077 The Path Uchiha Never Imagined

"Eh..."
Shisui blinked, staring at Uchiha Jinsuke as he strode into the room. It took him a moment to realize he wasn’t mistaken.
—The tomoe pattern in Jinsuke’s eyes hadn’t changed; it wasn’t the Mangekyō Sharingan.
But that only made it all the more peculiar. These Sharingan were simply too bright, the power in his gaze far surpassing any he’d seen before.
Could this be the result of surgical enhancement?
Everyone present had their own suspicions, yet only Orochimaru’s eyes flickered, recalling his earlier speculation about bloodline organs.
Uchiha Jinsuke’s brow was furrowed, lips pressed tightly together in anger. Only when his gaze swept over Kabuto and saw him unharmed did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Striding to the long table, he spoke to the Third Hokage in a rapid-fire manner:
“Hokage-sama, Danzo is deceiving you. Lord Orochimaru hasn’t been conducting human experiments, but rather physical enhancement surgeries. It’s normal for surgeries like that to carry risks—the clan member who died was just unlucky. You can’t listen to the slander of the elder advisors. Look, I underwent the enhancement myself. Not only am I fine, but my strength has increased greatly...
I don’t know what Danzo told you, but he’s definitely lying. Just now, he even led a Root squad to block my way and tried to force Kabuto to hand over the experimental data…”
It was as if he’d been holding this in for a long time; Jinsuke let everything spill out at once. His words only barely followed logical order, but those who listened closely could extract what they wanted.
The Third Hokage shot Danzo a fierce glare—so the man really had been up to something behind the scenes.
Danzo ignored the look, his expression cold and harsh. “Uchiha Jinsuke, you dared attack a Root ninja squad?”
“You made the first move—am I not allowed to fight back?”
Jinsuke looked at Danzo, a crimson light flickering in his Sharingan. “Don’t think you can frame me. I only beat them half to death; I didn’t kill them.”
Danzo’s face darkened until it could practically drip water.
His Root squads, whether jōnin or chūnin, were the village’s elite. To be overpowered by the police force was one thing, but for Jinsuke alone to defeat them—his strength had increased far too much. He could no longer be considered an ordinary Uchiha jōnin.
Danzo’s gaze flickered with both wariness and covetousness.
On the other side, Koharu Utatane shot Danzo a furious look before turning her attention to the white snake on the table. “Orochimaru, someone who underwent your surgery is speaking for himself now. What do you have to say? Why should we trust your assurances?”
“There’s little to say to you. Rather than that...”
Orochimaru slithered over to Jinsuke, studying his sharp Sharingan carefully before suddenly asking,
“Your Sharingan—can you still deactivate it now?”

“Lord Orochimaru!? I... of course I can.”
Jinsuke recognized Orochimaru’s current form and was startled.
At Orochimaru’s question, he eased his brows and replied, “Lord Orochimaru, I’ve already deactivated my Sharingan.”
Yet as his words fell, he noticed the others in the conference room looking at him with strange expressions, leaving him puzzled.
Orochimaru flicked his tongue and studied Jinsuke’s eyes with interest.
The irises were not the deep black they’d once been, but remained a vivid crimson. Were it not for the absence of the three-tomoe mark, they would have been indistinguishable from the Sharingan.
His earlier suspicion had been correct—the Sharingan was not a stable hereditary trait.
But now, with Jinsuke’s enhanced physique, there were signs his Sharingan was becoming perfected.
The white snake’s face took on a thoughtful, almost human look. If this was true for the Sharingan, what about the Byakugan?
According to the Lamp God’s description of the Ōtsutsuki, the Byakugan was innately a stable inherited limit.
After a brief silence in the room, Koharu suddenly burst out, glaring at the white snake on the table. “Orochimaru, look at what you’ve done!”
The changes in Jinsuke were clearly not harmful; everyone here was among the most elite of the shinobi world, and they could sense the surging power in his eyes.
As a warped Uchiha fan and a staunch believer in the Uchiha threat theory, Koharu could not accept this.
“You should be grateful I refused the surgery.”
Orochimaru shot her a sidelong glance, then smiled at Jinsuke. “Your eyes have changed, but it should be a good thing. Don’t forget to keep strengthening your body.”
Jinsuke, not fully understanding, nodded slightly.
Orochimaru swept his gaze around the room. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving. I’ve given all the answers I could. Whether you believe them or not is your own business. As for the changes in Jinsuke, I know nothing about them.”
Koharu was not about to let him go so easily, but the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen waved his hand.
“That’s enough. Anything else can wait until Orochimaru returns. He’s in Ryūchi Cave now, dealing with the aftermath of the Cloud battle.”
Only then did Koharu fall silent, though her face was still full of indignation.
In the end, the debate over Orochimaru’s alleged human experiments fizzled out without resolution. Nothing was truly settled.
After all, if the village could so easily control a ninja of the ‘Legendary Sannin’ level, then Jiraiya wouldn’t have wandered the ninja world for years, and Tsunade wouldn’t have left the village for gambling dens.

Without personal bonds and tangible interests, what right did they have to control the now fully-fledged Orochimaru?
Of all those present, the one who understood this best was the Third Hokage, who had watched coldly from the seat of power. He knew from the start this meeting was meaningless and would accomplish nothing.
Still, he could not openly contradict the two elders who so loudly proclaimed their devotion to the village.
Sarutobi Hiruzen understood clearly: those two blockheads needed to run into enough walls and suffer enough setbacks to finally accept reality.
Of course, there were limits—he had to prevent them from being driven completely into Danzo’s camp, or the cost would be too great.
The current level of conflict was just right.
After some thought, the Third Hokage delivered his concluding remarks: “Any enhancement surgeries based on the First Hokage’s cells are forbidden—Orochimaru is not to conduct them privately again…”
He paused, fixing his gaze on the sullen Danzo. “And of course, no one else is permitted to research them either.”
Recalling Danzo’s earlier attempts to coerce Kabuto, Koharu and Homura’s hearts tightened, and they turned wary eyes toward Danzo.
Now that Danzo, with all his subordinates in Root, was showing interest, he was far more dangerous than Orochimaru and required special attention.
Under the gaze of the three, Danzo’s face was expressionless, but inwardly he sneered.
After this warning, the Third continued, “The two advisors will continue handling negotiations with the Cloud, as this concerns the village’s peace. Other matters can wait…
As for the previously submitted experimental data, I’ll have it sealed away. Orochimaru, are you satisfied with this arrangement?”
“No problem,” Orochimaru replied with a smile, undoing his summoning technique and vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Once the matters were settled, the Third Hokage turned his gaze from Kabuto to Jinsuke, speaking slowly,
“…You are an outstanding ninja, Jinsuke. I see great potential in you. I hope you’ll join the ANBU.”
Jinsuke raised an eyebrow, a trace of surprise in his eyes, but remembering the two Root squads he had badly injured, he didn’t hesitate long before agreeing on the spot.
Nearby, Shisui let out a sigh of relief, feeling a measure of comfort at having another clansman in the ANBU.