Land of Fire, Konoha.
Yakushi Nonō's Orphanage, underground laboratory.
After nearly fifty days, the cloning of the Eternal Mangekyou was finally complete!
Yakushi Kabuto immediately summoned Uchiha Sasuke, then replaced his pair of Eternal Mangekyou with the clones.
"With this, the agreement between Houka and me has been fulfilled."
Uchiha Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly. Ignoring the pain from the fresh transplant, he turned and left. "Then I'll be going."
"Sasuke, are you leaving Konoha already?" Yakushi Kabuto asked. "The Five Kage Summit in the Land of Iron should have begun by now. Aren't you concerned at all?"
"That has nothing to do with me." Uchiha Sasuke waved a hand, his figure gradually disappearing.
Yakushi Kabuto shook his head with a smile, then focused all his attention on the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan in his hands.
"What perfect art!"
Yakushi Kabuto immediately began analyzing the genes of the Sharingan.
As Uchiha Sasuke left the Orphanage, he seemed to sense something and glanced in a certain direction. Then he continued forward, walking toward Konoha's gates without looking back.
The instant he stepped out of the gate...
"Sasuke!"
Unable to hold herself back any longer, Sakura ran out. "Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving this place," Uchiha Sasuke said.
"What do you mean?" Sakura's heart pounded violently. "Y-you got some kind of mission, didn't you? Why didn't you let Naruto and me come with you? We're on the same team!"
"No, there's no mission." Uchiha Sasuke slowly turned around. "This place is filled with memories I hate. I don't want to stay here any longer."
"Memories... you hate?" Sakura shuddered. "The Uchiha... But aside from that, you have other happy memories too. The Ninja Academy, me... Naruto and me, and Kakashi-sensei..."
Uchiha Sasuke looked at her expressionlessly.
"Could it be... could it