The days of slacking off at the Military Police Force passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, several more days had gone by. With Shisui, his direct superior, now present, Tatsuya's life became even easier.
During this time, Tatsuya would basically just show his face at the Military Police Force headquarters in the morning and then disappear. He'd be gone for the entire day. He'd either go to the ninja hospital to transfer energy to Guy, or he'd leave a shadow clone behind for the Root ninjas to monitor while he hid in the lab to conduct experiments.
Sakawa and Yuuhi Teru, on the other hand, were diligent every day, but no one assigned them any tasks. With no other choice, the two could only huddle up in the Military Police Force headquarters and train.
Inside the lab.
Tatsuya was staring at the samples in two large culture dishes with a grim expression. After more than ten days of cultivation, the clone embryos in the culture dishes had basically taken shape. However, the condition of these two embryos was very wrong. Just from their appearance, they were far beyond the scope of normal embryos.
One of the embryos had even developed a Sharingan with crimson tomoe in the center of its body. This bizarre scene had given Tatsuya quite a shock when he'd first discovered it.
Clearly, something had gone wrong with the clones from these two fused cell samples. Since he couldn't directly collect data from the two clone embryos, the biochip couldn't provide an accurate analysis. It only offered the most likely hypothesis: the two types of genes carried by these cell samples, which had been directly fused using a centrifuge and other equipment, had become imbalanced during the growth process. It was this imbalance of power that had caused their deformities.
Tatsuya believed that this hypothesis was highly likely. The power of the Uchiha clan, it seemed, wasn't so easy to covet. Trying to fuse this power using only Tatsuya's body cells seemed unlikely to succeed.
However, Tatsuya wasn't planning to give up. Things like cell fusion inherently required a large number of experiments to have any chance of success. Even one or two successful attempts would be a huge gain for Tatsuya.
With this in mind, Tatsuya personally disposed of one of the deformed clones, while temporarily keeping the other. Tatsuya wanted to see what that Sharingan on the clone would eventually develop into.
After disposing of the deformed clone, Tatsuya got back to work. He needed to collect new cell samples for separation and fusion. Tatsuya busied himself in the lab.
While Tatsuya was engrossed in his work in the lab, several miles outside Konoha, on a main road, a group of more than ten people was slowly approaching the village.
A hundred meters away from this group, on the same road, a four-man squad wearing the attire of the Hokage's Anbu Black Ops was quietly waiting.
The group approaching on the main road was the Cloud delegation, which had been preparing for months to visit Konoha, and the four-man squad was the Anbu team sent by the Third Hokage to escort them.
Seeing the Cloud delegation appear on the road, the leader of the Anbu squad quickly led his team to meet them.
After a brief exchange between the two groups, the Anbu squad quickly led the Cloud delegation towards Konoha.
When they arrived at Konoha, the Cloud delegation was greeted with a grand welcoming ceremony. Although the ceremony was organized by the village, many villagers also joined in spontaneously.
Since the outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War, the continuous fighting and standoffs had cost Konoha dearly. The long war had left people weary!
There might have been some ambitious individuals and those seeking revenge within the village who still harbored strong animosity towards the Cloud Village, but the majority of ninjas and villagers yearned for peace.
Both Konoha's leadership and the Cloud's leadership had realized that the war could not continue. Both sides had the desire to end the war, so peace talks naturally became the logical next step.
When Tatsuya emerged from the lab and learned of the Cloud delegation's arrival, he also felt a sense of relief. The long-awaited peace was about to arrive, and Tatsuya could finally relax his constantly tense nerves a little.
However, after receiving an invitation from the Anbu to attend the banquet welcoming the Cloud delegation, Tatsuya's brow furrowed. In the banquet hall, Konoha's young Jonin were gathered together.
Looking at the Cloud delegation in the center of the crowd, Tatsuya felt that something was off. He had a vague premonition that something was about to happen. But after racking his brains and recalling past events, he couldn't come up with anything concrete.
Moreover, upon closer contact, Tatsuya could clearly sense that the leader of the Cloud delegation, a man named Toro, still harbored a strong sense of hostility. This hostility wasn't directed at any specific person, but at all the Konoha ninjas present.
This situation was clearly abnormal! To send a ninja with such strong animosity towards Konoha as the leader of a delegation… could peace talks truly succeed as hoped?
Also, among the fourteen members of the Cloud delegation, only one possessed Jonin-level strength, the delegation leader, Toro. The remaining thirteen were Chunin and Genin. This team composition was clearly illogical.
Signing a peace treaty was a major event concerning the safety of two great hidden villages. Even if the Cloud Village was worried about Konoha playing tricks, they should have at least sent a prominent figure to lead the delegation. Sending such a team clearly showed a lack of seriousness about the peace talks, or some other ulterior motive.
Because of this, Tatsuya couldn't help but have serious doubts about these peace talks.
"Hey, what are you staring at?" A somewhat petulant voice interrupted Tatsuya's thoughts.
Turning his head, Tatsuya saw Mitarashi Anko, looking at him with displeasure.
Seriously? Tatsuya couldn't help but roll his eyes internally. He couldn't understand why this girl always seemed to have it in for him! He was a respectable Konoha Jonin! He might not be particularly handsome, but he wasn't that unpleasant to look at, was he? She was always picking on him!
Could it be… unrequited love turned to resentment?
Thinking of Anko's appearance in a certain sequel, Tatsuya shuddered! He was already quite built; he couldn't possibly marry a heavy girl!
Shaking his head, Tatsuya turned away, pretending not to hear.
"What kind of attitude is that?" Tatsuya's behavior instantly infuriated Anko. She put her hands on her hips and shouted.
This immediately drew the attention of all the young Jonin nearby. Kakashi, Shisui, Yuhi Kurenai, Shiranui Genma, Gekko Hayate, Yugao Uzuki, and others all looked at the two with strange expressions.
"This guy just needs to be taught a lesson!" Feeling the strange gazes of the others, Anko, who was usually quite bold, couldn't help but blush slightly. She mumbled.
"Hey! What are you talking about? When did I ever offend you?" Tatsuya felt he needed to clarify things. He didn't want any rumors spreading around the village! With Kyoko's sensitive nature, she would probably be a little sad if she heard such news.
"Hmph! I'm speaking up for Kyoko! She's been running around, doing everything for your shop opening, even Kurenai and I have been helping out, but you haven't been seen anywhere! Are you even a man?!" Anko looked at Tatsuya with disdain.
"Uh!" Tatsuya was instantly speechless. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't find any words to defend himself.
He had to admit, he had been rather irresponsible lately.
Seeing Tatsuya at a loss for words, Anko snorted, lifted her head proudly, and turned away.
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