Chapter 612: Awakening the Rinnegan for Sasuke
"Sasuke, if you feel any discomfort during the experiment, tell me immediately."
Kenichi looked at Sasuke lying in front of him.
"Although I should warn you now, the process is going to be rather painful."
Sasuke swallowed.
The pressure he felt was enormous.
After all, what he was about to attempt was outrageous enough that even Itachi had been surprised when he heard about it.
The Rinnegan.
It represented an even higher level of dojutsu than the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and was considered the ultimate evolution associated with the Uchiha bloodline.
Even Itachi had never awakened the Rinnegan.
With Kenichi's help, Itachi had already obtained the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and no longer needed to worry about gradually losing his eyesight.
But once that problem was resolved, another troublesome matter had immediately appeared.
Marriage.
For some reason, Mikoto had recently become relentless about urging Itachi to find a partner.
Date someone.
Get married.
And most importantly, start producing more descendants so the Uchiha Clan could expand again.
Itachi suspected that Kenichi was partially responsible.
He still remembered something Kenichi had once said while speaking with Mikoto.
"If a clan wants to become great again, having enough people is the most basic requirement. If there are barely any members left, can it even be called a clan?"
Clearly, Mikoto had taken those words seriously.
Not only had she listened, she had immediately begun putting them into practice.
"Kenichi-sensei..."
Sasuke hesitated.
"Is this experiment absolutely necessary?"
He touched his eyes unconsciously.
"If it isn't, could I just keep using the eyes I already have?"
Sasuke genuinely believed his current strength was already far beyond what he had possessed before.
Several times stronger?
Dozens of times?
Perhaps even more.
Compared with his former self, the difference was enormous.
If he could avoid undergoing another dangerous experiment, Sasuke would naturally prefer not to do it.
He was already frighteningly powerful for someone his age.
Without realizing it, Sasuke had begun to grow attached to his current stable life.
But the moment he saw Kenichi's serious expression, he understood.
Kenichi was going to insist.
Sasuke's voice gradually became quieter.
"Sasuke."
Kenichi sighed helplessly.
"You need to understand something."
"The enemy we're preparing to face this time is nothing like your brother."
He paused before giving Sasuke a comparison he could understand.
"Compared with that man, someone at your brother's level would be like an elementary school student."
"So when I'm trying to make you stronger, it isn't because I enjoy making you suffer."
"I want you to survive."
Kenichi looked at Sasuke with a slightly complicated expression.
He had not expected Sasuke to become this reluctant to pursue greater power.
The Sasuke he remembered had once been a revenge-driven boy who would pursue strength almost regardless of the cost.
But the Sasuke standing before him now had clearly softened.
Kenichi could understand why.
Sasuke was living a peaceful and fulfilling life.
Hatred could give people tremendous motivation.
But hatred could also twist a person until they became paranoid or even insane.
People often changed according to their surroundings.
Kenichi felt Sasuke was one of the clearest examples.
This Sasuke was completely different from the original.
He had learned the truth behind Itachi's actions far earlier.
Fugaku and Mikoto had been resurrected.
His brother had returned.
Itachi's illness had been cured.
The hatred that had driven Sasuke in the original story had mostly disappeared before it could consume him.
Kenichi knew he was largely responsible for that transformation.
Just as Kenichi began feeling slightly disappointed, Sasuke's expression changed.
The hesitation in his eyes gradually disappeared.
Then he looked directly at Kenichi and nodded firmly.
"Kenichi-sensei, I understand."
"If becoming stronger means preventing something like what happened to my brother from ever happening again..."
Sasuke clenched his fists.
"Then I'll do it."
"I'll keep getting stronger."
Kenichi immediately felt more reassured when he saw Sasuke's determined gaze.
Sasuke was serious.
And for Sasuke himself, the thought of losing his family again was enough to extinguish most of his hesitation.
Itachi had returned.
His illness had been cured.
Fugaku and Mikoto had been resurrected.
But the night of the Uchiha massacre remained deeply engraved in Sasuke's memory.
Every time he remembered that night, genuine fear still rose inside him.
He never wanted to experience something like that again.
Kenichi studied Sasuke carefully.
There was no longer any sign of retreat in his expression.
In that case...
Letting Sasuke awaken the Rinnegan was definitely feasible.
And from Kenichi's perspective, the process was not particularly complicated.
