Treatment Plan

"Yeah! A ninja couldn't possibly live that long! After Uchiha Madara died, his eyes fell into the hands of the Akatsuki Organization's leader! The relationship between the masked man and the Akatsuki Organization's leader is strange. What exactly are they trying to accomplish?"

Itachi Uchiha pondered for a long time but still could not make sense of it. He looked up at Doichi Hyuga, hoping he could offer some direction.

"I don't know what they want. You'll have to find the answer yourself!"

Doichi Hyuga grumbled inwardly:

You're just a tool meant to work for me. If I tell you everything, won't you be out of a job? You've got a bright future ahead of you. This isn't the time to lie flat!

"Do you have any clues about the masked man's identity?"

Over the past few years, Itachi Uchiha had passed some intelligence to Doichi Hyuga, hoping he could help find answers.

"Did you investigate the Uchiha Clan?"

"Before coming here, I went back to the Uchiha clan grounds and checked again! Uchiha Madara was the only one recorded as having defected, and there were no other missing persons."

"What about the dead?"

"The Uchiha rarely left the village, so there were zero mission fatalities. Only a few people from the wars had bodies that were never found, but their deaths were all clearly confirmed!"

If they had died and their bodies could not be found, one could imagine just how gruesome their deaths had been. They had either been torn to pieces or reduced to ashes.

"Your intelligence said that the eye exposed by the masked man was a Mangekyo Sharingan with space-time abilities... In that case, among the Uchiha who died in battle, were there any who had only one eye left and whose bodies were never recovered? Anyone who fits all three conditions?"

Doichi Hyuga guided him step by step.

"...There really was one... His name was Obito Uchiha. The clan records said that his body had been deeply buried underground. Later, the body recovery team failed to find his corpse. And he gave one of his eyes to Kakashi. Among all the missing Uchiha ninja, only Obito Uchiha perfectly fits those three conditions."

After thinking for a moment, Itachi Uchiha found the target. At the same time, a new doubt arose in his heart.

"However, I once heard Kakashi mention him! Obito Uchiha was completely different from other Uchiha. He was called the Uchiha least like an Uchiha. He was optimistic and cheerful, always willing to help others, and he aspired to become Hokage!"

When Itachi Uchiha had seen Obito Uchiha's information, it had left a deep impression on him. He had heard Kakashi mention that name more than once before.

"If his personality doesn't fit, was it because of the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

Itachi Uchiha abruptly changed the subject, thinking of the most likely culprit behind such a drastic personality change.

"Kakashi and the others used to be a three-man squad. I heard their third teammate was a gentle, lovely girl who died on the battlefield!"

Doichi Hyuga reminded him.

"Then that makes sense!"

Itachi Uchiha nodded, as though one layer of fog had been cleared away. But after thinking carefully, he felt that something was still wrong.

"No! When Obito Uchiha died, he had not awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan. The clan records stated that Kakashi received a Two-Tomoe Sharingan at the time. If it had been a Mangekyo Sharingan, the Uchiha Clan would never have allowed it to remain outside the clan."

He really was meticulous. It would not be easy to end this topic.

Doichi Hyuga silently complained, feeling somewhat frustrated.

"Is there a possibility that Obito Uchiha was buried underground but rescued by someone? With his original personality, after recovering, he would probably have gone back to find his companions immediately. Then he happened to witness his teammate's death with his own eyes?"

"It seems that is the only explanation!"

Itachi Uchiha nodded and continued:

"However, the fact that he presents himself as Uchiha Madara is very concerning. I looked through his life records. Within the Uchiha Clan, he was considered a fringe figure. How did he know such an important figure as Uchiha Madara?"

"Is there a possibility that the one who saved him was Uchiha Madara?"

Doichi Hyuga said.

"...That is indeed possible! If Uchiha Madara had still been alive more than ten years ago, he would have been around seventy or eighty years old. Though rare, people have reached that age before. With his strength, perhaps he really could have done it."

"Everything right now is just speculation. Whether it's correct will require you to verify it yourself!"

Doichi Hyuga interrupted Itachi Uchiha and continued:

"Let's solve your problem first!"

Doichi Hyuga took out an IV bottle and injected refined First Hokage Cells into it for dilution.

"Lie down!"

"..."

Itachi Uchiha wanted to take off his black robe with red clouds, but Doichi Hyuga stopped him.

Doichi Hyuga remembered the Akatsuki Organization's curse: taking off the robe meant certain death!

It was not that Doichi Hyuga was superstitious. He simply felt that this world was rather bizarre!

Not to mention that scheming bastard, the Sage of Six Paths. He had lived for over a thousand years and still was not completely dead! His mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, was even more excessive—she was immortal!

Of course, the Hyuga Clan's ancestor, Hamura Otsutsuki, seemed not to be completely dead either!

To guard against those scheming bastards spying and eavesdropping, Doichi Hyuga had layered barrier techniques upon barrier techniques around both his home and laboratory!

"No need to undress!"

Doichi Hyuga inserted the needle into Itachi Uchiha's arm vein and lowered the infusion rate to its slowest setting, intending to observe first.

As time passed, Itachi Uchiha gradually began to react.

First, the area around the needle puncture began turning woody. Then it rapidly spread through his entire arm.

"Quick! Activate your Mangekyo Sharingan! Use your ocular power and chakra to suppress the Wood Release Cells in your body!"

Doichi Hyuga smiled gleefully as he reminded him.

Itachi Uchiha let out a muffled groan, his voice filled with pain. He hurriedly activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, and the great pinwheel immediately began spinning at high speed.

Doichi Hyuga pulled apart Itachi Uchiha's clothes. One-third of his torso had already turned woody.

The infusion had stopped completely. The blood vessels had been fully blocked by the woodification, and the cell extract could no longer flow in!

Immediately afterward, one of Itachi Uchiha's legs was affected as well.

Itachi Uchiha's face twisted in unbearable pain, and he had already begun cursing inwardly: If I'd known this damned experiment would be so dangerous and painful, I never would have agreed to it!

"Itachi Uchiha! Steel your will! Believe in yourself! Remember this well: spiritual will is humanity's strongest weapon!"

Hearing the last sentence, Itachi Uchiha's spirit jolted, and he forced himself to calm down.

The woodification had spread halfway before finally ceasing to worsen.

Itachi Uchiha could feel that it was working. His attention grew even more focused, and his will became several degrees firmer.

Byakugan! Activate!

Doichi Hyuga pressed a hand against the woody arm. Natural Energy poured in, swiftly clearing the woodified blood vessels and allowing the infusion to continue:

It wasn't easy getting a human experiment like this. I can't let the test subject die so easily. If his luck is truly bad and he dies anyway, there's nothing I can do. I'll give him the full funeral package. I'm just too kind!

About two hours into the treatment, the most dangerous moment suddenly arrived.

Itachi Uchiha's mental focus loosened for an instant, and more than two-thirds of his body rapidly turned woody.

Branches sprouted everywhere across his body. His stomach visibly swelled, as though a tree were about to grow out of it.

Doichi Hyuga swiftly pulled out a syringe and injected it into his still-unwoodified right arm.

The woodification slowly receded, and Doichi Hyuga turned his gaze back to Itachi Uchiha!

Fortunately, he had prepared thoroughly enough. He had nearly sent this brat, Itachi Uchiha, to his death!

What he had just injected was a Sharingan extract. It was exceptionally effective at suppressing Wood Release Cells.

"Focus! Don't get distracted! Don't think about anything else. Stay calm!"

Doichi Hyuga rebuked him.