Was this man a lunatic?
Hiruko looked at the man in front of him, who was seriously spouting nonsense, and the thought instinctively surfaced in his mind.
Humanity's coveting of Sage Mode had not begun merely a day or two ago.
Yet the Three Great Sage Regions had endured since the era of the Sage of Six Paths for good reason.
Even the Five Great Ninja Villages standing at the pinnacle of the Ninja World had to deal cautiously with those intelligent monsters, but this man spoke of them as casually as if discussing what to make for dinner.
He really was quite...
Arrogant.
Still, it did not matter.
He had escaped that hellish place now. This man's strength seemed fairly good, and before he recovered his full power, he could not act rashly. The Fuinjutsu also needed to be handled carefully.
For now, he would simply play along.
With that in mind, Hiruko spoke softly. "Well, Lord Ren. My research has only reached its preliminary stages. I am currently attempting to fuse ordinary animals with humans."
"On the contrary, the multiple fusion of Kekkei Genkai that you mentioned has given me an excellent research direction."
"As for Sage Mode Summoning Beasts, I truly have no experience with them and do not know much about them."
His words and manner were exceedingly respectful, perfectly fitting the sincere attitude of a victim who had just been rescued.
Clearly, Hiruko was not the type who could calmly resign himself to living under another.
This could be seen from how, in the original story, after absorbing only four Kekkei Genkai, he had already considered himself invincible, boldly declared war on the entire Ninja World, and unilaterally announced the beginning of the Fourth Great Ninja War—this man was somewhat afflicted with chūnibyō.
Yet Sahara