[Doujin Artist]: So?
Did your precious nephew agree?
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: Do you even need to ask?
[Doujin Artist]: Right.
I almost forgot your nickname—the Succubus of the Shinobi World.
[I’m Not a Hair-Gel Guy]: Succubus of the Shinobi World?
[Doujin Artist]: You’ll understand if you ever get a chance to see the Land of Rivers.
Half the talented people there were poached from other hidden villages by this bastard!
Pakura, Kimimaro, the Yuki clan from Kirigakure, that Uzumaki mother and daughter from Kusagakure…
Every last one of them is so grateful to him they practically want to adopt him as their father!
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: That description is a little exaggerated.
All I did was treat them like human beings.
And that really was all he had done.
Unfortunately, in the shinobi world, even something that basic was surprisingly rare.
Most nobles and village leaders did not truly regard shinobi as people.
To them, ninja were tools, assets, and expendable resources.
Those in power used every kind of propaganda imaginable to convince shinobi to kill and sacrifice themselves, always dressing it up as service to the village.
In reality, much of it existed to preserve the interests and authority of the people already sitting at the top.
Pakura was a perfect example.
Even a celebrated hero of Sunagakure like her had ultimately been treated as a disposable bargaining chip in a political deal.
Riku had grown up in another world with a completely different understanding of how society ought to work, and he simply could not stomach that kind of system.
To him, the world was not supposed to function this way.
He had no intention of adapting himself to values he found rotten.
If anything, he wanted to change the shinobi world until it no longer demanded that people accept them.
Fortunately, having Alucard’s power had given him enough strength to indulge that ambition.
[Doujin Artist]: I’ll admit your ideas are basically revolutionary by Naruto-world standards!
But there’s no way that’s the ONLY reason those people follow you.
Pakura and Karin’s mother definitely don’t look at you like that.
I saw them during one of your old livestreams—they looked completely charmed!
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: Really?
[Doujin Artist]: Yes.
I’m sure of it!
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: To think it was like that…
I only wanted them to support my policies.
I never imagined those two women were actually after my body.
Sigh.
Sometimes being too attractive really is a burden.
[Doujin Artist]: A burden, my ass!
Eriri’s mouth twitched violently.
At that moment, her phone suddenly vibrated.
A message window appeared on the screen.
[Dear compatriot: Are you suffering?
Have you lost hope in this broken world?
Have you endured discrimination simply because you possess no supernatural ability?]
[If you desire change, then join us.
Dreamweaver welcomes you.]
The message was displayed in blood-red letters against a black background, giving it an unsettling appearance.
Even stranger, the sender field contained nothing but a string of scrambled code.
‘Dreamweaver, huh?
What organization is that supposed to be?’
Eriri raised an eyebrow before deciding she could not be bothered.
That sounded like something the government council should worry about.
What did it have to do with an ordinary student like her?
She returned her attention to the chat.
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: What do you mean, smug?
I’m lamenting the hardships of life.
I thought I’d finally found comrades who shared my ideals, only to discover they had ulterior motives!
[Doujin Artist]: Enough already.
Put your ego away!
When are you getting here?
I’m already at the amusement park entrance!
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: I still need someone to cover my classes.
Who knows how long one round trip between worlds is going to take?
Eriri’s curiosity was immediately piqued.
[Doujin Artist]: Who’d you find to cover for you?
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: If someone needs to teach Tactical Deployment, who better than a Nara?
[Doujin Artist]: Nara Shikaku?
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: He’s still commanding troops on the front against Kumogakure, so I asked Yoshino instead.
[Doujin Artist]: Who’s Yoshino?
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: Uh…
Nara Shikamaru’s mother.
[Doujin Artist]: ?
[Deathwish Count]: ?
[Doujin Artist]: Hold on.
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: What is wrong with you?
Why does every perfectly innocent brother-sister relationship become filthy the moment it enters your head?
I’m genuinely curious how far your mind has fallen.
[Doujin Artist]: Get Uzumaki Kushina OUT OF YOUR BODY before you say that to me!
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: I can’t exactly do that yet.
[I’m Not a Hair-Gel Guy]: [Image] Hollowfication appears to be viable for shinobi.
You may want to begin exploring the process yourself.
Riku opened the image.
A man wearing a Kirigakure forehead protector appeared on the screen.
The left half of his face was covered by a bone-white Hollow mask, while a perfectly circular hole had formed through the center of his chest.
Combined with his twisted appearance, the man looked more like a monster than a shinobi.
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: Now THAT’S what I like to see.
Thanks, Aizen-bro!
A broad grin spread across Riku’s face.
Ever since Aizen joined the group, one question had been circling through his mind.
Could a shinobi undergo Hollowfication?
The shinobi world contained no reishi, which meant beings like Hollows and Shinigami could not naturally arise there in the same way they did in Soul Society.
Shinobi, however, possessed chakra.
And chakra itself was partly derived from spiritual energy, giving it a tangible connection to the soul.
So what would happen if the spiritual matter and Hollow power of Aizen’s world were fused with a shinobi’s chakra?
Curious enough to test the idea, Riku had selected one particularly “fortunate” soul from his River of Death and sent it over as experimental material.
The results had exceeded his expectations.
According to the data Aizen provided, Hollow power integrated extremely well with chakra.
The resulting Hollowfied Shinobi displayed physical and spiritual performance several times greater than an ordinary ninja of the same level.
If everyone in the Land of Rivers’ security forces could eventually receive that kind of upgrade…
Riku immediately shook his head and dismissed the thought.
Not yet.
These were only preliminary experiments, and the Hollowfication material was still unstable.
Attempting a mass upgrade now could easily lead to catastrophic side effects.
He needed more test subjects and far more comparative data before he could even consider deploying the process safely.
Which raised an obvious question.
Of all the organizations in the shinobi world, who could possibly provide him with an endless supply of experimental manpower while supporting the research without reservation?
Root, of course.
A visionary as deeply devoted to the shinobi world as Lord Shimura Danzō would never pass up the opportunity to study something as promising as Hollowfication.
For Konoha.
For the Hokage.
Lord Danzō would undoubtedly devote himself to the research with admirable diligence.
“What a wonderful man you are, Lord Danzō.”
Riku offered the heartfelt praise before his body dissolved into countless particles of blue light and vanished.