His journey to seek the Dragon Vein complete, Naruto returned to Amegakure with it.
Upon returning, he immediately excavated a trench in Amegakure's Southern District that matched the Dragon Vein's contours.
Planetary Devastation was released, and the Dragon Vein landed snugly in the trench. Only the temple at its source stood aboveground.
The Dragon Vein had been successfully relocated. All that remained was to release its seal.
But before that, Naruto had one more thing to do-something vitally important!
"Orochimaru, how are the preparations I asked you to make?"
"Everything is ready, Naruto-kun. Follow me!"
Naruto and Sasori followed Orochimaru deep into Amegakure's underground Experimental Base!
"Naruto-kun, take a look!"
Orochimaru walked up to a massive cylindrical culture tank and pulled away its covering!
Inside the tank was an enormous brain!
Naruto's gaze deepened. "So this is the finished product..."
The enormous brain before him was the "command tower" Sasori of the Red Sands had envisioned for controlling the Dragon Vein. But this involved biotechnology, which was hardly his specialty-it was Orochimaru's domain!
By extracting tissue from Naruto's cerebral cortex, Orochimaru had created this "artificial Proxy Brain" using Creation Technology, a process more advanced than cloning!
Two crossed nerve fibers extended from the Proxy Brain into an enormous eyeball housed in a smaller culture tank beside it!
Orochimaru explained the eyeball's origins and purpose. "That is the Terminal Eye, created from Naruto-kun's original eyes. It is connected to the Proxy Brain, allowing Naruto-kun to write commands into the brain using Kotoamatsukami!"
"I see. You really thought of everything..."
Bzz! Naruto approached the Terminal Eye, and his eyes transformed into Mangekyō!
"Proxy Brain, I have instilled my knowledge and experience into you. Use them as the basis for your operations!"
"In addition, I grant you three directives!"
"First, as the Dragon