— — — — — — —
"When things are good, I can call you uncle. But it's bad, it's Hokage-sama, huh? Heh."
Thinking about it, Renzo smirked inwardly with a cold laugh.
The Third Hokage was really pragmatic.
But it didn't matter. Even a six-month "vacation" was fine with him.
In fact, he welcomed it.
It gave him the perfect opportunity to train and conduct research.
Who knows? In six months, he might be strong enough to completely disregard and surpass the Third, Danzo, and the others.
— — —
In the Consciousness Space
After dinner, Uchiha Renzo entered the space.
"Yo!"
"Just you two here?"
As soon as he stepped in, he saw Pirate Renzo and Hero Renzo.
Walking up to them, he casually put an arm around each of their shoulders, instantly receiving their memories and new insights from the past few days.
Hero Renzo: "..."
Uchiha Renzo was clearly used to this; it wasn't his first time doing it.
"What, is memory-sharing the new way to say hello now?"
After absorbing the memories, Uchiha Renzo raised an eyebrow and let go, sitting on a nearby chair before looking at Hero Renzo in surprise.
"Wait, you're planning to take Kazuma Satou as your apprentice? Aren't you afraid he'll ruin your reputation?"
Right now, things were fine. But later? Who knows when that guy might screw things up!
And when he does, as Satou Kazuma's master, Hero Renzo would have to take the fall too.
After all, if the apprentice is like that, what does that say about the master?
"No way! I didn't take him as my apprentice! Don't talk nonsense!" Hero Renzo quickly waved his hands. "I just taught him the Water Breathing technique and some sword forms, that's all!"
"I even made it very clear—he's absolutely not allowed to call me 'Sensei' anymore!"
"I was super careful, okay?"
"Besides, my main goal was to test out what Demon Slayer Renzo said about combining Water Magic with Water Breathing!"
If it worked, he might be able to develop a training method for a true Magic Swordsman.
And after that, the various breathing techniques from the Demon Slayer world would have enormous potential.
Uchiha Renzo rolled his eyes. "And yet, you've spent almost an entire week playing around? You didn't take any adventure quests, didn't level up, and didn't learn new skills either."
"I was hoping you'd pick up some useful skills!"
Some skills are best acquired as early as possible—like Knight's Physical Growth skill.
It required constant training to improve.
People say it has limited potential and weakens later on, but that's not necessarily for the Renzo Group!
Since they could fuse with new versions of themselves to enhance both their physical and mental potential, Physical Growth might be far more effective than usual.
Higher potential means faster and stronger growth, right?
...
"Hey, I was just waiting for my test subject! You expect me to experiment on myself? Skill points are precious, okay?" Hero Renzo spread his hands helplessly.
Besides, some key characters still hadn't shown up in Axel yet.
Like Megumin, Darkness, and Chris.
Megumin should be appearing soon, though.
"Once Kazuma finishes testing the combination of Water Breathing and Water Magic, I'll start learning more skills myself. It shouldn't be long now! That guy's been suffering a lot, but he's making good progress."
Speaking of this, Hero Renzo smirked mischievously.
"Fair enough." Uchiha Renzo nodded.
Since Hero Renzo had chosen the Adventurer class, he had access to a wide variety of skills, but each skill point was incredibly valuable.
And there was no refund or reset function, so careful planning was necessary.
"Honestly, you should just turn him into a full-time test subject! He's an Adventurer, which makes him the perfect tool for learning new skills first." Pirate Renzo suggested with a grin.
If you're gonna use him, go all the way!
After all, Kazuma wouldn't exactly be losing out, right?
This was a skill growth path designed and optimized by an entire team of Renzos.
Maybe there were some pitfalls along the way, but it was definitely better than the chaotic mess he had in the original story.
If he weren't the protagonist, he'd have died a hundred times already.
...Actually, even as the protagonist, he still died a ton of times! Electrocution, strangulation, being dissolved by a poison slime—you can name your method.
"Heh, I was already planning on it!" Hero Renzo smirked deviously.
Great minds think alike!
Uchiha Renzo chuckled before turning to Pirate Renzo. "What about you? How's it going? Is Fantasy Creation useful? How's your yacht project coming along?"
He hadn't thoroughly reviewed Pirate Renzo's memories yet. If he checked everything, there'd be nothing left to talk about.
"Ugh, don't even mention it!" Pirate Renzo waved a hand in frustration. "I spent days following Gundam Renzo's blueprint and created the yacht, but I still need Apocalypse Renzo's AI system! And that guy hasn't shown up in days! No idea what he's up to."
"Maybe he's building his own aircraft and has already set off for some other country? Just be patient." Uchiha Renzo reassured him.
With his vacation from the Third Hokage, he planned to focus more on researching Bloodline Limits, analyzing the Sharingan, and studying the Uchiha clan's genetics.
Unlocking his full potential and enhancing his Sharingan should be entirely possible.
Though he hadn't awakened the Mangekyō yet, he could feel something brewing inside his eyes. His spiritual energy and physique were continuously evolving, steadily strengthening his ocular powers.
He wasn't in a rush.
He wanted to see the difference between a naturally developed Mangekyō and one awakened through extreme emotional stimulation.
"Hope so." Pirate Renzo shrugged.
Just then, light footsteps echoed from a nearby corridor. The three Renzos turned their heads expectantly.
"Oh? Just you guys here?"
A fluffy Eevee emerged, casually raising a paw in greeting.
"Tch!" Pirate Renzo clicked his tongue in disappointment. "It's just Eevee. I thought we had a new member. What a letdown!"
"WTF!!"
Eevee's fur bristled as it leapt onto the table, staring Pirate Renzo down with narrowed eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean? You looking down on me?!"
Pirate Renzo: "..."
Huh? How did that even turn into an insult?
"Did you eat gunpowder or something?" Pirate Renzo looked exasperated.
Today's Eevee was particularly aggressive.
Eevee snorted. "None of your business!"
With that, it tapped all three Renzos on the shoulder, instantly sharing the new memories and skills.
After completing the memory-sharing process, Eevee took a moment to digest the new information and then looked at Uchiha Renzo with some surprise.
"Whoa… You really pulled off something big this time. Your strength has already reached this level?"
"What a shame that the deciphering of Ninjutsu hand seals isn't complete yet… Otherwise, we'd be having the time of our lives!"
"And by the way, Flying Thunder God—pretty solid! Keep it up!"
Looking at all the insane new abilities—Lightning Release, Fire Release, even Water and Earth Release—Eevee couldn't help but feel envious.
If it could use those skills, its battle capabilities would become even more diverse, making it stronger and more well-rounded.
"Yeah, this is seriously impressive!"
Pirate Renzo gave Uchiha Renzo a thumbs-up. "If I get the chance, I'd love to get my hands on the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and see if I can fully analyze it. Then, with Fantasy Creation, I might be able to create a perfected version of it."
"If we could combine Rumble-Rumble Fruit with Lightning Release, that would be insane!"
"You should probably drop that idea," Hero Renzo said, rolling his eyes.
"Just the sheer amount of mental energy needed to copy a single Rumble-Rumble Fruit would be absolutely terrifying—let alone an upgraded version."
"If we ever reach a point where we have that much mental power, we probably wouldn't even need Devil Fruits anymore."
Pirate Renzo: "..."
It felt like a bucket of cold water had just been dumped on him, but… he couldn't deny that it made a lot of sense.
.
.
.