Puppet

Meruem's idea was good, but the Uchiha Clan was not as easy to control as other people. They were a proud and arrogant clan. More importantly, Meruem did not know how to perform the Chimera Ants' body modifications. Those had previously been handled by Chimera Ant doctors, Pouf, and Pitou.

But that did not mean Meruem had no solution. He still had one of his Nen abilities—Voodoo.

One function of the Golden Silkworm Gu was to enhance the target's Nen, allowing the development of their Nen ability to reach its maximum potential. In practical terms, though, while it could indeed push someone to their limit—

—it was ultimately a form of overdrawing potential. Human potential was limitless. The same held true for Chimera Ants: their Nen could be raised to an unimaginable level in an extremely short time, but the price was that they would never improve again for the rest of their lives. That was why Meruem had not used the Golden Silkworm Gu on every Chimera Ant. It simply was not worth it.

Of course, aside from overdrawing potential, the Golden Silkworm Gu had two other abilities. First, once someone consumed one, their life and death would be under Meruem's control. The Golden Silkworm Gu's true form was a Nen Beast, and the target had to eat it for it to work. As for the third ability, it could turn someone into something like a puppet. In other words, it was somewhat like an external incarnation that Meruem could control from afar. However, there was a prerequisite: when the target first consumed the Golden Silkworm Gu, their consciousness had to be erased immediately. Erasing their consciousness would also develop their potential to its limit—in other words, overdrawing their potential as described in the first ability.

For now, Voodoo was perfectly suited to Meruem's needs. The only flaw was that the Golden Silkworm Gu could not be used without limit. In the past, Meruem could manifest at most nine Golden Silkworm Gu. Nine was already his limit; no matter how much stronger he became, he could never have more than nine. Unless one Golden Silkworm Gu vanished, he could not exceed that limit.

At present, Meruem could manifest only one Golden Silkworm Gu at most. Still, one was enough for the current situation. As for the Golden Silkworm Gu he had previously given to Aureole, Zazan, and Gudo, Gudo had ignored his orders and been personally killed by Meruem. Aureole and Zazan were inside the system space, so that did not prevent Meruem from manifesting a new Golden Silkworm Gu.

As for the reason? Meruem himself did not know.

Since he did not know exactly when the Uchiha Clan massacre would occur, Meruem decided to act as soon as possible.

While Ruiko was asleep that night, Meruem quietly left the house on the outskirts of the Uchiha compound.

Meruem did not particularly care who he chose. Any member of the Uchiha Clan would do. As for whether they could awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, or whether the Golden Silkworm Gu's potential development would work on ninjas from the Naruto World, he did not know.

But wouldn't he find out only after trying?

As for why he wanted to control someone? After the Chama incident in the Hunter World, Meruem no longer wanted to expose himself in public, especially while his strength had not yet recovered. Of course, once he fully recovered, whether he would go challenge Madara one-on-one or clear Kaguya's dungeon solo—

—that would depend on his mood.

Uchiha Suzuki. Not only was Suzuki a common name, but within the Uchiha Clan, he was also an utterly ordinary background character. He was twenty years old. At nineteen, he had awakened his Sharingan during a mission. However, unlike Sasuke, Itachi, or even Obito, when he awakened it, he had only one tomoe in his left eye.

His aptitude was ordinary even by Uchiha standards. The geniuses who awakened their eyes at six or seven years old, immediately opening Double Tomoe Sharingan, or awakening one or two tomoe in both eyes at once, were rare even in Uchiha history.

Those who awakened their Sharingan in their late teens or twenties and could develop it to Double Tomoe were already considered decent within the Uchiha Clan. As for those in their twenties who awakened Three Tomoe Sharingan, they could only be described as geniuses—elites wherever they went. Even in the current Uchiha Clan, there were only a handful of such people.

There were fewer than ten people in the entire Uchiha Clan who possessed Three Tomoe Sharingan, and each of them was strong enough to contend with an Elite Jonin. What level was an Elite Jonin? Simply put, they were reserve Kage-level powerhouses, with the potential to advance into true Kage-level experts. Their strength was no joke. Bloodline Limits were practically cheats for ninjas, especially the Sharingan bloodline inherited from Son of the Six Paths Indra, which stood among the very best.

Elite Jonin without Bloodline Limits or secret techniques did exist in the ninja world, but they were even rarer than Kage-level powerhouses. It was easy to see that the Naruto World, like the Hunter World, was a world where talent, ancestry, and background determined everything. Of course, every world was like that. As for grassroots rises like Son Goku from the Dragon Ball world, who had a starting combat power of only two yet later gained strength comparable to a God of Destruction, such absurd anomalies were exceedingly rare.

Modern society required a good father, and the Naruto World was no different. The difference was that one could rely on a godfather, while the other could only rely on one's biological father.

