Original Shinobi World-Konoha Research Institute
"Aaaah!!"
Uchiha Fugaku lay on the cold operating table, all four limbs secured by tough restraints, wriggling nonstop like a maggot.
He screamed himself hoarse, the sound breaking hearts and bringing tears to anyone who heard it...
Crack-bang!
Fugaku's chest suddenly split open. A lush green tree grew violently out of it, draining him into a dried-out corpse.
"Sigh..."
Standing outside the transparent glass wall, Orochimaru shook his head in dismay.
His unkempt hair, heavy dark circles, and slovenly clothing made it hard for anyone who saw him to believe he was the once dashing "Cold Lord-Orochimaru."
"Twelfth injection of Hashirama cells: failure..."
Orochimaru drew a line across the file in his hand, ruling out that protocol without so much as glancing at Fugaku's gruesome corpse.
"Another failure?"
"If I remember correctly, the preliminary experiments yielded twenty-one protocols considered viable. Don't push yourself too hard, Orochimaru."
Hiruko emerged from behind Orochimaru and narrowed his eyes at Fugaku's dead body.
"The Uchiha Clan is running short on spare three-tomoe eyes."
Orochimaru rubbed his temples as he spoke, looking troubled.
Like a Substitution Technique, Fugaku's corpse vanished into white smoke with a puff, and Uchiha Fugaku reappeared beside Orochimaru, completely unharmed.
His eyes were his own nearly blind Mangekyo, turning slightly without conscious intent.
Fugaku held out his palm. The three-tomoe eye embedded in it slowly turned grayish white, already blind and useless.
"I might have used Izanagi more than anyone else in Uchiha history..."
Twelve consecutive gruesome deaths had left Fugaku somewhat dazed. Phantom pain flickered in his chest and arms, and the Wood Release's violent draining of his life left him with lingering fear.
"Six three-tomoe eyes left in reserve. Six more chances..."
Clutching his documents, Orochimaru wanted to pick the protocol with the highest