You can't step into the same river twice, nor can you be from two different worlds.
"Why did you suddenly zone out? What are you thinking about?"
Seeming to notice that Emiya's expression was a bit dazed, Sister Himeko leaned slightly closer. Those bright eyes seemed to bloom with the alluring charm of a mature beauty without needing any extra makeup, rippling like clear autumn water.
At a distance so close they could almost touch, Emiya could even feel a faint, warm current of breath brush across his face as she spoke. Awakened by this somewhat illusory sensation, looking at the beautiful woman smiling gently before him, Emiya couldn't help rubbing his nose, then chuckled softly,
"I was wondering when I could marry Miss Himeko and bring her home."
"What a pity, I currently have no plans to get married, oh."
"Then I'll just have to see if I can make you change your mind."
"Perhaps you can try. Trying new possibilities is also a way of accumulating pioneering experience."
"Of course, I just love "pioneering"! I've gotta pioneer it hard!"
When Mr. Emiya said this sentence, it actually carried a bit of genuine feeling. If the direction of pioneering was targeted at that aspect, he would be far too interested.
"Let's go. First, let's go meet those so-called ninjas you mentioned. I'm quite interested in that biological energy called 'Chakra'."
Before her voice even faded, an ear-splitting, heaven-shaking roar suddenly echoed from the distance, as if the entire earth were trembling.
"Starting again?"
Emiya looked with a headache toward the distant area some dozens of kilometers away. The older and younger groups of the Uzumaki clan had once again started driving the Creation Engines and began their so-called "training". Ever since these two generations learned the specific functions of the λ-driver system, they had been obsessed every day with bombarding each other with their thoughts to practice digging up the earth.
The Land of Whirlpools didn't have a very large landmass to begin with, so whenever the Creation Engines made even the slightest commotion, the entire island could feel it.
In fact, Dr. Mei had originally planned to simply rebuild her laboratory on this island. Now, seeing the actions of this bunch of Uzumaki aborigines, she abandoned the thought of a permanent residency on the island without the slightest hesitation.
According to her, she simply couldn't imagine living with hundreds of social terrors who were low-spec versions of Elysia, so she had now decisively run off to the mainland to look for a suitable research institute location.
"It seems these ninjas are quite energetic, somewhat different from the sort of death-seeking profession in my impression."
"It's just that they're a bit too energetic, especially this whole Uzumaki family."
Before his voice even faded, a little girl not far away caught sight of his and Himeko's location. Her eyes instantly lit up, and she suddenly leaped down directly from a tree branch three or four meters high. After her legs trembled for a moment upon landing, she sprinted over like nothing was wrong.
Just as she was about to shout something at Emiya, her foot got tripped by a tree root. Instantly, she lunged forward, then went straight into a face-slide, and finally arrived right at Emiya's feet.
Mr. Emiya couldn't help taking two steps back, asking with a head full of black lines,
"...Kushina, what kind of trouble are you stirring up again?"
"I feel like the remaining two Giant God Soldiers are calling out to me! I'm serious, Brother Emiya, I'm not lying!"
ps: Sorry, there were some incorrect words and unsmooth sentences in the updated chapters these past few days. I uploaded them in a rush earlier without editing. Starting today, I will begin to avoid this kind of problem. I apologize for the unpleasant reading experience brought to everyone previously...
Chapter 070: Determined to become the premier female pilot of the Uzumaki clan!
Kushina Uzumaki,
At this point, she was not yet the wife of that blondie from Konoha later on, nor was she the biological mother of the future Seventh Hokage Blondie.
This little girl, who hadn't yet gone to Konoha and been called a rotten tomato or red pepper, was still a silly lump radiating a kind of crystal-clear stupidity from the inside out.
Perhaps the upper echelons of the clan hadn't explained the previous situation encountered by the Land of Whirlpools to these children, but this little girl was still enjoying her carefree childhood. Like the mischievous Uzumaki kids her age, she went up the mountains to become a master bird-catcher and down to the sea as the King of Hell's conch-catcher, never yearning to have a sweet romance with a certain blondie who was still studying.
Minato Namikaze? (Irrelevant)
Giant God Soldiers?! This old lady was born into this world precisely for them!
Being the direct granddaughter of the clan head, Kushina could be considered part of the earliest batch of people to mingle with Emiya and his group. Coupled with the fact that Elysia liked this kind of lively and cute little girl the most, after a few back-and-forth days, the little girl had grown familiar with everyone.
And then, once familiarity set in, her uninhibited personality began to show itself. Every day she thought about the other two Creation Engines, fantasizing that she could pilot them all by herself.
