To Asuma's surprise, even after they fled to an open area to take a brief rest, that guy named Ras never caught up to them.
"That's enough, Ras."
A young man with pale blond hair stepped out from the shadows, holding a video camera in his hand. He stopped Ras, who had been preparing to pursue.
"Anyway, that old man's already dead. The mission from Gatō's side is completed. And I even recorded your fighting posture. Mm, everything turned out perfectly."
Putting away the camera, the young man adjusted his glasses with a smirk and casually placed his hand on Ras's shoulder—only for Ras to easily dodge it.
"Tsk tsk, how cold. I, Miko Teruhiko, am also one of the Inner Circle members, Amado-sama's favorite assistant. If you keep treating me like this, I might just have to complain to him about it."
Ras ignored Miko Teruhiko. After confirming his mission was complete, he waved his hand sharply, tearing open a rift in space and stepping inside.
"Aah, that technique is really convenient. Too bad for someone like me, who doesn't have the Ōtsutsuki bloodline—"
Miko Teruhiko was about to follow Ras into the rift as he spoke, but before he could finish, the rift vanished right before his eyes, leaving only still air.
"Tsk. What a boring guy."
Miko Teruhiko pushed up his glasses again, this time using his middle finger.
"Sigh, oh well. A pitiful man like me can only rely on his legs to get back. Tsk tsk tsk… Still, with this recording, that daimyō will surely make up his mind and stand with us."
Humming an unknown tune, Miko Teruhiko's figure gradually disappeared into the forest.
...
Takeshi and the others returned to Konoha with Toneri.
To this, Sakumo welcomed them warmly.
After both sides finished their report and task handover, Takeshi immediately brought Toneri and his ancestors to Orochimaru's research bureau.
"As agreed, I've brought the Ōtsutsuki back. Unfortunately, though, we couldn't find Hamura's remains."
Takeshi watched as Hiruko, already in work mode, dragged the unwilling Toneri away. He sighed slightly and turned to Orochimaru with some regret.
"Hehe, this is already beyond my expectations. Even if he's an Ōtsutsuki with impure blood, as long as I reverse-engineer the lineage, I'll definitely uncover the true form of the Ōtsutsuki."
"Let's hope so."
Takeshi looked at Orochimaru, whose eyes were burning with fanaticism. After a moment of hesitation, he voiced the uneasy feeling in his chest.
"Orochimaru-sensei, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Have you realized your own weakness?"
Orochimaru seemed to see right through what Takeshi was thinking.
"Not really."
Takeshi shook his head. "It's just… I feel like the enemy won't be as easy to study as you expect."
"Is that so?" Orochimaru didn't confirm nor deny it.
"I thought you were also planning to undergo the Hashirama Cell implantation. After all, your gloomy old man already completed the procedure."
Orochimaru said it so calmly that Takeshi froze.
"Ahem, what—what did you say?"
Takeshi was startled, his eyes widening at his senior.
"You didn't know?"
Orochimaru didn't look at him, instead swirling a test tube in his hand.
Takeshi truly hadn't heard about it. No wonder his old man had been so quiet lately—turns out he'd gone and done something like that without saying a word.
"He… he succeeded?"
"Of course. Are you doubting my skills?"
A trace of irritation flashed across Orochimaru's face—he always felt Takeshi lacked confidence in him.
"No, no, not at all! I'm just curious. At his age, with that kind of physique, how could he possibly…"
As Takeshi trailed off, he suddenly remembered the image from the original story—Danzō's entire arm covered with Sharingan.
"Wait… did he also transplant Sharingan?"
"Didn't you already guess that?" Orochimaru's answer confirmed his suspicion.
"Seriously?! That old fossil actually went down that road after all!"
"Just as you said, Danzō's body is weak. He needs the Sharingan to suppress the activity of the Hashirama cells. But his true goal is to use the Uchiha clan's forbidden technique..."
"Izanagi, right?" Takeshi said it first.
Orochimaru chuckled—a sinister, bone-chilling laugh. "You really do know."
"Ahem, that's not the point. The real question is—can his Izanagi actually work?"
"Of course. And it's no different from the version used by ordinary Uchiha clan members." Orochimaru nodded.
Danzō's transplantation procedure was indeed the same as in the original timeline: a prosthetic arm constructed with Hashirama's cells, embedded with ten Sharingan eyes.
The difference was that, with abundant funding and high-quality materials, Orochimaru had successfully optimized Danzō's new arm. It could fully utilize Izanagi—each eye traded for one life, with no time limit.
In this way, Danzō's power was dramatically enhanced. His strength had finally caught up to the man he could never surpass in his entire life—Hiruzen.
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