefully," Mashiro said.

"Hiashi, how does your Hyuga clan awaken the Byakugan?" Orochimaru took off his gloves, threw them on the lab table, and turned to Hiashi to ask.

"Our Hyuga clan's Byakugan isn't something we're born with; it requires a lot of arduous training to awaken. However, there are exceptions; members of the clan with pure bloodlines may awaken their Byakugan on their own as they age and their bodies mature," Hiashi said.

“Then, could it be related to the bloodline of the Hyuga clan?” Orochimaru said to Mashiro.

Orochimaru's words gave Mashiro a reminder. Indeed, the awakening of the Byakugan does not require strong emotional fluctuations like the Uchiha clan. In other words, the awakening of the Byakugan is not due to so-called special chakra, and there may not even be any special chakra in the Byakugan.

"If that's the case, then it's the Hyuga clan's bloodline that affected the growth and development of the eyes, resulting in the Byakugan. However, this makes the idea of ​​creating an artificial Tenseigan a joke, as the bloodline cannot be refined. Even if it were refined, we couldn't possibly replace someone's entire bloodline," Mashiro said, frowning slightly.

"So, what if we're talking about aggregating eye power? The eye power generated by the Hyuga bloodline should be consistent. If we combine the eye power from other eyes into one pair, perhaps there will be new changes," Orochimaru said after pondering for a moment, stroking his chin.

It can only be said that Orochimaru truly is a born scientific research talent, instantly coming up with a new idea.

Indeed, bloodline cannot be refined, but the power of the eye generated by bloodline can. Since the Byakugan is generated from the Hyuga bloodline, naturally, the power of the Byakugan is the same. If the power of multiple Byakugan can be combined into one pair of Byakugan, then a new change will definitely occur.

“You’re right.” Mashiro looked at Orochimaru, her eyes filled with admiration. She had always admired intelligent people. Although Mashiro had already taken Kabuto under her wing, Kabuto still lacked Orochimaru’s creativity.

"Father, go and retrieve a pair of Byakugan from the main family. The purer the bloodline, the better. This time, we might succeed. If we succeed, the Hyuga clan can truly rise to prominence," Mashiro said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Hiashi hesitated for a moment, but out of trust in Mashiro, he nodded and left through the Shadow Legion, exiting the underground training room.

"How long are you going to keep deceiving him?" Orochimaru asked Mashiro curiously.

In his view, all these experiments were conducted in order to create the power of immortals and to achieve eternal life, and the so-called Tenseigan was just a deception of Hiashi.

“Once the power of the Sage (Tenseigan) is created, he will be of no use,” Mashiro said calmly. Of course, neither will you.

Aside from coming to the Hyuga clan's underground training room every night through the Shadow Legion to conduct artificial Tenseigan experiments, Mashiro spent her days quite leisurely. She would sleep in late in the mornings and occasionally go shopping with Kushina in the afternoons.

Because of what Orochimaru said to the Third Hokage, aside from the fact that there are still ANBU members secretly watching her, they haven't contacted Mashiro about anything else recently.

That afternoon, Mashiro was strolling around the streets with Kushina. After the Third Hokage revoked the danger level assessment of Mashiro, Minato and Kushina were relieved. In the past few days, Kushina had taken Mashiro to explore most of Konoha.

"This is it. I've always loved this shop, but it's too far from where we live, and I sometimes have missions, so I don't come here very often," Kushina said to Mashiro, pointing to a fashion store not far away.

Mashiro looked at the shop Kushina pointed to, but didn't recognize it. It seemed that it must have closed down in her time.

“Let’s go look at some clothes. Izumi-chan, you always wear this black robe. It’s time for a change. I think you look better in a dress,” Kushina said with a smile.

"Never mind, I still prefer black," Mashiro waved her hand in refusal.

She had always preferred black, and this preference only intensified after acquiring the Shadow Legion. As for skirts, she hadn't tried one yet. However, Kushina ignored Mashiro's refusal and pulled her towards the clothing store.

Just then, a very magnetic voice called out to Kushina. "Ah, Kushina, it's been a long time."

Mashiro and Kushina turned around together and saw a woman with long black hair, a beautiful face, and a slightly protruding belly standing not far away. "Mikoto-neechan! Yes, it's been a long time." Kushina smiled and pulled Mashiro over.

Mikoto Uchiha, wife of Fugaku Uchiha, the current head of the Uchiha clan, and the biological mother of Itachi and Sasuke.

Since Minato was practically destined to become Hokage, this shrewd clan head's wife had already cultivated a relationship with the future Hokage's wife long ago. "And this is?" Mikoto asked Mashiro with a smile.

Because of her Byakugan, she recognized Mashiro as a member of the Hyuga clan at a glance. However, Mikoto had met all the slightly famous members of the Hyuga clan, but Mashiro was a complete stranger to her.

“Oh, she’s a very important guest of the Hokage, and she’s currently staying at my house,” Kushina said with a smile. “Hello, my name is Hyuga Izumi,” Mashiro said with a smile, extending her hand.

"Hello, I'm Uchiha Mikoto." Mikoto smiled warmly and shook Mashiro's hand. It was very soft, that was Mashiro's first impression. She gently squeezed it for a moment, then withdrew her hand.

Mikoto didn't notice Mashiro's subtle movements; her mind was filled with Kushina's words—"The Hokage's honored guest?!" "What's wrong?" Mashiro asked softly.

"It's nothing, just a little surprised. I didn't expect you to be the Hokage's honored guest," Mikoto said gently. "I didn't expect it either. Perhaps the Hokage is being too kind," Qibai said softly.

"Alright, you two, stop being so formal. Is Mikoto also here to buy clothes?" Kushina asked. "Yes, I need to get some bigger clothes," Mikoto said gently, clutching her stomach.

"Mikoto-neechan, how many months along are you?" Kushina asked curiously. She had noticed before but hadn't dared to ask. "Four months along, but I don't know if it's a boy or a girl," Mikoto said with a smile.

Chapter 120: Gentle Breeze

“A boy,” Mashiro suddenly said.