Late July, summer.
It was already close to evening when Hakushi returned from the Ninja School and heard an unexpected piece of news from Ruri.
"Going out on a mission?"
Hearing Ruri say she wanted to go out for a mission, Hakushi was a little surprised.
"Yes, I've thought about it—I'm really not suited for the leisurely life of the Security Team. I've already handed in my transfer application."
Hakushi remembered that Ruri had already worked in the Security Team for more than a year, and it was about the time she'd be tired of it.
Life in the Security Team was indeed too easy, and most of what they handled were civil disputes. For a powerful Jonin like Ruri, it was a complete waste of her talents.
Such matters could be easily handled by ordinary Uchiha Ninja.
The reason for arranging Ruri as a Sub-Captain in the Security Team was really just for gilding her résumé.
After all, the Security Team was an honorary department managed by the Uchiha Clan; many Uchiha members viewed joining the Security Team as an honor.
But for Ruri, this wasn't much of an honor—rather, it was a dull and tedious life.
"It's good to go out and change your environment for a bit."
"Want to come with me?"
At Ruri's invitation, Hakushi scratched his head in embarrassment and said: "Forget it, I'll pass. My Immortal Technique research is just one step away from harmonization. Let me finish that first, and then I'll think about it."
Ruri didn't push him; the research on Immortal Techniques was indeed important.
She was also looking forward to Hakushi finishing his work on Immortal Techniques soon.
If he succeeded, her strength would leap to a new level, and her use of the Sharingan would also reach even greater heights.
"By the way, since you're going out on a mission, you'll have to re-form a squad, right? With your current Jonin rank, you shouldn't be able to join another Jonin Squad."
Normally, missions were carried out in four-person squads.
There were also special formats—for example, mixed teams with several Chunins and Genin working together.
Generally, that only happened during wartime periods.
Because during those times, the casualty rate for Jonin was also very high.
But now wasn't wartime; the normal team format was a group of four.
A Jonin leading three Chunins or Genin.
"Recently, a squad's Jonin leader was killed in action. I'll go take over that squad as captain. The team members seem to be kids who just graduated not long ago."
"Haha, what bad luck. Freshly graduated, and they already lose their captain, only to have you as their new leader now."
The Ninja School graduation season was usually in March or April.
It was now July—which meant the squad's Genin had been out of school less than half a year, and their Jonin leader had already died in a mission.
They must have run into some unfortunate accident while carrying out a task.
After all, a lot of client missions were full of traps and false information and such.
That sort of thing happened all the time.
Ruri's decision to go out on a mission might have something to do with the matter regarding Sakumo—her heart was still unsettled.
Hakushi decided to just let her go.
With Ruri's strength, she was unlikely to run into trouble.
Leading a rookie team meant the mission wouldn't be too difficult anyway.
It was completely different from when they'd joined Sakumo's squad back then.
◎
The next day.
Hakushi arrived at Ruri's room, but only found a note. After reading it, he knew that Ruri had already left.
He felt a bit unaccustomed to the sudden change, but adjusted his mindset quickly.
After breakfast, Hakushi dove into the laboratory and started adjusting the fusion mechanism between chakra and natural energy.
If chakra and natural energy existed independently, they weren't actually difficult to control.
Especially for someone born with good control skills, it could be mastered quickly without wasting a speck of energy in battle.
But when these two energies were fused, they became hard to manipulate.
Inside a clear tube, he used instruments to fuse the chakra and natural energy within.
Once that was set up, Hakushi moved on to other research.
This research, as it happened, was related to Earth General, the earth doll.
After the last fight against Hyuga Hijin, the Jonin from the Hyuga Main Family, he realized that Earth General could be a great help in battle in many situations.
For example, human bomb, human bomb, human bomb…
Besides its infiltration ability, Earth General's ambush skills were top notch.
Though he didn't have much fighting power himself, his body contained a storage space—operating on the same principle as the Sealing Scroll, so he could store a lot of equipment.
Lately, Hakushi had filled him with all sorts of poison gas bombs, explosive tags, and other deadly weapons, so he'd be more than just a communication tool.
Now, aside from researching Immortal Techniques, Hakushi was also conducting parallel experiments on the Artificial Human project.
He planned to create another Artificial Human, built like Earth General.
Earth General's key trait was "earth."
The ability to burrow and move through earth was much stronger than in water.
This time, Hakushi wanted to make a new Artificial Human.
One with the attribute of "yin."
That is, Yin Style.
This sort of jutsu could be seen in the Insect Squad's Shadow Man.
His ability to blend into shadows was a kind of application of Yin Style.
There was also the Nara Clan's Shadow Jutsu, and the Uchiha's Sharingan Illusion Techniques—all considered forms of Yin Style.
A new template quickly formed in Hakushi's mind.
He sketched out the design, then took out pre-prepared materials from the lab's stock to begin the construction process.
