[Inside Orochimaru's Laboratory]
"Orochimaru, come treat Hanabi's injuries," Rengoku called as soon as he arrived with Hanabi.
When Orochimaru came out and saw Hanabi's covered eyes, a look of "just as expected" appeared on his face.
"It went that smoothly?"
As Rengoku placed Hanabi onto the hospital bed, he replied, "This time it really was a coincidence."
"One of Black Zetsu's eye techniques takes away the five senses. I stabbed based on memory and pinned Hanabi to the ground."
"Black Zetsu had no choice but to take her eyes and leave."
Orochimaru nodded and instructed Kabuto nearby, "Go bring me a pair of Byakugan."
Kabuto bowed and left.
Orochimaru then removed the bandages from Hanabi's face and examined her eye sockets.
"The backup plan you left behind won't be discovered, right?", Rengoku asked again, still not completely at ease.
As Orochimaru cleaned Hanabi's wounds, he answered, "Before Hanabi's eyes evolve, no one will notice anything."
"Even after they evolve, my preparations will only work under certain conditions."
"Don't worry. I've already worked it all out."
Hearing that, Rengoku relaxed. Orochimaru was reliable after all.
At that moment, Kabuto Yakushi returned with a pair of Byakugan.
Orochimaru took them and quickly transplanted them into Hanabi.
"When Black Zetsu removed her eyes, he was very rough. Hanabi was hurt badly. Her eyes will probably need half a month to recover."
After hearing Orochimaru's words, Rengoku responded, "In that case, will she notice that the Byakugan aren't her own?"
After leaving the finishing work to Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru answered, "She won't notice, because these are also eyes from the main family."
"The Hyuga clan uses the Byakugan differently from how the Uchiha use the Sharingan."
"The Sharingan is an extension of the Uchiha's body. You constantly explore it and push it to evolve."
"But to the Hyuga clan, the Byakugan is only a tool. After awakening it, they simply use it."
"At Hanabi's age, she hasn't deeply explored the Byakugan yet. Don't worry."
"Mm. How are Itachi and Fugaku doing?"
Rengoku changed the subject and asked about the progress of their eye fusion.
"The fusion of their eye power is almost complete. Just as we calculated before, Itachi's eyes have already begun changing because his eye power was sufficient."
"Fugaku's eye power has also fully recovered, and it has grown quite a bit."
"If Sasuke's Mangekyo is transplanted into him, both Fugaku and Sasuke will obtain the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
Rengoku raised a hand to stop him, "Sasuke's body is still a little lacking."
"Unless we strengthen him without caring about the consequences, his body can't handle the Eternal Mangekyo right now."
After discovering that Asura had left Naruto's body, causing Naruto to lose his ability to avoid the side effects of Shadow Clones, Rengoku had specifically examined Sasuke's condition after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan and overusing its eye power.
Sasuke's current body simply couldn't withstand it. Giving him the Eternal Mangekyo now would only harm him.
Rengoku thought for a moment before asking, "Compared to Sasuke from the original timeline, why is this Sasuke's endurance so much lower?"
"Did Indra's chakra leaving him really have that much of an effect?"
Orochimaru knew Rengoku already had his own conclusion. He was only asking to confirm it.
After thinking for a moment, he answered, "The Sharingan first appeared in Indra's generation. According to bloodline theory, the closer someone is to Indra, the smaller the side effects of using the Sharingan."
"The Sharingan places a heavy burden on the body. To protect itself, the body won't awaken the Sharingan too early."
"The average age for an Uchiha to awaken the Sharingan is over twelve. Sasuke awakening it at seven was only because of Indra's soul."
Rengoku nodded slightly. It matched the theories he had already come up with.
In fact, the age at which someone awakened the Sharingan had no direct connection to whether they could eventually obtain the Mangekyo or how strong they would become.
Madara and Obito had both awakened their Sharingan very late, but neither of them was weak.
"I'll go remind Sasuke. I'll leave things here to you."
"Hinata will probably come to see Hanabi later. Don't let anything slip."
Orochimaru waved his hand to show that he understood.
———
[Kamui Space]
Obito and Black Zetsu appeared there with dark expressions.
Itachi's strength had gone far beyond Obito's expectations. Even with both Kamui eyes, not only had he failed to gain any advantage, he had almost been beaten to death by Itachi's bare hands.
"How is Itachi's taijutsu this strong?"
Black Zetsu closed his eyes while breathing heavily. Clear liquid slowly flowed from the corners of his eyes.
Since the body created by the Ghost Bud Technique had no blood, this clear liquid served the same purpose.
It nourished his eyes.
Black Zetsu had used the Mangekyo Sharingan's Susanoo and two eye techniques one after another, consuming a huge amount of eye power.
Especially when Underworld Prison sealed Itachi's five senses. The resistance from Itachi's eye power had been extremely strong. Not only had he quickly broken free from the technique, but Black Zetsu's eyes had also been injured.
"The Eight Gates."
Black Zetsu answered with his eyes still closed, "Itachi's taijutsu is no weaker than that of an ordinary taijutsu Shishou. He's opened at least the Sixth Gate."
Obito looked annoyed, "Isn't the Eight Gates supposed to be very hard to learn?"
Black Zetsu slowly opened his eyes, "I can only tell you the answer. I don't know the reason."
Even though Obito constantly improved his body by destroying and repairing it with the dark chakra converted from Zero-Tails, the speed of his physical growth still hadn't reached Itachi's level.
Only now had the dent in Obito's body slowly returned to normal.
The place where Itachi had struck him happened to be the half of his body that had once been repaired with White Zetsu.
Black Zetsu looked at Obito's body and asked tentatively, "You have both Mangekyo Sharingan now, but your body didn't become any stronger?"
Obito replied in a strange tone, "What does that have to do with the Sharingan?"
In reality, after becoming the Zero-Tails jinchuriki, Obito's recovery speed had become extremely fast, but that only applied to his original body.
The half that had been rebuilt with White Zetsu was no different from before.
Even Obito himself didn't know why, but this time he had fooled Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu placed the Byakugan into a prepared container. He planned to make a trip to the moon later.
"What are you using those eyes for?", Obito asked.
He had already realized that whether the Hyuga clan members were present or not didn't matter. Black Zetsu only wanted those eyes.
Black Zetsu didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "You said Naruto is also the Nine-Tails jinchuriki. What's going on?"
Obito was a little unhappy, but he still needed Black Zetsu later to find the Box of Bliss, so he didn't press the matter.
"He has the same ability as Minato, and his jinchuriki state should be that of a perfect jinchuriki."
"Even though Naruto is still young, his fighting strength can't be underestimated."
Obito was also surprised. Even without Rengoku, experts in Konoha kept appearing one after another.
Still, he wasn't too worried. Kamui was highly secretive, and Konoha's people wouldn't have an easy time finding him.
He just didn't dare to show himself around Konoha anymore.
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