— — — — — —
"Then I'll leave it to you, Professor. Thanks!"
Eevee nodded seriously, like a little grown-up.
But as a baby, he looked so ridiculously cute that Professor Carolina couldn't resist—she scooped him up, rubbed her face against his, and planted a kiss on his chubby cheek.
Eevee: "…"
"You and Cynthia really are two of a kind, huh?" He wiped the wet spot off his cheek with a blank look. "Seriously, can you guys stop doing that?"
Carolina giggled. "Come on! Acting all serious and grown-up while looking like this just makes you cuter!"
"And honestly, you're way too pretty! Once you grow up, you'll definitely be a total heartbreaker, you know?"
"So? Want to get engaged to our Cynthia now? You two already seem pretty close, after all."
She said it half-jokingly, but the twinkle in her eyes said otherwise.
Ever since Eevee started showing off his strange powers, helping her crack several research projects, and even founding the Renzo Corporation, Carolina stopped seeing him as just an ordinary Pokémon.
Frankly, calling him a legendary Pokémon wouldn't be far off.
And now that Eevee could fully transform into a human? Yeah—there was no way she was letting go of such a perfect future grandson-in-law.
"Grandma! What are you even saying?!"
Cynthia turned red, glared at both her grandmother and the smirking Eevee, then stormed upstairs to her room in a huff.
— — —
In the Consciousness Space—
"Pfft—hahahahaha!"
"Eevee, bro, what the heck happened to you?! Are you sure your transformation research didn't mess something up? Why'd you turn into a toddler? Like, two or three years old max?!"
"Aren't you that Eevee who said you'd turn into a human and confess to Cynthia?"
"I'm not asking for a full-grown adult, but come on! At least a teenager, right?"
"Wait... or do you have a certain fetish you're not telling us about?"
"Hahaha! Oh man~ Eevee's gonna be the death of me! I'm laughing way too hard!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA~"
"This is just too much," Uchiha Renzo chuckled, unable to hold it in. "Now we've got Baby Renzo?"
"Pfft—Jehahahaha!"
It was way too ridiculous.
"Bwahahahahahaha~~~!" echoed again and again.
Everyone was losing it, laughing like lunatics.
Eevee just stared at them, completely deadpan. "You guys are unbelievable..."
"It's not like I knew this was gonna happen either! If I had known... if I had known... uh!"
He sighed. "Actually, even if I knew, I probably still would've gone through with the transformation research."
"At least I'm human now! Sure, I'm small—but I can grow up. That's better than staying a Pokémon forever."
"By the way," he looked around at the group, focusing on Apocalypse, Gundam, Aizen, and Uchiha Renzo, "any of you know a way to speed up physical growth?"
Uchiha Renzo shrugged with a grin. "The Hundred Healings Mark might do the trick. It basically halts aging—so in theory, you could reverse it to speed up growth. Want to give it a shot? I might be able to get it from Tsunade."
He was already working on winning her over, anyway.
Hero had recently gotten Aqua's basic resurrection skill. And he was now analyzing it to see if it could be enhanced.
He figured if he offered to resurrect Tsunade's little brother, Nawaki, he'd have a solid chance of getting close to her.
Yep. No rush. He had a plan.
"Uh…"
Eevee hesitated. "Even if it works, wouldn't that shorten my lifespan? Is it really worth it to shave off years just to grow up faster?"
"What's the big deal? You've got a long life ahead of you anyway—and don't forget we've got lifespan-extending potions!"
"Three hundred years, man! You worried about a few little years?"
Uchiha Renzo waved it off like it was nothing.
That's the kind of arrogance you can afford when you've got a long life.
He was even thinking of testing it on himself.
Though… he was a bit worried the technique might shorten his life without actually making his body grow. That would suck.
Better to let Eevee try it first.
"..."
"Alright, then get the jutsu for me first. I'll study it properly before trying anything," Eevee said, seeing right through Uchiha Renzo's shady grin.
"Sure thing! Just give me some time."
He nodded casually.
