Chapter 595: New Eyes, New Mission
A few days later.
In the early morning, inside a ward at Konoha Hospital.
The black-haired boy sat quietly on the bed, his eyes wrapped in a thick layer of gauze.
The eye transplant surgery had been a great success. After several days of rest, the day to remove the gauze had finally arrived.
"The wounds have healed beautifully, and the nerve connections are flawless!"
Wearing a white nurse uniform, Sakura Uchiha's hands glowed with a blue chakra light as she pressed them against Sasuke's face, completing the final examination.
"Alright, I'm going to start unwrapping them."
Sasuke Uchiha nodded calmly.
He kept his eyes tightly shut, his world entirely pitch-black. As the strips of cloth fell away, a sliver of light stubbornly pierced through the tiny slit of his eyelids, shattering the endless darkness.
With a stir in his heart, Sasuke snapped his eyes open. The long-lost brilliance of the world instantly flooded back into his vision.
"It succeeded."
The boy murmured under his breath.
Sasuke subconsciously took in his surroundings—the plain hospital room, his familiar hands, and the distant Hokage Rock visible outside the window. Through the visual field of his father's eyes, everything was incredibly clear, vivid, and detailed down to the absolute finest hair!
His vision had not only recovered to the level it was before awakening the Mangekyou, but he could actually see clearer than his past self, and clearer than his father ever could. Without a doubt, this was the impact of his violently surging visual prowess...
The gamble of the surgery had yielded its reward.
"Right now... I can see everything perfectly!" Sasuke looked down at his hands, marveling at the clarity.
"What about the Sharingan?" Sakura Uchiha asked. "Can you activate it into its Mangekyou form?"
The boy paused slightly.
His father, Fugaku Uchiha, as the clan head, had naturally awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan. But what about the Mangekyou Sharingan above that?
It wasn't a certainty. At the very least, among all the accessible records Sasuke had reviewed, he had never seen any mention of his father possessing the Mangekyou.
However, Sasuke wasn't worried about this. He already had the experience of awakening the Mangekyou once before, and he now possessed visual prowess and chakra far more powerful than before. Even if he couldn't activate it immediately, training for a short period would naturally bring him back to that stage.
He silently channeled his chakra, infusing it into his eyes. It felt a bit unfamiliar at first, but it quickly began to flow smoothly.
Consequently, those black pupils successfully shifted into a stark scarlet, and one, two, three tomoe emerged.
The three-tomoe Sharingan.
But this was not the end!
Sasuke continued to mobilize and pour his chakra into his eyes. He could feel that these new eyes could handle much more power, and could even... undergo a subsequent transformation!
Right before Sakura Uchiha's eyes, as a powerful chakra fluctuation suddenly manifested around Sasuke, the three tomoe in the boy's eyes began to spin frantically, gradually melting and reshaping. Finally, they formed a complex hexagram pattern.
"The Mangekyou Sharingan...!"
Sakura Uchiha stared at Sasuke's eyes in shock.
No, she was mistaken. This was something even further beyond it—the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan!
Sasuke snatched the mirror from the bedside table and stared at his own Mangekyou Sharingan in the reflection, instantly freezing in a daze himself.
Reflected in his pupils was a newly born Mangekyou pattern. Using Sasuke's original hexagram Mangekyou as the foundation, several dots and diagonal lines had been added to the apexes, making the new design look far more intricate, magnificent, and sinister.
He and Sakura looked at each other.
"Your father had also awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan during his lifetime?" The girl furrowed her delicate eyebrows slightly.
Sasuke shook his head.
"I've never heard of such a thing."
It was possible that his father had hidden the intelligence of possessing the Mangekyou from the outside world the entire time. Or perhaps... he only awakened it at the very final moment before his death.
Sasuke remembered Haruno Sakura saying that the intense shock of massive negative emotions was the true catalyst for awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan.
Leading one's own clan down the path of destruction, only to be personally slaughtered by his most beloved son—that would undoubtedly qualify as an overwhelming storm of negative emotions.
This was the first time Sasuke had ever tried to view the relationship between the clan, his family, and the village through his father's past perspective.
Father...
Back then, when he guided the clan toward rebellion, what was he thinking? And what was it that allowed him to calmly accept his execution?
For a very long time, the image of Fugaku Uchiha in Sasuke's mind was split into two opposing, superficial, and simplistic caricatures: a strict yet loving father, and a clan head who took the wrong path. It was only now, upon inheriting his father's eyes, that Sasuke finally began trying to truly understand him—to understand his complexity, his powerlessness, his helplessness, and his profound love.
Suddenly, Sasuke felt a deep yearning to see his father just one more time.
To have a cup of tea, and just sit and talk with him. To speak about the clan and the village, and to talk about their family and their children.
The moment the Fifth Hokage received the news, she immediately summoned Sasuke.
Under the guise of checking his eyes, the moment she confirmed the surgery was a success, Tsunade instantly handed down a new mission to Sasuke and Sakura. That desperate eagerness to force her employees back to work practically made her look like the living incarnation of a corporate sweatshop boss.
"Lord Hokage, can't you show a little consideration? Sasuke literally just had his stitches removed! And he's already taking on a mission?" Sakura Uchiha rolled her eyes.
"It's fine, Sakura." Sasuke didn't mind at all, smiling as he said, "After resting in the hospital for so many days, my body is actually getting a bit restless. I need some action!"
With that, he unfurled the mission scroll and began reviewing the details.
"...Orochimaru?"
"That's right. According to reliable intelligence," Tsunade glanced at Sakura Uchiha and said in a deep voice, "there are signs that Akatsuki is contacting Orochimaru. It seems they want to re-admit that slippery fellow back into their ranks."
Sakura Uchiha added in a conversational tone, "Orochimaru used to be a member of Akatsuki before he defected for unknown reasons, after which Akatsuki hunted him relentlessly. But now, having been beaten so severely by us, it looks like Akatsuki is willing to patch things up with their former traitor!"
Sasuke looked at the mission scroll, his brows tightly knit.
"Is our mission to eliminate him?" he asked coldly.
"If possible," Tsunade smiled faintly. "But eliminating that guy is no easy feat; his ability to escape is second to none. Your primary mission is to prevent Akatsuki and Orochimaru from joining forces and to destroy their cooperation plans! Of course, capturing or killing Orochimaru would be even better."
She paused, then continued, "You must move fast! Complete the mission before they reach an agreement! Kakashi, Hinata, and the former Anbu Team 14 (consisting of Shino, Yugao, and Sakura) have already gone ahead to scout. They are responsible for locating Orochimaru's hideout and providing reconnaissance and backup support. Your rendezvous point is at Nidus Town, located right on the border between the Land of Rice Patties and the Land of Fire."
"Are there any other questions?"
The young man and woman exchanged a glance. From each other's eyes, they could see a boundless surge of confidence.
It was just Orochimaru...
Sasuke, armed with his brand-new eyes, and Sakura Uchiha, who had never fought a battle independently before, both felt a surging urge to test their mettle!
Sakura smiled faintly, resting her hands on her hips as she said, "No problems here!"
Tsunade nodded. "Very well... Then, Sakura Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha, hear your orders! Operation 'Snake Capture' begins immediately!"
"Move out!"
The blonde woman stood up, fiercely waving her hand as she barked out the order with soaring spirits.
"Yes!"
The youths' expressions turned solemn. They bowed slightly, and with a swift swish, vanished from the office via Body Flicker.