Yuuki left the dueling arena as soon as Chōza announced Natsuri's victory.
Yuuki didn't need to worry about the rest; the minor scratches Natsuri had just sustained would be handled by medical Ninja.
Natsuri was receiving congratulations from her companions in the arena, with Naruto being the most excited, as if he had won himself.
Sasuke just whispered a quick 'congratulations' before his face quickly fell; out of their three-person team, he was the only one who had lost.
Not to mention Sasuke, anyone else would have found it equally unbearable.
Natsuri turned her head to look at a certain spot, and a hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes when she found it empty.
Yuuki was now in Orochimaru's laboratory.
Yuuki sat on a chair with his legs crossed, looking left and right, while Orochimaru stood beside him with his eyes closed.
If there hadn't been no wall in front, Orochimaru's appearance at this moment would have strongly resembled someone contemplating their misdeeds facing a wall.
After a few minutes, Orochimaru opened his eyes.
"It has a very similar nature to the Chakra produced in the laboratory, and it has a natural suppressive effect on common Chakra, but I still need to compare them to see if they are the same kind!"
After stating his opinion, Orochimaru asked with a smile.
"So, Yuuki-kun, from your perspective, is the Chakra produced in the laboratory also transparent?"
Yuuki nodded in affirmation.
"I see, I noticed two other people's Chakra in the arena, each with a different color. Yuuki-kun, do you have any other samples?"
Yuuki recalled his past observations and, besides Sasuke and Naruto, bundled all the other people he had observed into an illusion and gave it to Orochimaru.
Then Orochimaru closed his eyes again to observe carefully, while Yuuki idly pondered what dinner would be tonight.
Half an hour later.
"I never thought my Chakra would be so colorful!"
Orochimaru's first words upon opening his eyes were a sigh of emotion.
Yuuki shot Orochimaru a rather speechless look. Don't you know what you're made of?
Orochimaru was the most dazzling and colorful person Yuuki had seen from his special perspective; even the once vibrant Naruto had to concede defeat in front of Orochimaru.
Knowing his joke wasn't very funny, Orochimaru didn't continue the topic.
"This is a very important discovery, Yuuki-kun. If you had told me earlier, the research progress would have been much faster."
"What, is this kind of thing very important?"
Orochimaru pondered for a moment, then cautiously said.
"I suppose so. This provides me with a new direction. If possible, I would like more samples, not just observations, but preferably a portion of Chakra from all samples."
"No problem. So, when can you expect a breakthrough on your end?"
Yuuki could create the conditions, but he also wanted to get results as soon as possible.
After all, clarifying the truth behind Chakra one day earlier meant identifying the enemy one day earlier, allowing for more appropriate preparations.
This was why Yuuki was now trying everything to hinder the Eye of the Moon Plan; he was unwilling to fight an unprepared battle.
Facing this familiar A-type question, Orochimaru gave the classic B-type answer.
"I'm afraid I cannot give you an exact number, Yuuki-kun. After all, at the moment, there is only a general direction and some speculation. Everything still needs to be confirmed through experiments, which is also why more samples are needed."
Yuuki naturally fully trusted this Orochimaru, who had been modified by Kotoamatsukami, and didn't feel that he was being misled.
Seeing that he couldn't ask for anything more, Yuuki changed the topic.
"Have you found anything from the Eight-Tails body brought back last time? You know the initial discovery was made on the Eight-Tails."
It was that trip to the Eight-Tails that led Yuuki to acquire Orochimaru.
"The newly revived Eight-Tails no longer has the same effect as before. Most of the research still relies on the Eight-Tails tissue I collected earlier; the new Eight-Tails only has a little reference value."
Orochimaru spoke rather euphemistically, but Yuuki understood the implication.
The Eight-Tails body collected this time was mostly useless!
It made Yuuki now feel like rushing to the Hidden Cloud Village and killing the Eight-Tails again.
Compared to the large piles of Eight-Tails bodies now, they couldn't compare to the few scraps Orochimaru had collected back then.
The only difference was that the previous Eight-Tails had been killed by him.
Slightly suppressing the thought in his mind, Yuuki made a mental note of this as a backup plan.
If Nagato planned to make a move next time and Orochimaru still hadn't made any progress, Yuuki wouldn't mind killing the Eight-Tails again then.
Nothing was more important than his family living their lives peacefully and securely, nothing!
After chatting with Orochimaru for a while, it was quitting time. Yuuki habitually offered some encouragement before leaving, then went home.
Hmm, dinner tonight would be for four people.
Meanwhile, Ōnoki, who was quite upset, completely lost his appetite.
His initial thought of merely trying to fool Zetsu and Obito and be done with it had faded considerably; Konoha had to be taught a lesson!
On Ōnoki's desk lay the report Kitsuchi had sent back, which included a newspaper.
The headline on the front page boldly declared:
[Tsuchikage Ōnoki trembled in awe of Hokage Yuuki's might, almost fleeing!]
Following that was a series of accompanying images that vividly illustrated the words in the headline.
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