Inside the Hokage's office, smoke rising from a pipe blurred Hiruzen Sarutobi's grim face.
An encrypted report from the Cloud border lay quietly on his desk.
The words on the report were simple, but when strung together, they made him constantly doubt if it was false information.
"Severe injury..." He slowly exhaled a smoke ring, his voice low.
The report described it clearly and in detail. A (Ei), the designated next Raikage of the Cloud, was not only defeated but defeated while in his "Lightning Release Chakra Mode."
He was crushed head-on by pure taijutsu combined with an unknown golden bone armor. Reportedly, two ribs were broken, and his internal organs were damaged. Recovery would be impossible without at least half a month of rest.
This was definitely not the "couldn't take a beating" and "minor trouble" that Night casually mentioned in his report.
---
At the same moment, the Root base also received this intelligence.
"I still underestimated him!"
In the shadows, Danzo's voice carried a chilling coldness. His single eye stared fixedly at the report.
"Repelling and crushing are two different things. To defeat the inheritor of the Raikage's secret technique so cleanly in a head-on confrontation..."
He paused, his tone revealing irrepressible regret and anxiety. "If I had known this, I should have acted personally back then to control him at all costs!"
Such an existence with terrifying growth speed was now wandering on the edge of Konoha's power, apprenticed to Orochimaru, and even showing trends of connecting with the Uchiha.
All of this gave him an unprecedented sense of losing control. He genuinely worried the boy would break through all shackles and reach the center of power.
His mind involuntarily replayed the missions Night had executed:
The Land of Whirlpools battlefield: he returned alive, but Uzushio became history.
The trip to the Hidden Mist: the Kaguya and Yuki clans nearly wiped each other out, and the Three-Tails went missing.
Now Hell Valley: the Chinoike clan existed in name only.
Wherever he went, although not necessarily physically barren, the original power structure and balance were turned upside down by him.
This ability and decisiveness, akin to "scraping three feet off the ground," made even the seasoned Danzo Shimura feel a chill.
But just then, a truly vicious plan quickly formed in his mind.
Since the boy could no longer be suppressed, why not use an open conspiracy to praise him to death?
---
The undercurrents within Konoha had not yet disturbed the silence of the underground laboratory.
Under the pale lights, Night put down a scroll on the basics of Cell Activity and Regeneration and rubbed his throbbing temples.
The air was filled with the chilly smell of disinfectant mixed with preservatives. Various instruments and tissue samples soaked in formalin were displayed around him, all fitting Orochimaru's concise and efficient aesthetic.
However, Night's mood was not as orderly as this lab.
"Scientific research talent... really can't be compensated by just foreknowledge," he muttered to himself, his fingertips unconsciously tapping on the cold metal surface of the experiment table.
Since acquiring this laboratory, he had been learning basic experimental knowledge under Orochimaru's guidance.
Thanks to advanced biological knowledge from his past life, he could indeed often throw out advanced concepts like "telomere length" and "genome stability."
These concepts made Orochimaru's snake eyes shine with the light of discovering treasure time and again. Often during their conversations, Orochimaru would get a new idea and immediately rush back to his own lab for practical experiments.
It was also these era-transcending "inspirations" that won him considerable autonomy in this lab, allowing him to complete some secrets within it to his heart's content.
But inspiration had its limits.
When he truly delved into the basic research tasks assigned by Orochimaru, he profoundly understood the weight behind the title "Ninja World Scientist."
It wasn't just whimsical scientific thinking; it was countless boring, repetitive experiments, extreme sensitivity to data, and a near-paranoid rigor.
Even though his special Sharingan could greatly reduce the difficulty of practical operations during experiments, after truly stepping into the deep sea of research, he felt it was far from enough.
Moreover, continuing like this wasted too much time and didn't align with his growth plan.
Power could be quickly obtained through System redemption and bloodline fusion.
But research ability rooted deep in the knowledge system required a vast amount of time and talent accumulation—both of which he lacked.
His gaze involuntarily turned toward a forbidden technique in the System he had been eyeing for a long time.
In the list, a copy of the scroll Forbidden Technique: Impure World Reincarnation (Edo Tensei), a trophy from Danzo's lair, lay quietly.
His original plan was to take it slow, attempting to touch this life-blaspheming forbidden technique only after his strength and knowledge reserves reached a higher level.
But right now, his helplessness in research forced him to put this plan on the agenda.
"Konoha's top knowledge... that treasure is sleeping in the Pure Land."
A gleam of decisiveness flashed in Night's eyes. "Since I can't become such a brain in a short time myself, then... I'll 'invite' one back."
His target was incredibly clear: Tobirama Senju!
The man hailed as the "Number One Inventor of the Ninja World" and the "Professor of Forbidden Arts."
His research ability and vast knowledge base were precisely the "resources" Night most urgently needed to plunder right now.
Risks? Naturally, they were immense.
No joke—blaspheming the Second Hokage's soul. Once leaked, he would have no place in Konoha and would face a massive crisis.
But the rewards were equally immeasurable.
If he could successfully reincarnate Tobirama and obtain the principles of those forbidden techniques, unfinished concepts, and even help in acquiring the Senju bloodline from him...
"Redeem."
A forbidden technique scroll suddenly appeared in his hand, and he carefully spread it out on the experiment table.
The technique recorded on it was far less refined than the versions perfected by Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi later. It carried a crude "brute force solves everything" style.
The entire technique exuded a scholar-tyrant's conciseness: First do this, then do that, problem solved.
The procedure wasn't complex, perhaps even a bit simple.
It mostly placed extreme demands on the caster's soul strength and chakra volume. A slight mistake could lead to backlash from the technique or impact from the deceased's soul.
"Isn't it just 'miracles through brute force'..."
Night's lips curled up slightly. He didn't believe anyone in the current ninja world could rival his chakra volume.
After quickly mastering the essentials of the technique, his gaze fell on the prerequisites recorded in the scroll.
"Requires a portion of the summoned person's body tissue as a medium... and a sacrifice..."
Night rubbed his chin, his eyes flickering. "This will require some careful planning."