Luring Orochimaru In

Outside the former ninja tool shop, now a factory, in the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

"One minute and thirty seconds!" Orochimaru's eyes widened in utter disbelief.

In just ninety seconds, the two of them had traveled from Ichiraku Ramen near the edge of the village to the Uchiha Clan Grounds at the very center of Konoha.

The straight-line distance was nearly five kilometers!

"Second Young Master, are you here to check on the progress today?" a blacksmith carrying iron ore into the factory asked when he spotted Shin.

"Yes. How's the progress today?" Shin asked eagerly.

"We just finished the last component. The assembly line is still under construction."

"All right, tell everyone to come back tomorrow." After giving the order, Shin led Orochimaru, whose hair and clothes were now utterly disheveled, into the factory.

Only after the future mad scientist entered the shop did he finally recover. "Shin... what method did you use to get here in such a short time?"

"That? It's a Chakra Mode I developed..."

"What's the principle?"

Seeing the urgency on his face, Shin knew Orochimaru's mad scientist mode had returned. He knew that if he did not explain it, Orochimaru would hound him endlessly.

The principle was simple enough that he did not mind revealing it. Without a cheat-level calculation ability and mutually restraining Chakra natures, it would be very difficult to learn.

Determined to carry the "luring" through to the end, Shin decided to make a substantial investment.

"After altering Chakra through elemental transformation, inject it into the cells. Once the Chakra inside the cells reaches saturation, you can enter the state. As for the side effects, inject opposing Chakra to cancel it out at the edges of the cells..."

"Such a simple principle? What a genius idea."

Having received a satisfactory answer, Orochimaru did not press further.

He had not come here for the Elemental Chakra Mode, which already sounded difficult to learn.

"Then let me assemble it first."

Shin led Orochimaru to the storeroom where the parts were kept and began assembling it.

"!!!"

Orochimaru was stunned by the seamless flow of Shin's assembly process, which did not pause for even a moment.

He opened the scroll in his hand and carefully checked it against the assembly, only to find that there was not a single error or omission.

"Th-this... is he even human? So many delicate, complex parts, and he can assemble them so quickly..."

"Even if he invented it himself, he shouldn't be able to guarantee that every step would be error-free, right?"

As Orochimaru brainstormed, he clearly no longer regarded the rapidly assembling figure before him as human.

If Shin knew that someone had finally stopped treating him like a human, he would definitely be delighted.

That was the very reason he had been stirring things up lately.

After finishing the assembly, Shin sealed fire- and wind-nature Chakra into a scroll custom-made by Cat Granny.

Then he said to Orochimaru, "All right, Uncle Snake, come take a look."

Cat Granny was... no, she was Cat Sis now.

Cat Sis had been the owner of the original ninja tool shop. Chiken had promised her a storefront on Shopping Street before acquiring this shop and turning it into a factory for Shin.

Orochimaru temporarily suppressed the thoughts in his heart and walked straight over to the pitch-black washing machine, which lacked even a trace of aesthetic appeal.

After a long while, he finally gave his assessment. "It's so ugly, Shin. Couldn't you make the exterior look a little better?"

"This is only a prototype. Besides, machines are meant to be used. Appearance isn't important!"

That was what Shin said, but inwardly, he was already planning to design a high-end model to fleece people.

One that gleamed with gold, made specifically to fleece Konoha's wealthy clans.

"You're right. Appearance isn't important!" Orochimaru savored those rather philosophical words.

If Shin knew this was why everything Orochimaru designed in the future was so ugly, he would surely regret it deeply.

Because there was no circuit board inside the prototype washing machine, it used special paper made by Cat Sis to display its visual modes.

For internal Chakra transmission, it used copper wires made with the same technique as Sealing Scrolls.

This choice was made so that once a large-scale power station was built someday in the future, it could be directly upgraded with ease.

Shin connected the water pipe and ensured it was sealed, then placed his Uchiha coat, now covered in quite a bit of dust, into the washing machine.

Then he pressed the switch and selected quick-wash mode.

"Now, witness the miracle!" Shin spread his arms wide, gesturing for Orochimaru to step forward and observe.

"This... it actually started running successfully!"

"Of course. The prototype is crude and noisy, but at this very moment, the Ninja World's first fully automatic washing machine has been born!" Shin, the great scientist, proudly announced this world-shaking news.

The successful activation of the prototype directly proved that Chakra could replace electrical energy.

That meant all the appliances from his previous life could be brought into this world one by one, given enough time.

"!!!"

Orochimaru was exceptionally excited at this moment.

Reality had proven the theory correct, and it could be expanded into many machines with different uses.

For example, heating meals? Freezing drinks? Even transmitting images?

He had far, far too many ideas he wanted to turn into reality, until Shin handed him several scrolls.

"Shin, what are these?"

"A microwave and a refrigerator. But since both require two different Chakra natures at the same time, I don't have many solutions for them yet..."

"The last one is a television. It's the most troublesome of them all. I still haven't figured out how to achieve signal transmission."

"???" Orochimaru had ultimately joined the ranks of the bewildered.

He had just been smug about having new ideas, but now he was completely deflated.

Scientists and ninja don't belong together... Orochimaru roared inwardly.

He was beginning to feel like he could no longer understand this world.

"Uncle Snake, do you have any ideas?"

Too stunned to respond with words, Orochimaru shook his head to indicate that he did not.

He did not even object to being called Uncle Snake.

"What should we do, then? I don't have any particularly good solutions right now." Shin began to guide him step by step.

"I... have an idea... Use two copper wires to... transmit Chakra separately... That should... work," Orochimaru said, his voice trembling slightly.

"But if the Chakra isn't insulated, it could easily interfere with each other." After questioning him, Shin reminded him of the problem.

He did not have the time to test every material in the Ninja World one by one to see whether it insulated against Chakra.

Now that he had cast out the bait, all he had to do was wait for the other party to take the hook.

"I've got it! What if we wrap the copper wires? That would preserve stability while preventing the Chakra from interfering with each other." Orochimaru excitedly offered the solution.

Seeing that he had taken the bait, Shin smiled. "Then what material should we use? There aren't many things that can block Chakra interference, and I still have many ninjutsu that need improving."

"Material?" Orochimaru did not take the latter half of Shin's words to heart.

In Orochimaru's eyes, improving ninjutsu meant nothing more than making them more powerful. That could not compare to the washing machine before him, ugly on the outside yet filled with an inner sense of beauty.

Sure enough, the saying that machinery was a man's romance applied in every world.

"How about this, Uncle Snake? The Uchiha Group Research Division still lacks a chief consultant. Why don't we hire you for the position?" Shin finally revealed the butcher's knife he had been sharpening for so long.

Only then did Orochimaru realize that this had all been a trap, and one set by a child at that.

But for a future mad scientist, even a trap had to be stepped into. He agreed almost without thinking. "No problem. I accept."

Two pairs of eyes, one large and one small, met. In perfect unspoken understanding, they both extended their hands and clasped them together.

"Pleasure working with you!" x2

And so, Orochimaru, who had once dreamed of researching ninjutsu to its limits and becoming the strongest in the Ninja World, had his original ambition changed by Shin's few words and set foot on the path of scientific research ahead of schedule.