Cold light illuminated the central operating table. The unconscious ninja from the Hyuga Branch Family was securely restrained on it, connected to several precision instruments whose displays flashed with various readings.
Orochimaru wore a white lab coat, his golden snake eyes gleaming with an almost fanatical light beneath the lamps as he eagerly got to work.
His movements were swift and precise.
There was no secret to it-only practice.
First, he drew a blood sample from the subject. Then he carefully excised small pieces of muscle tissue and nerve endings from around the eyes and placed them in a specially made culture dish.
"What a fascinating specimen..."
Orochimaru murmured to himself, his voice echoing through the silent laboratory.
"It has only just awakened, and its power is still unstable, yet it has already shown such astonishing potential-and danger."
He glanced at the subject's closed eyelids, where an exceedingly faint golden glow seemed to linger.
Sasuke stood against a nearby wall with the Kusanagi Sword held against his chest. Shadows covered most of his face, leaving only his sharply defined jaw and quiet black eyes visible.
He took no part in the research and merely watched in silence, but his mind kept replaying their brief yet harrowing clash.
Kage level... no, higher.
That assessment made Sasuke's heart sink slightly.
That ninja from the Hyuga Branch Family had originally been nothing more than an unremarkable chunin, not even an outstanding member of the Hyuga Clan.
Yet the instant that pale golden light replaced his original Byakugan and that unfamiliar, immense chakra erupted, his strength had undergone a staggering transformation!
His speed, strength, the quality and quantity of his chakra, and his ability to sense and control his surroundings had all leaped to an unimaginable level.
Sasuke reckoned that, had it not been