"Lord Naruto, the item is ready."
Inside a hidden lab in the Land of Snow, Kichirō bent halfway at the waist, respectfully holding a silver-colored bracer in both hands as he stood behind Naruto.
"You did well."
Naruto turned slowly and reached out with his right hand to take the bracer, then asked, "How's the experiment with the Byakugan fusion coming along?"
"The experiments are still ongoing."
Kichirō replied cautiously, "According to your instructions, we had Genichi control all the cloned Byakugan to try to synchronize them. However, most of them dispersed upon being gathered in the barrier. Only the ones cloned from Genichi and the first batch you had us create showed brief signs of fusion."
Had Sasuke been here, he would've been stunned—for Naruto had revealed his real face in front of Kichirō, without using the Transformation Jutsu.
"Hmm."
Naruto toyed with the bracer in his hand and asked, "Any progress on the new clones?"
"Uhm… about the new clones… we… we're still…"
Kichirō's tone became hesitant.
"Speak plainly."
Naruto's gaze remained calm. He said softly, "You know very well that, as one of my World Affiliates, your value is far above those talentless ones we've already discarded."
"Yes!"
After a brief flash of panic, Kichirō responded, "My lord, due to some unresolved technical issues, none of the successfully cloned bodies have manifested a Mangekyō Sharingan like the ones in the Mirror World."
"Hmm."
The bracer in Naruto's hand vanished into thin air. He nodded slightly and said, "It's fine. Even failed test subjects have provided plenty of three-tomoe Sharingan. I already told your father I'd bring in a technical expert to support your team. That person will join you soon. I may even assign a mentor."
"Thank you, my lord!"
Kichirō bowed deeply again, his voice trembling slightly.
"You may go and rest."
As Naruto spoke, he created a Shadow Clone. Without daring to raise his head, Kichirō quietly exited the lab, carefully shutting the door behind him.
"Let's begin."
Naruto walked toward the operating table. After lying down, the Shadow Clone picked up two intricately sealed glass jars from a nearby table.
A few minutes later, Naruto stood before a mirror—his eyes now blood-red, each bearing the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Warning! Unknown will detected. Proceed with erasure?
Warning! Unknown will detected. Proceed with erasure?
Warning! Unknown will detected—
Just like during the Byakugan transplant, as soon as the Sharingan were installed, the Mirror World's alert notifications wouldn't stop. However, once the so-called "unknown will" had been erased from the Byakugan, nothing much had changed—despite countless experiments, the bulging veins still appeared as expected.
"Come on, Naruto! Quit messing around! We can't get any rest with you doing this all the time!"
In the spiritual realm, Kurama was the first to complain. But its words sounded strange—when had Kurama ever needed rest since Naruto had gained free access to the Mirror World?
"Yeah! Same here! I was just getting into a good match with Genichi and their clan leader."
Matatabi chimed in, its front paws restlessly moving.
"Mhm."
Isobu glanced at Chōmei—who lay in the corner, unmoving like a statue—and muttered in his deep, dopey voice, "That noise really is too much."
Erasure successful!
Naruto made his choice. In an instant, the world went quiet.
The three Tailed Beasts inside the seal stirred, then simultaneously fell silent and lifeless, their expressions matching Chōmei's—vacant and still.
At that moment, Naruto noticed something curious in the mirror. He closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, the crimson Sharingan were gone—his irises were black again. But almost immediately, the red returned.
After switching back and forth several times, a smile tugged at the corner of Naruto's lips.
"So after erasing the so-called 'unknown will,' the Sharingan can now be turned on and off freely. That's a stark contrast from the Byakugan… but aren't they supposed to share the same origin?"
With that thought, Naruto shifted his consciousness into the Mirror World's core space. Summoning a system panel, his gaze froze—then he reappeared before Kurama.
"You guys just watching?"
With a single thought, Naruto donned his chakra armor. Wings sprouted from his back, and he shot over to Kurama's massive mouth. Looking down into the training grounds below, he saw Genichi locked in an intense battle with a data puppet modeled after Sasuke. Matatabi was yelling non-stop—one moment suggesting Water Release, the next calling for Earth Release.
"Heh… Naruto, what brings you here?"
Kurama grinned, then suddenly widened its eyes and roared, "Idiot! Don't listen to her! Use the Water Mirror Technique!"
"I think Rotation might be more effective…"
Isobu murmured, then shut its single open eye.
Naruto observed clearly—on the field, Sasuke's puppet launched a composite Lightning-Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu. Matatabi wanted Genichi to dive underground, but he followed Kurama's advice and used Water Mirror to reflect the jutsu back.
