"All right, you can open your eyes now."
Orochimaru casually set down the bandages he had just removed and clapped his hands.
Nagato slowly opened his eyes. The laboratory lights were a little harsh, but it was manageable. After adjusting for a moment, he could make out his surroundings.
"Well? How do they feel?"
"Pretty good. So far, what I can see isn't much different from what I saw with the Rinnegan. And without the Rinnegan, I feel like I have a lot more chakra."
"Naturally."
Orochimaru spoke as he sorted through his research notes.
"After all, the Rinnegan never belonged to you in the first place. Your body instinctively rejected them as something foreign.
"Not only that, the Rinnegan constantly absorbed your chakra to nourish themselves.
"If you hadn't possessed the Uzumaki bloodline, and if Boss Chiba hadn't modified your body, those Rinnegan would have drained you dry long ago. You never would have grown up as healthy as you are now."
"Yes. If I hadn't met Master Tetsuya and Master Izuna, who knows where my life would have taken me? I might have died in some unfamiliar corner long ago."
Nagato sounded wistful, but then a question suddenly occurred to him.
"Orochimaru, where did the eyes you transplanted into me come from? My body won't reject them like the Rinnegan, will it?"
"Don't worry about that. No one is more qualified than I am when it comes to cloning body parts, let alone a mere pair of eyes. As long as I have your cells, even if you wanted a new body like I once did, I could make you an identical one."
You could question Orochimaru's character, but you couldn't question his scientific expertise.
"By the way, you really went all out, didn't you? You actually blasted