Chapter 311: The Artificial Human Sarada
In the Amegakure Village laboratory.
"How is it?"
"She needs to wake up earlier, but we must still ensure she grows up healthy. That's the promise I made to that Sasuke from the future."
"Alright then. You handle it."
"…"
In truth, when Sasuke was drugged and taken away that day, it wasn't only to make Naruto cooperate with the act.
Orochimaru had also taken something from Sasuke, something essential for his next research direction and for fulfilling the promise he had made.
Orochimaru told Sasuke not to imitate Naruto by 'taking off' around all day, claiming it was to protect his eyesight. In reality, it was to ensure that what he had taken would remain healthy.
Now, the work was complete.
A newborn cultivated from Sasuke's cells and Ōtsutsuki clan cells, the daughter he had promised the future Sasuke he would make up for.
Uchiha Sarada.
Whether it was cloning technology or artificial human technology, both had methods for accelerated growth.
During the era of 'Boruto', Orochimaru's Mitsuki was grown through accelerated cultivation. On Amado's side it was even more extreme, skipping youth and middle age entirely to produce someone whose actual age was barely over ten but who looked exactly like the older Jiraiya: Koji Kashin.
This kind of accelerated development inevitably comes with obvious side effects.
But the way to reduce those side effects is actually quite simple.
Take Mitsuki as an example. His accelerated growth only lasted until adolescence. Combined with the perfect Sage Body Orochimaru prepared for him, the side effects were minimized.
On Amado's side, the use of Ōtsutsuki cells also reduced the side effects.
Orochimaru was now using the same method.
However, reducing the side effects alone wasn't enough for Orochimaru. If he was going to do this, he intended to do it perfectly.
Based on his research, Orochimaru concluded that humans are essentially all premature births. They are simply forced to be born early, if they continue developing in the mother's body for too long, they would eventually be unable to come out at all and become stuck.
But artificial cultivation didn't carry that risk.
Therefore, he could let Sarada remain dormant longer and continue natural development for a while, reducing side effects even further.
However, another problem soon appeared.
Sarada belonged to the Uchiha clan. Sooner or later she would awaken the Sharingan, and in the future she would likely awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan as well.
The side effects of the Mangekyō Sharingan were well known. Without the eyes of a sibling, the user would eventually go blind.
Surely he couldn't have Sarada grow up, awaken the Mangekyō, and then spend every day drinking "adult milk" with something mixed into it from a cup.
Orochimaru had promised the future Sasuke.
He absolutely could not do something so disgraceful.
Therefore, he had to cultivate another pair of eyes for Sarada in advance, to serve as the substitute needed to obtain the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
The simplest method would naturally be to create another artificial human and simply harvest the eyes.
But doing that carried significant risks.
At the moral level, many people would find it unacceptable.
Because in order for an artificial human to provide suitable eyes, that artificial human would first need to possess self-awareness and emotions, and then experience intense emotional stimulation.
Only eyes that had awakened the Mangekyō would qualify as replacements.
In order to avoid moral condemnation, Orochimaru usually cultivated organs alone rather than full bodies.
Because he suspected that even if a clone lacked self-awareness, merely having a human-shaped body lying inside a tank would still make some people feel uncomfortable.
Not to mention that the artificial human meant to provide Sarada with spare eyes would actually have to live.
So rather than doing that, it was better to cultivate the eyes directly.
The new plan Orochimaru ultimately proposed was to let Sarada awaken early as a "premature birth." After she awakened the Mangekyō, she would then return to the cultivation chamber and continue developing.
While ensuring her body remained healthy, Orochimaru could during that period extract cells from Sarada after her Mangekyō had awakened, modify them slightly, and cultivate another pair of eyes specifically for replacement.
—
In a hospital ward of the medical department, Sarada woke up.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a strange female ninja standing beside her bed.
"Who are you?"
"I'm your ancestor."
Uchiha Hikari spoke with a completely expressionless face.
Uchiha Hikari's task had been to use Tsukuyomi on Sarada before she awakened, implanting memories through illusion in order to prevent Sarada from waking up with the intelligence and awareness of a newborn baby.
Following the details described by Shiromo, Uchiha Hikari had used Tsukuyomi to fill in Sarada's memories.
Although Uchiha Hikari disliked both the Senju and the Uchiha clans, she held no hostility toward this "newborn" Uchiha.
On the contrary, she wanted to help her as much as possible.
Therefore, while constructing Sarada's memories through Tsukuyomi, Hikari deliberately made several adjustments.
In Sarada's memories, the bond between Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto was not portrayed as particularly deep, and the shinobi world was described as a very harmonious and beautiful place.
Hikari understood that the more beautiful the world appeared in those memories, the more painful the truth would be when Sarada eventually learned it.
That pain was a necessary condition for awakening the Mangekyō.
But that didn't matter.
At least the child would possess memories of a beautiful past and would surely be willing to join them in creating a new and better world.
"Ancestor?"
Sarada's mouth twitched.
How could a girl who looked about the same age as her speak with such an old-fashioned tone?
"You don't believe me?"
Uchiha Hikari snorted and directly activated her three-tomoe Sharingan.
"The Sharingan? Who exactly are you?!"
Sarada instantly became alert.
Her memories included the experience with "Uchiha Shin."
She knew that the only remaining members of the Uchiha clan now were herself and her father.
So who was this person in front of her?
Before Sarada could think further, a simple genjutsu enveloped her.
Within the illusion, Sarada quickly learned that she had returned to the ninja world several years in the past.
Before her arrival, several individuals named Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki, and Ōtsutsuki Boruto had already appeared, and they had been eliminated.
Among them, the future Uchiha Sasuke had helped defeat these invading Ōtsutsuki.
His only wish was for his daughter to live safely.
"Ōtsutsuki Boruto?"
After breaking free from the illusion, Sarada looked at Uchiha Hikari in confusion.
"That's right. He had already been possessed by the will of the Ōtsutsuki clan. He personally killed the Third Hokage, and also Sarutobi Asuma."
"What?!"
Sarada was shocked.
Boruto actually had that kind of strength?
Wait, no.
Boruto had killed the Third Hokage and… Asuma, who in the future would be the father of the Sarutobi family line?
"…."
Uchiha Hikari watched Sarada coldly.
After waiting for a moment, she sighed.
Sure enough, it wasn't enough.
She felt that Shiromo had deceived her.
Wasn't Uchiha Sarada supposed to be the easiest person to awaken the Mangekyō?
Why was it that after learning Boruto was dead and her future father had died, she only awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan?
Couldn't she learn something from that masked man next door?
Thud.
After awakening the three-tomoe Sharingan, Sarada couldn't endure the strain and fainted.
Uchiha Hikari pressed the button beside the hospital bed.
Soon afterward, Yakushi Nono, who also served as the psychological counselor, walked in with a small notebook and began analyzing Sarada's condition.
"Judging from her emotional state, first of all, she doesn't share a particularly deep bond with Uzumaki Boruto, so the emotional shock was limited."
"Secondly, the death of her father, Uchiha Sasuke, should have been a major trigger. However, because you let her see the Sasuke of this era beforehand for the sake of the next step in the plan, the intensity of that stimulus was partially reduced."
"There's no helping it. We'll just have to let her go there."
(End of this chapter)