Ninja? What kind of trash profession was that?
The wife of the Fourth Hokage, who originally should have aspired to become Konoha's first female Hokage, had long since changed her ambitions now.
She hoped that her future life resume would definitely feature a line of introduction like this:
"The premier Giant God Soldier pilot of the Uzumaki clan"
"Brother Emiya, I feel like they really are calling me! Because I haven't responded to them for so long, they're even crying. I'm not lying!"
The little girl said it with absolute certainty, except that her little face was still stained with quite a bit of dust, making her look as disheveled as a little kitten, so nothing she said had any persuasiveness.
When Himeko saw this little girl's appearance, she couldn't help laughing. She squatted down, took a handkerchief out of her pocket, and wiped the dust off the little girl's face.
Looking at a head of hair even purer than her own clan's hair color, Kushina's eyes instantly lit up. She gazed at this great beauty's slender, well-proportioned figure and exquisite, gentle facial features, and then jumped up with excitement.
"Sister, I must become a great beauty just like you in the future!"
Ideal type!
A pure ideal type!
This is the future ultimate evolution version of me, Kushina Uzumaki!
"Then you'll have to grow up well. You must eat more vegetables, not be a picky eater, get plenty of rest, and not stay up late."
"Sister, what's your name? How come I haven't seen you in the clan?"
"I'm Himeko. You can call me Sister Himeko. Little sister, what's your name?"
"Kushina, Kushina Uzumaki!"
"Then, could I trouble you to show me around? I'm very interested in your country and clan. Can you introduce them to me?"
"Leave it to me!"
Children's attention was very easily diverted, and Himeko's friendly smile managed to capture the little girl's current focus, causing her to give up on continuing to pester Emiya to dig out the remaining two Giant God Soldiers.
When Himeko was led away by Kushina, Cangxuan, one of the four assistants of Mobius remaining on the island, trotted over and spoke directly to Emiya,
"Brother Emiya, you're finally back. The doctor has been urging us, saying she has already found a suitable research institute on the mainland that can be set up."
"So fast? Could it be she just picked a random place?"
"It seems the doctor ran into a young ninja who is very interested in biology. That young ninja pointed out a secluded place for them that is very suitable as a research institute."
"Oh? What's the name of that young ninja?"
"Orochimaru, seems to be that name."
Did these two snakes mix together so quickly? Perhaps there was some sort of wonderful bond of fate.
However, Orochimaru hadn't reached the level of a biological master of later generations yet. Right now, in front of Mobius, he was at best a tiny apprentice.
"I wonder if there's any possibility of recruiting Orochimaru right now. If it's Orochimaru after Nawaki's death, he might start developing a strong obsession with eternal life, making him very easy to recruit at that time."
Research-oriented talents, especially native research-oriented talents, could sometimes provide unexpected perspectives. Being the sole biology expert in a scientific desert like the ninja world, it was really a bit of a waste of talent for such a person to stay in Konoha in the future to compete for the Fourth Hokage position with the disciple of a childhood friend.
Such a good material—if thrown into the starry universe, he'd somehow manage to secure an Erudition or Abundance Path, completely break free from the scientific desert of the ninja world, and roam freely in the realm of imaginary numbers.
Orochimaru spawning in the mainland area near the Land of Whirlpools—it wasn't hard to guess his mission. In all probability, he was under orders to conveniently escort some refugees of the Land of Whirlpools back to Konoha along the way.
Such a fat piece of meat as the Land of Whirlpools wasn't just eyed by Kumogakure and Kirigakure; behind the scenes, it was likely an unspoken tacit understanding among the Five Great Nations.
After all, how could the Five Superpowers, descended from the Ancestor Emperor, ever want to see a ninja nation that set up on its own like the Land of Whirlpools?
What if you guys played this game and had a blast, and other ninja villages started getting ideas too, and everyone collectively rebelled—what then?
Therefore, the Land of Whirlpools had to die. It wasn't just because of Sealing Jutsu and Jinchuriki; most importantly, it was because it was a small nation established independently by ninja clans drawing boundaries.
...Please vote for flowers...
The other ninja villages formed an allied army that marched aggressively toward the Land of Whirlpools, while Konoha, constrained by face, simply felt too embarrassed to openly join in.
"Playing the hypocrite while saving face—no wonder there are so few positive portrayals of that old man Hiruzen Sarutobi in Konoha fanfiction. The title of Shinobi Overlord really doesn't suit this little old man who is a born politician."
Let's tell a joke: the strongest Hokage in history, the Third.
Maybe he couldn't even beat one of Hashirama's hands.
