The man looked to be in his twenties, with an average build, a worn gray robe, and a head of messy, short white hair. His face was somewhat pale, but Lin Ze noticed a hint of a mad researcher's air in his eyes.
The man wore round-framed glasses, and his sharp gaze swept across the tavern from behind the lenses, as though searching for something.
His chakra signature was also peculiar. It was not particularly powerful, probably only at the level of a Special Jōnin, but it gave Lin Ze an extremely "mixed" impression, as though chakra of several different natures had been forcibly blended together, leaving it somewhat unstable.
Lin Ze's pupils contracted slightly.
That appearance, that distinctive chakra...
Hiruko?!
The name instantly surfaced in Lin Ze's mind.
Why was he here?
Lin Ze remembered that Hiruko was a rogue ninja from Konoha. Because his mediocre aptitude had left him unable to keep pace with his contemporaries, the Sannin-Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade-he had turned to developing the forbidden "Chimera Technique," hoping to gain power by fusing Kekkei Genkai, and eventually defected from the village.
It's the second year of the Third Shinobi World War. Hiruko should have defected some time before this. It looks like he came to operate near the Land of Water afterward.
Lin Ze thought quickly.
And his appearance now is completely different from his more feminine state later on. He looks closer to his original male appearance. It seems he hasn't fully mastered the Chimera Technique yet, or he's only just begun experimenting with Kekkei Genkai fusion.
At that thought, Lin Ze's heart could not help beating a little faster.
Hiruko and the Chimera Technique he was researching occupied an extremely important place in Lin Ze's long-term plan-the "Kekkei Mōra Project"!
The Chimera Technique... as