"Knock, knock, knock..."
"Come in!"
Only after hearing Tsunade's voice from inside did Shihōin Naraku push the door open and enter.
The ANBU following him had already discreetly concealed themselves in the shadows, where they would remain until Naraku summoned them.
"You've already started experimenting? That was fast!" Shihōin Naraku watched Tsunade frown thoughtfully over the documents in her hand, occasionally glancing at the petri dish on the table.
He had no idea whether the thing inside the petri dish had been grown from Hashirama cells. It looked rather strange.
It looked like a pile of wrinkled bark stacked together, and it was quite ugly.
But that was normal. Experiments were like that. How could they possibly succeed on the first try?
Not to mention that this was Tsunade's first time working with Hashirama cells again after so many years. It was understandable for progress to be a little slow at first.
Only upon hearing Naraku's voice did Tsunade raise her head, a look of surprise appearing on her face.
"Wait, Teacher, judging by that expression, did you not realize it was me?" Naraku spread his hands and looked at her in puzzlement.
Tsunade shook her head. "I was so focused on these research materials that I didn't notice who was knocking at all."
Impressive!
Naraku couldn't help giving Tsunade a thumbs-up. "Good thing the village's ninja are handling security nearby. If someone else broke in and leaked the information, we'd be in trouble."
Tsunade rolled her eyes prettily. "Do you really think I'm some ordinary ninja? I was Hokage too, you know!"
"There are already quite a few ninja on guard around here that I've noticed, never mind the ones I haven't."
"With Konoha's current situation, there would only be more ninja handling security and keeping watch nearby, not