Lying on the cold operating table, Kakashi swore—
If it weren't for Yan bringing him here… If it weren't for Yan watching over things…
There was no way he'd willingly lie on this table.
Absolutely no way he'd let Orochimaru examine his entire body and take *something* from him.
It was way too dangerous.
Just thinking about the things Orochimaru had done in the past made Kakashi shudder.
"Kakashi seems a little nervous."
Noticing his unease, Orochimaru licked the corner of his mouth with his long tongue.
To Kakashi, that sight alone nearly made him jump off the table.
*You freak, stay the hell away from me!!*
"Oh? Even more nervous now."
"...."
Seeing Kakashi's body tense up, Orochimaru actually joked for once.
Yan, noticing Kakashi's reaction, stared at Orochimaru expressionlessly.
"Is this fun for you?"
"...."
Fine, I'll get to work.
Since there was no point resisting, Orochimaru simply did his job.
Under Yan's warning gaze, he finally started acting normal again, allowing Kakashi to breathe a little easier.
Spending time with someone like Orochimaru was incredibly stressful.
If Yan hadn't been there, Kakashi wouldn't have come.
Let alone been alone with Orochimaru.
To most of the ninja in Konoha, Orochimaru was nothing short of a psychotic freak.
And honestly, they weren't wrong. Orochimaru *was* a lunatic.
A lunatic *and* a freak.
A guy who could switch bodies at will and didn't care whether he was a man or a woman—if that wasn't a freak, what was?
The only reason he wasn't jumping bodies now was because of the damage to his soul.
Otherwise, after a while, no one would even recognize who he had turned into.
That was what Yan admired most about Orochimaru.
After running tests and collecting some cells, Yan let Kakashi leave.
"With today's medical technology, cloning an eye for Kakashi shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"Of course not, but…"
Orochimaru smiled slightly and gave Yan a look, hinting that it was time for his reward.
Unfortunately for him, Yan ignored him, turned around, and walked out, leaving behind a single sentence:
"You're still in the trial period. Once you implant Kakashi's eye and your injured soul recovers, I'll give you what you want.
Otherwise, in your current state, I'm afraid you might accidentally ruin the Sharingan."
"If Obito knew about this, he'd probably come after you with his life on the line."
"True. Well, I'll wait for now. I have some experiments to work on anyway."
Yan didn't hand over the Sharingan, but Orochimaru didn't mind.
Because he knew that sooner or later, it would be his.
Even if he couldn't study the Rinnegan, which was beyond anything else, getting a chance to research the Mangekyou Sharingan was still a good deal.
That was enough to satisfy him.
"I remember you have some Sharingan in your possession, right?"
"Are you planning to take them back, Yan-kun?"
Orochimaru's smile remained unchanged. If Yan wanted them back, he'd hand them over without hesitation.
"No."
Yan thought for a moment and said:
"When Uchiha go through intense emotional stress, their Sharingan evolves.
As long as their spiritual energy is strong enough, it progresses from one tomoe to two, then to three, and eventually to Mangekyou. You get what I mean?"
"I understand."
Looks like he just found another interesting research project.
Orochimaru grinned.
"But I'll need some time. I've never conducted experiments like this before. If possible, I might even develop a machine that specifically stimulates the Uchiha."
"Then I'll be waiting for good news. If your results satisfy me, I wouldn't mind sharing some valuable information with you.
About the Rinnegan.
You've had your eyes on Nagato for a long time, haven't you? But you never dared to make a move—because you're afraid of dying."
"My interest just got even stronger…"
At that moment, Orochimaru felt more motivated than ever. Even without Yan pushing him, he would put in the effort and see it through.
The Uchiha's Sharingan evolves through stimulation, but there are conditions.
Aside from bloodline purity, the key factor was spiritual energy—at least, that was Yan's theory.
Based on his research, spiritual energy played a major role, not just bloodline.
He came to this conclusion by studying Izumi and several of the clan elders' descendants.
Many of the elders' children still couldn't awaken the Sharingan, and others struggled to advance beyond the initial stage.
Yet Izumi, a mixed-blood girl, had already reached three tomoe.
You could say she experienced trauma, but aside from the Nine-Tails' attack, nothing too shocking happened to her.
Her Sharingan just evolved naturally.
From two tomoe to three—it happened ridiculously fast.
Other Uchiha practically had to beg the heavens for their Sharingan to evolve, but she just advanced without even realizing it.
Beyond just theorizing, Yan had also run some tests.
Even when she was at the two-tomoe stage, Izumi's resistance to genjutsu was much stronger than the average person.
Her performance in this area was about the same as Itachi's.
And recently, Itachi had also advanced to three tomoe.
Yan sought out Orochimaru for one reason—to see if this lunatic could create some kind of machine that could stimulate the mind.
If such a machine existed, then unlocking the Sharingan and upgrading its early stages might become much easier.
That would, in turn, boost the overall strength of the Uchiha.
Even a single Tomoe or two Tomoe Sharingan can give an Uchiha ninja a boost in strength.
An Uchiha before and after unlocking their Sharingan are like two completely different people.
As time passed and the villagers kept talking about it, Orochimaru's return gradually became accepted.
For the Third Hokage, who had just returned to the village, this news was quite a shock.
After dealing with the full unsealing of the Sharingan, he rushed back to the village—there were still plenty of problems waiting for him to solve.
Issues that should never have come up in the first place were now exploding everywhere, forcing him to take them seriously.
But what he didn't expect was to hear about Orochimaru's return the moment he set foot in Konohagakure.
Not only had he come back, but he had also been allowed to stay without any problems.
It seemed like the villagers weren't as hostile toward him as expected.
After reading the official announcement from the Hokage office, the Third Hokage almost coughed up blood.
"Tsunade, Danzo is already dead."
He wasn't happy at all. He felt like Tsunade's way of calming the villagers was basically digging up Danzo's grave.
She was throwing all the blame onto him, pushing every crime that should have been Orochimaru's onto Danzo instead.
That way, Orochimaru was able to return smoothly without facing too much resistance.
The Third Hokage wanted Orochimaru back too—he just didn't want it to happen like this.
---------------------------------------
You can read 10 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi