"Anko? Anko? Are you there? Lord Fourth has a new mission for you to handle…"
Outside the office on the highest floor of Kirigakure's Ninjutsu Development Department, Shisui Uchiha's voice rang out.
He looked at the tightly locked door before him, which had the nameplate "Anko Mitarashi" hanging on it, and knocked hard.
Only after almost two minutes did he finally hear the answer "I-I'm here, come in" from inside.
After sighing speechlessly, Shisui Uchiha walked into Anko Mitarashi's office.
Then he looked at the neat stack of food boxes piled beside the trash can. He looked again at Anko Mitarashi, who appeared to be sitting upright on the surface, yet still had food residue on her cheek that had not been wiped clean. He could not help letting out another long sigh.
"I say, Lord Fourth arranged for you to come to the Ninjutsu Development Department so you could collect as many usage requests as possible regarding curse marks, making it convenient for him to take time later to improve those specialized curse marks that are still in the experimental stage. It was not so you could close the office door and hide inside eating and drinking by yourself, right?"
Hearing Shisui Uchiha's words, Anko Mitarashi, who had grown much more mature compared to two years ago, shrugged and spoke with an expression that said it was not her fault.
"The problem is, although Lord Fourth has already started experimentally bestowing curse marks on shinobi he thinks highly of, how could their way of thinking change that easily? Their requests regarding curse marks have only one point: increase the chakra amplification effect so they can squeeze more chakra out of their bodies…"
"Lord Fourth has long since formulated a complete curse mark upgrade system to perfect that kind of request. Why would I need to put on an act, collect user opinions, then submit them to Lord Fourth? I do not want to irritate him because of something like that and have him lower the level of the Body-Shaping Curse Mark on me again."
Shisui Uchiha looked at the large pile of food boxes nearby, which could absolutely make Anko Mitarashi swell into Mitarashi Sweet Potato, then looked at Anko Mitarashi, who at most had chest muscles somewhat more developed than girls of the same age and still carried a little worry on her face.
He shook his head with a complicated expression.
After learning by Rei Kaguya's side for so long, Shisui Uchiha could now barely taste some of Rei's unknown sinister intentions from certain seemingly harmless operations.
On the surface, the Body-Shaping Curse Mark might only be a paid weight-loss channel provided to people who loved good food but worried about their figures going out of shape or gaining weight. It transformed their anxiety over their figures into money and trust that flowed into Kirigakure during its transitional period.
But in reality, it also subtly bound its users to Kirigakure's side.
After growing used to the highest-grade Body-Shaping Curse Mark's effect, where one did not need to worry about one's figure going out of shape, becoming ugly, or growing fat no matter how much one ate, how many people could accept the effect of their Body-Shaping Curse Mark being downgraded and having to supplement it with moderate training and dietary restraint just to maintain their figure?
They could not.
Humans were lazy.
Especially after experiencing something more advanced and superior, their bodies and souls would truly be branded with obedience to those new things. They could never return to how they were before.
Looking at Anko Mitarashi stretching hard and fully displaying her healthy, youthful curves filled with abundant nutrition, Shisui Uchiha seemed to already foresee female shinobi from other nations becoming like her, willingly turning into loyal believers of the Body-Shaping Curse Mark.
"Shisui? Shisui?"
Anko Mitarashi walked up to Shisui Uchiha, who had started spacing out for some reason, and waved hard in front of his eyes.
"Stop spacing out. What was that new mission you said Lord Fourth wanted to give me?"
"He wants you to go to his laboratory and act as Orochimaru's assistant for a while."
Shisui Uchiha returned to himself and spoke with a complicated expression.
"Huh? Lord Orochimaru finally came around?"
Anko Mitarashi first froze because of Orochimaru's name. Then she grabbed Shisui Uchiha's hand with great surprise and asked, "That's great! If Lord Orochimaru also joins Kirigakure, then I do not have to worry about which side I should lean toward if the two sides end up in conflict…"
"You actually had that kind of worry?"
Shisui Uchiha also showed a somewhat surprised expression.
"Why do you think Orochimaru might come into conflict with Kirigakure?"
"Because Lord Fourth and Lord Orochimaru have different research approaches."
Anko Mitarashi raised her hand and touched the Heaven Curse Mark, whose core had long been replaced.
Using the experienced, weathered tone of someone who had gone through it herself, she pretended to be mature and said, "When Lord Orochimaru does research, he rarely cares about the life and death of the experimental subjects… To him, as long as he can obtain a satisfying result, he does not care how many sacrifices appear during the experiment. He might even view it as a kind of selection if the success rate of an experimental result is very low, using it to filter out those who are not qualified. The original Heaven Curse Mark was born under that kind of thinking."
