Human Body Modification

"I'm sorry, Naruto. This is all because of me..."

"This isn't all your fault. We were just unlucky this time."

The Shogun's voice rang in Shadow's mind.

Shadow was a little surprised. "You can actually comfort me?"

Since they were born, the two of them had constantly sabotaged each other.

As for Shadow, thanks to her control over the settings, she often took the credit for good things and left the blame for the Shogun.

The Shogun didn't seem to have much emotion, like a stiff puppet. But for some reason, she always instinctively wanted to take a jab at Shadow.

Now she was suddenly trying to comfort someone. Shadow wasn't used to it.

The Shogun fell silent for a moment. "But the main problem is still that you're too weak. You could only wait for Naruto to rescue you."

That was something Shadow was used to. She didn't fire back, but nodded. "You're right. We're too weak... So we need to change."

She went over to Izumi Uchiha's corpse and examined it.

Apart from the hole in the chest where her heart had been, the rest of the body was intact. With a little repair, it should still be usable.

"Have you thought of anything?"

At that, Shadow turned around. "You're awake. Aren't you going to rest some more?"

Naruto smiled. "No need. My body is far stronger than either you or I imagined."

The Uzumaki Bloodline, the life force of the Rinnegan, and the Nine-Tails' Yang Chakra... With all three combined, Naruto recovered at an astonishing speed.

In just ten minutes, most of his strength had returned.

He stood up, stretched, and asked, "Can you tell me now... What do you want Izumi Uchiha's corpse for?"

"You've probably already guessed, Naruto."

"Now I know for sure."

Clearly, Shadow couldn't stand being a wooden doll any longer. She wanted to switch to someone else's body and become a human in the truest sense.

Shadow looked at him expectantly. "Will you agree, Naruto?"

Naruto hesitated. "I... haven't made up my mind. Let me think it over carefully."

Naruto actually supported Shadow becoming a real person, since that had always been part of his future plans.

However, he had reservations about her becoming one right now—how could he hide her?

Hiding a wooden doll had always been difficult. Hiding a real person...

It was impossible!

Konoha would find out sooner or later.

Shadow asked in confusion, "Why not just leave Konoha?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. You have no experience traveling the Ninja World, and you're weak. You could easily get into trouble."

"I meant for both of us to leave together."

Naruto froze, and Shadow realized he hadn't considered that possibility. She went on, "Konoha's people treat you badly anyway. They send people to watch you all the time, and you don't even like Konoha... Wouldn't this be the perfect chance to leave?"

"That makes sense, but..."

Naruto frowned and thought it over. "Give me some time to consider it."

The Hokage Building was brightly lit, with people coming and going.

The heads of Konoha's ninja clans and the senior Jonin had received an urgent summons and quickly gathered in the conference room.

The Third Hokage sat at the head of the table. His expression heavy with grief, he announced two terrible pieces of news.

The first was the annihilation of the Uchiha.

"Uchiha Itachi joined forces with outsiders to slaughter the entire Uchiha clan. Only Sasuke Uchiha survived..."

The conference room erupted into an uproar.

Was this a joke? The mighty Uchiha, a top clan as renowned as the Senju... had been wiped out just like that? And by one of their own?

It sounded so absurd, it hardly felt real.

Once the clan heads confirmed the news was true, they mourned the Uchiha's fate. If even the Uchiha couldn't keep their clan safe, then what about them...

No one felt this more deeply than Hiashi. As members of clans with special eyes, the Hyuga and Uchiha had always competed in secret.

Now that their rivals, the Uchiha, were gone, the Hyuga's future looked bleak.

Their clan couldn't meet the same fate as the Uchiha... Hiashi quietly resolved that the Hyuga would keep a low profile from now on. They would seek no credit, only to avoid mistakes. They would do whatever the Third Hokage said, and try to avoid undermining Konoha. If they really couldn't resist, they would have to be very, very careful and leave Konoha no grounds to accuse them.

Before everyone could recover from the shock of the Uchiha's annihilation, another bombshell hit.

The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had gone missing!

"An unknown person infiltrated Konoha and took the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. So far, we have no reliable leads..."

Quite a few of the more well-informed ninja present already knew about it, but most had only just found out.

Then they lost their composure.

"The Uchiha are gone, and the Jinchuriki has vanished... Is Heaven trying to destroy Konoha?"

"Not quite. Konoha still has us, but we're certainly at our most dangerous moment yet."

"Why did things suddenly turn out like this?! Who's targeting Konoha?!"

The Uchiha and the Jinchuriki were both pillars of Konoha's strength. Losing either one would be a severe blow.

And now they'd lost both...

Hiruzen Sarutobi, you really outdid yourself.

Some ninja couldn't help questioning the Third Hokage.

Had he fulfilled his duty as Hokage? Was he still capable of serving as Hokage? Could he...

The questions were growing increasingly dangerous, so Shikaku Nara hurriedly stepped in to defuse the situation. "Everyone, now isn't the time to assign blame. Finding the Jinchuriki is what matters. We can discuss the rest later."

The Third Hokage removed his Hokage hat, his expression grave. "I failed in my duty. I'll give you all an explanation later... For now, I ask you to put this aside and stand together so we can get through this crisis."

With the Hokage himself putting it that way, the others could only let it go. Otherwise...

If they didn't know when to back down, they could expect to be punished later.

Everyone began discussing what to do next.

After thinking it over for a long time, Naruto rejected Shadow's proposal to leave Konoha.

"I'm so weak I couldn't even beat Xian Er. I'd be easy prey in the dangerous Ninja World, so to be safe, I think it's best to keep lying low. I don't need to lie low until I'm invincible, but I should at least be able to protect myself."

"Shadow, don't look so disappointed yet. Me staying in Konoha doesn't mean you can't leave. I have a way for both of us to get what we want. It might work..."

As Shadow watched in confusion, Naruto used a Kunai to cut a small piece of flesh from White Zetsu's corpse and placed it in the wound in Izumi Uchiha's chest.

He activated the Rinnegan and used Kamimusubi.

Green life essence flowed into Izumi Uchiha's corpse.

In the next moment, the gaping wound healed, her pallid face regained its color, and her cold body warmed. Even the faintest breath stirred in her nostrils.

But she would never wake up, because she had no soul. At best, she was now a vegetable.

Her body retained only its instincts, without any consciousness.

Next, Naruto used Ukanomitama.

White soul essence containing Raiden Shogun's bodily data—her appearance, figure, build, and height—flowed into Izumi Uchiha's body.

"Change for me!"

--Kamimusubi!

Nourished by a large amount of life essence, her cells grew and divided at an accelerated rate, while her bones broke and regenerated...

On the outside, Izumi Uchiha's body swelled dramatically, then shrank just as quickly.

This cycle repeated several times. Just as Naruto's stockpile of life essence was about to run out...

The human body modification was finally complete, just as planned.