Obediently!

Like the ego, id, and superego mentioned in Freud's theories.

From a broad perspective, these concepts seemed somewhat exaggerated here and did not quite fit the current situation.

However, this was essentially only a difference in one's spiritual state. The key lay in distinguishing oneself from others.

Thus, Hiruko collected those female ninja partly to vent the darkness accumulated in his heart, and partly to anchor his identity as a transmigrator.

Even so, when facing the soul of what was merely a child before him, Hiruko remained exceedingly cautious.

Fundamentally, with the willpower Hiruko had developed as a greenhouse flower during peacetime, even if he possessed a seven-year-old child from the ninja world, the odds of success would be extremely low.

Yet Hiruko ultimately came from the modern age, and the massive flood of information brought by its information explosion was terrifyingly intense.

This little fellow before him had crashed in an instant from the impact of that torrent of information.

In a battle for the mind, the winner always took everything. There was no mercy, nor was there any reason for it.

Now that one body housed two souls, it was obvious that the original Hiruko had vanished, while he from his previous life had inherited everything Hiruko possessed.

Barring any surprises, this remaining consciousness would remain in this state until he slowly drained it dry, after which it would gradually disappear.

From a philosophical perspective, what exactly was memory?

Plato believed memory was knowledge, while others believed memory was the soul.

But regardless, memory was the foundation of self-awareness, a subjective existence.

I was memory itself, the fusion of my past and present states.

The shadow hanging over Hiruko's childhood had most likely been caused by the fellow before him.

Although Hiruko had been very close to his parents in this world, his feelings should not have been so deep as to reach that extent.

It was precisely because of this soul's interference that Hiruko had fallen into such extreme grief and sorrow.

"Since you're dead, obediently become my nourishment. Everything you desire, I'll fulfill it all, one by one!"

Hiruko coldly stared at the incomplete soul before him.

Then Hiruko returned to reality.

He knew perfectly well that unless he completely resolved this hidden mental danger, he would never be at ease, nor would he be able to break through to the Kage level.

Seven days later, Hiruko was constantly busy in the laboratory.

Whenever he had a moment to spare, he ate desserts to replenish his sugar.

Ever since transmigrating into this world, Hiruko had never mistreated himself. Whenever he wanted something sweet, he indulged to his heart's content.

For some reason, Minato Namikaze, the newly appointed Fourth Hokage, had specifically come to Hiruko's laboratory today and called out enthusiastically, "Senior Hiruko! Senior Hiruko!"

As he called out, he looked around and discovered that compared to Orochimaru's eerie, damp, and gloomy laboratory, Hiruko's laboratory was simply worlds apart.

It was bright and spacious, well ventilated, and kept at just the right temperature. The air conditioning was perfectly adjusted, there was not the slightest strange smell in the air, and everything was clean and orderly.

All kinds of equipment operated automatically in an orderly fashion, while several large domestic service robots stood lined up beside the corridors.

Each performed its own duty. Some cleaned up trash, some washed and dried clothes, some cut fruit, and some could even make pastries.

Even more astonishingly, there were advanced all-in-one robots here capable of making barbecue, hot pot, and even cooking rice.

These were actually byproducts Hiruko had obtained by accident while researching prosthetic body technology.

Robot technology was not particularly difficult, really. As long as one mastered sufficient materials and knowledge, building robots was no great challenge.

Minato Namikaze stared brightly at everything before him and could not help marveling inwardly, This is simply wonderful! No wonder Master Jiraiya and Lord Third both praised Senior Hiruko so highly.

At the age when his youthful fantasies ran wild, Minato Namikaze was filled with fondness and yearning for everything here.

He thought of his pregnant wife, Kushina, and how hard she worked managing the household.

Minato Namikaze immediately decided that after discussing official business, he had to ask Hiruko whether he could buy a few household robots to take home and ease Kushina's burden with the chores.

No sooner had he thought this than Hiruko spoke. "Minato, what do you need me for?"

As he spoke, Hiruko set down the dark caramel mousse cake in his hand and instructed a domestic robot to make Minato Namikaze a cup of coffee.

Hiruko was a researcher, and whenever inspiration struck, he often worked overtime in his office until late at night.

But as a transmigrator, the concept of enjoying life had long been ingrained in his bones, and if he skipped even one meal, he became unbearably hungry.

Therefore, it was only natural that he had developed several all-in-one robots to improve his life.

Making him settle for meals like other scientists was absolutely impossible.

Because Hiruko's prosthetic body technology was so advanced, the food made by the domestic robots was nearly indistinguishable from the work of master chefs.

The only flaw of these domestic robots was that recreating the taste of a mother's cooking was impossible.

"Senior Hiruko, what do you think of the Uchiha Clan?" Minato Namikaze directly threw out a somewhat strange question.

However, Hiruko did not find it too strange. This was clearly a question shared by Konoha's upper ranks, one tied to factional conflict.

Although Minato Namikaze was curious about Hiruko's answer, he also knew that aside from the First Hokage, every generation of Konoha's leadership had held deep prejudice and wariness toward the Uchiha Clan.

Minato Namikaze was on good terms with Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto, but that could not change Konoha's upper ranks' overall view of the Uchiha Clan.

Even after Minato Namikaze assumed the position of Fourth Hokage, he was temporarily unable to reverse Konoha's upper ranks' prejudice and wariness toward the Uchiha Clan.

Following the policies of the Third Hokage and Danzo, numerous intelligence agents still secretly monitored the Uchiha Clan's movements every day and promptly reported their findings to Danzo and the others.

Itachi Uchiha, the son of the Uchiha Clan head, had frequently been in contact with Hiruko, Konoha's golden goose, naturally drawing the upper ranks' vigilance.

This genius Hiruko, who could rival Orochimaru in scientific research and had long surpassed him in certain fields, was absolutely no less important to Konoha's upper ranks than the Nine-Tails.

Especially since Hiruko had provided large quantities of prosthetic body technology during the three great ninja wars, his importance had risen again and again.

Even Kage-level experts had not received so much praise during the three great ninja wars.

Furthermore, Hiruko had recently developed the Life One human enhancement drug, an injection capable of raising a genin's strength directly to the chunin level.

The magnitude of this enhancement was terrifying, and most crucially...