First, he needed to evolve Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Once Sasuke had the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, Hagoromo could assist with the next stage and accelerate the transformation into the Rinnegan.
As for what was truly required to awaken the Rinnegan, Kenichi believed the key was the special chakra associated with the Otsutsuki bloodline and Six Paths Power.
Kenichi suspected that he could probably perform the transformation himself now.
But he had never personally tested the method.
Since Hagoromo was available and understood the Rinnegan better than almost anyone else, Kenichi saw no reason to take unnecessary risks.
"Then let's begin."
Kenichi smiled.
"Don't worry, Sasuke."
"I'll help you through it."
He guided Sasuke onto the laboratory operating table and secured him in place.
Then Kenichi looked down at him with a perfectly natural smile.
Awakening the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan would certainly hurt.
And the subsequent evolution toward the Rinnegan would not be pleasant either.
But if the result was greater strength...
Surely Sasuke could endure it.
Right?
With that thought, the experiment began.
...
"Where did Sasuke go?"
Naruto looked curiously at his teacher.
Hashirama's expression became slightly strange.
Of course, he knew exactly where Sasuke had gone.
According to Kenichi, Sasuke had gone to awaken the Rinnegan.
Only after acquiring the Rinnegan would Sasuke begin approaching the peak of his potential.
Hashirama looked at Naruto.
According to Kenichi, Naruto could eventually grow into someone just as powerful as Sasuke.
But now there was a problem.
Sasuke was awakening the Rinnegan.
So what could Naruto obtain to keep pace with him?
Hashirama understood the strength of the Rinnegan very well.
Recently, he had sparred with Madara numerous times.
And whenever it came to the Rinnegan's power, Hashirama felt he had more than enough experience to speak on the subject.
That dojutsu, which stood above the Mangekyo Sharingan, was undeniably terrifying.
Some of its abilities were so absurd that even Hashirama found them unreasonable.
Thinking about that made Hashirama increasingly concerned with finding another way to strengthen Naruto.
Naruto needed to continue improving.
Only then could he remain comparable to Sasuke.
And more importantly...
Hashirama would no longer have to endure Madara showing off in front of him every day.
Ever since Madara learned that Sasuke was going to awaken the Rinnegan, he had become unbearable.
Every single day, he found some excuse to brag.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Hashirama could still remember the smug expression on Madara's face.
Just thinking about it irritated him.
So Hashirama had decided that Naruto absolutely needed to become as strong as Sasuke.
That was the best solution to the Madara problem.
Unfortunately...
Hashirama did not possess any special dojutsu he could simply teach Naruto.
Hashirama's own power came from his extraordinary body, his Sage Mode, and his Wood Release.
Naruto did not possess Wood Release.
He had never awakened that particular kekkei genkai.
So Hashirama found himself facing a difficult question.
How exactly was he supposed to make Naruto significantly stronger?
Fortunately, Tobirama had offered him an idea.
The greatest difference between Naruto and Sasuke was Kurama.
If Naruto could develop deeper forms of cooperation with the Nine-Tails and discover more ways to combine their power...
Then he might be able to grow much stronger.
"Naruto."
Hashirama looked at him.
"How are things going between you and Kurama?"
Naruto immediately looked proud.
Without performing any obvious movement, chakra surged around him.
Several tails formed behind his body.
Hashirama stared at them.
He could clearly recognize the Nine-Tails' chakra.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Perhaps Naruto's way of getting along with Kurama really was the correct approach?
But...
Hashirama still found the idea strange.
To him, the Nine-Tails had always seemed like an unusually powerful but otherwise straightforward beast.
Almost like an oversized pet.
He had never thought there was anything particularly mysterious about befriending it.
Still, Naruto looked so genuinely pleased that Hashirama could not bring himself to criticize him.
He merely sighed.
Naruto had become stronger.
There was no doubt about that.
But compared with Hashirama himself...
The gap remained enormous.
"This is giving me a headache."
Hashirama scratched his head helplessly.
He had no particular desire to behave like an overbearing parent toward Naruto.
Unfortunately, Madara's constant bragging had pushed his patience to the limit.
And if nothing unexpected happened...
"Hashirama!"
A familiar voice suddenly rang out.
Hashirama's expression went blank.
"Look!"
Madara approached with a huge grin.
"My student has awakened the Rinnegan!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
Hashirama silently covered his ears.
