Void

"Genius!"

Orochimaru gazed at the vine-like plant and could not help but praise him. "I never expected you to use this method to cultivate and weaken the corrosiveness of the Hashirama Cells.

"You've almost completely eliminated the corrosiveness of the Hashirama Cells!

"This creation of yours is enough to be called a masterpiece."

The instant Orochimaru came into contact with the vine-like plant, he already understood Hiruko's secret for neutralizing the corrosiveness of Konoha's Hashirama Cells.

Hiruko's experiment had undoubtedly opened a new door for him, broadening his horizons beyond human experimentation.

"The corrosiveness of the Hashirama Cells is indeed extremely powerful," Hiruko said thoughtfully.

"Repeated rounds of inoculation can indeed reduce its corrosiveness. If they were directly inoculated into plants, could the rejection and corrosiveness of the Hashirama Cells be reduced?"

"This is my result!"

"Hiruko, you truly are a genius!" Orochimaru's golden snake eyes fixed seriously on Hiruko.

Hiruko shook his head. "It hasn't truly succeeded yet."

"It must undergo a large number of test subjects before we can ensure that this method can officially be used on everyone."

"But only the final step remains, doesn't it?" Orochimaru said with a strange smile.

Orochimaru smiled. "I've already informed Fugaku Uchiha to bring several Uchiha jonin over."

The two stood silently in the middle of the facility, staring at the special vine-like plant cultivated primarily from Hashirama Cells. Neither spoke.

About half an hour later, several figures flickered into view and rushed in through the entrance.

Fugaku Uchiha led the group, accompanied by five Uchiha clansmen with exceptionally powerful presences. Shisui followed closely beside Fugaku.

"Lord Orochimaru!" Fugaku Uchiha was the first to greet Orochimaru.

Then Fugaku and the clan's jonin were all drawn to the massive vine-like plant, more than ten meters tall, in the center of the laboratory.

When he saw the familiar facial patterns on the vine-like plant, Fugaku Uchiha even thought Hashirama Senju had come back to life once more.

He could sense a surging vitality from this eerie vine-like plant.

"This is the long-cherished wish I promised your Uchiha Clan," Orochimaru said calmly.

Fugaku Uchiha looked at Orochimaru with excitement, as if he wanted to ask something, yet seemed to have some concern that kept him silent.

"What do we need to do?"

The doubt and anticipation in Fugaku's heart were obvious.

He knew Orochimaru had a particular interest in the Sharingan—or rather, a deep interest in the ultimate principles of Yin Release represented by the Sharingan.

At that moment, Hiruko stepped forward. After all, this was a project he had developed himself, so he had the greatest authority to speak on it.

Hiruko explained the next procedure to the Uchiha jonin.

After Fugaku nodded in agreement, they followed Hiruko's instructions. One after another, they activated their Sharingan and pressed their palms against the plant's vines.

But in the very next instant, the expressions of the Uchiha jonin changed drastically.

They felt a force surge out from the vine-like plant and flow into their bodies along their meridians.

It seemed to detect the ocular power within them after about half a minute.

The next second, the vines coiled around them like pythons, piercing straight through their palms.

They could not break free at all.

From the outside, blood dripped everywhere.

"Glug, glug!" A swallowing sound, like an animal drinking water, rang out.

The vine-like plant instantly paralyzed all their nerves and even tried to completely devour their ocular power, chakra, flesh, and blood.

They could not resist that powerful devouring force at all, as though an invisible power had bound them tightly.

At that moment, they could even clearly sense that this vine-like plant was alive—a strange lifeform somewhere between a plant and an animal.

Hiruko smiled and explained from the side, "Don't worry. This is normal. It's taking samples from you."

"This vine-like plant doesn't lack chakra. It will only draw a little as a test.

"Once it reaches a certain point, it will only extract the ocular power from your bodies instead of devouring you completely."

He reassured the tense Uchiha jonin, telling them to stay calm.

Unfortunately, they were completely paralyzed and could not even open their mouths to curse him.

Yet only a few minutes later, the five Uchiha jonin, who had originally been brimming with vitality, had already turned pale.

It was as if their bodies had been hollowed out after severe kidney deficiency. They were weak all over, like dehydrated corpses.

Just as they could no longer bear the loss of their ocular power, the bone-deep devouring force in their palms suddenly vanished, and the numbness throughout their bodies faded with it.

From the residual chakra, the five jonin vaguely sensed that the vine-like plant before them seemed to let out a satisfied burp before curling up like a child.

The five jonin immediately yanked their palms free from the plant with all their strength, staggering back several steps, both physically and mentally shaken.

One of the jonin, named Tekka Uchiha, barely suppressed the urge to vomit.

He glared furiously at Hiruko and demanded, "Is this really an experiment that can help us evolve our Sharingan?"

"As jonin, we have the right to know the truth!"

Even as clan head, Fugaku Uchiha could not ignore the opinions of the clan's jonin in many matters.

Even within the village, Uchiha jonin still held a certain status, and their voices could not be disregarded.

Over the past few months, because the Research Department had failed to bring the expected returns, the Uchiha Clan had invested a huge amount of money into it, even affecting the training of clan members.

This caused Fugaku, the clan head, and the jonin who had supported him from the beginning to feel vague pressure from all sides of the clan.

When he received Orochimaru's notice, Fugaku instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

He had firmly chosen to stand with Hiruko and Orochimaru, investing without regard for returns over the past two months.

If there were still no gains, he would undoubtedly face criticism within the clan—especially fierce questioning from the hawkish faction led by Setsuna Uchiha.

Though he did not know whether this gamble would succeed, he naturally hoped it would, if only to calm the clan down for the time being.

At this moment, Hiruko began forming hand seals on the spot. His sealing technique drew upon natural energy, and a large amount of chakra mixed with natural energy flowed through his feet into the roots of the vine-like plant by a clever method.

The sound of gulping echoed continuously through the laboratory, making the atmosphere exceptionally eerie.

The energy mixed with Hiruko's senjutsu chakra was continuously devoured by the living vine-like plant before them.

Under Fugaku and the others' astonished gazes, five flowers rapidly bloomed from the branches of the vine-like plant, each bearing small flowers with silvery-white patterns.

This was the essence condensed from the five people.

Hiruko then said, "Based on where each of you is standing, pick one flower and pluck it."

The five exchanged looks. From those flowers, they could sense a kind of...