Just as Uchiha Yuan was about to greet Kakashi, he saw the three-tomoe Sharingan in Kakashi's eye socket.
Yuan was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized—Obito and Kakashi must have awakened their Mangekyō Sharingan by now, and Rin must already be dead.
Namikaze Minato was clearly not in a good state either, but he still forced a smile and asked Yuan a few questions about the mission. Once he confirmed everything was in order, he dismissed Yuan.
As Yuan and Shisui were about to leave the Hokage's office, Minato suddenly called out to them, "Yuan, wait a moment."
"Yes, Hokage-sama? Is there something else?" Yuan turned and asked.
"Yuan, you're from the Uchiha clan, so you should understand the evolution of the Sharingan. Kakashi isn't an Uchiha—his Sharingan evolving from two-tomoe to three-tomoe won't cause him any harm, will it?"
"It shouldn't. It just means his chakra consumption will increase. From now on, Kakashi will need to be more careful and precise in managing his chakra."
Upon hearing Yuan's answer, Minato visibly relaxed.
With Obito and Rin already gone, he didn't want his last disciple—Kakashi—to also fall into danger.
"In that case, if there's nothing else, I'll be going."
Minato nodded and turned his gaze toward Kakashi.
After leaving the Hokage's office, Yuan escorted Shisui home, then made his way to Orochimaru's laboratory.
Lately, Orochimaru had been focused on researching White Zetsu's corpse. When he hit a bottleneck, he would occasionally dissect corpses of bloodline limit users from other villages to refresh his mind.
The deeper he dug, the more fascinated Orochimaru became with White Zetsu. The creature was simply too mysterious.
"Orochimaru-sama, Asana, any new progress in your research these past couple of days?" Yuan asked the busy Orochimaru and Hyuga Asana.
Upon hearing Yuan's voice, Asana paused her work and replied, "Yuan, based on our analysis over the past two days, we've discovered that this body's internal structure is very similar to that of a human. Orochimaru-sensei even believes it was once human and was altered by some unknown method."
Yuan was a bit surprised. He hadn't expected Orochimaru to deduce that White Zetsu had once been human.
Asana, seeing Yuan's expression, thought he was just as shocked as she had been when Orochimaru first said it.
"Yuan, it might sound unbelievable, but based on multiple genetic comparisons, there's over a 90% probability that this corpse was once human," Orochimaru added.
Having read the original timeline, Yuan knew very well where White Zetsu came from. It really was human once—a product of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's Infinite Tsukuyomi.
But for Orochimaru to discover this through research alone—Yuan's respect for his scientific abilities deepened.
"Orochimaru-sama, confirming this guy was once human—is that of any use to us?" Yuan asked, shifting the topic.
"Of course," Orochimaru licked his lips, "Just that unique transformation technique alone—we might be able to learn it."
Yuan's eyes lit up. In the original story, White Zetsu had many special abilities. If they could be learned, they'd be very useful.
However, Yuan quickly calmed down. He hadn't come to talk about Zetsu—he had another goal.
"Orochimaru-sama, there's something I want to confirm."
"What is it?"
"Do you happen to have a horn from the Eight-Tails?"
Orochimaru glanced at Hyuga Asana, then nodded.
Asana's expression, hidden behind her mask, was a bit awkward. She really hadn't told Yuan about the horn, but Orochimaru clearly assumed she had leaked the intel.
Fortunately, Orochimaru didn't mind—he knew that Yuan and Asana had a close relationship.
Rather than pressing the issue, he simply shifted the topic. "Yuan, I can give you the Eight-Tails horn, but in exchange, I need more of that creature's corpses."
"How many?" Yuan asked.
"Ten."
"That's impossible." Yuan refused immediately.
He only had the five White Zetsu corpses he had killed in the Land of Bears. One was already in Orochimaru's possession—he only had four left.
"How many can you give me at most?" Orochimaru asked.
"One."
Orochimaru shook his head. "One's too few."
After some bargaining, they agreed on three White Zetsu corpses in exchange for the Eight-Tails horn.
Yuan took out the three corpses from his sealing scroll and handed them over.
Orochimaru checked them, then turned to Asana. "Asana, take Yuan to retrieve the Eight-Tails horn."
Asana nodded, took off her lab coat, and left the lab with Yuan.
"Yuan, how many more of those corpses do you have?" Asana asked after they left.
"One more. I had five in total," Yuan replied.
"Yuan, keep that last one safe. Don't give it to anyone. Orochimaru-sensei is close to a breakthrough. If you save it, we might be able to replicate some of his findings."
"Don't worry—I'll guard it well."
Asana led Yuan to a forest just outside the village.
After walking a few steps in the woods, she stopped near a pile of rocks. Forming hand seals, she dispelled a nearby barrier, revealing an iron door in the ground.
Opening the iron door, she and Yuan descended into the underground lab.
Yuan was surprised by the size of the space and the many strange items stored there.
Curious, he looked around, while Asana explained everything like a museum tour guide.
Soon, they reached the second underground level, where Yuan immediately spotted the Eight-Tails horn inside a glass container.
The horn was nearly two-persons tall. Standing beside it, Yuan could clearly feel the massive chakra it contained.
"As expected of the Eight-Tails—the chakra is immense." Saying that, he placed the horn and its container into his storage ring.
With this, Yuan now possessed the chakra of Four Tailed Beasts: One-Tail, Five-Tails, Seven-Tails, and Eight-Tails.
(To Be Continued...)