Chapter 102: Emergency Meeting at the War Castle

Being sterilized—well, if it was just a few of them being sterilized, they wouldn't think much of it. After all, Kakashi had never met anyone he liked, Itachi only needed his little brother Sasuke, and Tsunade was already old... None of them would need it anyway.

What shocked them was that every single person in the world could potentially be sterilized! Didn't that mean humanity would go extinct within a century?

Sasuke heard that his brother had taken the emotion-inducing reagent, and he eagerly anticipated what kind of eyes would appear after his brother reawakened. But suddenly, he felt something was off with his brother's voice.

"Brother, brother, Itachi! Are you alright!" Sasuke thought something had gone wrong with the reagent. He couldn't see what was happening, still unaccustomed to his newly lost eyes. He fumbled off the hospital bed, trying to reach out and touch Itachi, but accidentally stumbled and fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

Itachi heard the sound and quickly looked toward Sasuke. The reagent was still taking effect in his body, but it only caused him pain—not enough to meet the conditions for awakening his eyes. But coincidentally, the news of "worldwide sterilization" shocked Itachi deeply. His emotions surged, and he suddenly reached the threshold for eye awakening.

His pupils completely transformed into pure black, and the whites of his eyes turned a deep crimson. Because the patterns of his Sharingan were so intricate, they had merged into solid black masses. Then, bloody light shot from his eyes—two red beams, like lasers. Itachi quickly turned away from Sasuke and fired them elsewhere. The two "red lasers" pierced straight through the hospital room, through the castle, and into the sea.

He quickly closed his eyes, trying to retract his pupil power.

Just then, Sasuke finally scrambled up from the ground and threw himself into Itachi's arms. The two embraced tightly.

...

The war castle had been breached from within, leaving two gaping holes. Kabuto Yakushi received word and quickly patched the holes, raising the war castle back above sea level.

In a massive conference room, Kabuto sat at the head of the long conference table, flanked by Jiraiya, Tsunade, Itachi, and others. Kabuto pushed up his glasses with a hand and said, "Go on, what happened?"

Tsunade, agitated, looked at Kabuto and was about to speak when Jiraiya held her back. Jiraiya said to Tsunade, "Let me handle this." Tsunade looked at Jiraiya, and their eyes met. After a long moment, Tsunade took two deep breaths, turned her head away, and said nothing. Jiraiya patted Tsunade's hand, then looked at Kabuto at the head of the table and said, "Did you know that Orochimaru's training reagents have a sterilizing effect?"

This was too insidious—imbuing training reagents with sterilizing ability meant anyone would fall victim. Because it wasn't just civilians; many ninja in the current shinobi world also bought Orochimaru's training reagents. Who wouldn't want a Sharingan? Who wouldn't want Wood Release secret techniques? So they couldn't understand—was Orochimaru trying to destroy all of humanity? But what would Orochimaru gain from that?

Kabuto gave an "Oh" and said, "So that's what this is about."

"Bang!" Tsunade smashed the conference table apart with one fist, furious. "Just that? You knew? Then you're a sinner against all humanity! I demand an immediate halt to production of the training reagents!"

Itachi sat quietly with his eyes closed, not saying a word.

Kabuto shook his head. "It's useless. Even if we stop producing the training reagents, it won't stop humanity's trend toward sterilization." As he spoke, he gestured toward the massive floor-to-ceiling window at the side of the room, beyond which stretched the sea, with a full moon suspended above. "You all know the moon is one of Orochimaru-sama's bases. Moonlight can reach the entire world. How could Orochimaru-sama not take advantage of that?"

"What!" Jiraiya, Tsunade, and the others were stunned. Did that mean the sterilization wasn't limited to the training reagents?

Kabuto said, "You still don't understand Orochimaru-sama. He favors saturation-style plans. One of his plans is to use the moon. Every enemy bathed in moonlight will fall under the sterilization technique, though its effect is relatively mild. Adding sterilizing ability to the training reagents was a separate plan. You've seen the results—they're quite significant. Anyone who takes even one dose of the training reagent will be sterilized immediately."

Tsunade was so furious she was shaking, unable to speak. Jiraiya's expression darkened. "Stop with the glib talk. What is Orochimaru's real goal? If it's to exterminate all humanity, we'll stop him!"

Kabuto's expression suddenly turned icy. "You want to stop Orochimaru-sama?" Then a grin spread across his face. "Impossible. Learn from Itachi. Learn from Sasuke. Learn from Shikamaru. See how calm they are."

Indeed, from the very start of the meeting, Itachi, Sasuke, and Shikamaru had sat in complete silence. If Sasuke didn't care about humanity's fate, they could understand that, but Itachi and Shikamaru? That was impossible. There had to be something more to it.

Shikamaru glanced at Itachi and Sasuke. The two showed no intention of speaking, so Shikamaru spread his hands and said helplessly, "I suppose I'll explain." He took the toothpick out of his mouth. "Orochimaru won't do something that exterminates all humanity—at least not yet. The reason for the sterilization is overpopulation." Shikamaru had, the moment he learned of the "sterilization," sat down cross-legged with his eyes closed in deep thought. Then he'd thought of Orochimaru's immortality.

The sterilization was to solve the problem of immortality.

Shikamaru said, "I imagine the training reagents don't just contain various abilities—they also contain immortal power, right? Taken consistently, humans would gain immortal bodies."

Tsunade and Jiraiya's eyes went wide. They finally understood, everything clicking into place. But even so, at first glance it seemed fine, yet something felt off...

"I see." Itachi nodded, speaking for the first time. He had come to the meeting wanting to understand what the "sterilization" was really about. Now that he knew it wasn't about destroying humanity, he set aside his worries. Itachi faced Kabuto, though his eyes remained closed—he still hadn't fully mastered controlling the pupil power in his eyes. "Kabuto, do those who are only bathed in moonlight but haven't taken the reagent still have fertility?"

Kabuto smiled. "Yes. The moonlight sterilization plan is more gradual—it will take about a month before it reaches the same effect as taking the reagent."

Itachi nodded, then turned to face Sasuke. "I want a nephew. You need to hurry within this month. Naruto is out of the question."

Sasuke: "..."

Itachi grabbed Sasuke and left, presumably for psychological counseling. That left Jiraiya and Tsunade at a loss for what to do. Then the two of them turned to Shikamaru, because Shikamaru always had good ideas.

Shikamaru thought for a moment and said, "You can do two things. One—you go fight Orochimaru and make him restore the world to normal."

Jiraiya and Tsunade shook their heads. If they could do that, they'd have done it long ago. Their earlier talk of stopping Orochimaru had only been in the context of him trying to destroy the world—they'd fight desperately to stop that. That clearly wasn't the case now.

"What's the second thing?" Jiraiya asked, and Tsunade looked at Shikamaru with hope as well.

Shikamaru said, "Promote having children. Give those who haven't taken the reagent a chance to choose. As long as they can conceive within a month, they'll be able to give birth fine."

Jiraiya: "..."

Tsunade: "..."

What the hell kind of advice is "promote having children"?!