"Say, aren't you worried Orochimaru will use our resources to do something that only benefits himself, Rei?"
Within the Terumi clan grounds, Mei Terumi, who had changed into casual clothes, walked beside Rei Kaguya, who was also dressed casually, and asked with some concern.
"That guy even betrayed the village where he was born, raised, and made his achievements… And you even opened up Hyuga Makoto and Shisui Uchiha, two precious materials, to him. Is it really fine to trust him that much?"
"As long as he completes my commission properly, I can turn a blind eye to him borrowing my chicken to lay his eggs. As long as he does not go too far."
Rei Kaguya yawned and answered indifferently.
"If you want the horse to jump well, you have to feed it enough grass first. For a talent like Orochimaru, whose research ability ranks first-class even across the entire shinobi world, beyond normal payment, I need to give him some visible benefits he can fish out for himself. Only then will he be more willing to maintain long-term cooperation with me…
"Besides, he has diligently worked as my outsourced contractor for quite some time. Giving him something good as a token gesture is only proper."
"Let us leave the Byakugan and Sharingan aside for now. You even gave out your own blood. Isn't that payment a little too excessive?"
Mei Terumi unhappily pinched the soft flesh at Rei Kaguya's waist and leaned close to his ear, complaining softly, "I have not even gotten your blood before…"
"What do you want my blood for?"
Rei Kaguya rolled his eyes speechlessly.
He reached back and pinched Mei Terumi's slender waist in the same manner.
"You are neither a research lunatic like Orochimaru nor a foolish idiot who worships an evil god. What do you mean by casually asking for someone else's blood?"
"Eek!? Y-You're pretending to be stupid again!"
Mei Terumi cried out in surprise and instantly used the Body Flicker Technique to escape from Rei's attack range.
Then she glared at Rei Kaguya with wide almond eyes and said angrily, "You clearly know I am using blood to refer to something else…"
"What is it? How would I know?"
Rei Kaguya's gaze drifted away as he began seriously observing the special decorations the Terumi clan's shinobi had placed on their houses.
"Aren't we boyfriend and girlfriend, Rei!?"
Mei Terumi's face reddened in anger.
Weakly acidic steam puffed from her head as she pointed at Rei Kaguya, who was pretending not to understand, and said through gritted teeth, "What kind of couple confirms their relationship for almost two years, but still has not even done anything beyond holding hands?"
"…I know you are anxious, but this really cannot be rushed."
Rei Kaguya sighed.
With a complicated expression, he shook his head at Mei Terumi and spoke in a very regretful tone.
"Sorry, Mei. On this matter, you can blame me however you want. But at least for now, we truly cannot go further."
"…The reason? Can you not tell me clearly?"
Mei Terumi looked at Rei Kaguya. His face did carry apology, but also a firmness that she could not shake.
Biting her moist lips, she asked quietly, "Even I, who have shared so many secrets with you, cannot know the reason behind this?"
"I just do not want you to overthink things. After all, even I do not know when this matter can be sol—"
Before he finished speaking, Rei Kaguya suddenly turned around.
With a grave and doubtful gaze, he looked in the direction of the village.
After activating Sage Mode and sensing carefully, he vanished from Mei Terumi's sight with the Body Flicker Technique, leaving behind only an apology that gradually faded.
"Sorry. I am going to handle something in the village. I will be back soon."
Only then did Mei Terumi belatedly reach out, wanting Rei Kaguya to take her, his Mizukage's assistant, along to handle whatever had happened in the village.
But when she remembered that her eyes had not even been able to follow Rei's Body Flicker Technique, and that she had not sensed anything abnormal in the village at all, she lowered her hand with a lonely and unwilling expression and let out a long sigh.
The gap between them had grown even larger than before.
She had clearly been working hard to train during every spare moment outside of work. Meanwhile, Rei not only had to handle all kinds of village affairs, but also had to split his focus between those strange experiments and studies.
Why had the strength gap between them not only failed to shrink at all, but instead become even larger than it had been two years ago?
Was the Terumi clan's bloodline truly that much worse than the Kaguya clan's?