"Then let's just go over directly."
Projecting Mr. Gilgamesh's Vimana, Cangxuan also stepped aboard. She still hadn't figured out where the driving core of this strange-shaped flying boat was, but its performance as a means of transportation was indeed quite good.
Following the positioning coordinates fed back by the temporarily launched satellite, Emiya quickly found Mobius, who had arrived amid a mountain range, along with her bodyguard miss, and Miss Sakura who didn't have a pair of donkey ears yet.
... ... ...
This former black-ops department handler miss was also a trustworthy person picked out by Mobius. It was worth mentioning that this girl had already brought her younger sister to this ninja world. That ghost town of the Honkai stage might corrupt her sister at any moment, and she definitely didn't want to see her sister get involved in any events related to Honkai.
"You're finally here?"
Seeing the Vimana land on the ground, Mobius's tightly knitted brow finally relaxed. Having so much free time without being able to do experiments was simply too torturous for someone with her personality.
"Is that person the ally chosen by you, Doctor? Please forgive my bluntness, but with your talent, if you were to join Konoha, I can guarantee you that funding-wise, it would definitely not be lower than one billion ryo a year."
Standing not far to the right of Mobius, a young ninja spoke to Mobius with a hint of respect.
"Ordinary small ninja villages simply do not possess the foundation to conduct biological experimentation and research. As a master, you should understand this situation better than I do."
From his current perspective, within the entire ninja world, only the vast and resource-rich Land of Fire possessed the most abundant resource foundation. And as the violent apparatus of the Land of Fire, "Konoha", the number one ninja village in the ninja world, was undoubtedly the most qualified place to accept a great talent like Mobius.
Other small nations would only waste this doctor's talent and wisdom. Letting such a great talent waste time in a rural, minor country was truly a heavenly waste of resources.
"One billion? If we're really going to do research, the one billion you mentioned is nothing more than pocket change. What can such a tiny bit of funding do in a year? Most importantly, the resources of your so-called great nations in the ninja world are simply not worth mentioning in front of that man."
Chapter 071: "Brother, I developed a new jutsu." "If it's not Water Release, ban it."
Chapter 071: "Brother, I developed a new jutsu." "If it's not Water Release, ban it."
"Cold Lord Orochimaru?"
"Indeed. You must be Emiya-kun, whom the doctor mentioned."
Looking at Orochimaru, whose expression still carried a hint of youthful exuberance, Emiya raised his eyebrows slightly. At this current period, he wondered if this fellow had started cooperating with Danzo yet.
The ninja world could practically be considered a scientific desert. Wanting to carry out any reliable research was inseparable from human experimentation, and Konoha, as the ninja village with the highest-voted public image on the surface, always needed to evade and cover up in this aspect.
Therefore...
Even with an interest in that field, before cooperating with Danzo, Orochimaru's methods were still relatively conservative, promising to use only death-row inmates and ninjas from other countries as test subjects at most.
Moreover, during this period, he still harbored the ambition of becoming the Fourth Hokage.
He was far from being that snake uncle who later simply broke the jar and defected.
"Emiya-kun, '963' I feel heartfelt admiration for Dr. Mobius's scholarship, so I want to invite her to visit Konoha."
"Then you should tell her yourself."
"The doctor refused me because of you."
"That sounds as if a confession got rejected."
Emiya chuckled teasingly, then looked at Mobius and spoke,
"Mobius, I have a joke here. Do you want to hear it?"
"What joke?"
"One day, Tobirama Senju, who had not yet become the Second Hokage, found Hashirama Senju, who was then serving as the First Hokage.
He said: Brother, I developed a new jutsu.
Hashirama Senju asked: Is it Water Release? If it's not Water Release, ban it."
When Orochimaru heard this joke, he was stunned at first. After a moment of silence, a flush of red suddenly crept up that pale face.
Good one!
Yet who in the ninja world with any normalcy would go about categorizing jokes that spoofed the first two Hokages?
And it was a joke with such secretive inside information.
On second thought, although he hadn't read it in detail, over ninety percent of the forbidden jutsu recorded in the Scroll of Seals held by his own teacher really seemed to have come from that Second Hokage.
"Is there anything funny about it?"
Mobius rolled her eyes. Although she had heard some common sense about the ninja world, she completely failed to get the punchline of this kind of joke.
"The guy over there has already laughed out loud, which proves my joke is fine—you just have a high threshold for humor."
"Stop fooling around, help me turn him down, and hurry up and move my laboratory out for me. If we waste too much time, the experiments won't get done."
"Alright, alright."
Before you continue