438 Learning Ninjutsu in a Glance

After hearing Shinju's answer, Orochimaru became energized.

"See? I told you—doing experiments requires sacrifices."

"The reason we exist is to explore the truth of the world, not to be shackled by morality and law…"

Shinju: "…"

"I mean, could you maybe balance that idea a bit? Like, explore the truth of the world within what morality and the law allow… (°ー°〃)"

Orochimaru shook his head.

"I've tried that before. Between truth and morality, I can only choose one."

Shinju spread his hands.

"Then there's nothing I can do. I'll just lock you up until you're able to choose multiple answers. ┐(´-｀)┌"

...

After saying goodbye to Orochimaru, Shinju was led by the guards to see several death-row inmates.

He mainly used them to test some new abilities he had obtained over the past few days.

After devouring Jashin, Shinju gained incredibly powerful self-healing and vitality—he could survive even if his head was cut off.

After devouring Zouma, he gained the ability to erase other people's memories.

The activation method was also very simple. Sometimes, all it took was a glance or a bit of physical contact…

Before long, Shinju left the Konoha prison.

In one of the cells, a guard noticed that a death-row inmate who usually loved to shout had suddenly become quiet today.

"No wonder they say the Sixth-sama is unbelievably capable. He just comes once, and this guy doesn't dare say a word anymore. (ᴗ--0027ᴗ--0027)"

Another guard nodded in agreement.

"Worthy of being my idol!"

Inside the cell, the inmate slowly turned his head. Drool pooled all over the floor, his face utterly vacant.

"Ah-ba, ah-ba… (ꑒꆯꑒ)"

...

Shinju's house.

After getting home, Shinju discovered Naruto flailing around in the kitchen, cooking in complete chaos.

"Naruto? What's this—did you suddenly have an epiphany today?"

In the kitchen, Naruto put the lid on the pot, took a breath, and said,

"Probably because the wedding date is getting close. Hinata and I have been really anxious these past few days—we keep arguing."

Shinju: "Wait! The wedding date is getting close?"

"When did you two pick the auspicious day?! (´°Δ°`)"

Naruto: "Half a year from now… There are way too many things to pay attention to when picking a good date. It was really hard…"

"That's not the point…"

"Today I happened to run into Kakashi-sensei on the road. I told him about it, and he showed me Icha Icha Tactics so I could learn how to cook. That way, after we're married, I can make tasty food for Hinata…"

Shinju: "Kakashi-sensei himself is already that old and still doesn't even have a partner."

"You actually believe him? ◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞"

Naruto chuckled, his expression turning mysterious.

"I thought the same as you at first, but then Kakashi-sensei told me that Sasuke is secretly learning how to cook too… ( ˝ᗢ̈˝ )"

Shinju: (꒪⌓꒪)

When these two are around me, they're like giant babies. How did they suddenly become so domestic after getting girlfriends?! (||๐_๐)

Still, Shinju was happy to see his good brothers changing and encouraged him.

"Then do your best. I'll leave dinner to you tonight."

"Don't worry!" Naruto patted his chest and promised.

...

Upstairs, Shinju's room.

Shinju lay on the bed playing games. Halfway through, he suddenly thought of something and frowned.

"Kakashi-sensei should be around thirty this year, right? Guy-sensei too… They're already that old and still not dating anyone. Are they planning to stay single forever?"

"Maybe I should organize some kind of mixer sometime. Let Konoha's older men interact with high-quality women from other villages. Two grown men sticking together every day—what kind of situation is that… →_→"

...

Soon, it was dinnertime.

After tasting a few bites of Naruto's cooking, Shinju exchanged a look with Sasuke.It was actually pretty good! (´◊ω◊｀)

So the three of them ate an entire pot of rice with the dishes.

That night, Naruto and Sasuke squatted in the bathroom until midnight!

Even Shinju, with his extremely strong self-healing ability, had a stomachache for quite a while!

The next day, Shinju discovered Naruto and Sasuke asleep on the toilet in the bathroom and decisively took photos as evidence.

...

Hokage Office.

"Winter hibernation vacation just ended~~"

Shinju hummed casually.

Shikamaru pushed the door open. Seeing Shinju in a good mood today, he asked curiously,

"Did something good happen? Share it with me too."

Shinju pursed his lips and smiled without saying anything.

Just then, Shinju suddenly felt tense!

Someone had triggered his Flying Thunder God mark with fresh blood!

...

Outside the Victor Company.

The ANBU were struggling to fight the cloaked man in front of them!

The ANBU member who had reported information to Shinju a couple of days ago was already lying in a pool of blood!

Not far from the battlefield between the ANBU and the cloaked man, Victor stood with his hands behind his back, smiling as he spoke.

"I noticed suspicious people around the company a long time ago. Today just happened to be when Deepa came by, so we dealt with them all…"

"I don't know which faction this Masked Man belongs to, but his skills are decent. He's not bad as a—"

Before Victor could finish speaking, his expression suddenly changed!

He saw Shinju suddenly appear in the middle of the battlefield!!

...

On the other side, Shinju used Flying Thunder God to teleport to the ANBU's side and grabbed the kunai engraved with his mark!

Then he saw the center-parted man wearing a cloak!

After that, Shinju created a clone to treat the ANBU, while his real body looked at the center-parted man ahead.

"What a coincidence. We meet again. You won't be able to run this time. (•̀⌄•́)"

Seeing that it was Shinju, the center-parted man seemed to want to fight more seriously and yanked off the cloak covering his body!

"I was ambushed by you last time. This time, I won't suffer a loss again! (*Ӧ)σ"

As he spoke, a layer of black material appeared on the surface of his skin, completely covering his body like armor!!

The next second!

"Pshk—!!"

The armor shattered, and a chakra blade pierced straight through his body!

Deepa: Σ( ° △ °|||)︴

He looked at Shinju standing in front of him, his face filled with disbelief.

"How is this possible… (๑ʘ̅ д ʘ̅๑)!!!"

Shinju put away his forty-meter-long chakra blade.

"You're kind of average. ¯\(ツ)/¯"

Deepa fell to the ground, his eyes filled with deep unwillingness!

This time, Shinju was smarter. He immediately reached out toward the center-parted man's head, planning to see what was in his memories!

Suddenly!

Shinju noticed that the man's head seemed to swell slightly!!

Immediately after!

With a loud "bang"!

The man's head exploded!

For a moment, Shinju almost couldn't react!

Th-this—this is a bit too outrageous, isn't it?! (๑ʘ̅ д ʘ̅๑)!!!

I just wanted to look at his memories—was that really necessary?!

However, this also indirectly proved that the man's head likely contained extremely important information!

Thinking of this, Shinju began collecting the remains of the center-parted man, preparing to take them back and use Edo Tensei to revive him and read his memories again.

At some point during the process, Shinju suddenly frowned and looked around suspiciously…

The severely injured ANBU had already been healed by the Wood Clone and asked worriedly,

"Sixth-sama, what's wrong?"

"There's a very strange feeling," Shinju said, rubbing his brow.

...

Behind a huge boulder, Victor felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

"The pressure is way too strong…"

"Before my treasure blooms, I absolutely can't let the people of Konoha discover it…"

...

Somewhere else in the Land of Valleys.

A figure whose body was concealed beneath a wide cloak spoke with clear displeasure in their voice.

"Trash. All of them are trash."