Shisui Uchiha wasn't badly injured, and his strength had fully recovered, so Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't wait any longer and asked him directly about what had happened.
Before Shisui Uchiha went missing, he had been sent on a mission. Since it involved Amegakure, he had been the one dispatched.
In the end, the mission was completed, but he never returned.
At Hiruzen Sarutobi's question, Shisui Uchiha looked a little dazed, as if he were reliving what had happened back then. In truth, though, he simply didn't know how to explain it.
The mission had gone smoothly at first, but as soon as it was complete, his client suddenly changed into someone else.
Shisui Uchiha had sensed danger and was about to act when someone attacked him from behind. He knew nothing more until he woke up not long ago.
Basically, Shisui Uchiha had no useful information.
But Ensei Uchiha keenly noticed that the eye Shisui Uchiha had lost most of its ocular power.
He silently made a note of this and began piecing together what had happened.
"Looks like Black Zetsu ambushed you."
"I told you before that Madara Uchiha awakened the Rinnegan..."
At the name Rinnegan, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but speak up. "The Rinnegan? You mean the eyes of the legendary Sage of Six Paths?"
Ensei Uchiha had been interrupted, but he didn't mind. Instead, he added pointedly, "Didn't I tell you about that? Looks like I didn't..."
"Don't worry about it. Sometimes, when you've seen too many possible futures, they get mixed up with reality."
"That's one of the costs of my ability."
"Anyway, after Madara Uchiha awakened the Rinnegan, he summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path from the moon. He used it and the flesh he had bitten from the First, Hashirama Senju, to cultivate White Zetsu."
"As for Black Zetsu, Madara Uchiha created him with Yin-Yang Release just before he died."
"According to legend, the Sage of Six Paths used Yin-Yang Release to create the Nine Tailed Beasts. The two should work in much the same way."
"Black Zetsu isn't much of a fighter, but if he catches someone by surprise, he can take over their body in an instant."
"But he rarely does that. There must be some kind of limitation on his abilities."
"..."
Ensei Uchiha spoke a mixture of truth and lies. Apart from the truth about Kaguya Otsutsuki, almost everything he said was true.
For now, he had to act as if he knew nothing about Black Zetsu's true origins. Otherwise, Black Zetsu might pull something drastic on him.
And an even worse possibility was that Black Zetsu would hide until Ensei Uchiha died of old age.
Using Shimura Danzō as an excuse, Ensei Uchiha asked Hiruzen Sarutobi to let him read the Scroll of Seals.
Ensei Uchiha had expected to be refused, but for reasons of his own, Hiruzen Sarutobi actually agreed.
There was probably some kind of scheme behind it.
But Ensei Uchiha didn't care. Even if someone had tampered with the forbidden techniques in the Scroll of Seals, his talent should let him spot something amiss.
After memorizing the Flying Thunder God Technique and Impure World Reincarnation, Ensei Uchiha returned the Scroll of Seals.
When he did, Hiruzen Sarutobi mentioned that Kumogakure would soon be sending people to sign an alliance treaty with Konoha. He needed to borrow some members of the Uchiha Clan to maintain order.
At the mention of Kumogakure, Ensei Uchiha immediately recalled an important event from the story, given the current timing.
The kidnapping of Hinata Hyuga.
In the original story, when Hinata Hyuga was kidnapped by Kumogakure's envoy group, Hizashi Hyuga was the only one who died, as a scapegoat. It also served to highlight Hiruzen Sarutobi's weakness.
"No problem. I'll arrange for people to patrol when the time comes."
Ensei Uchiha agreed readily, but Hiruzen Sarutobi hesitated.
After a long pause, Hiruzen Sarutobi voiced the concern on his mind.
"Ensei... have you seen another future?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi had asked with considerable hesitation. He had already guessed the answer, more or less, but didn't want to confirm it.
Ensei Uchiha rolled his eyes and said,
"Yeah. I saw a village's leader wagging his tail and begging before another country's envoy group. In the end, he even handed over the body of the younger brother of the head of the village's second-largest clan as a scapegoat!"
"If I did something that pathetic, I doubt I'd have the face to go on living."
At Ensei Uchiha's undisguised mockery, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression darkened.
He wasn't upset by Ensei Uchiha's words. He was angry that he really might have become that kind of person.
Ensei Uchiha had been vague, but the other country was obviously Kumogakure, and the younger brother of the head of the second-largest clan...
Apart from the Hyuga Clan, what other clan in Konoha had a clan head with a younger brother who could be used as a scapegoat?
It was obvious that Kumogakure's real goal wasn't to sign an alliance treaty. They wanted to seize the Hyuga Clan's Kekkei Genkai.
What made Hiruzen Sarutobi even angrier was that, if the situation really looked like it might lead to war with Kumogakure, he might actually compromise for the sake of peace.
"Ensei, I'm counting on you. Don't let that happen!"
There was a hint of pleading in Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice.
Ensei Uchiha ignored him and left the Hokage Office.
It was just the right time to move the Byakugan cloning project into its next phase.
Hinata Hyuga's cells should be purer. He could compare the differences between the two and refine the process further.
If he was lucky, he might even manage to produce a few Tenseigan.
Judging by its performance, the Tenseigan didn't seem as powerful as the Rinnegan, but they should be on the same level. It might come in handy.
After preparing to clone the Byakugan again, Ensei Uchiha began studying Impure World Reincarnation.
The technique wasn't too difficult for Ensei Uchiha. He wasn't planning to improve it, anyway. He just needed to use it at about the same level as Tobirama Senju.
Once he confirmed he had basically mastered it, Ensei Uchiha used up two condemned prisoners to prove he could perform the forbidden technique, then began another round of experiments.
He performed Impure World Reincarnation on the Clone Bodies in the laboratory to determine the boundary between soul and body.
After seven or eight attempts, Ensei Uchiha reached his final conclusions.
First, White Zetsu had no soul—or rather, their souls no longer existed. Naturally, they couldn't be brought back with Impure World Reincarnation.
As for Clone Bodies created through his own cloning, no matter how extensive the cloning process was, they had souls as long as they had brains.
But these souls were of very low quality, barely any better than those of insects. The ones he had cloned as spare bodies were much the same.
The Artificial Humans, on the other hand, had more complete souls, somewhat like those of beasts.
It was good news that the Clone Bodies didn't have real souls.
After all, the only thing in the Shinobi World known to be capable of creating life seemed to be Yin-Yang Release.
Finally, there were the Byakugan he had cloned individually. Ensei Uchiha tried using Impure World Reincarnation on them, but, as expected, it failed.
It seemed that cloning the Mangekyo couldn't be done by cloning only the eyes. He would need something else, too.
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