Konoha Village.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, which had grown even more lush after the reconstruction, spilling onto the tidy streets.
Villagers went about their duties, merchants operated as usual, and Ninjas hurried to execute their missions.
On the surface, everything seemed normal.
However, an intangible sense of oppression permeated the air. Almost every Konoha Ninja and civilian felt as if a heavy stone was pressing down on their hearts.
They all knew.
They knew that Uzumaki Naruto was now the newly appointed Sixth Hokage.
They knew that this excessively young Hokage was outside, launching a war aimed at "unification."
But no one dared to discuss this matter openly.
Whether in street corners or the mission briefing hall, people tacitly avoided this topic.
Questioning his decisions?
That required immense courage.
And having forty more heads than anyone else.
Because everyone clearly remembered the Ninjutsu he used during this year's joint Chunin exams that destroyed Konoha Village.
Naruto truly dared to take action against the people of Konoha!
He truly dared to drop that "nuke," capable of completely erasing the Village from the map, right there in Konoha, above everyone's heads!
Although he eventually rebuilt Konoha, the despair and helplessness that swept through the entire Village in that instant, and the lingering fear after learning of its power, had already been branded into the heart of every Konoha citizen.
The fear of absolute power suppressed all dissent and worry.
They could only choose to believe, or at least, choose to obey in silence.
In this oppressive atmosphere, Kakashi Hatake and a Wood Clone of Naruto quietly arrived at Orochimaru's laboratory.
Kakashi's habitually lazy expression had vanished, replaced by furrowed brows, gloomy eyes, and a heavy-hearted silence.
His exposed right eye had lost its usual dead-fish laziness, now filled with pain, struggle, and incredible shock.
He had just learned a shocking piece of news from Naruto's Wood Clone that was enough to overturn his understanding of the past dozen years.
The true mastermind behind the Nine-Tails Attack back then, the one wearing the Uzumaki mask, who manipulated the Nine-Tailed to attack Konoha and caused the death of his teacher...
Was actually his close friend Uchiha Obito, whom he thought had long since died!
This news exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.
Obito...
That hero who was always late, hot-blooded and impulsive, dreamed of becoming Hokage, and ultimately "sacrificed" himself at Kannabi Bridge...
How could it be him?
How could it possibly be him!
But Naruto's serious expression and the details revealed left him no choice but to believe this cruel fact.
The joy of his father's resurrection was also washed away by this news.
This Wood Clone of Naruto was originally left in the Grass Ninja Village to hold down the fort and write books.
But not long ago, the Main Body, through the unique Chakra connection between Shadow Clones, instantly transmitted the intelligence that "the mysterious masked man is Uchiha Obito," along with the urgent order to "immediately take Kakashi back to Konoha to find Orochimaru for an eye transplant."
Thus, this Wood Clone immediately dropped his work, found Kakashi, and after telling him the truth, rushed back to Konoha at the fastest speed.
"Naruto-kun, why have you suddenly returned?"
Orochimaru was tinkering with a petri dish, his golden snake pupils looking with interest at the Wood Clone of Naruto and Kakashi, who were led in by Tayuya.
A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes when he saw Kakashi.
"And you brought Kakashi back too? Did something go wrong in the Grass Ninja Village?"
The Wood Clone of Naruto didn't waste words, concisely relaying the intelligence about Obito's identity and the request for eye surgery transmitted by the Main Body to Orochimaru.
"Oh? Interesting..."
Orochimaru stuck out his long tongue, licked the corner of his mouth, and a look of excitement and amusement appeared on his face.
"The war hero Uchiha Obito, who has been 'dead' for many years... is actually the culprit behind the Nine-Tails Attack. Truly a dramatic twist."
Immediately, he changed the subject to another important matter: "It just so happens that I have already removed the 'backdoor' from that pair of Rinnegan you gave me earlier."
What he was referring to was the peculiar pair of eyes taken from Ōtsutsuki Urashiki that could switch between red Rinnegan and blue Rinnegan.
Before heading to the Land of Grass, Naruto's Main Body had handed them over to Orochimaru for research, specifically instructing him to clear any potential hidden dangers.
"You can take it back with you and give it to your Main Body."
As Orochimaru spoke, he put down his work and turned to signal the two to follow.
"Follow me."
He led the Wood Clone of Naruto and Kakashi through several corridors to a more secluded, colder room.
In the room, several giant cylindrical culture tanks filled with nutrient solution were lined up, with various pale-skinned, closed-eyed humanoid clones suspended inside.
Most were experimental bodies cultivated based on White Zetsu cells or Hashirama cells.
Orochimaru walked up to one of the culture tanks and skillfully operated the control panel.
The nutrient solution drained, and the tank door opened.
He reached in and pulled out a pale-skinned creature that looked like humanoid clay.
It was a White Zetsu.
Then, Orochimaru put on disinfected medical rubber gloves, cleaned his hands, and used his fingers to gouge into the empty eye sockets of the White Zetsu!
After a teeth-gritting, subtle sound, he took out a pair of pure white eyes.
They were the Byakugan of Ōtsutsuki Urashiki.
"That guy named Ōtsutsuki Urashiki really did leave a backdoor."
Orochimaru said as he carefully placed the Byakugan into a transparent culture jar filled with a special preservative liquid.
"However, any potential residual consciousness has now been successfully left on the first White Zetsu that had the eyes transplanted."
He pointed to the White Zetsu that had been gouged and lay limp on the ground: "I experimented with three different White Zetsu test subjects and verified it repeatedly before finally confirming that all the backdoors and tracking marks left by the opponent in the eyes have been completely transferred and 'fixed' onto the first transplanted White Zetsu carrier, completely separated from the eyes themselves."
"Now, this pair of eyes is 'clean'."
Orochimaru said, handing the sealed culture jar to the Wood Clone of Naruto.
The Wood Clone of Naruto took the jar, glanced casually at the pure Byakugan floating inside, and nodded.
The eyes of Ōtsutsuki Urashiki were indeed special; their initial form was the Byakugan. Whether it was the red Rinnegan or the blue Rinnegan shown later, they were all high-level form switches based on this pair of Byakugan, and the core of their power was hidden in this pair of eyes.
He casually put the culture jar into his carrying sealing scroll and stored it properly.
"Then..."
After putting away the scroll, the Wood Clone of Naruto looked up at Orochimaru and asked about another matter of concern.
"Is there any progress on my Sharingan?"
He was referring to the project he had entrusted to Orochimaru, using his own blood and Uchiha Hikari's blood, attempting to create a Sharingan that possessed Naruto's cells.
Orochimaru shook his head, a trace of regret appearing in his golden snake pupils: "No. The time has been too short."
"Cell culture, induced differentiation, forming complete visual nerves and pupil power structure... it requires precise regulation and sufficient time."
"The currently cultivated tissue is not even stable in its basic eyeball form, let alone Awakening the characteristics of the Sharingan."
"It hasn't developed well."
The Wood Clone of Naruto frowned, but he knew this kind of thing could not be rushed.
He turned to look at the silent Kakashi, then looked at Orochimaru:
"Then let's deal with Kakashi-sensei's matter first."
"Transplant him an ordinary eye. I will take Obito's eye to the Main Body. Whether to destroy it or Seal it will be decided by the Main Body's arrangements."