"Who are you?" Suzuki watched the green-skinned little boy before him with a wary expression. He did not underestimate Meruem because of his age. This was the heart of the Uchiha Clan's territory. How could anyone outside the Uchiha Clan appear here? A child was even more impossible.

Meruem could not be bothered to answer. He had deliberately let the other party discover him. Yet Suzuki's reaction disappointed him somewhat. Still, he was only looking for a puppet. Nothing else mattered.

Meruem vanished from Suzuki's sight in an instant. Before Suzuki could react, Meruem struck him heavily on the head. Then he dragged the unconscious Suzuki away into the silent night.

A side note: it seemed that the genes of Son of the Six Paths Indra were somewhat better than Asura's. Any Uchiha who could awaken the Sharingan was definitely good-looking. They were all handsome, and more than half had that cold, aloof type of appearance. That was probably what people called recessive genetic inheritance.

Meruem dragged Suzuki into an uninhabited forest. It might have been the Forest of Death. In any case, Meruem had checked with En. Aside from some wild beasts, there was not a single living person there. En, one of Nen's abilities, was practically comparable to a sensing ninja, and its error rate was almost zero. Naturally, it had drawbacks as well. Only true masters could extend their En very far. Ordinary experts could manage only around three hundred meters.

The animals in the Forest of Death stirred up quite a commotion because of Meruem's arrival. Since he did not want to be disturbed by clueless animals, Meruem did not suppress his aura much. The magical beasts of the Hunter World were countless times stronger than the animals of the Naruto World, which were only somewhat larger than ordinary animals from other worlds. Even those magical beasts could not withstand a trace of Meruem's aura, let alone these creatures.

In short, there was not a single animal within two or three hundred meters of Meruem, including insects.

He brutally pried Suzuki's mouth open and controlled the Golden Silkworm Gu as it slowly crawled into Suzuki's mouth.

"Mm, so this is what controlling a puppet feels like? It's a little unfamiliar. Kind of dizzy." The Golden Silkworm Gu's method of turning someone into a puppet was very similar to how the Parasytes in the manga Parasyte controlled humans. They ate the target's brain and took over the body. The difference was that the Golden Silkworm Gu was not nearly so savage.

Meruem slowly controlled Suzuki into standing up. The feeling was extremely strange, as if two perspectives had suddenly appeared. Meruem had previously thought this ability was useless, so he had never used it. This was his first attempt. However, Meruem possessed terrifying talent after all. Aside from some initial discomfort, he became familiar with it after only two hours.

"Alright, let me see how much potential you have." Like an insect forming a cocoon, thin strands of silk appeared layer upon layer around Suzuki's body, wrapping him tightly. In the end, they formed a genuine yellow cocoon.

"Mm, this is different from Aureole and the others. Aureole and the others took only two hours, but this looks like it will take over twelve. Fine. He is not a Nen User, after all. The fact that it can work on ninjas from this world is already good enough. A slower development speed is not a major issue. But how far can it develop him? That is the question. If it only reaches the level of an Elite Jonin, it probably will not help much with the clan massacre. Itachi alone can wipe out a whole group, and with Root's elites added in, it will probably need to reach Kage level. More importantly, how much of my strength can this puppet bring out? And I really have no good way to deal with techniques like genjutsu. After all, I have never faced them before."

There were two things about the Naruto World that concerned Meruem. One was genjutsu, and the other was Sealing Technique. As for taijutsu, ninjutsu, and the like, Meruem was not afraid of them. He had never faced genjutsu directly, so some concern was inevitable. The same went for Sealing Technique. Meruem's understanding of Sealing Technique was practically nonexistent. Who knew whether there was a Sealing Technique capable of sealing him away? Or whether eighty or a hundred people might suddenly go mad and unleash a collective Reaper Death Seal on him? Meruem truly had no idea whether he could withstand that. After all, he had not studied souls much.

That was also one reason Meruem wanted to leave the Hunter World as soon as possible. That world seemed to have quite a few things resembling soul attacks. There were countless bizarre phenomena, and the Five Great Calamities had already entered the realm of unsolvable horror stories like Junji Ito's works. So-called unsolvable horror could also be called nonsensical horror, like the world of Final Destination.

Meruem left the large cocoon to hatch on its own and headed back. He was not bored enough to wait around. When the enhancement was complete, Meruem would naturally know. Besides, this puppet was meant for remote control.

There were plenty of giant insects around there anyway. Even if another ninja found it, they would only think it was some insect's cocoon.

Meruem gently pushed open the window and slipped inside with a sideways leap.

Meruem did not keep En active at all times. After all, he did not know whether anyone in this world could detect Nen. Besides, he had subconsciously assumed Ruiko's home was safe.

Yet to his surprise, when he entered, he saw Ruiko alone in her pajamas, barefoot and crouched on the floor, her head buried deeply between her knees as she sobbed.

Ruiko's home was very small—just two tiny rooms and a living room. The kitchen was also in the living room, and Meruem had entered through its window.

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