Surgery Trial

Hokage Building, office.

The Third Hokage sat in his chair. Seeing Hatake Kakashi enter the office, he smiled kindly. "Kakashi, you came quite quickly."

"At your command, Lord Third, I would not dare delay," Kakashi replied respectfully.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the Third Hokage asked, "Kakashi, you've been in contact with Sasuke for two years now, haven't you? What do you think of that child's personality?"

Kakashi pondered briefly and chose his words. "He is calm, rational, diligent, and unflustered in the face of trouble. He is composed and at ease, occasionally sharp-tongued and prone to saying things that make people reflect. Perhaps because of what happened to him, he rarely shows his emotions. Overall, he is a calm, hardworking child who has closed himself off inside."

The Third Hokage chuckled and teased, "Then Sasuke is quite similar to you in your youth, isn't he, Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded silently.

Over two years of contact, he had indeed seen traces of his younger self in Sasuke.

They had both suffered tremendous upheaval, shut away their feelings, occasionally spoken sharply, trained with their heads down, and focused single-mindedly on growing stronger, wanting to prove something.

However, he had shown more indifference back then.

That child, on the other hand, showed calmness.

Seeing Kakashi remain silent, the Third Hokage continued, "Sasuke has been under your guidance for a year now, hasn't he? How would you assess that child's current strength?"

Kakashi answered calmly, "Sasuke is the most gifted heaven talent I have ever seen. At his age, I was weaker than he is."

"It seems you hold that child in very high regard."

He knew that Kakashi had become a Jonin at the age of twelve. For Kakashi to give such an assessment meant Sasuke's strength had already reached Jonin level.

Was it because they were brothers, after all?

The elder brother's talent had been outstanding, and the younger brother was no less remarkable.

Thinking of the one who had become a Chunin at ten, entered the Anbu at eleven, became an Anbu squad captain at thirteen, and at fourteen...

The Third Hokage sighed inwardly, then said evenly, "Sasuke is now your disciple, and his elder brother once served under you as well. In your view, how does Sasuke's current strength compare with Uchiha Itachi's back then?"

Itachi?

Hearing the Third Hokage suddenly mention Uchiha Itachi, Kakashi's gaze darkened slightly.

At this point, he still did not know the truth behind the Uchiha clan massacre.

Nor did he know of the agreement Uchiha Itachi had reached with Konoha.

He too believed the truth of the Uchiha massacre was as the rumors among the village's Jonin claimed.

That Uchiha Itachi had committed an extreme act in pursuit of extreme power.

Even now, he could not understand why that seemingly calm and collected boy had done such a thing.

Kakashi was silent for a while before shaking his head. "It is hard to say. Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke are both ninjas proficient in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, with no obvious weaknesses. Sasuke has an edge over Itachi of that time in taijutsu, physical fitness, and swordsmanship, but Itachi is stronger than Sasuke in genjutsu and combat experience. On top of that, he has the Sharingan..."

"They are roughly evenly matched."

That was Kakashi's final assessment.

"The key is how much strength Sasuke can bring out in a fight to the death."

A life-and-death battle was different from an ordinary spar.

When facing mortal danger and the fear of death, some people could unleash strength and potential far beyond their usual limits.

Others would tremble so badly that they could not even use half of their full strength.

The Third Hokage nodded. After pondering in silence for a moment, a faint smile appeared on his face. He said gently, "I understand. Kakashi, you may leave now. Oh, and don't forget about being a supervising Jonin next month. Make your preparations."

"Yes, Lord Third." Kakashi responded respectfully, then turned and left the office.

"Ah..."

After Kakashi left, the Third Hokage let out a soft sigh. He took out stacks of files on this year's graduates from a drawer and began reading them.

Uchiha Clan Compound, Sasuke's home.

After dinner, Sasuke did not begin training right away. After leaving a Shadow Clone at home, he headed into the basement of a newly built house of his own.

As he entered the basement, he found a spacious, clean room with a medium-sized experimental table in the center.

The surrounding area was filled with all kinds of medical instruments: surgical scalpels, razor blades, small tweezers, round needles, syringes, gauze, microscopes, and more.

Sasuke first went to a corner of the room, took out a small cage, and placed it on the experimental table before opening it.

Inside were two lively, agile little white mice, brimming with vitality.

Yet the moment those two mice saw Sasuke, they panicked and began squeaking frantically.

Sasuke smiled faintly, revealing a kind expression. He took one of them out and began carefully observing the changes in its body—or, more precisely, its eyes.

"Subject A. Pupil size, shape, and coloration are normal."

"The color of the conjunctiva is normal. Its smoothness and transparency are normal, with no obvious congestion, edema, follicles, or new growths."

Picking up the mouse and turning over its eyelids, Sasuke examined it for a while before writing in the experimental log beside him.

Having finished writing, Sasuke picked up a small flashlight and shone it into the mouse's eyes.

"Its reaction to light is slightly sluggish, possibly because it has not fully adapted to its new eyes yet."

He gently pressed the lacrimal gland fossa above the outer edge of the mouse's eye socket. Seeing the mouse shed a few tears of regret, Sasuke nodded.

"There is no redness, swelling, tenderness, or fistula in the lacrimal sac area. The amount of secretion when the lacrimal sac is squeezed is normal, and there is no narrowing or blockage in the tear ducts."

After examining it carefully for a while longer and finding no obvious symptoms of discomfort in Subject A, Sasuke picked up Subject B and began examining it.

After a long while, Sasuke returned both mice to the small cage and let out a long breath.

"It seems my eye-swapping surgery was a success!"

He had specifically selected these two mice as test subjects for the eye-swapping surgery. Not only did they have the same blood type, but their iris diameters and pupil sizes were also extremely close, with only minute differences.

"Medical Ninjutsu really is a bug-like existence. It's simply unbelievable."

Sasuke had performed the eye-swapping operation on the two mice only yesterday, yet after just one day, both had already begun adapting to their new eyes.

Still, there had been precedent. During the Third Shinobi World War, Nohara Rin had performed a hot-swappable, plug-and-play transplant surgery.