I'm Not Some Demon Either

Uchiha Chiri had been entrusted with an urgent task.

Less than two weeks remained before the official opening of the school, and she needed to get the Ninja Academy up and running as soon as possible.

So.

She paid another late-night visit to the Zenin Clan and explained the situation to Toji.

"The Hokage appointed you as principal...?"

Toji wore a rare, strange expression.

Counterintuitively, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, and the other future pillars of Konoha had not actually been among the Ninja Academy's first graduates.

They had become ninja before the Ninja Academy was established.

But due to his intervention.

The Ninja Academy had been founded at least ten years early, and its first principal had changed from the Second Hokage, Tobirama, to Uchiha Chiri.

History had reached a fork in the road and become a complete mess.

Toji quickly calmed down. No matter how the future changed, he would continue developing at his own pace.

"Sorry, I got distracted just now."

"As for the construction of the Ninja Academy, I do have a few suggestions..."

Toji handed Uchiha Chiri the original Ninja Academy system.

As he spoke, he casually slipped in a personal suggestion—

"I recommend regular physical examinations for academy students, with special attention paid to those with Yang Release talent. They should receive specialized training and be put to full use."

Uchiha Chiri looked thoroughly impressed.

In a single hour of conversation, Toji had built a complete framework for this unprecedented Ninja Academy, covering student recruitment, curriculum arrangements, graduation placement, and everything else.

It gave her the exhilarating feeling of suddenly understanding everything, as though clouds had parted to reveal the sun.

Chiri sincerely praised him. "Toji, you really should become a Hokage advisor."

She lowered her gaze to the notes she had taken and confirmed, "The most urgent matter right now is recruiting suitable Chunin to serve as academy teachers."

"The teachers do not need to be exceptionally strong, but they must have upright character, loyalty to the village, and treat students of every clan equally. Is that right?"

"Your understanding is correct."

Toji poured tea for them both and moistened his lips. "I can probably spare one afternoon a week to teach at the Ninja Academy. A public class is fine, and teaching specifically for the Medical Corps would be no problem either."

"I'll make a note of that."

Uchiha Chiri wrote Toji's name onto the list.

Then a faint sadness appeared on her face as she took out a sealing scroll and handed it to Toji.

"What is this?"

"I read Gospel Hospital's volunteer agreement. It said, 'Without donations, there can be no dissection; without dissection, there can be no Medical Ninjutsu.'"

Hearing that.

Toji looked at the sealing scroll again, an indistinct suspicion forming in his heart.

Chiri continued, "There are two bodies from my clan inside. They died during missions, and their families were willing to donate them for the hospital's research. It can be considered another kind of protection."

"They're called body donors, right?"

"Please treat them well. Only you may use them. Do not publicize this, and do not give them to other medical ninja. Consider it the Uchiha quietly doing our part for the village's medical care. And thank you as well, Toji, for helping last night."

"..."

Toji extended both hands and solemnly accepted the sealing scroll, his face filled with seriousness.

"I will not allow the body donors to be desecrated."

"I will do everything in my power not to betray the trust of the body donors."

"Thank you for your trouble."

Chiri did not wish to linger on this subject. She rose to take her leave and departed from the Zenin Clan.

After she left, Toji did not hesitate in the slightest. He turned and walked straight into the deepest part of the underground laboratory, taking the two corpses out of the sealing scroll.

Nameplates hung around the corpses' necks: Uchiha Yusuke and Uchiha Masayuki.

"Heh heh, hahahaha!"

In the empty underground space, Toji laughed wildly.

This was an entirely unexpected windfall.

He had never expected the Uchiha to send him two corpses. Wanting to keep their family shame from spreading, they had even specifically instructed him not to let the information leak.

The persona he had painstakingly cultivated had brought him another generous reward.

"They died during missions? That can't be right. I saw them yesterday..."

Toji took out a scalpel and, without hesitation, sliced open their chests.

Two hearts that had already stopped beating came into view.

Behind him, the Earth Grudge Fear tendrils stretched out. Toji sensed them for a moment. "Both are Fire Release. One Jōnin, one Chunin?"

Smack!

Earth Grudge Fear swallowed the Jōnin's Fire Release heart in one bite, completing the heart replacement.

A powerful force surged into Toji's body.

"A Jōnin's heart is far superior in quality to a Genin's."

There was a qualitative difference between chakra.

Madara Uchiha's Majestic Destroyer Flame required more than a dozen Water Release ninja working together to cast Water Wall just to withstand it. That was the manifestation of a difference in chakra "quality."

The higher the quality of chakra, the stronger its power under the same quantity. The same applied to Hashirama's and Yamato's Wood Release.

A Fire Release heart from an Uchiha Jōnin was worlds apart from one belonging to a bandit Genin.

"Konoha is a holy land to me."

Toji could not help sighing.

If Kakuzu wanted to obtain a heart like this, he would not only have to fight desperately, but also offend the Uchiha and perhaps even all of Konoha.

How great was that risk?

Unlike him, who only needed to be a "good person" for hearts to be delivered to his door in an endless stream.

After replacing the heart.

Toji carefully examined the two corpses.

As expected, their Sharingan had already been removed, leaving behind only four empty eye sockets. Even so, Uchiha corpses were still highly valuable and useful for his research.

Speaking of research...

Toji put on a plague doctor mask and walked to the operating table.

Uchiha Yan, who had been unconscious for an entire day and night, finally regained consciousness and slowly opened her eyes.

The instant Uchiha Yan awoke, her body instinctively struggled.

There was no blindfold and no gag.

She stared blankly around her. The scene of her escape and the grim, terrifying environment before her became confused in her mind, but a few seconds later, she had snapped out of it.

Before she could think further, a freak wearing a plague doctor mask and a black robe entered her sight.

Her pupils abruptly contracted. Instinctively, she tried to form hand seals and cast Great Fireball, but her hands were restrained, her chakra points sealed, and she did not even have enough chakra to activate her Sharingan.

All ability to resist had been stripped away.

Trapped in a desperate situation, Uchiha Yan instead calmed down and stared fixedly at the freak before her.

Toji slowly spoke. "Not bad. Among everyone who has come here, you have the best qualities."

"Where is this place? Who are you?"

"This is my laboratory. As for who I am, that is unimportant." Toji's tone was calm. "I can be Madara Uchiha, Uchiha Chiri, or even some obscure little nobody from your Konoha, like Toji or Ichiraku..."

"In short, you are now my test subject."

"Tch, a coward hiding his face."

Uchiha Yan curled her lips in disdain. "What do you want? Kill me? Take my Sharingan?"

"Don't worry. I'm not some demon either."

"Essentially, I want to make an equal exchange with you."