"Meow~ Orochimaru, as expected, your research skills are completely maxed out!" Takeshi stepped confidently into the laboratory.
He was spotted almost instantly. At his shout, a full squad from the Military Police Force rushed over, staring warily. Only after the Hyuga guards carefully verified his chakra signature did everyone bow respectfully and disperse.
It wasn't that the guards couldn't recognize him. The black cat never used the front door. If something strolled through the main gate acting entirely normal, odds were it was an enemy in disguise, and no one could afford to be careless.
But today, Takeshi's brain had clearly glitched, he had actually used the front entrance. A genuine miracle.
"Hm? You actually used the door. How strange." Orochimaru snarked.
His clone had delivered Madara here earlier, which had nearly given the Sannin a heart attack. But he had seen countless storms, so he calmed down quickly. Of course, facing Madara, no one could truly remain calm. Orochimaru was currently racking his brain over how to safely dissect and study the legend.
"Meow~ sometimes I actually walk like a normal cat." Takeshi swept the sterile area with his senses.
"Dumping such a highly lethal person on me is giving me a massive headache. You really can't keep watch over him at your sanctuary?" Orochimaru muttered, rapidly sorting through thick scrolls.
Madara was locked in the heaviest containment room, wrapped in thick sealing scrolls and bound by direct Uzumaki formulas painted onto his skin. There shouldn't be any issues in the short term.
Even so, Orochimaru was deeply uneasy. Who knew if the ghost had some obscure method to burn through the tags?
"Of course not, meow. If I stashed him with me, Black Zetsu wouldn't dare show up. I scammed that parasite so hard in the snow it almost got sealed. It's probably terrified of me now." Takeshi was completely unashamed.
Orochimaru opened a reference scroll, gave the cat a dry glance, and went back to work. He couldn't be bothered to argue over the petty details. He was indeed curious about the creature's true nature, but dealing with the Uchiha was far more pressing.
"Brat, are you out there?" Madara's low voice passed straight through the reinforced wall.
Orochimaru's pale hands paused. He was absolutely certain he'd activated a Soundproof Barrier, yet his prisoner still sensed what was happening outside. Impressive.
"Meow~ open the door. I want a few words with him." Takeshi flicked his paw.
"Takeshi-sama, that's extremely dangerous..."
"That's Madara!" the Anbu guards hurried to warn him.
Even though the cat had brought the man in, the sheer instinct of undoing a containment door on Madara Uchiha screamed danger.
"Open it. With Takeshi-kun here, nothing will happen." Orochimaru dropped his scroll, formed rapid hand seals, and released the heavy lock. He'd been trying to figure out how to handle the prisoner, but with the cat present, he could study the real thing up close.
The heavy hinges groaned as the steel door swung open.
Madara sat rigidly inside, wrapped in so many sealing scrolls he resembled a thick paper cocoon.
"Meow~ was all this really necessary?"
"Ahem, we're not you. We have to be strictly cautious." And Madara could still casually project his voice through the barrier. Without the extra layers, they probably couldn't restrain him at all.
Orochimaru walked in and peeled one scroll away from the prisoner's face. Madara's eyes showed no anger or agitation. He simply rolled his stiff neck and stated, "Tell them this for me... childish seals like these are completely useless."
"When are you going to drop the poser act? In your pathetic state, you're calling this childish, meow?"
Takeshi slapped his paw down, and all the outer scrolls immediately fell away, just as Madara had claimed. If the man truly had the ability to break Uzumaki arts, then the outer layers really were toys. He couldn't move simply because Kushina's core seals were too suffocating.
"." Madara let out a soft, cold chuckle.
'Poser' was a strange modern word, but he grasped the disrespectful gist. How was this posing? He'd always carried himself this way. Back when he faced Hashirama...
Tch. Why was he thinking about that man again? Madara brushed back his wild hair, his thoughts violently tangled. If the ancient tablet had truly been altered, then his entire life's work was fundamentally flawed. And yet, he still couldn't fully accept it.
"I want to go to the Naka River Shrine."
"No, meow. If you leave now, we can't ambush Black Zetsu. If you behave and cooperate, I can give you the Rinnegan."
"Oh?" Madara's eyelids lifted sharply. He stared at the black cat in genuine surprise.
It was actually willing to return his supreme eyes? No. Something wasn't right. Was this creature deliberately baiting him? What was left to take? His greatest secrets were already in the feline's possession.
He propped his chin on his hand. "If you restore my eyes, I'll be far more confident in crushing Black Zetsu. In exchange, no matter what happens, I'll completely remove the Cursed seal from Shisui."
"Meow, one."
"One eye." Takeshi lifted a single paw.
Nagato had finally adapted to the immense ocular power, there was no way they were returning the entire set. Handing back a single eye was already an act of immense charity.
"One, huh. That's more than enough to handle a parasite." Madara lounged back in his chair, seemingly unbothered.
In truth, he was highly unwilling. A full pair vastly outclassed a single eye. But if a pair was permanently off the table, one was still a monumental boost.
"In that case, the target might arrive soon. We need to hurry."
The moment Takeshi finished speaking, he vanished from the cell. Orochimaru's body went completely taut. All of the outer scrolls were gone, and the predator was just sitting there, radiating overwhelming pressure.
The black cat just left like that? Was that really okay? Orochimaru took a slow, deep breath.
Forget it. So be it.
He scrutinized Madara's body, barely restraining his itching scalpel. He desperately wanted to dissect this man. Hashirama's cells and the Uchiha bloodline could apparently counterbalance each other. If he could forcefully stabilize that delicate equilibrium, he could wield both Wood Release and the Sharingan.
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