Orochimaru shook his head at Yuzuru Uchiha's obvious discomfort and sighed. "What a pity…"
What the hell is there to pity?!
Yuzuru griped inwardly and silently vowed to keep a very safe distance from Orochimaru from now on.
He might be a man of broad tastes, but when it came to traps and gender-bending, he simply could not accept it.
Led deep into the laboratory, Yuzuru entered a massive room.
Shelves lined every wall, each layer packed with jars and containers filled with all kinds of human organs.
One jar even stored a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan.
Besides these organs, several huge culture tanks sat in the center of the room.
Inside them slept children who didn't look particularly old.
Curious, Yuzuru asked, "Orochimaru, how is your research on cloning progressing?"
Orochimaru handed him a stack of documents. "The cloning process itself is already solved," he replied. "But the issue of rejection reactions is still giving me a headache."
"If the transplanted organs aren't the host's own, most of them experience rejection."
Yuzuru simply nodded.
With Orochimaru's ability, it wouldn't be long before he solved it.
Seeing Yuzuru's unchanged expression, Orochimaru continued his report and asked with curiosity, "Yuzuru, may I ask where you obtained those White Zetsu?"
Yuzuru raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Orochimaru licked his lips slowly. "The cells of those White Zetsu can perfectly merge with the cells of Hashirama Senju. It's truly unbelievable."
"If the rejection problem can be solved, then anyone transplanted with White Zetsu cells could wield Wood Release!"
Orochimaru grew more excited as he spoke.
Konoha's research on Hashirama's cells had begun back when Tobirama was still alive. But Hashirama's cells were simply too overpowering — any test subject implanted with them would be devoured by their force and eventually turn into a tree.
Konoha had performed countless experiments, none successful.
Orochimaru had already given up hope, yet the appearance of White Zetsu reignited the possibility of success.
These White Zetsu, fused with Hashirama's cells, could use Wood Release while lacking the overwhelming aggression of the original cells.
In other words…
Successfully transplanting White Zetsu cells would theoretically allow anyone to use Wood Release.
This revelation had kept Orochimaru awake the entire night.
After all, solving rejection was much simpler than dealing with Hashirama-cell rampancy.
Hearing Orochimaru's report, Yuzuru couldn't help but smile.
Although the true strength lay in Hashirama himself rather than the Wood Release kekkei genkai, having a group of subordinates who could wield Wood Release would definitely make Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo look wonderfully shocked when the time came to attack Konoha.
Just imagining it was entertaining.
And once White Zetsu cells were transplanted, the blindness caused by Mangekyō Sharingan would also be resolved.
With that in mind, Yuzuru spoke with a smile. "I can't tell you where the White Zetsu came from. You only need to know that I can supply them to you endlessly."
"And besides…" A figure surfaced in his mind. "I've heard that there exists a type of person in the ninja world whose body is special — their cells never reject anything."
"If we can find such a person and study them, rejection problems should be solvable."
Orochimaru blinked with surprise. "Yuzuru, someone like that actually exists? It sounds almost impossible."
"Don't worry. Leave this to me."
Yuzuru was confident.
In the original story, Uchiha Shin truly existed.
If a constantly hiding Orochimaru could find him, then someone with Yuzuru's vast power certainly could as well.
——
——
After leaving Orochimaru's base, Yuzuru reported the intelligence on the Silent Nation to the Third Raikage.
Under A and Killer B's command, the Silent Nation was quickly conquered and annexed into the Land of Lightning.
And the bounty hall founded by Jigen was placed under Yuzuru's supervision on the grounds of monitoring its accounts.
As control over the expanding territory strengthened, only the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Bears remained unclaimed among the small nations in the north and east of the Land of Fire.
Though he was only one step from completing his expansion goal, Yuzuru paused the advance.
Mikoto, Kushina, and Karura were all nearing their due dates. Wanting to be by their sides when the children were born, Yuzuru stayed home during this period.
Another ten days passed.
Mikoto was the first to be taken to the hospital.
With a newborn's cry, Yuzuru welcomed his second son.
At Mikoto's inquiry, he named the child Sasuke.
Uchiha Sasuke…
He had planned this for a long time.
Although in the original story Fugaku chose the name to flatter Hiruzen, Yuzuru wasn't bothered.
In his case, he could just treat Hiruzen as his grandson.
A few days later, Kushina also gave birth.
Black hair, black eyes, full of energy.
Yuzuru hesitated for a long time between "Menma" and "Naruto," but eventually chose "Naruto."
Uchiha Naruto.
Since he had already committed to this path, he would follow through to the end.
Another half month passed, and Karura entered the delivery room.
Yuzuru had expected a girl, but was surprised to find it was a boy.
The newborn was a bit smaller than Sasuke and Naruto but just as lively.
Meeting Karura's questioning gaze, Yuzuru spoke gently. "Gaara. Let the child be named Uchiha Gaara."
At his words, two streams of tears suddenly fell from Karura's eyes. "Yuzuru, you're so good to me. This child is a gift from heaven."
Gaara…
Didn't that mean "to love her Karura"?
Yuzuru was confessing to her with their son's name — how incredibly romantic.
With all three children born safely, Yuzuru finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Though Mikoto, Kushina, and Karura all had strong bodies, and Tsunade was overseeing everything, he still couldn't help worrying.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly.
As for Itachi…
Suddenly having three younger brothers left him so busy he barely had a moment to breathe.