You've been messing around with all these strange things lately. Have you been slacking off in your training?"
After scanning the room, Ruri's tone seemed displeased.
In her opinion, Shiraishi's bizarre research was just a waste of time.
"It's just a personal hobby. Compared to training, I actually prefer doing research."
Saying that, Shiraishi picked up a small pouch from the table and tossed it to Ruri.
Ruri frowned after catching it.
"What's in here?"
"Good stuff! It's my specially made military ration pill. It's more efficient at restoring chakra and stamina than what's on the market, and it's easy to digest, so it won't burden your digestive system."
Military ration pills, which restore stamina and chakra, have always been emergency food items frequently consumed by ninjas on missions.
However, due to their bitter and unpleasant herbal taste, many people were reluctant to eat them to solve stamina and chakra deficiencies unless absolutely necessary.
Additionally, they were hard to digest, and eating too many could lead to indigestion.
"Braggart."
Ruri snorted but still put the pouch filled with the special military ration pills into the ninja tool bag tied to her leg.
"Why did you suddenly decide to make military ration pills?"
"Because you're already impatient to graduate from the Ninja Academy, aren't you? You'll find them useful."
Shiraishi said with an expression that seemed to see through everything.
Ruri glanced at Shiraishi but didn't speak.
Shiraishi paused, then continued to ask, "By the way, when do you plan to graduate?"
Ruri replied, "While your guess is quite reasonable, unfortunately, you're wrong this time."
"Wrong?"
Ruri smiled faintly and said, "That's right. Personally, I'd be very willing to graduate early from the academy, but the elders in my clan aren't happy about me doing that. Graduating at this time means going to the front lines, and for a rookie genin, the mortality rate is very high."
Shiraishi understood and nodded, "I see. To protect a genius, it's fine to graduate naturally. There's no need to finish early. This is a natural outcome."
Once one graduates from the academy, it means bidding farewell to a comfortable life.
Normal graduation requires six full years of study at the Ninja Academy.
Currently, Shiraishi and Ruri are only third-year students, and they still have a few years to consolidate their growth before normal graduation.
It's not uncommon for self-proclaimed geniuses in the Ninja Academy to graduate early and then be sent to the front lines.
Shiraishi thought that the higher-ups in Konoha should have set a rule that children under ten years old are not allowed to graduate early from the Ninja Academy during wartime… but thinking this, Shiraishi realized he was being naive.
During the Warring States period, it was common for four or five-year-old children to go to war.
Although the current situation in the ninja world has improved slightly, it is still common for children under ten to go to battlefields.
Once they graduate from the Ninja Academy, they are already qualified ninjas and cannot be treated as children.
However, this means their values will be somewhat problematic, making them prone to radical paths.
"Ruri, your clan elders aren't planning to make you graduate with jōnin-level strength, are they?"
Shiraishi suddenly realized something.
The eight-year-old Ruri already possessed chūnin-level strength, and with a few more years of hard work, she might even achieve jōnin-level strength.
Of course, she might lack combat experience, but her ninjutsu and basic abilities would certainly not be lacking.
Ruri had received elite Uchiha clan training since childhood.
She was already a significant step ahead of civilian ninjas at the starting line.
After graduation, experience could be accumulated slowly, but the lower limit of strength was very important for rookie ninjas.
An extra bit of strength on the battlefield meant an extra chance of survival.
When Ruri heard Shiraishi say this, she immediately rolled her eyes at him.
Did this guy think jōnin were as common as cabbages on the street?
The gap between a jōnin and a chūnin was even greater than the gap between a chūnin and a genin.
So-called jōnin were ninjas who excelled in one or several fields.
Even though Ruri was proud and ambitious, she wouldn't dare say that she could elevate a certain field to a master level within the next few years.
The jōnin selection was simply incomparable to the difficulty of the chūnin selection.
After chatting for a while at Shiraishi's house, they went to Ichiraku Ramen at six in the evening to have ramen for dinner, then said their goodbyes and left.
◎
"Sorry, something suddenly came up on my end, so I'm a bit late."
In the dense forest behind the academy, it was already dark.
Ayane was the one who had arranged to meet Shiraishi here.
Two years had passed, and she had grown from a first-year student to a third-year student, a little taller than before.
Hearing the voice from behind her, Ayane, with her hands clasped behind her back, slowly turned around.
