Human Augmentation

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

"It's not entirely your fault; we just had bad luck this time."

General's voice echoed in Shadow's mind.

Shadow was a bit surprised, "You're actually comforting me?"

Ever since they were born, the two had been constantly sabotaging each other.

Not to mention Shadow, who relied on the authority of the setting to take the credit for good deeds while leaving General to take the blame.

General didn't seem to have much emotion, acting like a stiff puppet, yet for some reason, he always subconsciously wanted to throw Shadow under the bus.

Being comforted so suddenly, Shadow wasn't quite used to it.

General was silent for a moment, "But the main problem is that you are too weak, and we had to wait for Naruto to save us."

Now Shadow was used to it; she didn't retort, but nodded instead, "You're right, we are too weak... so we must change."

She walked over to the corpse of Izumi Uchiha and examined it.

Aside from the hole in the chest, the rest of the body was intact; with some repairs, it should still be usable.

"Do you have any ideas?"

Hearing this, Shadow turned her head, "You're awake, why not rest a bit longer?"

Naruto smiled, "No need, my body is much stronger than yours, and stronger than I imagined."

The Uzumaki Bloodline, the vitality of the Rinnegan, and the Yang Chakra of the Nine-Tails... the fusion of these three made Naruto's recovery speed incredibly fast.

In just under ten minutes, he had already regained more than half of his stamina.

Standing up, Naruto stretched and asked, "Can you tell me now... what do you want with the corpse of Izumi Uchiha?"

"Naruto should have already guessed, right?"

"Now I'm certain."

Clearly, Shadow was unwilling to remain a wooden carving; she wanted to change into a human body and become a real human being.

Shadow asked expectantly, "So, does Naruto agree?"

Naruto hesitated, "I... I haven't thought it through. Let me think about it carefully first."

Regarding Shadow becoming a real person, Naruto was actually supportive, as this was part of his future plan anyway.

However, regarding Shadow becoming a real person right now, Naruto had concerns—how would he hide her?

It was already incredibly difficult to hide a wooden carving, but hiding a real person...

It was simply impossible!

Konoha would discover her sooner or later.

Shadow asked curiously, "Wouldn't it be fine to just leave Konoha?"

Naruto shook his head, rejecting the idea, "No, you have no experience traveling the Ninja World, and your strength is weak; it would be easy for something to go wrong."

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

Seeing Naruto look stunned, Shadow realized he hadn't considered this question yet, so she pressed further, "Anyway, the people in Konoha aren't good to you; they send people to monitor you all day, and you don't like Konoha either... isn't it the perfect time to take this opportunity to leave?"

"That logic holds up, but..."

Naruto frowned in deep thought, "Give me some time to consider it."

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

The heads of the various clans in Konoha and the main Jonin received an emergency summons and quickly gathered in the conference hall.

The Third Hokage sat at the head of the table, his face pained as he announced two pieces of unfortunate news.

The first was the destruction of the Uchiha clan.

"Itachi Uchiha colluded with outsiders to massacre the entire Uchiha clan, with only Sasuke Uchiha surviving..."

The conference hall erupted in an uproar.

Are you kidding? The dignified Uchiha, a top-tier noble clan on par with the Senju... just destroyed like that? And at the hands of one of their own?

It felt so fake, so unreal.

After confirming the news was true, the heads of the various clans felt a sense of shared grief; if even the Uchiha couldn't guarantee the safety of their clan, then they...

No one felt this more deeply than Hiashi. As fellow members of a dojutsu clan, the Hyuga and the Uchiha had always been secretly competing.

Now that their rival, the Uchiha, had been wiped out, the future of the Hyuga looked bleak.

The clan must not follow in the footsteps of the Uchiha... Hiashi secretly decided that the Hyuga would keep a low profile from now on, seeking no merit but only to avoid mistakes. Whatever the Third Hokage said, they would do; they would minimize any schemes against Konoha, and if they really couldn't help it, they would be extremely, extremely careful not to let Konoha catch them in the act.

Before everyone could recover from the shock of the Uchiha's destruction, another bombshell was dropped.

The Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails had gone missing!

"Unknown individuals infiltrated Konoha and took the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails; there are currently no reliable leads..."

Many well-informed ninjas present had already known about this, but for most, it was fresh news.

Then, they couldn't hold it together anymore.

"The Uchiha wiped out, the Jinchuriki missing... is heaven trying to destroy our Konoha?"

"It's not that bad; we are still here, but Konoha has indeed reached its most dangerous moment."

"Why did it suddenly turn out like this?! Who is targeting our Konoha?!"

The Uchiha and the Jinchuriki were both pillar forces of Konoha; losing either one would be a devastating blow.

To lose both at once...

You really did a number on us, Hiruzen.

Some ninjas couldn't help but cast questioning looks at the Third Hokage.

Have you fulfilled your responsibilities as Hokage? Do you still have the ability to continue as Hokage? You...

The questions grew increasingly dangerous, so Shikaku Nara hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over: "Everyone, now is not the time to assign blame. The priority is to find the Jinchuriki; we can discuss everything else later."

The Third Hokage took off his Hokage hat, his face somber as he said: "It is my dereliction of duty. I will give everyone an explanation later... for now, I implore you all to set aside your grievances, unite, and overcome the crisis before us."

Since the Hokage had said as much, the others had no choice but to let it go, otherwise...

If you don't know when to take a hint, just wait for the retaliation.

The crowd began to discuss their next course of action.

Naruto Uzumaki pondered for a long time and rejected the shadow's proposal to leave Konoha.

"I am too weak, unable to even defeat a mere Xian Er. In this dangerous Ninja World, I would easily die young. So, just to be safe, I think it's better to keep lying low. I don't need to be invincible, but at least I should be able to protect myself without worry."

"Shadow, don't look so disappointed yet. Just because I'm not leaving Konoha doesn't mean you can't. I have a win-win method, and this might actually work..."

Under the shadow's puzzled gaze, Naruto Uzumaki used a kunai to cut a small piece of flesh from the White Zetsu corpse and stuffed it into the wound on Izumi Uchiha's heart.

Activating the Rinnegan, he cast Kamimusubi.

Green essence of life dripped into Izumi Uchiha's corpse.

The next second, the gruesome wound healed, her pale complexion turned rosy, her cold body regained warmth, and there was even a faint breath.

However, she would never wake up, because there was no soul; she was, at best, a vegetable now.

She possessed only biological instincts, but no consciousness.

Immediately after, Naruto Uzumaki cast Ukanomitama.

A white soul essence containing the appearance, physique, body shape, and height data of the Raiden Shogun descended into Izumi Uchiha's body.

"Transform!"

--Kamimusubi!

Catalyzed by a massive amount of life essence, the cells grew and divided at high speed, and the bones broke and regenerated...

Externally, Izumi Uchiha's body expanded violently, then rapidly shrank.

After repeating this cycle several times, just as Naruto Uzumaki's accumulated life essence was about to run out.

The human modification project was finally completed according to the blueprint.