On the streets of Konoha Village, Tatsuya and Kakashi walked side-by-side. They had run into each other while visiting Guy at the Konoha Hospital.
After such a long period of treatment, Guy's injuries had shown significant improvement. Not only could he get out of bed and move around freely, but he could even manage some light activities. From the tone of his conversation, it wasn't hard to tell that Guy was getting extremely restless. Naturally, both Tatsuya and Kakashi strongly advised him against overdoing it, and Arai Shun had also warned him sternly.
Tatsuya had always maintained a healthy dose of caution regarding Arai Shun. Because the man belonged to Danzo.
Back when the incident with the kidnapping by the Cloud delegation leader occurred, Danzo leading Root to directly attack him under that pretext had happened extremely abruptly. And seemingly without reason. Afterwards, upon carefully reviewing the event, the only connection Tatsuya could think of was his own assistance to Arai Shun in treating Guy's injuries. Danzo likely coveted that ability of his. And at the time, besides Kyoko, only Arai Shun had witnessed it.
Before leaving the village last time, Tatsuya had casually mentioned Danzo in front of Arai Shun, and the man's reaction had been quite intriguing. Tatsuya was almost certain that Arai Shun must have leaked the information to Danzo. Since returning to the village this time, Arai Shun no longer seemed as natural or composed whenever he saw Tatsuya. Because the news that Tatsuya had killed Uchiha Teru had been confirmed as true. Compared to Uchiha Teru, who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, Arai Shun's strength was far inferior.
"Tatsuya, what are your thoughts on the village?" After walking a long distance from the hospital and reaching a quieter street, Kakashi suddenly spoke.
"Hm? Kakashi, I don't understand what you mean by that," Tatsuya replied, turning to look at Kakashi in surprise.
Kakashi stopped walking, his tone intensifying. "Are you perhaps dissatisfied with the village's current situation?"
Tatsuya also stopped, looking back at Kakashi, who was watching him with a serious expression. "Why do you ask?" he questioned, puzzled.
"It's obvious!" Kakashi stated.
"Is it that obvious?" Tatsuya murmured. His words were tantamount to admitting Kakashi's point.
They were once teammates in ANBU Squad 11. Although their private bond wasn't as deep as his with Guy, Tatsuya didn't want to deceive Kakashi.
"The village's peace was hard-won, paid for with the blood of countless predecessors. I won't allow anyone to trample on it! And I especially don't want that person to be you!" Kakashi's gaze sharpened, fixing on Tatsuya as he spoke word by word, his eyes unwavering.
Tatsuya met Kakashi's gaze. After a moment, Tatsuya said, "Kakashi, you're worrying too much! I've never thought of destroying the village's peace. I just dislike the putrid stench of corruption hanging over it. It's revolting!"
Kakashi's visible eye flickered. "Thoughts and actions like yours are dangerous."
Tatsuya scoffed lightly. "Dangerous? Is willingly being a pawn in someone else's hands, letting them manipulate you as they please, not dangerous? Kakashi, have you forgotten what happened to your father back then?"
"When the village is in trouble or there's an important mission, I won't back down. However, letting them play games with me however they wish? That's impossible."
"Ultimately, the shinobi world respects strength. Relying solely on treacherous schemes won't last forever. It might even backfire spectacularly one day. Only absolute power can dominate everything. The cornerstone of peace is lasting, reliable strength."
With that said, Tatsuya turned and walked away. Behind him, Kakashi stood frozen in place, his expression a mixture of sorrow and contemplation.
That afternoon, in the Hokage's Office.
"Lord Hokage, I wish to resign from ANBU," Kakashi said respectfully, kneeling on one knee before the desk.
"Oh? Why the sudden decision?" Behind the desk, the Third Hokage looked up, regarding Kakashi with surprise.
Kakashi remained silent.
"It's related to Tatsuya, isn't it? Heh... well, since you've clearly made up your mind, so be it. I'll have someone process your resignation papers shortly. Take some rest for a while," the Third sighed softly upon seeing Kakashi's silence.
"Thank you, Lord Hokage." Kakashi expressed his thanks, rose, and departed.
Watching Kakashi leave in silence, a shadow flickered in the Third's eyes.
These past few years... it seems I've strayed further and further.
Time passed quickly, and a month went by in the blink of an eye.
Thanks to the continuous efforts of Tatsuya's clones, the new laboratory had actually been completed half a month ago. It just couldn't become fully operational due to the lack of experimental instruments and equipment. Three days ago, the large batch of equipment Tatsuya had secretly procured through Ansei Hall's channels finally arrived.
Inside the laboratory, the clone Jizo stood busy before a centrifuge. Beside him were dozens of culture tubes containing cell samples. These tubes were divided into two groups: one part, labeled, was placed in a rack, while another rack held only six unlabeled culture tubes. Behind Jizo in the lab proper, over ten large cultivation vats were lined up side-by-side. One of them was filled with nutrient solution and contained a test subject.
This test subject was none other than the one-eyed clone killed by Jizo using Tenkei that day. The one-eyed clone's Mangekyō Sharingan had been removed, and the large hole in the middle of its torso was clearly visible.
Jizo's three-tomoe Sharingan was activated, intently watching the rapidly spinning centrifuge. Inside the centrifuge, three cells, imperceptible to the naked eye, spun at high speed along with the machine. This process continued for a long time. Gradually, the three cell samples began to slowly fuse. Eventually, they successfully merged into one.
When the centrifuge stopped, Jizo looked at the successfully fused cell sample, an irrepressible smile spreading across his face. Taking out the successfully fused cell sample, Jizo placed it into a culture tube and set it in the rack with the unlabeled tubes. Then, Jizo began taking out labeled cell samples to conduct further cell fusion experiments.
After seven successful cell fusion experiments, Jizo made an incredibly surprising and significant discovery.
The body cells of the one-eyed clone possessed the characteristic of being able to perfectly fuse with other cells.
In the previous seven fusion experiments, Jizo had fused cells from Tatsuya, Shisui, and Hinata respectively with the one-eyed clone's cells, and all attempts had succeeded. This 100% fusion success rate would save Tatsuya a massive amount of time; he no longer needed to worry about fusing cell samples. Next, Tatsuya could proceed with batch cultivation of embryos, then select the clones that didn't exhibit mutations for further cultivation and experimentation.
The special characteristics of the one-eyed clone's cells instantly made Jizo think of Uchiha Shin. Connecting this to the one-eyed clone's unique form and its Mangekyō Sharingan, it seemed extremely similar to the one-eyed creatures under Uchiha Shin's command. Perhaps the one-eyed clone and those single-eyed organisms had undergone similar mutations.
However, even now, Tatsuya hadn't figured out why the one-eyed clone's three-tomoe Sharingan had evolved into a Mangekyō Sharingan, nor why it was filled with violent, chaotic mental energy. If Tatsuya hadn't promptly used the unique property of his Yin-Yang Seal to successfully extract that mental energy, the Mangekyō Sharingan might have already been destroyed.
When facing Fugaku Uchiha's questioning back then, Tatsuya had released precisely this extracted mental energy to successfully bluff his way through.