She wore white clothes with the Hyūga clan crest, dark blue trousers, and straight black hair that reached her waist. Her pure white pupils were free of any impurities, and the smile on her face gave off a bright and innocent beauty.
"It's alright, I just arrived not long ago. But Shiraishi-kun was delayed because of Ruri, wasn't he? Sometimes I really envy her."
Although the Uchiha clan, being in charge of Konoha's police force, always acted with swift and decisive efficiency, which could give off an arrogant and domineering impression of bullying due to their power, and their clan's excessive worship of strength had offended many ninja clans and civilians, at least this clan was not as ruthless and cold-blooded as the Hyūga clan, who would keep their own clan members as slaves.
It was precisely because of this that Ayane, also from a prestigious family, greatly envied Ruri's free-spirited personality and lifestyle.
If only she had been born into the Uchiha clan.
"Yeah, she lectured me again."
Shiraishi scratched his head, looking slightly troubled.
"Don't say that. I think that's precisely a sign of your good relationship."
Ayane smiled. Although she hadn't openly interacted with Shiraishi since that incident, she secretly knew everything about him.
For example, his hidden strength had already reached chūnin level.
His relationship with Ruri, the Uchiha genius, had become very close.
He was also secretly conducting some experiments of unknown purpose.
His sense of belonging to the village was almost zero, and he was considering leaving the village to become a rogue ninja in the near future.
And Shiraishi had not hidden these matters from Ayane as their conversations deepened.
Shiraishi believed that as companions, they should be honest with each other.
At the very least, he should reveal some of his plans and goals to Ayane to put her at ease.
"Hmm." Shiraishi felt that their time for private contact was limited and couldn't dwell too much on such matters, so he got straight to the point and asked, "Is everything alright on your end?"
"No, after all, I'm just an insignificant member of the branch family. The main family wouldn't specifically waste too much energy on someone like me."
What would normally be a self-deprecating remark came out of Ayane's mouth sounding very flat.
Two years had passed, and she was now able to naturally control her fluctuating anger somewhat.
Nevertheless, a hint of sorrow and a sigh still lurked in her pure white pupils.
Saying that, Ayane took out a small, cloth-wrapped package from her ninja tool bag and placed it in Shiraishi's hand.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Shiraishi took the package and said softly.
"It's what I should do, but just studying blood shouldn't be enough, should it?"
Ayane asked this question.
As the experiments became more formalized, Shiraishi had already begun to undertake more substantial experiments.
Studying blood was an important part of it.
These blood samples were Ayane's own, and also from other branch family members of the Hyūga clan.
They were all precious materials that Ayane had carefully collected.
Because Ayane and Shiraishi both understood one thing very well: if they were to leave Konoha in the future, they would have to undo the Caged Bird seal to free Ayane.
Otherwise, once Ayane's status as a rogue ninja was confirmed, members of the main family would certainly use the curse to kill Ayane on the spot.
What Shiraishi wanted to do was precisely these experiments.
To undo the Caged Bird curse mark used by the Hyūga clan to control the branch family, and to free Ayane.
Thinking about it carefully, with Shiraishi's current abilities, it could be described as a fantasy.
Seemingly noticing Ayane's hidden worries, as this was a matter of life and death for her, Shiraishi understood Ayane's nervous and uneasy state of mind.
"Blood is only one of the conditions for starting, but it's not something that must be used. How to undo the Caged Bird curse mark, the answer is not in this."
Shiraishi only intended to use the blood collected by Ayane for some comparisons, in order to obtain more precise data and find a very small entry point.
If merely by studying blood, one could uncover the secrets of the Hyūga clan, then that would be far too underestimating a bloodline ninja clan with many years of heritage.
"Besides, we can't get more materials with our current capabilities; we can only wait and take it slowly in the future."
Hearing Shiraishi say this, Ayane also felt relieved.
Collecting these blood samples had already pushed her to her limits. As for complete human material, she didn't even need to think to know that it would certainly end in failure and capture.
"Time is almost up, let's part ways here. If we stay any longer, someone might notice."
Shiraishi was worried that the news of his secret contact with Ayane would be exposed; in that case, not only Ayane but he himself would also be thoroughly investigated.
Things turning out that way would undoubtedly be very troublesome.