Showcasing Talent

The laboratory lights cast a cold white glow over the neatly arranged test tubes and instruments. The air was filled with the scent of disinfectant and a faint, indescribable trace belonging to biological tissue. Orochimaru stood with his long hair loose and wore a simple kimono, intently adjusting the microscope's focus. His golden slit pupils contracted beneath the light, glinting with a researcher's uniquely near-ruthless curiosity.

Uchiha Kyohaku stood quietly to one side, supporting a clipboard with his left hand and holding a pen in his right, ready to take notes at any moment. His posture differed slightly from others due to the faint limp in his right foot, with more of his weight resting on his left leg, but it did not affect the steadiness of his movements. A year of "cooperative research" had long since accustomed him to the atmosphere here. Rather than being studied, it was more like a peculiar exchange and collaboration.

"Kyohaku," Orochimaru said without turning around, his voice carrying its distinctive hoarse magnetism, "record this. Sample A-7: after being injected with a minute chakra stimulus, ocular power protein activity increased by three percent. The rate of cellular energy metabolism increased abnormally and is approaching the instability threshold."

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru." Kyohaku quickly wrote it down, the tip of his pen scratching softly across the paper. His handwriting was neat and clear. Thanks to the formidable mental strength and memory brought about by the fusion of two lifetimes' souls, he could precisely reproduce every instruction and observation Orochimaru made.

His heart was not entirely unmoved. Whenever he saw blood or even small tissue samples taken from his own body being analyzed beneath the instruments, complicated emotions rose within him. There was unease at having his secrets investigated, curiosity about the truth of the Uchiha bloodline, and the instinct born from his former life as a forensic examiner—to regard everything before him as something that needed to be dissected and analyzed, rather than merely a part of himself.

"Interesting..." Orochimaru straightened and licked the corner of his mouth, turning his gaze toward Kyohaku. "The Sharingan—these eyes that are cursed... or perhaps blessed—the source of their power does not exist solely within the eyes themselves. They are more like a key, activating some kind of... resonance hidden deep within the bloodline. Kyohaku, can you feel it? The subtle changes in the chakra pathways throughout your body when you activate the Sharingan."

Kyohaku set down his clipboard, closed his eyes slightly, then opened them. His black eyes instantly turned scarlet, a single tomoe slowly rotating within them. "Yes, Lord Orochimaru. I can feel chakra, especially its Yin-natured portion, naturally gathering toward the eyes. At the same time, the reaction speed of the nerves throughout my body also seems to increase slightly." This was the conclusion he had reached by combining his own sensations with the experimental data.

"An accurate description." A trace of approval flashed through Orochimaru's golden pupils. "Your powers of observation and perception of your own chakra far surpass those of ordinary shinobi. It seems your experiences at Konoha Hospital and here have not been wasted."

At that moment, the laboratory door opened. A ninja dressed as a member of Root silently delivered a sealed scroll, placed it on the table by the entrance, and quickly departed. It contained certain "materials" from Orochimaru's cooperation with other departments, most likely Root.

Orochimaru walked over and picked up the scroll, but instead of opening it immediately, he looked at Kyohaku. "Kyohaku, would you be interested in conducting a little... extra practice? A corpse belonging to an enemy shinobi has just been delivered here. I need to know the cause of death, as well as the condition of the body before its chakra dissipated."

Kyohaku's heart tightened. He knew what this meant. This was not treatment, but dissection and analysis—facing death and the cruelty of war directly. Yet he did not hesitate. He nodded. "It would be my honor, Lord Orochimaru." His experience as a forensic examiner in his former life left him without the ordinary person's fear of corpses. Instead, he felt a familiar urge to uncover the truth.

The corpse was placed upon the cold laboratory table. Kyohaku put on gloves and stepped forward. He first performed a rough examination with a medical chakra sensing technique, then picked up a scalpel and steadily, precisely cut through the skin and muscle tissue. His gaze was focused, as though he were not facing a corpse, but reading a complex book.

"The deceased is male, approximately twenty-five to thirty years old. There are multiple wounds from sharp weapons across the body, but the fatal injury is a penetrating wound to the heart. The weapon was likely a kunai or short sword. Strange..." Kyohaku paused and gently pressed a chakra pathway node on the corpse's chest. "The residual chakra here is abnormally stagnant. It does not resemble natural dissipation. It is more like it was forcibly extracted or disturbed by some external force at the moment of death."

Orochimaru leaned closer with great interest. "Oh? Continue."

As Kyohaku skillfully separated the tissue, he analyzed it using the medical knowledge and chakra theory he had learned. "Judging from the direction of the chakra pathways and the residual traces, the last technique the deceased used while alive was most likely some form of Earth Release ninjutsu. However, the technique was not completed to a high degree. He may have suffered intense interference while activating it, causing his chakra to flow backward. That may explain why he was killed so easily at close range. In addition, judging from his muscle fibers and bone density, he underwent long-term high-intensity taijutsu training, but his nutritional intake seems to have been insufficient recently..."

He laid out each of his discoveries and deductions in a clear, organized manner. Not only did he identify the direct cause of death, but through subtle clues, he also inferred the deceased's condition before death, possible combat habits, and even the state of his logistical supplies.

Orochimaru listened quietly, the admiration in his eyes growing stronger and stronger. Once Kyohaku finished, he let out a low laugh. "Hehehe... splendid. Kyohaku, you always manage to surprise me. Relying only on basic medical knowledge and observation, you reached deductions so close to the truth. This insight and logical reasoning ability are not something an ordinary medical intern should possess—nor even something a ten-year-old child should have."

Kyohaku's heart tightened slightly, but his expression remained calm as he removed his bloodstained gloves. "I merely analyzed it by combining the experimental methods Lord Orochimaru taught me with the knowledge I learned at school and the hospital."

Orochimaru walked to his side, his golden slit pupils staring deeply at him. "There is no need to be modest. A sharp mind is also a precious talent. It seems that allowing you to remain at Konoha Hospital, and even bringing you here, was the correct decision. You are more valuable than many so-called 'geniuses.'"

He paused before speaking meaningfully. "Perhaps our research into the Uchiha bloodline can go a step further. Not merely observation, but attempting to... understand and guide it. For example, might your one-tomoe Sharingan possess another possibility for evolution under specific emotional and chakra stimulation?"

Kyohaku raised his head, his scarlet Sharingan meeting those golden snake eyes. In that moment, the subtle tacit understanding between the two people in the laboratory—the researcher and the "test subject" who also served as an assistant—seemed to grow firmer, founded upon their shared pursuit of knowledge and power. Kyohaku knew that the value he had displayed was earning him greater authority and opportunities to come into deeper contact with secrets, though the road ahead remained fraught with unknown dangers.