Hopefully, this time the puppet's intelligence would be a little higher.
If she turned out smarter than that idiot Earth General, Hakushi would be satisfied.
The process of making an Artificial Human wasn't actually so complicated.
The first step was shaping—infusing the molded material with vitality by using yin-yang chakra nature transformation, then using natural energy as their life force, and setting up an ability to self-regulate and absorb external natural energy.
Next came the most critical step.
With a living shell in place, all that was left was to implant the soul.
A shell without a soul was an incomplete life.
And the main body of that soul…was Hakushi himself.
He transferred a piece of his own soul fragment into the body with a soul jutsu.
Through cultivation, adjustment, and finally loaded it into the newly created puppet's body.
The last step—placing the puppet, infused with his soul fragment, into a floor-to-ceiling glass vessel brimming with natural energy for perfect integration.
Hakushi quietly watched as his new "child" was born from the machine…
◎
In the time that followed, Hakushi waited quietly for his "child" to be born while also monitoring the fusion progress of Immortal Techniques.
When afternoon came, Hakushi went to work at the Ninja School.
After coming home, his "child" in the lab still hadn't awakened; she probably needed to absorb a lot more energy before fully forming.
Very quickly, a day went by.
The next morning, as usual, Hakushi went to Ruri's room.
He didn't see Ruri anywhere.
She hadn't come back for a whole day.
He supposed she was leading those kids who'd just graduated from Ninja School out of the village on a mission.
For some reason, Hakushi felt something indescribable in his heart, looking at the empty Ruri's room, a sense of loss creeping in.
Since moving here, it seemed he'd never been apart from Ruri for this long.
Kind of strange—he was missing her.
Thinking so, Hakushi made his way to the underground laboratory.
Inside, nothing had changed. The "child" he'd created was still inside the floor-to-ceiling glass instrument, eyes tightly closed, absorbing natural energy.
Hakushi looked at the computer's Immortal Technique synthesis data. It was a bit better than yesterday—even if the improvement wasn't big, success was already very close.
He killed a whole morning like that, periodically adjusting the Immortal Technique research methods, but success always seemed just out of reach.
Hakushi thought of the Witch in the distant Land of Demons; these days, he'd exchanged quite a few letters with her through Earth General.
But it had mostly been about business cooperation.
For example, he wanted to found a company in the Land of Demons, hoping their government would provide convenience as a Neutral Country, to further business ties.
But Hakushi knew—the Witch of the Land of Demons understood the use of natural energy.
She'd once warned him: "Be careful of Mount Myoboku."
Mount Myoboku, one of the Three Great Sacred Lands, was also one of the cradles of Immortal Techniques.
Did that Witch also know Immortal Techniques?
But was it too abrupt to ask? Immortal Techniques were important, and if it were him, he wouldn't easily share them with anyone either.
Asking about such secrets rashly could easily break their relationship.
It probably had to do with an inalienable heritage unique to the Witch's bloodline.
"Really troublesome…"
Hakushi furrowed his brow. Seeing it was already past noon, he gave up thinking and went out for food instead.
When he returned, Hakushi was startled for a moment.
The "child" who'd been incubated in the floor-to-ceiling glass container was gone.
The natural energy was still there, and the glass container was completely intact—as if the person inside had simply been wiped out from existence.
Hakushi stepped forward a few steps and immediately sensed something was off in the laboratory's atmosphere.
Shadows.
A multitude of shadows.
Countless shadows twisted and spun bizarrely along the walls, on the floor, and even over Hakushi's own body.
They were blurred, silent darkness.
This twisted, eerie dance of shadows gave off a mysterious, elusive feeling.
Eventually, all the shadows stopped moving.
They converged on a single point.
And from the ground in front of Hakushi, an entity quietly rose up into physical form.
"Father."
A cold, emotionless female voice.
She was shrouded in black, with flowing, pure black hair and a total black metal mask. Only her ruthlessly cold eyes were exposed, pitch-black pupils filling their entire space.
Like a shadow of the icy, snowy dark night.
She knelt on one knee, offering her creator the utmost respect and reverence.
Hakushi's eyes were full of gratification—just from her icy gaze, he could tell this one was different from that idiot Earth General.
A daughter with normal intelligence.
At that moment, another mass emerged from the ground—an earthen head.
Just as it was about to say something, a dark shadow sliced across its neck.
The head with pale-gold eyes rolled across the floor, finally stopping when it hit the wall.
Still bowing to Hakushi, Shadow Lady said in a proud but cool tone, "Father, the enemy has been taken care of."
"..."
"Father?"
Shadow Lady spoke with a slightly puzzled tone.
Why isn't Father praising me yet?
"He was your brother…"
Shadow Lady stiffened, bowing her head, as if at a complete loss.
Hakushi sighed softly and had no choice but to comfort her: "But you don't have to worry—your brother's head isn't quite right, he won't remember any of this. Just treat him better in the future."