Ch.83 Gentle Soul

Uchiha Shinji gathered all his negative emotions and began to carefully plan his next steps.

Even if he aimed to reach the peak, he had to first pull back his distant gaze and focus on the path right beneath his feet!

The road ahead must be taken step by step.

And every step must be firm and steady!

"Karin…"

Before long, his thoughts turned to Karin.

Karin was the key to everything. Whether or not he could restore the half-damaged and fully-damaged Mangekyō Sharingan, it all depended on her.

But before he could proceed, there was something important he needed to take care of.

He quickly bit his finger and began weaving hand signs.

Poof.

With a puff of white smoke, Coalball appeared, walking out while licking his fur.

"What are we stealing this time?" Coalball asked casually.

"…." Shinji was speechless.

Coalball immediately understood and sighed, "Not stealing? Then you need me to spy on someone again, don't you? Ugh, it's another one of those tiring jobs!"

Shinji, slightly embarrassed, coughed. "Ahem, not this time!"

Coalball gave Shinji a curious look.

Shinji explained, "I need to take care of something in Hidden Grass Village, but I can't go openly. I need you to go there first and then reverse summon me to that location."

"Hidden Grass Village? That's outside the country, isn't it?" Coalball hesitated.

Shinji frowned, "What's wrong? Don't tell me you don't know the way?"

"How could that be!" Coalball puffed out his chest, "Don't worry, leave it to me!"

Shinji suddenly felt uncertain about entrusting this task to Coalball, but after thinking it through, he realized he had no other options.

With Coalball's speed, even if he left immediately and encountered no unexpected delays, it would take at least a week to reach the vicinity of Hidden Grass Village. After coordinating their timing, Shinji canceled the summoning, allowing Coalball to return and prepare.

After sending Coalball off, Shinji began to contemplate the matter of the White Zetsu cells.

Though the White Zetsu cells that Deidara was tasked with collecting were somewhat safer than those of the First Hokage, transplanting them still carried significant risks.

So, if he wanted Karin's cooperation, he needed to show sincerity first.

"Once I rescue Karin's mother, and Deidara obtains the White Zetsu cells, I can bring up the idea of transplanting the cells to her."

Shinji guessed that Karin likely wouldn't refuse.

Firstly, her Uzumaki clan's strong vitality, combined with her exceptionally rare self-healing abilities, meant that the risk of transplanting the White Zetsu cells would be much lower than for an ordinary person.

Secondly, this would be a huge improvement for her.

If the transplant succeeded, Karin would possess the life force of the Uzumaki clan, the Senju clan, and potentially even some characteristics of the Divine Tree.

If she could fully unleash the potential of her constitution, in terms of Sage Body alone, she might even rival Ōtsutsuki Asura, who inherited the Sage of Six Paths' Sage Body.

And Shinji had already found the method for unlocking this potential: training in Wood Release.

Wood Release would stimulate the Divine Tree traits within her bloodline. To maintain Wood Release, a strong Sage Body would be essential, so during her training, Karen would naturally tap into the latent Sage Body power in her bloodline.

This was similar to how Shinji used Susanoo Tomoshibi to control the eyes of others.

The act of mastering such control was itself a form of training in chakra manipulation, which explained why he had progressed so quickly in medical ninjutsu—he was constantly refining his chakra control.

As he thought through all this, Shinji's eyelids grew heavy.

That night, after sparring with Sasuke, rushing to repel the invasion, and then witnessing the destruction of an entire world, he was utterly exhausted.

He turned over and soon drifted off into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Shinji arrived at the Hidden Leaf's shinobi academy, yawning.

After finishing the morning's cultural classes at the academy, he hurried to the lab, assisting Kusadō Kaoru and completing two surgeries.

Perhaps it was his excellent chakra control, or perhaps it was his mature mental age, but the talent he displayed in medical ninjutsu had earned him the admiration of the entire medical division.

Even Kusadō Kaoru, who had been so critical of him at first, now took pride in him and praised him to others.

Of course, Shinji was aware of his own limitations.

In the field of medical ninjutsu, he was still a beginner. He was nowhere near the level of experts like Tsunade and was still behind even ordinary medical shinobi in many areas.

Thus, he wasn't blinded by the praise around him. Instead, he continued absorbing as much knowledge as he could from the medical division.

That evening, he strolled to a training ground he frequently used.

Clang! Clang!

Before he even entered, the sound of fierce metal clashing reached his ears.

"Huh?"

Shinji was surprised. This remote training ground rarely had any visitors.

Walking inside, he realized it was Haku and Karin sparring.

When they saw Shinji, they immediately stopped.

Haku quickly approached, explaining, "Shinji, Karin and I ran into each other by coincidence!"

Karin simply nodded toward Shinji, then turned to leave.

It was clear they considered this training ground to be Shinji's personal space. Afraid of displeasing him, Haku felt the need to explain, and Karin was prepared to leave.

"Doesn't this make you two look even more suspicious?"

Shinji couldn't help but groan internally.

The way Haku and Karin were acting made it seem like he had caught them doing something inappropriate, leaving Shinji scratching his head in frustration.

"Wait!"

Shinji quickly called out to Karen, who had been ready to slip away.

Karin froze on the spot, not daring to move.

Shinji took a moment to carefully observe her. Wearing dark sunglasses at night seemed a bit odd, but then again, shinobi often wore strange accessories—some even wore masks their whole lives.

She had a small pouch at her waist, likely containing the spoils from the battle against the demon.

Noticing Shinji's careful gaze, Haku, afraid Shinji might suspect something, hurriedly suggested, "Shinji, how about we spar?"

But Shinji instead asked, "Why were you about to run away when you saw me?"

"Huh?"

Karin looked surprised.

"Stay," Shinji said casually, before walking toward the center of the training ground.

Karin glanced at Haku with a questioning look.

Haku smiled warmly and nodded. "Shinji is actually a very gentle person. You should stay."

By allowing Karin to stay, Shinji was signaling that he had accepted her into his small circle.

Given Shinji's reputation as a genius at the academy, being part of such a group wasn't an easy feat—especially for someone as withdrawn as Karin.

After tossing his jacket onto a nearby bench, Shinji turned to Haku and said, "Enough talking, let's start!"

Haku smiled back, "Here I come!"