After a whole lot of twists and turns, the experiment was finally about to kick off.
Orochimaru stood there, practically buzzing with excitement, staring at Hashirama Senju lying on the lab table. His long tongue kept slithering across his face, licking back and forth…
Hashirama caught sight of this and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. "M-Madara!" he stammered.
"What's up, you big idiot?!" Madara snapped back.
"I'm kinda freaked out… Orochimaru's got this creepy look in his eyes! I swear, it feels like he's about to do something to me!" Hashirama whined.
BAM!
"Shut it, idiot!" Madara barked.
"Ow! Madara, why do you always hit me?!" Hashirama groaned, rubbing his head.
Orochimaru, overhearing the First Hokage's outburst, felt his eyelid twitch. "Alright, Lord First Hokage," he said, trying to keep things moving. "Let's get this experiment started."
His gaze shifted to Madara Uchiha. "Madara-senpai… I'll need a sample of your flesh and blood."
Without hesitation, Madara grabbed a kunai, sliced a chunk of flesh from his arm, and handed it over. Orochimaru and Tobirama Senju got to work, running all sorts of tests on Madara's sample and Hashirama's body, while carefully starting the process of merging their cells.
Orochimaru watched in awe as the cells began to fuse like they were made for each other—no rejection, no issues. The monitors showed perfect results, and Orochimaru's heart was practically doing cartwheels.
Slowly but surely, Madara's flesh fully integrated into Hashirama's body. Then, something wild happened—a face started forming on Hashirama's chest. Everyone's jaws hit the floor.
This was straight-up insane! Not only did the cells merge without a hitch, but a face appeared on Hashirama's chest! And in such a… personal spot, no less.
The face on Hashirama's chest wasn't quite like the one on Madara's. Madara's chest just had Hashirama's Sage Mode markings, but Hashirama's chest? It was a full-on, lifelike Madara face—eyes, nose, even that wild, spiky hedgehog hair of his, gradually taking shape.
Hirofumi Ito, watching this unfold, couldn't believe his eyes. It was like something out of a ninja fairy tale. His mind wandered to Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, the reincarnations of Indra and Ashura. If they swapped cells, would they end up with each other's faces on their chests too? And would that unlock the Rinnegan?
As Hirofumi pondered, he thought about his own body. It was getting stronger every day at a terrifying rate. His Mangekyo Sharingan didn't seem to have the usual limits—no distinction between regular Mangekyo and Eternal Mangekyo. No matter how much he used it, his chakra never drained. It had to be because of the Indra and Ashura chakra in him—his Mangekyo was basically eternal already.
All he needed now was the cell fusion to awaken the Rinnegan. But something even weirder was happening. His Mangekyo Sharingan and the Byakugan he'd somehow acquired were starting to merge in a bizarre way. The two powers didn't clash at all; it was like they were blending into something entirely new—an eye unlike anything he'd seen before.
Hirofumi couldn't help but wonder: would his eyes turn into a Rinnegan? Or maybe something crazier, like a Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan or a Reincarnation Rinnegan? If that happened, it'd be downright terrifying.
Back on the lab table, Hashirama propped himself up and glanced at his chest. "Madara! We did it! We're finally merged! Look at this!" he shouted, grinning like a kid. "Madara, your face is on my chest! And mine's way more detailed than yours—look, it's even got your hair!"
Madara hadn't expected the face on Hashirama's chest to be that clear. Was Hashirama's fusion just stronger? Or was it because Madara already had the Rinnegan?
"Alright, idiot," Madara said. "Feel anything weird with your eyes? Like a new power or something?"
Hashirama focused for a moment, then shook his head. "Nope, nothing special, Madara. My chakra's definitely stronger, and I can sense a new chakra nature, but my eyes? No change at all."
Madara frowned. "That's not right. When I fused your flesh into me, I didn't awaken the Rinnegan right away, but I could feel my eyes changing. Why's nothing happening with you?"
He shot a glance at Orochimaru, who was busy at the instruments. Orochimaru ran a flurry of tests before finally pausing. "Lord First Hokage's body is perfectly fine," he said. "The fusion with Madara-senpai's cells is flawless. But the Yin and Yang chakra haven't fully merged. It's like… something's missing. Something critical. I just can't figure out what."
Orochimaru stood there, stumped. By all accounts, the cell fusion was perfect, so the Yin and Yang chakra should've blended, leading to the Rinnegan like it did for Madara. But Hashirama's body was acting like it was missing a key to unlock the door.
Everyone started racking their brains. Madara's frown deepened. If Hashirama—this big, lovable idiot—didn't awaken the Rinnegan, they might have to go snatch Nagato's eyes for him. Otherwise, Hashirama would probably sulk for days.
Then Hirofumi spoke up. "Hey, Orochimaru, what if the missing piece is a Sharingan? The Rinnegan needs a vessel, right? What if we transplant a Sharingan into sensei first? Could that make it work?"
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