431 Learning Ninjutsu in a Glance

Shinju didn't waste time. He slowly pressed his hand against the red-haired young man's head.

Very quickly, Shinju obtained all of the red-haired young man's memories!

Beside him, Sasuke and Naruto noticed that after finishing reading those memories, Shinju's expression became rather strange.

"What is it? Is there some incredible secret hidden in his memories?" Naruto asked curiously at once.

Shinju nodded, looking at the unconscious red-haired young man, and said,

"His name is Tangye Sachiko. He's an outer member of the 'Kara' organization, currently responsible for guarding abandoned experimental facilities inside the Hidden Rain Village…"

Hearing this, Sasuke frowned slightly.

"Something feels off. This is way too coincidental. How is it that the first random person we catch turns out to be a member of 'Kara'?"

Shinju felt the same eerie sense as well. "But his memories can't be lying… Let's go check the location from his memories first!"

Sasuke and Naruto nodded, agreeing with Shinju's decision.

...

A few dozen seconds later, Tangye Sachiko, who had been knocked unconscious, opened his eyes and realized his feet were dangling in midair, being carried by someone in an extremely humiliating position!

"Let me go! You Konoha beasts! (ꐦ°᷄д°᷅)"

Sachiko struggled, only to find that the hand holding him was like an iron clamp, completely unmoving!

Shinju turned his head, glanced at Tangye Sachiko being carried by the Wood Clone, and lightly tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Don't rush. I'll throw you into Konoha Prison in a moment. (ﾉ∇︎〃 )"

As his words fell, Shinju and the others arrived outside the Kara organization's testing ground from Sachiko's memories.

Shinju took out a summoning scroll and retrieved several gas masks from it, putting one on each person.

"To prevent others from approaching, the Kara organization released poisonous gas throughout the abandoned testing ground…"

Hearing this, Tangye Sachiko also sensed something was wrong.

"How do you know this place is a testing ground?! (´°Δ°`)"

Before he could finish asking, Sasuke gave him another sharp chop, knocking him out again.

"You're too noisy! ╰_╯"

After some quick preparation, Shinju had the Wood Clone keep watch over Tangye Sachiko, while he himself led Naruto and Sasuke as they jumped into the Hidden Rain Village's extensive underground pipeline network…

After crawling through the pipes for quite some time, the three arrived at a sealed chamber.

Inside the chamber, green poisonous gas was incredibly dense!

Wearing his gas mask, Shinju said, "Without protective gear, even one breath of this gas could be fatal… Also, this gas is flammable. Even a tiny spark could cause an explosion. Be careful with your movements."

Naruto asked in a muffled voice, "Shinju, you also said this place is an abandoned testing ground. Since the Kara organization doesn't want others to discover it, why didn't they erase all traces the moment they left? (‧_‧?)"

Shinju replied, "I don't know. The only order Tangye Sachiko received was to protect this abandoned testing ground from being discovered, and to destroy it if necessary…"

"Maybe the experimental equipment here is very valuable, and Kara doesn't want to destroy it so easily?"

Sasuke nodded, feeling that Shinju's reasoning made sense.

"Then that means… they might come back here?"

As they spoke, the group entered the interior of the testing ground!

The moment Naruto stepped inside, he froze on the spot. (꒪⌓꒪)

"Th-this… these are human body parts?! Σ(っ °Д °;)っ"

As he spoke, Naruto pointed at a nearby operating table. That table was covered with already rotting human limbs!

Dark red blood water, yellow fat—the visual impact was overwhelming!

And scenes like this could be seen everywhere throughout the entire laboratory!

Even through the gas mask, Naruto felt like he could smell that pungent, putrid stench!!

Sasuke appeared completely calm in contrast.

"What are you getting so worked up about? You haven't seen Orochimaru's old experimental bases… This place isn't much different. ¯\(ツ)/¯"

Hearing this, Shinju silently added another mark against Orochimaru in his mental ledger!

There was no way he could be allowed to live too comfortably in Konoha Prison! ꐦ≖ ≖

After that, Shinju said to the two of them, "This laboratory is pretty big. Let's split up and see if there's anything useful."

A little while later, Naruto found something interesting in one of the rooms and called out to Shinju and Sasuke,

"You two, come take a look at this!"

Hearing him, Shinju went over and saw a gigantic cultivation tank inside the room!

The tank was enormous, completely transparent, and filled with yellow-green cultivation fluid!

Soaking inside that fluid was a small boy!

Shinju had seen this kind of cultivation tank before in Orochimaru's laboratory.

"This is… artificial human experimentation?! (≖╻≖;)" Shinju said.

Soon, Sasuke arrived as well, and his words confirmed Shinju's guess.

"That's right. The one inside the tank should be a clone…"

Naruto asked, "Is the kid inside still alive?"

Shinju shook his head.

"I can't sense any life fluctuations."

...

Konoha Research Institute.

A group of researchers were chatting with one another.

"Tell me, why do you think the Hokage-sama banned clone experimentation?" asked researcher Tanaka, holding a test tube as he spoke casually.

"Didn't the Hokage-sama already explain that? Cloning is a disrespect to life," replied researcher Kobayashi, who was adjusting a machine.

"But according to some internal info I've heard, other organizations seem to be secretly researching this," Tanaka continued.

"Do you think the Hokage-sama forbids us from doing this kind of research because he's afraid we might clone someone just like him and replace his position?"

"You're overthinking it. The Hokage-sama's position in Konoha is irreplaceable," Kobayashi answered, exasperated.

Tanaka spread his hands. "Probably. I just feel the Hokage-sama shouldn't lock down technology this much. ┐(´-｀)┌"

Kobayashi stood up. "If you have any dissatisfaction, you can report it to the Hokage's office. The Hokage-sama is still pretty open to suggestions. (′д｀σ)σ"

Researcher Aikawa chimed in as well. "Exactly. Don't badmouth the Hokage-sama behind his back!"

While the researchers were chatting, Shinju suddenly appeared at the entrance of the institute, bringing along a pile of equipment from the testing ground via Flying Thunder God!

Hearing the commotion, the researchers came out to greet him.

Wearing a gas mask, Shinju stopped them.

"Don't touch anything yet. I just brought these out of a poison nest. They need to be disinfected first…"

...

The next day.

Hokage's Office.

Researcher Kobayashi came to report on the condition of the equipment from the previous day.

"Hokage-sama, the batch of equipment you brought back yesterday is extremely advanced. Quite a lot of it surpasses Konoha's current technological level!"

Shinju nodded when he heard this. "Mm. Then can you use it?"

Kobayashi nodded. "We can, but we'll need time to slowly figure it out…"

"Oh, right, Hokage-sama. There's also this—we discovered this symbol on quite a few of the experimental devices." As he spoke, researcher hurriedly handed Shinju a photograph.

Shinju took the photo and looked down at it…

On the photo was a strange, disc-shaped pattern…