Hot-Swapping the Sharingan

"So, Uchiha Madara must be right beneath my feet."

Kiyohara thought to himself.

The original story was actually quite vague regarding this specific detail.

It was possible that Uchiha Madara had ordered White Zetsu to move Obito into an underground cavern, and then tricked Obito into believing he had fallen there himself.

It was also possible that the truth was exactly as it seemed, and that Obito had managed to manifest a fraction of the Kamui ability while his Sharingan was still in its early stages.

"Are you okay, Rin... Kakashi?"

Obito, with only half his body and his head exposed, looked toward the other side with his left eye.

"Obito!"

Kakashi's pupils constricted, and he immediately ran over, trying to push the boulder with all his might to save Obito.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard Kakashi pushed, he couldn't budge it in the slightest.

"Stop pushing, Kakashi. I'm done for. The right side of my body is completely crushed; I can't feel a thing anymore."

Hearing this, Kakashi leaned against the wall in self-reproach, recounting his own mistakes.

It was all his fault, which led to this outcome.

Kiyohara watched this scene quietly from behind.

Is it moving?

The bond between these three was indeed profound.

However...

In Obito's heart, only Kakashi and Nohara Rin were truly considered people.

As for everyone else, no matter how well they treated Obito, he would turn on them without a second thought.

For instance, he would later attempt to kill his own master and his master's wife.

Even though Kushina had kindly brought him rice balls and taken care of him during his training.

This was also the reason why Kiyohara had chosen not to interact much with Obito in the past.

Firstly, there was no need, and secondly, he risked being noticed by Uchiha Madara and becoming a pawn in Obito's descent into darkness.

"Namikaze Minato should be on his way here now."

Kiyohara thought to himself.

Once Namikaze Minato arrived, they could go together to destroy the Kannabi Bridge, and the mission would be considered complete.

With this mission, Kiyohara should have enough merit to be promoted upon his return, allowing him to participate in the Chunin selection.

He estimated that he would only need to pass an internal assessment to be directly promoted.

"Taiseki is dead?"

Kiyohara suddenly noticed that amidst the pile of falling rocks, perhaps due to the lime powder he had thrown, Taiseki had failed to escape and had his head crushed, leaving only his body exposed.

Since such a stroke of luck had occurred, Kiyohara immediately chose to loot the corpse.

As soon as he searched him, he found loot.

"Good man, he even carried thirty thousand ryo on him."

Kiyohara discovered a thick stack of banknotes in Taiseki's ninja pouch and immediately confiscated them in the name of justice, tucking them into his own pocket.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Kiyohara discovered a ninjutsu scroll inside as well.

Opening it, he saw it was a C-rank ninjutsu called Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage.

It allowed the user to use chakra to turn solid sand and stone underground into a fluid state, enabling them to move rapidly through the subterranean soil.

"He must have been practicing this ninjutsu recently; it's a pity he hadn't mastered it yet."

Kiyohara shook his head; now, all of this was his gain.

If Taiseki had truly mastered Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage, he likely wouldn't have been crushed to death.

Thoughts aside, Kiyohara didn't stop his movements, stowing the Iwagakure flak jacket, kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags into his storage scroll.

"Kakashi, I want to give you my Sharingan as a gift for your promotion to Jonin."

While Kiyohara was looting the body, Obito was finishing his final words with Kakashi.

"Rin, use your medical ninjutsu to transplant my Sharingan, along with the cornea, into Kakashi's left eye."

"Obito..."

Kakashi was speechless for a moment.

Nohara Rin wiped her face, suppressing the sorrow of losing a companion, and said to Kakashi:

"Come here, the surgery is about to begin."

After saying this, Nohara Rin began to take out the corresponding tools from her medical kit.

"Here it comes, the hot-swappable Sharingan."

Kiyohara complained internally.

The most magical thing in the ninja world was the Sharingan.

It was practically a plug-in; regardless of whether one could actually power it, anyone could install it.

One had to realize that transplanting an eyeball was actually an incredibly difficult surgery.

The optic nerve was a non-regenerative nerve; to make the eyeball function, one had to connect these optic nerves.

However, the optic nerve consisted of over one million independent nerve fibers. Connecting the optic nerve of a donor eyeball to the optic nerve of a recipient's brain perfectly was as difficult as realigning and welding a severed fiber optic cable containing millions of microscopic strands without any color coding or labels.

Not to mention the subsequent immune rejection and blood supply issues.

That Nohara Rin could complete an eyeball transplant surgery in such a crude environment made Kiyohara sigh in admiration; truly, medical ninjutsu was omnipotent.

"The surrounding Iwagakure ninjas are gathering."

Renegade Kiyohara's spirit body floated back from a distance.

He had been helping Kiyohara scout the vicinity.

"I understand."

Kiyohara nodded slightly.

In fact, Kakashi and the others in the original story were in the same situation as they were now, nearly wiped out before the bridge was even destroyed, surrounded by a group of Iwagakure ninjas.

In the end, they only survived because Namikaze Minato came to the rescue.

This made Kiyohara think more deeply; perhaps this was the true purpose of the mission, to allow Namikaze Minato to wipe out this group of surrounding Iwagakure ninjas in one fell swoop.

After all, if Namikaze Minato had gone to execute this mission himself, the enemies would have fled the moment they saw him, dragging things out with guerrilla warfare.

"My chakra has just about recovered."

Kiyohara thought to himself.

Beyond this achievement, his greatest gain from this mission was accumulating a wealth of experience.

Many of the techniques Renegade Kiyohara spoke of required Kiyohara to perform them himself before they could be converted into his own skills.

These experiences and knowledge counted as software.

Coupled with the fusion of a portion of Renegade Kiyohara's talent and the doubled chakra volume gained after taking the forbidden drug, this counted as hardware.

With both software and hardware advancing in tandem, Kiyohara's strength had naturally seen a rapid increase.

He could now easily defeat his past self, even with one hand tied behind his back!

"What a cockroach, still alive."

Kakkō walked out from another exit.

By now, he had bandaged the wound on his arm. He looked at Kiyohara and the others, somewhat surprised that they hadn't been crushed to death under the rocks.

"And you, to think you could use such a sinister move against Taiseki."

Kakkō looked at Kiyohara.

Seeing Kiyohara still looting Taiseki's equipment, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Hmph, let's finish off this white-haired brat first."

Kakkō felt that Kakashi seemed a bit different; looking closely, he discovered that he had actually transplanted a Sharingan!

Seeing this scene, a flicker of heat flashed through his eyes. If this brat could do it, couldn't he do it too?

Kakkō raised his blades; his blades were bound to his wrists with white bandages, one on each hand.

Kakashi looked at Kakkō, his eyes filled with determination.

"Kiyohara, let me handle this."

Kakashi stepped past Kiyohara and raised his ninja blade.

He was going to avenge Obito.

The next moment, both their figures vanished simultaneously.

When they reappeared, a loud clang of impact erupted in the clearing.

The short blade Kakashi had inherited from Hatake Sakumo, which had never broken in his entire life... shattered!