Even though the succession rights to the Foundation had slipped away from Orochimaru and landed on Hyuga Yu, Orochimaru was still technically the second-in-command of the Foundation in name.
He still maintained an office of his own within the Foundation's headquarters base.
Much like Ryoma Aburame was in charge of leading the Foundation's special operations squad, and Nonou Yakushi directed the intelligence gathering division, the Foundation, upon close inspection, was actually split into four core branches—the Assassination and Tactical Execution Division, the Intelligence Gathering and Analysis Division, the Special Abilities Research and Development Division, and the Logistics and Resource Management Division.
Stepping into the massive underground facility of the Foundation's headquarters, Hyuga Yu led Kakashi Hatake as they trailed behind Orochimaru. After winding across several interconnected, suspended iron bridges that ran through the sprawling labyrinth, they eventually came to a halt in front of an office bearing the sign: "Special Abilities Research and Development Division."
Compared to the central hubs of the other divisions in the Foundation, this particular office area appeared somewhat desolate. It wasn't that the structural scale itself was small, but rather... unlike the other branches that were heavily populated by shifts of stationed Foundation guards, Orochimaru's office—and the massive working expanse attached behind it that should have been bustling—was terrifyingly quiet, devoid of a single human silhouette.
Right then, Orochimaru pushed open the heavy office doors. Narrowing his eyes, he offered a half-smiling, mocking taunt toward Hyuga Yu, "Hehe, thanks to you, the Foundation placed all of my personnel under isolation and house arrest last night. Now, I've truly been reduced to a lone wolf~"
He paused, adding, "Elder Danzo really is favoring you blindly..."
Hyuga Yu was well aware of this development since he was the one who had proposed it to Danzo the previous night. However, he hadn't expected Danzo to move so swiftly, rounding up Orochimaru's internal factions within the Foundation overnight and completely stripping Orochimaru of his leverage.
Even so, Hyuga Yu didn't take the bait to comment on it. After all, contentions over succession had always been this ruthless.
Since Orochimaru had chosen to sit back and allow Hyuga Sodo to make a lethal move against him during yesterday's celebration, then this outcome was exactly what he deserved.
Yet...
What still left Hyuga Yu deeply perplexed was why Orochimaru had done it in the first place.
First staging a calculated threat, and then suddenly extending this bizarre display of goodwill...
What exactly was he playing at?
Unable to deduce the motive, Hyuga Yu simply followed Orochimaru into his office. Once inside, he turned his head back, instructing the boy behind him, "Kakashi, keep watch out here."
Then, as if still feeling uneasy, Hyuga Yu pointed toward Orochimaru up ahead and specifically cautioned Kakashi, "If I end up thrashing him inside in a moment, the second you hear any commotion, leave this place immediately. Run as far as you possibly can."
Kakashi's expression stiffened slightly before he gave a firm nod. "Understood."
Thud! The office doors sealed shut.
Having overhead Hyuga Yu's words that treated him with utter disregard, Orochimaru's countenance darkened slightly, his brow furrowing into a cold frown. Ever since he had forged his reputation as one of the legendary Sannin, he couldn't remember how long it had been since someone had spoken such overconfident drivel to his face. Yet, taking a deep breath, Orochimaru ultimately didn't lash out. He quickly restored his nonchalant facade, walking forward while turning his head back to offer a raspy chuckle, "We are all shinobi of the same village, why must we always resort to killing and violence?"
Only now did Hyuga Yu finally sweep his gaze across the interior of Orochimaru's office. It was a windowless room, its walls composed of seamless, cold-gleaming metal alloys. The sole source of illumination radiated from a massive, glowing glass cylinder situated right in the center of the office. Immersed within the green medicinal fluid of the container was a human-headed great serpent, formed by countless writhing, twisting snakes clustered together.
As Hyuga Yu stared at the human-headed abomination, the serpent actually blinked once at him...
The entire office was exceptionally vast, partitioned into two distinct zones. One served as a reception parlor for conducting business, while the deeper area further inside resembled a rudimentary laboratory. Various clinical instruments occupied all four corners of the room, and the central metal workstation was cluttered with a myriad of test tubes, some of the apparatuses actively venting wisps of toxic, bright-green vapor into the air.
Beholding this setup and catching the bizarre scent wafting through the office, Hyuga Yu's brow couldn't help but twitch violently. He directed a hard stare at Orochimaru. "This garlic-like odor... is that phosphine gas?"
"You're just conducting experiments with raw phosphine derivatives out in the open like this?"
A glint of astonishment flickered within Orochimaru's elongated golden pupils, though he didn't care about Hyuga Yu's warning in the slightest, nor did he have any intention of clearing away the highly toxic compounds. Instead, he leisurely strolled over to seat himself on the lounge sofa within the office zone, gesturing for Hyuga Yu to join him as he praised, "Tennin, you truly are exceptionally professional~"
"What exactly are you trying to accomplish?" Hyuga Yu knit his brows, fixing his gaze on Orochimaru as he sat down on the opposing sofa. "And what is the deal with that pair of eyes?"
Orochimaru didn't drag out the mystery. Reaching into his shinobi tool pouch once more, he retrieved the sterile container that had previously caught Hyuga Yu by surprise and placed it directly onto the low table between them.
Suspended within the clear glycerin inside that container was undeniably a pair of Byakugan.
Except, it was a pair of Byakugan that subtly shimmered with a distinct purple luster, completely contrasting against any standard Byakugan!