BOOM—
As the two identical jutsus collided, Sasuke's puppet activated a lightning sword from his left hand. The crackling blade extended like a beam, slicing through the smoke as he vanished.
"Use Rotation already!"
Matatabi bellowed.
"Tch~"
Kurama sneered as Genichi enveloped himself in a chakra sphere. "Boring. The brat keeps trying to use Hyūga taijutsu against a puppet. Without us coaching him, he'd have lost ages ago. Wait… whose eyes did you transplant?"
Naruto smirked and let his eyes transform into the crimson Sharingan.
"Kurama, I need to ask you something."
"Both eyes? Triple tomoe in each?"
Kurama narrowed its gaze. It followed Naruto back into the Mirror World's starting area.
"Did Uchiha Sasuke's right eye evolve again?"
"No… wait! You can deactivate your Sharingan at will now?!"
"These were cloned from Uchiha Shisui's corpse."
Naruto's pupils turned black again. "After I erased the unknown will from them, I could freely toggle the Sharingan."
"I see…"
Kurama's expression grew serious. After a moment's silence, it asked, "You're wondering about the Ten Tails, aren't you?"
"I am."
Naruto nodded slightly. "You saw it too—when I transplanted both the Byakugan and Sharingan, the Mirror World issued warnings. But after removing the so-called will, the Byakugan didn't change much, while the Sharingan began behaving oddly. It reminded me of what you once told me—that the Sharingan's power traces back to the Ten Tails. So I wanted to ask…"
"The Sharingan originates from the Ten Tails. The Byakugan does not."
Kurama cut him off sternly. "Remember what I told you after the Akatsuki revealed the Rinnegan? About the Sage of Six Paths and his brother Ōtsutsuki Hamura?"
Before Naruto could respond, Kurama pulled up a data panel, showing Hyūga Hiashi's personal profile.
"The Hyūga clan are the bloodline left behind by Ōtsutsuki Hamura."
Naruto nodded at the profile. "I know. After the Sage of Six Paths split the Ten Tails' chakra into you Tailed Beasts, Hamura went to the moon to guard the Ten Tails' body. You also told me how the brothers defeated their mother, Kaguya, and sealed away the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
"What I want to know now is: What exactly is the relationship between the Ten Tails, the God Tree, and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki? I'm starting to suspect that the so-called 'unknown wills' in the Byakugan and Sharingan are fragments of the Ten Tails' consciousness."
Kurama's expression hardened.
"The Ten Tails is the God Tree, and it is Kaguya. But the God Tree can be seen as both an independent, physical entity and a manifestation of Kaguya's chakra-gathering form. It was part of her, and she could reabsorb it at will. The Demonic Statue hidden in the Akatsuki's cave—that's the Ten Tails' husk. Kaguya's true body."
"Then you agree with me?"
Naruto activated the Sharingan again. "The Uchiha inherit Indra's blood, the Hyūga inherit Hamura's. Both brothers received power from Kaguya. So... what are the chances that these 'unknown wills' come from either of them?"
Kurama's ears perked up, its voice cautious. "You're not suggesting the will inside the Sharingan or Byakugan might belong to the Sage himself—or Hamura?!"
Naruto chuckled. "It's possible. I tend to doubt everything."
"No way!"
Kurama roared. "Even putting Hamura aside, the old man left this world a long time ago."
Naruto's smile didn't fade. "Where did the Sage go?"
"Huh?"
Kurama glared. "You're fishing for info! Who knows what that warning meant. I think it's just the Mirror World being buggy. If it were really a problem with the eyes, then why didn't Genichi get any warnings when he became a World Affiliate?"
Naruto shook his head. "Kurama, you know how Genichi became a World Affiliate. The moment he joined, the Mirror World erased all his threat factors. But since you're so sure… why don't we run an experiment?"
Kurama's pupils contracted. "What kind of experiment?"
———
Later, Genichi was brought into the lab. Naruto implanted a Sharingan into him.
Warning! Unknown will detected. Proceed with erasure?
Warning! Unknown will detected. Proceed with erasure?
The moment the eye was installed, the Mirror World's alerts went off again. Aside from Kurama, the other three Tailed Beasts were puzzled.
Why had that annoying sound returned?
After Naruto made his choice, the alert vanished. He gave Kurama a meaningful look.
"So… what do you think now?"
Kurama didn't answer.
It fell silent, deep in thought.
[Chapter continues with the political plot, Hyūga Hiashi's doubts, Hidden Leaf machinations, and Chūnin Exam preparations —
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