Konoha.

Uchiha clan land.

In the underground laboratory shrouded in bright yellow light, a young man wearing a white hooded coat stood in front of the experimental table, working conscientiously.

This young man is none other than Shiraishi.

The Second Ninja World War ended with the end of the war between Konoha and Sunagakure. After that, all countries entered a period of peaceful development and recovery without incident.

The borders of the Land of Fire have also returned to their previous stability and have not been attacked by foreign ninjas.

But this was more than three years ago.

My life during these three years has been relatively uneventful.

Since you don't need to go to the battlefield, you can spend more time in the village after completing your tasks.

This also meant that he spent a lot more time on research, and he no longer had to rush back and forth on the battlefield of the ninja world, constantly fighting against various enemies.

Compared with his research more than three years ago, his research progress is undoubtedly much advanced.

Natural energy, senjutsu, tailed beast chakra, including the use of Yin Escape and Yang Escape, are not comparable to those three years ago.

The efficient use of natural energy means that he can carry out targeted violent attacks.

For the powerful power of Konoha, unlike more than three years ago, I still have a little awe and can face it with a calm attitude.

Maybe this is what is called growth.

After all, while he continues to make progress, the village of Konoha is still the same as before, without many changes. It has only increased the number of working ninjas, and military expenditures have also increased year by year.

As the scale of ninja continues to grow, it is estimated that the ninja villages in neighboring countries have become wary of Konoha.

How long will this peace last? Will a new war come again in one year or two years?

The only thing that's certain is that Shiraishi won't have to wait too long before Sunagakure's next attack on the Land of Fire.

At that time, he could truly escape from this extremely boring village.

Although we cannot let go of some people and things, parting is also a stage that we must go through in life.

"The human body stage is finally completed. Next, you can try to unlock the caged bird..."

After more than three years of hard work, the experiment of using natural energy to replace chakra as life energy has now become mature. I cannot say that it is 100% sure. At least when an accident occurs, it can be interrupted in time.

As for damaging lives.

For the success of this experiment, a total of eleven human bodies were consumed.

The experiment went so well that even Shiraishi found it incredible. Not one of the eleven human bodies died. Only one of them had an accident, but he was rescued by Shiraishi using superb medical technology.

It's like natural energy can replace chakra as the human body's life energy.

Although it is not yet possible to analyze the difference between the two, as long as the caged bird can be unlocked, it will not be too late to explore this secret in the future.

Shiraishi walked to the bookshelf nearby, glanced at the titles on it, and reached out to rummage through it.

"I remember it was..."

As he said that, there was a strange movement on the floor next to him.

A clay man's head with black eye holes popped up from the ground, a pale golden light emitted from the eye holes, and it stared at Shiraishi.

"Are you back? Thank you for your hard work."

Baishi stopped looking for a book and turned to look at the clay man.

This is a 'doll' that I created based on the yin and yang attributes of chakra, natural energy as the core, and some magical effects on the soul.

The inspiration for making it came from tailed beasts.

Shiraishi gave it the name "General Earth".

Because it is only half a year old now, it currently only has the ability to move freely in the earth and merge with the earth, so it is a juvenile.

The help he can give Shiraishi now is to communicate with his subordinates and deliver objects. As for combat... I can only say that the future is promising.

The clay man just stared at Baishi, as if waiting for Baishi's next order.

Shiraishi gave a little wry smile. Although it was successfully artificially created, this guy's intelligence is also very worrying. It can also be said to be slow and clumsy.

The commands and interpersonal relationships are too complex and cannot be understood in its current state.

If he is not given accurate orders, even Shiraishi, the creator, will not be able to communicate normally with it.

That’s why we gave it the rating of “promising future”.

"What did they ask you to bring back? Just give it to me."

Shiraishi ordered him.

Only then did the clay man end his blank stare at Shiraishi.

The floor began to squirm, and a letter spit out from it, along with a white humanoid creature.

"What's this?"

Bai Shi picked up the letter, but his eyes were on the white humanoid creature, and he frowned.

The clay man didn't say anything, he just made a dull sound and dived underground.

Shiraishi didn't expect any decent reaction from this low-intelligence doll. It was quite qualified to be used only as a communication tool.

Now it is just a tool for communication.

Shiraishi opened the letter and began to understand what happened.

Only two things were briefly mentioned above.

Xiao declined the solicitation.

The identity of the white humanoid creature lying on the ground is unknown. While monitoring Akatsuki, for some reason it targeted his subordinates, was subdued, and was finally sent here.

"Rejected? I originally wanted to expand the organization's manpower. Forget it, it's the same as finding someone else."

Akatsuki's refusal can be said to be reasonable, and Shiraishi didn't feel anything to regret.

There are really too many people to recruit. Anyway, the lower limit of cultivation of natural energy is very low. Even after the disabled people are equipped with prosthetic limbs, they can be used as combat power. It is just a matter of strength or weakness.

However, with the foundation of ninja, after the strengthening of natural energy, the strength will be stronger than ordinary people.

The bigger problem is the unidentified corpse in front of me.

"This touch, and life energy... what are they?"

Shiraishi stared at the white creature corpse with a strange expression. He did not call it "human", but "thing".

His internal structure was so simple that... Shiraishi thought it was just a conscious body.

It feels cold to the touch, like a corpse, but a little different.

The living dead?

"The weird guy staring at Akatsuki...does that Akatsuki have the rare value of being stared at?"

Shiraishi knew something about Xiao. The members of the organization were all teenagers. Living in such a difficult environment gave them a strong will and the courage to fight.

They tried to save the entire country in the most clumsy way.

Xiao was founded about two years ago. At that time, it was still a start-up and it didn’t have a specific name. There were only three people in the organization.

After more than a year of development, it became an organization of eight or nine people, and Xiao's name began to spread in recent months.

But it still doesn't change anything.

After all, why is such an organization that is so poor that it even has some problems with its basic life being targeted?

Internal fighting in the Kingdom of Rain?

Or do other countries not want organizations like Akatsuki to appear in the Land of Rain?

Shiraishi just thought about it for a moment and then gave up. He had as many things to deal with as there were mountains, and there was no need to waste time on such things.

In any case, other people's affairs have nothing to do with him.

Let the unknown future decide what Akatsuki's future will become.

According to Shiraishi's prediction, Akatsuki's end will be very tragic.

The Land of Rain... is not suitable for development.

At least that's the case for now.

There is a territory where the great powers are fighting over each other. Unless the three great powers of Fire, Wind, and Earth are willing to work together to establish a stable order, the Rain Country will become prosperous and peaceful along with it.

But apart from fighting each other, the three major countries have no such idea of ​​jointly building a stable order.

The people of that country have been oppressed for many years, and most of them have lost the will to resist.

In this era, people die and fight every day.

The way of human survival is to prey on the weak.

The same is true for the countries built by human beings. The weak will be bullied, while the strong can have everything.
To be continued...