[Konohagakure]
[Uchiha Compound, Hospital]
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Makumi had a very, very long dream. Countless scenes flashed through his mind one by one.
Fragmented and chaotic, and in the end, all those images froze on the scene of his daughter Yumi being killed.
"Yumi!", Makumi opened his eyes with a jolt.
Only to find himself lying in a hospital.
"Father! You're awake!", The voice beside him made Makumi's pupils shrink sharply.
He stiffly turned his head and saw it was the very same Yumi who had "died before his eyes."
"Yumi!"
Makumi tried to get up from the bed, but he had no strength at all and almost fell off.
Yumi quickly pressed him down, "Father, I'm right here. You're badly injured, don't move around."
Makumi gripped his daughter's hand tightly, looking her up and down, and seeing that she was perfectly fine.
Only then did he finally breathe out in relief.
"What… happened to me?"
Makumi found that aside from being able to speak normally, his entire body was stiff, weak, and powerless.
Yumi patted his hand, "Father, did you forget? You went on a secret mission."
"But you got hurt. The clan head said you'd need three to four months to wake up."
"It's already been more than three months since you were injured."
"Three months?", Only now did Makumi's memories slowly backtrack. He remembered he was supposed to go do a secret mission.
But midway, his memory cut off, and when he woke up again, the clan had been invaded by the Hidden Sand.
'The Hidden Sand invaded? The Hidden Rock invaded?'
Makumi quickly realized there were problems with his memory.
He lifted his hands and saw that there were no wounds at all.
"Father, you don't know. While you were unconscious, our clan head became the Fifth Hokage."
Before Makumi could sort out his thoughts, his daughter Yumi dropped a huge surprise on him.
"What? The clan head became Hokage? When did this happen?"
Yumi looked just as proud, "Last month."
"Our clan head chased that parasite Hiruzen out of the village, and the other elders elected our clan head as Hokage."
"Ah! I can't talk to you too long, I have to report to Elder Fugaku, and then go home and tell mother," Yumi excitedly said a few things before remembering she actually had duties.
"Elder Fugaku said before you meet him, don't reveal anything about the secret mission to anyone. He'll explain it to you," Saying that, Yumi left the room.
Leaving Makumi to slowly digest everything.
'A secret mission? Memory issues? Mangekyo Sharingan?'
Makumi's eyes shifted, and his three tomoe turned into three interlocking circles.
He reached out one hand, and a portion of Susanoo appeared instantly.
'Could it be?'
Hearing footsteps outside the door, Makumi immediately withdrew Susanoo.
Click!
The door opened, but it wasn't Fugaku.
It was Itachi, and…
"Shisui?", Makumi was stunned.
His first reaction was to suspect he'd fallen into a genjutsu.
But obviously, this wasn't genjutsu.
"Makumi-senpai, long time no see," Shisui showed a gentle smile.
In truth, Shisui had seen him once before, but that was when he knocked Makumi out instantly, and Makumi never saw him.
"It's really you?", When Shisui walked to the bedside, Makumi grabbed him and looked him over.
Shisui was one of the rare gentle Uchihas, and a prodigy.
In his early teens, his strength was already comparable to the older generation to which Makumi belonged.
Naturally, they had interacted and had a decent relationship.
After Shisui awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, he became far stronger than those senior to him by half a lifetime.
But then he died, and everything vanished.
Shisui smiled softly, "Makumi-senpai, congratulations."
"You're the only one who completed the mission in this special operation."
Makumi thought for a moment, "So the opportunity to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan was referring to this?"
Itachi answered, "Not everyone gets this chance. Makumi-senpai, you almost failed."
"So please remember to keep this confidential."
Makumi let out a bitter laugh, "No wonder I lost consciousness before I could react. It must have been you who acted."
Itachi nodded, "It was all by order of the clan head."
Makumi wasn't a dramatic man. He only sighed, "Then what about Shisui? What's going on?"
"That's a different matter. It's still a secret for now."
Makumi blanked for a moment, "Then tell me what's been happening lately."
———
[Orochimaru's Laboratory]
After returning, Rengoku came here right away to draw blood for testing.
Orochimaru was now looking at the data on the screen.
"It's done. Your body has now accumulated enough of Karin's cells."
"There won't be any more rejection reactions."
While Orochimaru was speaking, Kabuto walked in, "Lord Hokage, Makumi has woken."
Rengoku nodded slightly, 'Makumi has slept long enough. Talent really makes a world of difference.'
Whether it was Shisui, Itachi, or Kaori, all of them awakened naturally.
Makumi's soul strength was just a little bit short, making him walk right up to the gates of death.
"I know. You may leave."
Kabuto was extremely capable now. Orochimaru had already given him full control over the project to refine sage arts.
Usually he wouldn't come to report. Only because Makumi's situation was important did he make this trip.
Because of Makumi, Rengoku thought of how Yakumo and Kato Dan had recently been studying spirit transformation techniques.
"How is Yakumo doing under Kato Dan's teaching?"
Orochimaru was quite satisfied with Yakumo as an experiment subject, "Ido has far greater potential than Kato Dan. When she grows up, she'll be a great asset."
"But Yakumo is still young. She needs time to develop. You don't have to worry."
"For now, go bring Karin here. We can begin the cell experiments."
Rengoku thought for a moment, "How long will the cell fusion take? Will I lose consciousness?"
Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and rolled it around, looking amused, "That I don't know. Fusion time varies from person to person."
"And you're the first test subject. Whether you'll faint or not, I can't say."
"Why, do you have concerns?"
Rengoku waved a hand, "No, I was just thinking. This time when I got hurt, the Leaf had no one to take the lead."
"If I need a long recovery and can't appear, some arrangements have to be made."
Orochimaru nodded, "Fine. How do you want to set things up?"
Rengoku pulled out the plan he had already prepared, "I've already made preparations regarding the Hidden Cloud."
"Now that Yugito died on the way back, the Hidden Cloud definitely won't let this go."
"The Hidden Sand and Hidden Rock have already retreated, but they'll definitely take advantage of Moryo's arrival to profit from the chaos…"
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