Plans

Anko was even more blunt. "Kakashi actually got dumped? Tell us about it, I'm really curious!"

Among their peers, aside from Yei and Hyuga Yue, whose engagement had been arranged since childhood, and Hayate Gekko and Yuugao Uzuki, who had that sort of relationship, everyone else was currently single.

So whenever news about romance came from among their peers, the others were quite interested...

"..." Faced with everyone's probing gazes, Kakashi's dead-fish eyes became even more pronounced. He could not even be bothered to answer such a question.

Seeing that Kakashi did not want to speak, the others looked disappointed as well.

They had thought there would be some huge scoop, but this was it?

So, they turned their gazes toward Asuma, who had brought up the topic.

"Why are you looking at me? I was just saying." Asuma shrugged, indicating that he had merely mentioned it in passing.

"Tch..." Their peers all clicked their tongues at Asuma, knowing he was just spouting nonsense.

Asuma did not feel awkward at all. Instead, he looked toward Genma Shiranui, Raidō Namiashi, and Iwashi Tatami and asked, "By the way, how have things been going for you lately? Have you learned Lord Fourth's Flying Thunder God Technique yet?"

At those words, the faces of Genma Shiranui, Raidō Namiashi, and Iwashi Tatami from the Shadow Guard Squad all fell.

Genma Shiranui bit down on his senbon and curled his lip. "How could it be that easy? There hasn't been any progress at all..."

"Oh." Asuma gave a brief acknowledgment.

He knew how difficult the Flying Thunder God Technique was.

In all of Konoha thus far, only the Second Hokage and the Fourth Hokage had mastered it.

The Flying Thunder God Technique was extraordinarily difficult, even beyond S-rank ninjutsu...

The main thing was having talent in space-time ninjutsu. It was like a ninja's Chakra nature: without the corresponding nature, there was no way to use ninjutsu of that nature!

Asuma sympathetically patted Genma Shiranui's shoulder and said earnestly, "Work hard... Once you learn the Flying Thunder God Technique, you'll be able to dominate the Shinobi World just like the Fourth Hokage!"

Then Asuma motioned for everyone to start eating. "Alright, enough talk. Come on, have some barbecue. It's on me today!"

Having completed an S-rank mission, Asuma was not exactly smug, but he was still rather pleased with himself.

Luckily, he had not listened to the old man's "earnest advice," or this S-rank mission would have passed him by!

It was also the perfect chance to show the old man that he had become a Special Jonin not through any other means, but through his own strength!

Completing an S-rank mission was the best proof!

During the previous Special Jonin assessment, he had suspected there was something fishy about it. Although his opponents had not been weak, none of them had been ninja from the other ninja clans. They had all been civilian jonin.

Their abilities were not weak either, but compared to the ninja from the village's ninja clans, they had still fallen somewhat short.

So he suspected that during that Special Jonin assessment, the old man in his family had definitely used some method to ensure that all the opponents he was matched against were civilian ninja...

Because of that, he had had a huge fight with the Third Hokage!

Later, almost out of spite, he had ignored the Third Hokage's "persuasion" and joined this mission, wanting to show the Third Hokage that even without those little tricks, he could still become a Special Jonin on his own!

Of course, although he had completed this mission, it had also dealt him quite a blow...

Among the four-person squad, his performance had been the worst. It had also made the still somewhat youthful him want to become stronger!

He did not want to be surpassed by the other members of his generation!

Genma Shiranui's mouth twitched. Why did it feel like Asuma's words carried a hint of gloating?

But he could not refute it. The three of them—himself, Raidō Namiashi, and Iwashi Tatami—really had not made much progress in their training with the Flying Thunder God Technique...

He could only say bitterly, "As expected of someone who completed an S-rank mission. You're certainly generous. I'm going to eat you broke today!"

As he spoke, he began stuffing food into his mouth in huge bites!

"It's fine, eat as much as you can. My reward for this mission was over a million. I'm not as stingy as Kakashi!" Asuma declared grandly, taking the opportunity to jab at Kakashi as well.

Everyone knew that among their peers, Kakashi was famously stingy!

"..." Kakashi rolled his dead-fish eyes at Asuma. Why was he being dragged into this again?

He ignored Asuma, lifted his mask, and started eating by himself.

It was not his money anyway. He could eat whatever he wanted!

The group of peers ate and drank, and time passed amid their chatter.

Before long, they had eaten and drunk their fill. After Asuma paid the bill, they left one after another.

After Yei escorted Hyuga Yue home and agreed with Aunt Yami that he would have dinner at her place, he began wandering around.

He considered making a trip to the Death Forest to renovate his laboratory. After receiving the reward for the S-rank mission, Yei had a bit more money on hand.

It was necessary to build up the laboratory. In this world, biotechnology could play an enormous role.

For one thing, biotechnology might be able to help Yei with the Reincarnation Eye...

Although Yei knew that awakening the Reincarnation Eye required Otsutsuki Clan Chakra combined with a pure Byakugan, was there really no other possibility once that option was ruled out?

Logically speaking, there should be!

From a scientific perspective, the Byakugan and the Reincarnation Eye could both be said to originate from the Otsutsuki Clan bloodline.

They were things on the genetic level!

The Byakugan was the dominant gene of the Otsutsuki Clan. Every member of the Otsutsuki Clan initially possessed the Byakugan!

As for eyes like the Sharingan, Rinnegan, Reincarnation Eye, Pure Eye... and so on, they were all mutations that had occurred on the foundation of the Byakugan!

Or rather, mutations and evolutions in their genetic sequences!

Yei was a member of the Hyuga Clan, and tracing their lineage back, they were inseparably connected to the Otsutsuki Clan. He possessed the Otsutsuki Clan's dominant gene—the Byakugan!

In a sense, Yei met the conditions to awaken the Reincarnation Eye. It was only because the Hyuga Clan's bloodline concentration and Chakra purity were insufficient that he could not awaken it!

So the question was... could he bypass all that and work directly at the genetic level?

It was possible!

As long as he possessed enough knowledge and conducted enough experiments, he might be able to use the achievements of biotechnology to accomplish the goal of awakening the Reincarnation Eye!

Of course, this was only Yei's hypothesis. Whether it would work still required experimentation.

That was also why he wanted to study Medical Ninjutsu. Medical Ninjutsu involved knowledge of every aspect of the human body, including meridians, cell regeneration, organs, and more!

If Yei wanted to make progress in biotechnology, Medical Ninjutsu was indispensable!

In short, there were still many problems to solve. Everything was difficult at the beginning, so for now, he should set up the laboratory first...