The elegant woman finally noticed Hakushi.
"Ah, y-yes, pleased to meet you."
Finally being noticed, Hakushi hurriedly bowed politely, with a question mark over his head.
"No need to be nervous. It's rare for little Ruri to find someone she gets along so well with. When she was little, she often chased after a whole group of boys, beating them up."
Hearing the elegant woman say this, Hakushi already pictured such a scene in his mind.
If it's Ruri, it probably really was like that.
"Oh right, when do you two plan to get married? You must give birth to a boy by then, because I suddenly feel like boys are a bit more fun than girls."
The elegant woman asked with a big, friendly smile.
"..."
The abrupt change of topic made Hakushi's mind crash—total mush.
A hashtag mark popped out on Ruri's forehead, and she started to make hand signs.
Boom!
◎
Ruri's mother was named Uchiha Miyoko. She was twenty-eight years old this year, in her prime, fond of luxury goods and wearing beautiful, ornate clothes, just like a princess.
Ruri's father was called Uchiha Sosuke, thirty-six years old, a mature-looking man dressed in proper formal wear, appearing much more serious than his wife Miyoko, and generally more well-behaved.
But considering Ruri was already twelve this year and her mother Miyoko was only twenty-eight, in other words, when Miyoko got pregnant with Ruri… she was just fifteen, underage.
Hakushi looked at Uchiha Sosuke's honest face and didn't think Sosuke was that honest at all.
Because neither of them had the talent to become ninja, they were still only at Chunin level… By Ruri's standard, being in your twenties or thirties and only at Chunin level really might mean you just aren't suited to being a ninja.
All these years, the couple had been working hard away from home, leveraging connections built up by the Uchiha Clan. According to them, they were barely managing in business matters.
They hadn't never come back to Konoha these past years, but since business outside kept them busy, they usually only met Ruri at the village gate, then rushed off again.
This was also why Hakushi never saw them at Ruri's house.
As Ruri reunited with her parents, Hakushi wisely kept his distance, figuring he'd only make things awkward by joining in.
Hakushi returned to the underground lab. Because he was going out on missions, most of the lab equipment had already been moved ahead of time, but some less important pieces were left behind.
The basement and equipment had gathered a lot of dust, so Hakushi had to give the place a good cleaning.
Just as he finished, footsteps came from the stairs above—Ruri had come down the steps.
"What, done catching up with your family already? No need to rush over here."
"We can reminisce anytime."
"Looks like your parents will be staying in the village for a while this time. Is it because of the war outside?"
Hakushi thought of something and asked.
"They don't do business around the Land of Fire. They're out on the far west of the continent, so the wars here don't really affect their trade."
"They're not using their real names, right?"
"Yeah, it's all aliases. They know some ninja techniques, but their files aren't on record in Konoha. Plus, some clan elders help with arrangements behind the scenes, so the two of them can focus on business outside. Over the years, they've also hired plenty of well-known bounty hunters, samurai, and ninja to ensure their safety."
No matter what, this is a family with over a century of legacy—the Uchiha's resources and connections are extraordinary.
For example, the Uchiha Clan's ninja tools were never bought from the Land of Iron or inside the village. Instead, they sourced them from Summoning Beast Ninja Cat Clan.
Often, the Ninja Cat Clan also acted as informants for Uchiha ninja, gathering intelligence.
This is the Uchiha's network.
And allies like the Ninja Cat Clan probably aren't the only ones— even Konoha finds it hard to gather intel on all of them.
Likewise, the Hyuga Clan works similarly; how many connections they have in the shadows probably only the highest-ranking clan leaders know.
The real great families don't just have power and lineage, but also people—connection is a terrifying force too.
After that, Ruri used Summoning Jutsu to call out several Ninja Cats. These Ninja Cats each carried some scrolls, inside of which were sealed large pieces of research equipment. All they needed to do was unseal them and reconnect the circuits.
Hakushi, Ruri, and the Ninja Cats started working, restoring the equipment to their original spots, connecting all the wiring just as before.
By the time they finished, nearly two hours had passed. Ruri finally let the Ninja Cats go, and before leaving, the Ninja Cats shot them resentful, human-like looks—until Ruri promised they'd get premium cat food next time, making them leave a little more cheerfully.
Hakushi looked over the huge lab, really feeling like he needed an assistant.
But for now, that's out of the question; there are too many secrets here, and everything has to be done in secret.
Luckily, this is the Uchiha estate. Even the Hokage's Anbu have no authority to investigate here—after all, the Uchiha Security Team is no joke.
There are plenty of Jonin and Special Jonin within the ranks, and almost every adult clan member who joins the ninja force is at least a Chunin or stronger—a terrifying ratio.
Especially after awakening the Sharingan, the combat power of an Uchiha ninja rises straight up—they're not to be underestimated.
As for the next research goal, Hakushi already had it in mind.
Fusing poisoned smoke bombs with matching antidotes.
Of course, research on Natural Energy had to continue too. Even though his stay in Konoha wouldn't be long, this precious time couldn't be wasted.
Just as Ruri was heading out, leaving Hakushi alone in the lab, Hakushi suddenly called out, "Hey, Ruri, can I ask another favor?"
"Go ahead. Need new equipment?"
"Oh, no, these are already enough to last a long time."
"Then what is it?"
"Human experimentation."
Hakushi simply said these four words.
Ruri's pupils shrank slightly. Then she looked at Hakushi seriously. Hakushi met her gaze calmly.
"You know what that means?"
"Human experimentation isn't inherently evil."
As far as Hakushi knew, a lot of Forbidden Techniques were the result of human experimentation.
The most famous of those would be Konoha's former Hokage—Senju Tobirama.
In fact, many of the unique ninja techniques learned in Konoha nowadays were all pioneered by the Second Hokage.
Ruri nodded thoughtfully. "I'll bring you what you need tomorrow."