Here he came again.
Again.
Madara had once again arrived specifically to show off Sasuke.
Hashirama took a deep breath.
He genuinely wanted to kick Madara away.
Or perhaps summon True Several Thousand Hands and smash some humility into him.
Unfortunately, Naruto immediately jumped to his feet when he heard that Sasuke had arrived.
Soon, Madara's unbearably smug face appeared before Hashirama.
Hashirama narrowed his eyes.
This man was truly annoying.
"Sasuke!"
Naruto hurried over excitedly.
"Did you go to Big Brother's place?"
Sasuke smiled faintly and nodded.
Then he instinctively touched his eyes.
A trace of lingering fear appeared on his face.
He had to admit something.
The Rinnegan was unbelievably powerful.
But the process of awakening it?
Sasuke never wanted to experience anything like that again.
Just remembering those days inside Kenichi's laboratory made him feel like dying.
Naruto leaned closer and curiously examined Sasuke's new eyes.
The Rinnegan looked extremely unusual.
They resembled the eyes Kenichi sometimes displayed.
Naruto could not help feeling slightly envious.
But Kenichi had never mentioned giving Naruto the same eyes.
That probably meant his big brother had not yet found an appropriate method.
Naruto understood that much.
So he did not complain or ask for them.
Before long, Naruto and Sasuke sat together and began chatting.
Meanwhile...
Madara returned to Hashirama.
Then he began bragging again.
And again.
And again.
He repeatedly emphasized Sasuke's Rinnegan as though Hashirama had somehow failed to understand the first dozen times.
Hashirama rolled his eyes so hard that he nearly saw the inside of his own skull.
He could not understand how Madara managed to repeat the same simple topic so many times without growing tired of it.
Kenichi...
Hashirama silently prayed.
Kenichi...
Please demonstrate your divine power and somehow give Naruto a Rinnegan too.
Hashirama genuinely had no other solution to Madara's endless boasting.
So he could only stand there with a blank expression while Madara continued repeating the same old lines.
Again.
And again.
Beside them, Tobirama completely ignored Madara.
Instead, he was seriously considering whether he could develop several new ninjutsu that would make Naruto stronger.
...
"So the question is..."
Kenichi sat inside the laboratory with Amado.
"How do we make Naruto awaken the Rinnegan too?"
He rubbed his chin.
"It's a problem."
"Though if you really think about it, maybe it isn't such a huge problem."
After successfully awakening Sasuke's Rinnegan, Kenichi had naturally begun thinking about Naruto.
While reorganizing his memories through genjutsu, Kenichi had recalled that Naruto seemed to possess something called Baryon Mode in the future.
That transformation made Naruto unbelievably powerful.
But there was a serious problem.
It consumed life force.
Because of that, Kenichi did not think Baryon Mode was an appropriate long-term solution for Naruto.
"According to what you've told me..."
Amado thought carefully.
"If you want Naruto to awaken the same dojutsu, then the main difficulty is genetic compatibility."
He looked toward Kenichi.
"You would need to introduce Sasuke's genetic factors into Naruto."
"The first question is whether those genes would interfere with Naruto's original genetic structure."
"And the second problem is Kurama."
"The Nine-Tails exists inside Naruto's body."
"That makes him another variable in the entire experimental process."
Kenichi pinched the bridge of his nose.
He had reached the same conclusion.
Making Naruto awaken the Rinnegan was not necessarily impossible.
Kenichi now understood the basic process after successfully doing it with Sasuke.
The real difficulty was integrating Sasuke's genetic traits into Naruto without creating unwanted consequences.
How would Naruto's body react?
Would the added genes alter something important?
Would they conflict with his existing bloodline?
Those questions required observation.
Then there was Kurama.
Naruto did not exist as an isolated biological system.
Half of his combat strength and chakra system was intertwined with the Nine-Tails inside him.
Would Kurama interfere with the transformation?
Would the Rinnegan awakening affect Kurama?
Could Kurama's chakra destabilize the process?
That was another troublesome unknown.
Kenichi remained silent for a moment.
Then he stood.
There was no point sitting here debating possibilities forever.
The simplest approach was obvious.
Bring Naruto to the laboratory.
Examine him first.
Then determine whether the procedure was feasible.
And if it was...
Kenichi was genuinely curious.
Just how powerful would Naruto become if he possessed the Rinnegan?
....
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