That's when Apocalypse Renzo chimed in. "No luck on my end either. My cloning tech can accelerate clone growth, but that's from the start—like, during embryo development. It doesn't work on someone who's already born."
"But I can assign a shadow clone to look into it. Might come in handy down the line."
Growing a body from scratch and altering one that's already born were two totally different things.
"Same here," Gundam Renzo said, raising his hand.
When it came to genetics, he wasn't much better than Apocalypse Renzo at the moment.
Hearing that, Eevee couldn't help but look disappointed. "Well, I'll be counting on you guys to at least try. Any hope is better than none."
Then he turned his gaze to Aizen.
Aizen shrugged and said, "If you asked me to switch you into a different body entirely, I could probably pull it off. But accelerating growth? Sorry, never done anything like that. Maybe the Hōgyoku could do it though."
"But let's be real—recreating the Hōgyoku is basically impossible right now. That thing's anything but simple."
"So why rush it? You're still young. Isn't Cynthia still a kid too?"
"Some body-training techniques already help with physical transformation to some extent. Like the ones from Demon Slayer, a few years of that might be enough."
"And in the meantime, you could just tweak your transformation spell to make a teenage version of yourself or something. No big deal."
Aizen didn't recommend rushing the process. Forcing growth could damage potential in the long run.
"Fine. I'll figure something out on my own," Eevee said, sighing helplessly.
After that, Eevee left the space and stayed a few days at home with Cynthia. Once the Professor finished sorting out his human identity, he teleported back to the Kanto region with Cynthia in tow.
— — —
Meanwhile, in Palkia's dimension…
At some point, Dialga had shown up.
Seeing Palkia return, Dialga curiously asked, "So? What were you up to this time?"
"None of your business," Palkia shot back.
The two were long-time frenemies. If they weren't arguing, something felt off.
That said, their relationship was actually pretty solid.
"You don't have to say anything. I already know—you went to check out that strange Eevee, didn't you?"
"That little guy really is something. Might actually have a shot at becoming a god someday."
Dialga grinned as he spoke.
"Right?" Palkia laughed, nodding. "So you think he's got potential too, huh? Guess my instincts are still sharp."
"Heh…" Dialga smirked. "Too bad he doesn't control time. If he did, I wouldn't mind giving him a little gift."
"Oh? He even turned into a human? That transformation's not normal at all. Gotta admit, that's a pretty creative idea."
Palkia rolled his eyes. "Would it kill you to stop peeping on people for once?"
Dialga just shrugged. "Eh, what's the harm?"
...
(Palkia: Dialga, I'm the god of space!)
(Dialga: ...Palkia, you are gonna regret this!)
— — —
Back in the Naruto World—
Inside the Hokage's office…
Minato had called in Renzo, Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi for a meeting.
He looked at them and said, "I called you here today because I have an important mission. Well, mostly for Renzo—but the rest of you can tag along and gain some real-world experience."
Hearing that, Obito lit up. "What mission? Is it a fight?"
"Man, I'm bored out of my mind lately. Give us something to break some bones!"
Kakashi shot him a look and said dryly, "You just wanna show off your progress, don't you? Hate to break it to you, but you're still dead last."
"Kakashi, you jerk! Wanna go right now?" Obito snapped, puffing up.
"Like you could actually win. Sit down and shut up. Let's hear what Lord Fourth has to say."
Kakashi clapped back smoothly, shifting attention back to Minato and leaving Obito fuming in silence.
"I'm guessing there's trouble on the front lines?" Uchiha Renzo asked with a smile.
"Exactly," Minato nodded. "With Konoha going through internal chaos lately, Kumo (Hidden Cloud) took advantage of the situation. They've already sent the Third Raikage's son as well as the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails to stir things up."
"We've taken some heavy losses out there. Jiraiya-sensei already went to back them up a few days ago, but things still aren't turning around."
"That's why I want you, Renzo, to lead the team and crush Kumo in one go—put an end to this war once and for all."
"And for the rest of you—treat this as a valuable learning experience."
.
.
.