"But Lord Fourth's approach is different. He is someone who, in order to turn curse marks into universal products, would not hesitate to lower the effects of the curse marks and use grading methods to ensure the curse marks can adapt to the different conditions of every user…"
"For two people like that, saying there is no possibility of conflict between them is obviously impossible, right?"
"…Indeed."
"But now I do not need to worry about that anymore~"
Anko Mitarashi moved her body and used the Shadow Clone Technique to quickly tidy up her office.
Then, carrying the packed trash bag, she looked at Shisui Uchiha and asked, "I'll go directly to Lord Fourth's laboratory to report. Shisui, are you going with me? Based on Lord Fourth's usual style, if he had you deliver this message, he definitely intends for you to participate in the experiment a little as well…"
"As for me, I still have to assign the mission to another person Orochimaru specifically named. I may have to wait a while before going over."
Shisui Uchiha shook his head and declined Anko Mitarashi's invitation.
"One more person?"
Anko Mitarashi curiously tilted her head.
"Who is it?"
"A child named Kabuto Yakushi. He is a war orphan. After entering the Ninja Academy, he displayed an extremely high talent for medical ninjutsu. He graduated from the Academy in only one year, then was specially promoted by Lord Fourth into an assistant instructor of the Ninja Academy's medical-nin class… I suppose Orochimaru took a liking to that child's talent?"
Shisui Uchiha recalled the information about Kabuto Yakushi that he had seen from Rei Kaguya and guessed this.
…
"Achoo!"
Kabuto Yakushi sneezed without warning.
Knowing very well how healthy his body was, he could not help frowning and looking around in confusion.
"Kabuto-senpai? Did something happen?"
The Hozuki twins, who were sitting at the table receiving homework guidance from Kabuto Yakushi, raised their heads and asked curiously.
"No, nothing…"
Kabuto Yakushi shook his head, signaling to the two sisters that nothing had happened. Then he said in a low voice, "Continue. Mangetsu-senpai rarely has the interest to come over and give a few pointers today. We cannot waste such precious time on things other than asking him for advice."
"Hmph, you really know how to behave, Kabuto Yakushi."
Because the Hozuki twins had brought Kabuto Yakushi back to their clan to tutor them, Mangetsu Hozuki, who had always paid attention to this orphan whom Rei valued especially, had joined their study group after hearing the news.
At this moment, hearing Kabuto Yakushi flatter him like this, Mangetsu Hozuki grinned and patted Kabuto Yakushi's shoulder.
"No wonder Lord Fourth values you so much. In order to let you focus on research, he even specially created the position of assistant instructor… Maybe in a few years, we will be working together as colleagues."
"If I remember correctly, Brother Mangetsu, you seem to have already obtained the qualifications to inherit the twin swords Hiramekarei. You only need to increase your number of missions and seniority, and you can become one of Lord Fourth's Seven Ninja Swordsmen, right?"
Aozuki Hozuki struck her palm with her fist and said with surprise, "If you put it that way, will Kabuto-senpai also become one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?"
"The probability is not high. But with his talent, he has a decent chance of reaching the peak of Kirigakure's medical-nin and becoming a shinobi similar to Konoha's Princess Tsunade."
Mangetsu Hozuki looked at the research notes Kabuto Yakushi had written down in his notebook and gave his evaluation very seriously.
"So amazing…"
The Hozuki twins exclaimed in surprise at the same time.
Mangetsu Hozuki raised his hand and flicked both of their foreheads separately, striking them down without any mercy.
"Instead of sighing in admiration here, you two should focus more on learning from Kabuto. If he leaves you too far behind, with only the little head start you have now, what will you use to compete against the girls from other clans for a place by his side?"
The Hozuki twins' faces turned bright red with a whoosh. They stammered, not knowing what to say.
Kabuto Yakushi also awkwardly turned his face away, not knowing what kind of expression or words he should use to respond to Mangetsu Hozuki's statement, which did not sound like teasing.
But in his heart, because of that, some different thoughts became difficult to suppress.
If he truly could become a medical-nin with unique value in Kirigakure, like Konoha's Princess Tsunade, then would he no longer need to worry about the fact that he had once been a Root spy being exposed?
It should be possible, right?
And if he reached that point, he should be able to earn a great, great deal of money…
If that happened, could he find a way to secretly support the director and everyone at the orphanage, so they would no longer have to worry about Konoha reducing the orphanage's funding?
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