On the first day of June, Ishiki Kujo once again had the opportunity to change his Stand.
[This month's Stand draw: Emporio's Mother – would you like to replace?]
[Available replacement abilities: Scary Monsters, Weather Report. If the corpse's current ability is replaced, it will be transferred into the corresponding corpse part.]
No.
Ishiki made his decision instantly.
Especially after realizing that when Ma Youyou wasn't around, the replacement process didn't affect him—further confirming that Ma Youyou operated independently from the monthly Stand draw.
Even though Emporio's Mother was another assassin-type Stand, it didn't compare to Ma Youyou's fully autonomous intelligence. And it certainly couldn't compete with Scary Monsters or Weather Report.
Emporio's Mother had a parasitic ability—latching onto others through blood and growing stronger by consuming nutrients.
While it sounded intriguing, the weaknesses were glaring: it lacked mobility, functioning more like a tumor embedded in its host. And if the host was ruthless enough to amputate the parasitized part, the Stand became little more than butcher's meat.
Ishiki had zero interest in that Stand. He'd rather leave Ma Youyou with Danzō and pray for a better pull next month.
June passed at a leisurely pace. After fully familiarizing himself with the Police Force's operations, Ishiki returned to the hospital.
There, he could discuss treatment plans and rare cases with seasoned medical-nin—in contrast to the endless pile of citizen complaints in the Police Force.
Thankfully, he rarely had to handle them personally. Otherwise, he'd have quit that post long ago.
Even so, Ishiki began to seriously consider hiring a secretary.
And he already had someone in mind: Shizune, who'd left the village with Tsunade.
To Ishiki, Shizune's talents were wasted just tailing Tsunade day in and day out. She'd be better off supporting him back in the village.
But when he submitted his proposal to the Third Hokage, it was immediately rejected.
"Following Tsunade is Shizune's personal choice. If you can convince her to return, I won't stop you."
That was Hiruzen's exact reply.
Ishiki was speechless. If I could reach her and bring her back, why the hell would I need to go through you, old man?
"What kind of Hokage are you? Useless," Ishiki grumbled as he flipped open another folder sent by Hiruzen.
This one contained various rumors and strange happenings across the shinobi world.
Now that he had a clearer understanding of the corpse's individual part-based abilities, Ishiki had a more focused direction for his investigation—so sifting through intelligence reports was quick work.
This wasn't the first time he'd received such intel. After expressing his needs, the Third had ordered operatives to begin compiling strange incidents and anomalies—information already being collected, so it wasn't much trouble.
And Hiruzen never questioned what Ishiki intended to do with it.
What did weigh on the Third's mind lately, though, was something else: the moment Shisui became acting commander of Root, his first action was dispatching agents to investigate the Land of Water.
According to Shisui's report, there were signs that a Sharingan user—outside the clan—had been spotted in the region.
He even boldly speculated that Yagura Karatachi, the Fourth Mizukage, might have been placed under genjutsu by the wielder of that eye.
After all, that particular Mangekyō Sharingan could control the Nine-Tails.
The Third took it very seriously. Still, he didn't interfere—he wanted to see how Shisui's Root would perform compared to Danzō's.
He also wanted to see what kind of achievements Shisui could produce.
As for Root's remaining members—after Danzō fled with eight of them, only six operatives remained.
One among them, known as "A," had been personally reassigned to ANBU by the Third.
The reason? "A" could use Wood Release, the same legendary kekkei genkai as the First Hokage. Though not as powerful as Hashirama's, it was unmistakably Mokuton.
Hiruzen renamed him Tenzo, and after a formal pledge of loyalty, inducted him into ANBU.
Yet every time Hiruzen saw Tenzo, he couldn't help but think of Danzō—and sometimes, even woke up from dreams in a cold sweat.
He remembered Tenzo's origins—the experiments, the children who died in the lab—and sometimes he wondered if he even deserved to live.
But he couldn't die. Not yet. He had to carry that guilt.
Even if one day he joined his wife, Biwako, in the afterlife—he would drag Danzō with him. That remnant of a dying era had to go.
And that "remnant," Danzō Shimura, was currently suffering.
The Root members who had followed him were down to five. In the past month alone, two more had died under assault from Ma Youyou.
That terrifying green-skinned monster always found a window to attack.
Even with the most rigorous surveillance measures in place, they couldn't completely neutralize its threat.
"Powerful genjutsu has some effect on it," one of the lab technicians reported, "but the results are limited. Within half an hour, it recovers fully and resumes function."
The technician placed another report on Danzō's desk. "However, we've identified a possible countermeasure to its regenerative ability."
"You want me to waste First Hokage cells on that hideous, cursed thing?" Danzō's face twisted in revulsion as he glared at the report.
"If we transplant Hashirama's cells into its body, it will force it into a perpetual loop of regeneration and decay. This will keep it in a state of instability. Also, infusing it with those cells will make it visible to ordinary people."
The technician braced himself for backlash but pressed on.
They had tried dozens of methods in the past month. All had failed.
This green monster couldn't be killed. It was more persistent than the stickiest, most aggressive glue. Once it set its sights on someone, there was no escape.
"You're sure it won't backfire? If it survives the transplant, won't it become even more dangerous?" Danzō pressed.
He knew well how powerful Hashirama's cells were.
He hated to admit it, but this grotesque, tenacious creature was driving him insane.
He hadn't had a single peaceful night's sleep since leaving Konoha.
"If it survives, the resulting data would still be extremely valuable. It could increase the success rate of your own fusion with Hashirama's cells." The technician bowed as he delivered the cold logic.
Danzō went silent, weighing the risk.
That final statement tipped the scales. "Proceed."
The technician exhaled in relief.
Only Ma Youyou remained unaware of what was coming—its mind preoccupied with closing in on Danzō. The mission had dragged on too long.
And it was getting bored.
"Danzō, would you just drop dead already? This stalemate is boring," Ma Youyou taunted, its voice echoing in the chamber. "You're going to lose. Fighting back is just a waste of energy."
The lab team wasn't about to give it more time to run its mouth.
A cultivated chunk of Hashirama's flesh was carefully sutured onto Ma Youyou's damaged cranial region.
The moment the tissue made contact with its body, Ma Youyou went silent.
Then its green skin turned pale.
Only for a second—before returning to vibrant green. Then pale again.
It began cycling between shades, as if stuck between recovery and collapse.
Caught in that flux, Ma Youyou entered a frozen, unresponsive state—its system overwhelmed.