Chapter 43: The Opportunity to Defect from Konoha Was Actually Related to a Man?
"Kamui."
Kenichi Amamiya sat in the lab, studying the Sharingan in his hand.
It looked like an ordinary three tomoe Sharingan, but he knew better. This was no simple three tomoe eye. It was a Mangekyou Sharingan that had been deliberately sealed into its base form.
This eye was the one Kenichi had taken from Kakashi.
A week had passed since the funeral of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
Konoha had recovered its previous rhythm with terrifying speed. The Fourth Hokage's name was already fading from casual conversation. Almost no one knew that this hero who had died for the village had left behind a newborn son.
"Still, this thing really isn't suitable for long term storage right now, not when there's already another owner of the Kamui space."
Kenichi turned his hand and carefully put the eyeball away.
He had seriously considered transplanting the eye himself, then using Kamui to build a private laboratory within that pocket dimension.
In the end, he rejected the idea.
After all, Obito was still alive, and his other eye was still out there.
With Obito's Mangekyou linked to this one, forcing a transplant now would invite more trouble than it was worth. Kakashi was the best example.
Obito's eye had undeniably boosted Kakashi's combat strength, but the price was brutal. His own body and chakra reserves could not fully support the Mangekyou's power. In long battles, that burden became a fatal weakness.
Kenichi had different plans for this eye.
On one side, he wanted to study why using the Mangekyou drained "ocular power," and what that power actually was.
When that power ran dry the user went blind. At first glance it looked like damage to the retina, but it clearly was not that simple.
He would only be able to probe the truth after transplanting the eye into a test subject and activating its abilities a few times.
On the other side, he intended to keep the eye intact, then add a biometric lock to it after he finished developing his thermobaric bomb.
He was genuinely curious.
If one day he mailed this eye back to Obito together with a weapon like that, would Obito be surprised? Happy? Furious?
Kenichi stood in front of the window and looked down at the peaceful Hidden Leaf Village, letting out a quiet sigh.
The village had been calm lately. Everyone was busy with reconstruction and follow up work after the Nine Tails' attack.
Orochimaru was doing quite well as well.
Because the Third Hokage needed his help, Root had started sending a small number of seriously wounded test subjects to Orochimaru's lab with tacit approval from above.
The Third would occasionally send tobacco and other gifts. On the surface, it looked like a very warm scene of teacherly concern and filial gratitude.
Watching all of this, Kenichi had genuinely begun to wonder whether his teacher might not defect after all.
Maybe Orochimaru truly intended to remain in Konoha.
But an unexpected incident shattered that illusion and threw everything into chaos.
"Orochimaru! What are you doing?!"
The moment Jiraiya charged into the underground base, Kenichi knew that his teacher was most likely about to defect.
Kenichi had not expected Jiraiya to find this secret lab where Orochimaru and Root cooperated, much less to walk in just in time to see what was happening inside.
It had been only a moment earlier that Orochimaru had carried a failed test subject off the operating table.
The man had been an ordinary villager who had received a transplant of Hashirama's cells.
By the time the operation ended, he was beyond saving. His entire body had been corroded and consumed by those cells until he was neither human nor ghost, just a mass of twisted flesh.
And that was the scene Jiraiya walked in on.
Jiraiya seemed to meet no resistance at all when he broke into the base.
But Kenichi knew that was only because Danzo had no intention of stopping him.
If Root tried to block Jiraiya at the entrance, their cooperation with Orochimaru would be exposed on the spot.
They had probably already gone to notify the Third Hokage.
"Oh, Jiraiya. Can't you see? I am doing an experiment."
Orochimaru glanced at his former teammate with a cold, indifferent look, then casually tossed the ruined villager at Jiraiya's feet.
The sight ignited Jiraiya's fury.
A battle between the three Sannin erupted in an instant.
Although Jiraiya would one day die at the hands of his own disciple, Nagato, it would be ridiculous to say he had been unworthy of the title of Sannin.
He was absolutely not weak.
He was unmistakably one of the legendary Sannin.
Jiraiya moved with practiced cunning. At the very start of the fight, he tore open the ceiling overhead and summoned a massive toad.
It was Gamabunta.
"Lord Jiraiya is really sharp. He's trying to blow this up so big that the Third Hokage can't just sweep it under the rug," Kenichi muttered, watching the enormous toad smash into the underground hall.
With a commotion like that, half the village would notice.
With so many witnesses, the Third could not possibly downplay what Orochimaru had done.
That was likely the very first thought that flashed through Jiraiya's mind when he chose his opening move.
"Jiraiya, you are still the same as ever."
Facing Jiraiya, Orochimaru's expression grew unusually solemn.
He opened his mouth and spat out a small snake, then drew a sword from the snake's gaping jaws and gripped it lightly in his hand.
Kenichi knew this was not a fight he needed to join.
Orochimaru's ability to escape was among the best in the world.
Besides, the Anbu and Root would arrive soon. If he stayed on the main battlefield, he would only complicate his teacher's retreat.
So Kenichi made a clean decision.
He turned and ran.
Orochimaru clearly understood his intentions and blocked several of Jiraiya's attacks, buying Kenichi the time he needed to slip away from the core of the battle.
But before he could leave the area altogether, Kenichi abruptly stopped.
A masked ninja stepped out in front of him, blocking his path.
A member of Root.
Kenichi recognized him.
This man had been responsible for security at the base and had also been tasked with monitoring Orochimaru's work.
"Does Lord Danzo have any instructions for me?"
Kenichi asked calmly, already gauging his opponent's strength.
Jonin level.
"Your assignment is to die here."
The Root ninja wasted no words.
Almost before the sentence had fully left his lips, he flickered out of sight and appeared behind Kenichi, sword thrusting straight through his body.
But the blade only pierced a clone.
"Hey, hey, hey, what happened to villains being long winded? You're not going to say anything more?"
Kenichi's voice echoed from within the trees, carrying a trace of dry mockery.
From the moment he saw this man, Kenichi had known he was not here for a friendly chat, so he had already laid his preparations.
"…"
The Root ninja remained silent.
He simply turned toward the sound of Kenichi's voice and unleashed Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique.
Flames roared through the forest.
At that same moment, the shrill cry of a thousand birds split the air.
Chidori.
The sound was loud enough to rattle the bones, but the true terror of that jutsu lay in its speed.
In the blink of an eye, Kenichi appeared behind the Root ninja, lightning chakra shrieking in his hand.
Even so, he still only pierced another clone.
Kenichi curled his lip in irritation.
Fighting Root operatives was such a hassle.
"All right, let's try that technique."
He surged forward again.
Thanks to his training with Guy, his taijutsu was quite decent, enough to keep up with this Root jonin for a short time.
In the midst of their close combat, a thin needle suddenly appeared between Kenichi's fingers, a needle formed entirely from condensed Yang attribute chakra.
Timing it with the moment the Root ninja thrust his sword, Kenichi stepped in, catching the blade with his palm while simultaneously driving the chakra needle into the man's lung.
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