Did these Konoha elites really care about saving face? Perhaps yes, perhaps no.
At the very least, they were all clever enough not to provoke the Uchiha clan at a time when the latter clearly held overwhelming advantages in both wealth and power.
Shen looked at those upper echelons cowering like Ostrich Aerials and immediately lost interest. "Mother dear, I'll be heading out first."
Then he strode straight toward the figures crouching like Ostrich Aerials near the entrance of the underground lab.
He didn't pause a single step, smoothly passing through the path willingly cleared by the Ostrich Aerials.
"This…" Shūya now finally understood exactly where the Uchiha stood within Konoha.
This growing dominance made him feel reassured about his recent wise decision.
"I'm truly sorry everyone," said Aiko. "You know how my little son is—he's just like that. Surely you won't hold it against a seven-year-old child?"
Though her words sounded apologetic, everyone present understood this was more than mere politeness—it was a veiled threat.
"Aiko-san speaks too highly of us. Of course we wouldn't hold such things against him."
"You know how kids are—mischievousness is just part of growing up."
Kushina listened to their polite responses, and her heart swelled with joy.
It seemed as if from now on, she could strut proudly around Konoha without worry.
Thus, after the former troublemaker King decided to retire peacefully, the fiery Red-Hot Habanero cheerfully took over the task of spreading her brand of 'joy' throughout Konoha.
Meanwhile, at this very moment, the Headache Monster, who had just arrived at Sunagakure village, suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
"Why do I have this weird feeling that something big is about to happen?"
But when he saw the Third Kazekage approaching, he shelved the thought for now.
In Danzo's mind, nothing mattered more right now than establishing this alliance.
"I've been waiting for you, Hokage-sama! Come, come—I've already prepared a grand feast." The Third Kazekage warmly welcomed the delegation arriving from Konoha.
The original trio sent as Konoha's first ambassadors naturally remained inside Sunagakure village.
Yet right now, one old man was staring fixedly into a certain corner.
"What's *that* schemer doing here too? Seems like he isn't willing to let any opportunity slip away." Kazushi, who possessed deep knowledge of Danzō, quickly figured out the latter's intentions.
What else would Danzō be doing in Sunagakure besides causing trouble? Although stealing Uchiha's credit wasn't something he dared to try, causing subtle disruptions behind the scenes was certainly foreseeable.
"Well then, let's play our game properly," thought Kazushi, who'd secretly read *Thick Black Theory* multiple times. He couldn't help but feel excited about what the coming days might bring.
That night, deep inside the Uchiha underground laboratory, within a mechanical research room,
Two silhouettes—one tall, one small—were sitting amidst piles of scattered parts.
Before them stood a large triangular metal framework.
Shen tossed aside a component in his hand and complained, "Snake Uncle, you must've messed up—the D116 and G23 look alike, but they're definitely different in size."
"Alright," Orochimaru replied expressionlessly, turning around and starting to search while facing away from him.
Shen accepted the correct part without noticing anything suspicious going on.
he, as a major sponsor, certainly had countless means to ensure the other party's compliance.
thus, an inexperienced Orochimaru gradually fell right into the "trap" Shen had carefully set up for him.
now that Dr. Kairi received financial and resource support, would he still go hang out with some schemer?
our beloved snake uncle stated that Danzo was just a penniless guy; the conditions offered were less than a quarter of what the Uchiha provided. did he really think Orochimaru would help study Hashirama Senju's regenerative abilities for such a measly offer?
holding a large wad of cash, snake uncle added once again: danzo was such a poor fellow; this money would probably be better left for him to celebrate the new year.
after all, it took so much effort for this conspirator to embezzle such a small amount of money. wouldn't it be better to save it for retirement rather than plotting schemes?
our young Uchiha genius assembled components rapidly with his hands while creating multiple plans inside his mind: "uchiha revival plan is 60% complete. uzumaki clan rescue plan has reached 100% completion. konoha upper ranks purge plan is 5% complete. root elimination plan remains at zero percent."
shen confidently assessed the action taken today against konoha's upper ranks as having achieved 5% completion.
still, he figured this kind of maneuver could only work once. pull it twenty more times and it'd turn into full-blown war between the uchiha and the village leadership.
even at their worst, those crackpots could only manage to shove the uchiha to the village's edge—and that was only after the nine-tails' attack.
after ironing out the details of konoha upper ranks purge plan, he turned his attention to dealing with root: "the third hasn't even started researching hashirama cells yet. judging from nawaki's death scene, he and danzo wouldn't discover hashirama senju's uniqueness until afterwards—in other words, not until after the second great ninja war."
shen decided to spare the pot-bearer's life for now—not due to kindness, mind you—but because human experimentation was strictly banned in konoha.
therefore, he planned to wait until orochimaru finished studying those two white lab mice before shifting the blame onto him.
"pot king, you'd better accept this wonderful gift," shen muttered with a somewhat sinister grin, his hand movements becoming even faster.
orochimaru immediately knew someone was scheming again—though he couldn't quite determine who would become the victim just by looking at shen's expression.
at exactly four o'clock in the morning, the two of them successfully completed assembling a massive triangular iron block.
well, actually, the enthusiastic scientist merely handed over parts without participating directly in the final assembly process himself.
"this graceful body, delicate sensations, and perfect proportions! your birth truly marks the greatest gift ever bestowed upon me by the sage of six paths!" orochimaru had been unusually talkative lately, no doubt due to his obsession with human experimentation.
"snake uncle, maybe it's not such a good idea comparing yourself to the sage of six paths, huh? what if he actually heard that?" shen warily glanced around the laboratory.
"nonsense! even if he weren't dead, there's absolutely no way he'd come here!" an excited orochimaru firmly declared his disbelief.
Agreeing with him, Shen felt that reckless, death-wishing impulse surging inside him: "Right! My old man swore on that ancient relic Hagoromo's name a dozen times and not a single thing ever came of it. How about we just name it Hagoromo's Ship?"
"Hagoromo's Ship? Why that name?" Orochimaru had only learned the version of ninja history written by one particularly pious figure.
Perhaps only two people in this world knew the real name of the Sage of Six Paths—no, actually, only two? One was definitely the transmigrator, and the other? The Pious One who somehow fathered a child on his own?
Black Zetsu was currently following Lord Madara, so he definitely wouldn't have had the time to go wandering about aimlessly.
Even if someone did find out, we'd still have ways to scare them off before they acted stupid.
"What a cool name! What do you think, Snake Uncle? Then it's settled!" With an impish grin, Shen finished speaking and immediately wrote the three characters "Hagoromo's Ship" onto the black prototype aircraft's wing.
(The Sage of Six Paths: This brat poses the gravest threat to me... From today onward, I shall block him immediately!)
As for why the prototype aircraft was triangular, that tied back to a conspiracy theory from the transmigrator's previous life.
They say some lighthouse nation may have made contact with aliens, allowing it to develop such advanced technology. The most famous example was a bomber featuring exactly the same triangular fuselage design.
But after hearing that, the transmigrator treated it merely as an urban legend.
Aliens capable of interstellar travel would possess entirely different technological trees compared to his past life.
If that lighthouse nation had truly secretly engaged with extraterrestrials, would that even let them rack up over 60,000 viral posts a day?
The vastness of the universe was clearly beyond what any hype-driven media could grasp.
Even nonsense has its limits!
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