In Orochimaru's laboratory.
Zhengye's words had clearly completely piqued Orochimaru's interest.
But Zhengye had already prepared what he wanted to say.
"An ordinary Mangekyō Sharingan has limited power. Even after activating Susanoo, it is only a few meters tall."
"And forcibly using the Mangekyō Sharingan will rapidly blind the eyes."
"So, many years ago, the Uchiha Clan had been secretly conducting experiments."
"Experiments to fuse eyes together."
"But most of them failed, until eventually, they found a suitable and reliable method."
"Mangekyō Sharingan from blood relatives can fuse and evolve into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
"Uchiha Madara's younger brother, Uchiha Izuna, was gravely wounded by Tobirama's Flying Thunder God sword. Before dying, he gave his eyes to Madara."
"Only after his eyes fused into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan did Uchiha Madara have the foundation to contend with Senju Hashirama."
Orochimaru was deeply interested upon hearing these secrets.
He sized Zhengye up, paused, and said, "You probably don't have any relatives left, do you?"
Zhengye shrugged helplessly. "They're all dead. And even if I did have relatives, they might not be able to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"But there were once Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan that successfully fused from non-immediate relatives."
"Though that was all down to luck."
"But with you here..."
Zhengye left his sentence unfinished, but Orochimaru already understood.
The various experiments in the past had been nothing more than trial and error. Now, Zhengye wanted to use scientific methods to discover the underlying patterns.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhengye.
"No problem. But first, I need to collect data on Mangekyō Sharingan and ordinary Sharingan for comparison."
Zhengye nodded naturally.
"Fine. Will you go to my clan to collect samples, or should I have them come here? Do you need to remove their eyes or draw blood?"