Bang!
Shien's shoulder slammed into someone, knocking the other person to the ground.
"Are you all right?"
The figure on the ground looked familiar—especially the walking staff that had rolled not far away.
Hearing Shien's voice, the girl froze for a moment, then looked up.
"It's you?"
Her face, wrapped tightly in bandages like a zongzi, revealed only a pair of excited eyes. Even though Shien couldn't see her full features, he immediately recognized her.
It was that Hyuga girl who'd been cornered and beaten by the Sō clan in the grove that day—Hyuga Aotsuki.
Hard not to remember her: a Byakugan and one missing leg were too distinctive a combination to forget.
"It's me. Your injuries…?"
Shien nodded, admitting he was her rescuer. It wasn't something he minded owning up to—just strange.
Her face had been treated with healing ointment; shouldn't it have recovered by now?
"If there are no injuries," Hyuga Aotsuki said quietly,
"sometimes that's not a good thing."
Just from her tone, Shien understood. Keeping up the appearance of being wounded let those who'd tormented her believe she was still broken—so they'd feel vindicated and stop targeting her.
Shien didn't press about her wounds. Instead, another thought came to mind, and he asked tentatively,
"By the way, do you have access to your clan's historical records?"
The Hyuga were an ancient family with a long lineage, and unlike the Uchiha, they hadn't suffered clan schisms or rebellions. Their archives should be well preserved.
And only these old shinobi families still kept such non-combat records intact.
"No problem," Aotsuki nodded after thinking for a moment, though she didn't know why he was asking.
"Could you help me look up something, then?"
Shien's eyes lit up. This might actually help him with a big question.
"Of course!"
This time, Aotsuki's reply came without hesitation.
Since her parents' deaths, her world had been nothing but torment. Back in the woods, she might even have been half ready to end it all.
But Shien's appearance had been like a beam of light slicing through her darkness.
Now that he was asking for her help—no matter what it was—she would not refuse.
(Think of the future subordinates of Orochimaru—like Itachi or Shisui after a good PUA session from the Hokage. This kind of devotion is not only normal—it's perfectly reasonable.)
"I want to know if there's ever been a place in the ninja world called Shouzaki Castle."
Shien finally spoke his request.
He didn't yet realize that he had, quite unintentionally, achieved something that his future "Uncle Snake" would one day be famous for—
—he'd gained himself a little fangirl.
At least Shien had saved her life; Orochimaru could pull this off with nothing but a few sweet words.
Skill levels—worlds apart.
"I'll go check right away!"
Hyuga Aotsuki darted off so fast she didn't even bother to grab her crutch, leaving Shien dumbfounded.
Even with one leg missing, her speed rivaled an ordinary person's sprint.
Then he remembered—she was a ninja.
With chakra, the impossible became possible.
And judging from her balance and control, her chakra mastery was far beyond his own.
Maybe…
That supposed helplessness and awkwardness she showed every day—might all be an act.
After all, survival in the cruel world of shinobi demanded deception.
In such a place, age did not determine maturity.
Just like a certain "dutiful son" who could already think in full Hokage-style logic at seven years old, Hyuga Aotsuki's disguise wasn't surprising at all.
Now that the matter of Shouzaki Castle had someone looking into it, Shien returned to his clan grounds with his books in hand.
The lively bustle of the village felt almost out of place—especially compared to the desolation and poverty beyond Konoha's walls.
But that very prosperity rested entirely on the strength of Konoha's ninja.
Back in his lab, Shien went full pay-to-win mode for the next few days.
The tens of thousands of ryō earned from recent missions—plus his savings—were all poured into buying ingredients for the Clarity Potion.
Pay to win? Oh, it was absolutely literal.
The Yamanaka Flower Shop alone had been emptied of stock more than once.
In the past, he'd had to slowly gather materials in secret to avoid attention.
Now that he could spend freely without worrying who noticed, he quickly brewed several doses.
The toll was real—he felt like his soul had been hollowed out.
After several doses of the potion, Shien truly experienced what it meant to have his brain wrung dry.
But the gains were undeniable.
He devoured ten dictionary-thick tomes—memorizing and digesting every bit of knowledge within.
Simply reading could be done with tricks like "quantum reading."
But internalizing all that information? That required the clarity and hyperfocus granted by the potion's "Sage Mode."
What might take a normal person months—or a year—he mastered in a matter of days.
If only that state boosted combat ability too… then he'd truly be unstoppable.
But today, Shien had to leave the lab.
For one thing, Minato Namikaze had wrapped up his own tasks and called Team Three together for a progress review.
For another, Hyuga Aotsuki had sent word—she'd found something.
It had taken a few days because the Hyuga archives were vast, and she'd been working alone.
With both matters coming up at once, Shien had no choice but to step away from his beloved laboratory.
Of course, his research hadn't been without other breakthroughs.
His healing potion had reached a qualitative leap.
Animal trials were successful. The next step—human testing.
Once confirmed, he'd have secured an incredibly valuable trump card.
But that was where things hit a wall.
Human trials!
Even in the ninja world, where life could be cheaper than a stray dog's, that wasn't easy to arrange.
Not for someone of his current status—and certainly not with the Root Division secretly watching his every move.
If he dared to experiment on people, he'd be caught instantly—and then it'd be off to the Root prison to sing "Tears Behind Iron Bars."
As for testing it on himself?
No thanks—Shien wasn't that noble in the name of science.
While mulling all this over, he arrived at a small grove near the training grounds—
—the place they'd agreed to meet.
Afterward, he'd head straight to the nearby field to regroup with Team Three.
"Shien-kun, here's the map of Shouzaki Castle!"
Hyuga Aotsuki appeared, still with her face swathed in bandages, and handed him a scroll. (Ninjas did love recording everything on scrolls.)
She'd drawn the map herself.
As for the way she addressed him—Shien didn't find it strange at all.
Shff!
He unrolled the scroll, scanning the notes and markings.
So that's how it was.
There was no Shouzaki Castle anymore.
In its place lay Drowning Marsh—a swamp formed after the city's disappearance.
That swamp lay in the southwestern borderlands of the Land of Fire, near the Land of Rivers—completely desolate and uninhabited.
Coincidentally, it wasn't far from where Team Three had carried out their previous mission.
As for how to obtain the summoning scroll—Shien already had a plan.
For a shinobi, once you had the intel, setting up the right scheme wasn't hard at all.
The simplest way?
Use someone else's strength.
And no, not the Uchiha clan—send it their way, and who knew whose hands the scroll would end up in.
Summoning beasts were treasures no ninja ever thought they had too many of.
So Shien planned to use… a certain special ability.
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