Or was it because… when she sought power, she had not made enough sacrifices?
…
Rei Kaguya currently had no time to care about Mei Terumi's worries.
Because right now, he was looking at the deformed monster inside his laboratory.
It had fangs and claws bared. Half of its body was covered in sharp wooden thorns, while the other half was covered in gray bone spikes. It was growing wildly while constantly destroying itself.
Rei's brows were furrowed tightly into the shape of the character "川."
"I handed you the laboratory Kirigakure spent a huge price to finish equipping so that you could work on the project. Is this how you repay me, Orochimaru?"
Orochimaru, whose whole body was covered in wet mucus and beside whom lay an ugly outer skin resembling a shed snakeskin, did not answer Rei Kaguya's question.
He only formed several more seals to summon snakes and shouted in a low voice.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Coil!"
Immediately, several massive summoned snakes appeared out of thin air. They opened their ferocious mouths and lunged toward the half-tree, half-bone deformed monster, coiling around and biting it.
They paid no attention to the fact that their bodies were being torn bloody by the wooden thorns and bone spikes. They only sought to inject their deadly venom into the monster's body to suppress its movements.
But what disappointed Orochimaru was that the venom which had successfully suppressed the combination of Hashirama cells and Rei cells two years ago, restraining their deformed development, had no effect on the monster before him.
Instead, the giant snakes he summoned all collapsed painfully to the ground after their bodies were scratched open by the gray bone spikes.
With the wounds created by the bone spikes as the center, one huge hollow after another rapidly appeared, turning flesh and blood into ash that scattered away.
Watching this scene, Shisui Uchiha, who had relied on his excellent eyesight and Body Flicker Technique to dodge the half-tree, half-bone monster's first wave of attacks and successfully save Anko Mitarashi and Hyuga Makoto, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead in lingering fear.
Instinctively, he touched the black robe with red clouds on his body.
Near his waist and legs, the areas pierced by the gray bone spikes had already turned into holes identical to the wounds on the summoned snakes.
"So this is… the Fourth's power? It is simply, simply like it wants to break everything into nothingness."
"…So that is how it is, Rei-kun?"
Shisui Uchiha's emotion-filled murmur and Orochimaru's complicated question entered Rei Kaguya's ears together.
He sighed softly, then rushed toward the deformed monster whose collapse had gradually begun to exceed its growth.
His movements were light and nimble. His entire body was like a willow branch swaying in the wind, effortlessly avoiding the wooden thorns and gray bone spikes the monster fired at him.
Then, with a gray bone blade breaking out from his palm, he pierced straight through the monster's left half, which was covered in wooden thorns, in a single strike.
Screech—
The half-tree, half-bone deformed monster let out an ear-piercing shriek from some unknown vocal organ.
Then, even faster than when it had killed the summoned snakes earlier, it completely collapsed beneath Rei Kaguya's gray bone blade, turning into a pile of ash.
Together with the wreckage of the three large culture tanks destroyed around it, it formed the mess before everyone's eyes.
"What you just saw may be remembered, but you are not allowed to speak of it outside. Not one word."
"I believe all of you should understand what that means."
Rei Kaguya turned around.
His face carried an extremely rare seriousness and coldness as he issued the order in a tone that allowed no objection.
Even though his right hand, the one that had just swung the blade, was still trembling slightly in an abnormal way, even someone as unruly as Orochimaru did not dare voice even a single word of doubt or rebuttal at this moment.
Kabuto Yakushi, who was protected behind Orochimaru and still looked badly shaken, took a deep breath.
He looked at the Hashirama cells. Their owner had clearly died decades ago, yet the cellular tissue of that body still radiated an unsettling abnormal vitality.
Then he looked at Rei Kaguya, who had just swung a blade that seemed capable of destroying all things, only for his young body to tremble uncontrollably afterward. Even the tips of his long black hair had instantly turned lifelessly pale.
Kabuto slowly swallowed.
He had seen death and rebirth.
But they had appeared in two individuals where they should never have appeared in such a form.
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