Orochimaru gazed down at the eyes on the table, speaking in a slightly melancholic, flat tone, "These are the eyes of my former disciple, Hyuga Masato."
"Hyuga Masato?"
Hyuga Yu pondered over the name for a good while before finally unearthing who this was from a distant corner of his memories—Hyuga Masato.
In the original canon timeline, this individual was a member of the Hyuga branch house who had been taken in as a student during the period when Orochimaru operated as a Jonin squad leader, alongside the likes of Anko Mitarashi. The original works had never explicitly detailed his name, but Hyuga Yu had heard occasional rumors regarding this person within the Hyuga clan in this lifetime.
Hyuga Yu had graduated from the Academy in Konoha Year 46, alongside peers like Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, and Might Guy.
Two years later, in Konoha Year 48, the batch containing Anko Mitarashi, Izumo Kamizuki, Kotetsu Hagane, and Hayate Gekko had also graduated. Hyuga Masato of the branch house had been one of the individuals in that exact group.
Unlike Hyuga Yu, who had been unfortunate enough to only be assigned a mediocre Chunin as a squad leader, Hyuga Masato, Anko Mitarashi, and a shinobi named Manabu Akamon had been exceedingly "lucky" to be placed into Squad Orochimaru.
(Note: As shown in the records, the first individual on the left was this person. The one wearing glasses in the center was Manabu Akamon, who later became a Konoha Jonin and operated as Orochimaru's internal spy, with his disciples being the familiar Misumi Tsurugi, Yoroi Akado, and Kabuto Yakushi. The woman on the far right needs no further introduction.) Different people, different fates. While Hyuga Yu had been desperately struggling to survive on the frontlines of the Third Shinobi World War, Hyuga Masato had once risen to become a shining star within the Hyuga branch house after being taken under Orochimaru's wing. Many within the clan had pinned great expectations on him, which was how Hyuga Yu had come to learn of his existence at the time.
Yet as time passed, Hyuga Yu gradually stopped hearing any rumors concerning this individual.
And now, nothing remained but a pair of Byakugan belonging to Hyuga Masato, displayed right before his face.
Hyuga Yu's expression grew cold as he looked across the table at Orochimaru. "If I remember correctly, Hyuga Masato was a member of the branch house. Given the presence of the Caged Bird, his eyes should have been automatically destroyed by the curse mark the moment he died."
"What did you do? To extract his eyes and even... alter them into this current state?"
It was a piece of obscure knowledge that Orochimaru actually lacked any deep interest in the Byakugan, one of the Three Great Dojutsu.
Even back when he had been commissioned by Tsunade to rescue Hyuga Yu, despite Hyuga Yu demonstrating formidable combat prowess, Orochimaru had directly voiced his lack of fascination with Hyuga Yu's physical body—completely devoid of the intense urgency, greed, and burning desire he would later exhibit upon laying eyes on Sasuke Uchiha.
But this wasn't because Orochimaru lacked the means to obtain a Byakugan. One of his own students was a Hyuga member, and in the later eras, his Reanimation Jutsu would allow him to directly summon and control top-tier branch house powerhouses like Hizashi Hyuga. For Orochimaru, obtaining a Byakugan was easy, and researching it was just as simple.
The fundamental reason that had pivoted his focus entirely toward the Sharingan was—
The Byakugan possessed very little research value.
Just as Hyuga Yu had discovered previously, a Byakugan was simply a Byakugan—a specialized physical organ. It didn't undergo mutations, it lacked a linear evolutionary path like the Sharingan, and it certainly didn't possess the plug-and-play convenience of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
What truly allowed anomalous, overwhelmingly powerful entities like "Hyuga Tennin" to manifest within the Hyuga clan was the "Tenseigan chakra" born from the synthesis of the Caged Bird and the raw lineage of Hamura Otsutsuki.
The evolutionary path of Hamura's bloodline lay not within these physical eyes, but within the deep development of the lineage itself.
By the same token, if Orochimaru truly wanted a Byakugan, rather than expending massive efforts trying to crack the complex architecture of the Caged Bird only to end up with a regular pair of eyes, he might as well target the Hyuga main house directly and gouge out a pair.
Yet the subsequent retaliation and trouble brought by attacking the Hyuga main house far outweighed the scientific research value a Byakugan could offer him. Rather than doing that, it was simpler to hire a Hyuga with coin or straight up take one as a disciple to include them in the experiments.
Consequently, to most top-tier powerhouses in the shinobi world who possessed a working brain, the Byakugan was deemed an asset that was unrewarding to pursue, yet yielded little regret if discarded.
However, at this moment, as Hyuga Yu's gaze rested upon the pair of Byakugan radiating a purple sheen on the table, his brow knit slightly. Possessing the higher-tier Tenseigan chakra, he could distinctly perceive that this pair of eyes belonging to the branch house clansman, Hyuga Masato, actually contained a trace of the most rudimentary form of "Caged Bird chakra."
Which meant—
Orochimaru had not only bypassed the Caged Bird, but had also managed to extract Caged Bird chakra from it?
Yet, this was blatantly unrealistic. As established before, a Byakugan was merely a Byakugan, while Tenseigan chakra was derived from the Hamura lineage; the two were fundamentally entirely different concepts.
Logically speaking, it should have been impossible for a standard Byakugan to spontaneously generate Caged Bird chakra.
And yet...
The scene unfolding before his eyes completely shattered Hyuga Yu's understanding.
This left Hyuga Yu feeling a wave of deep suspicion and uncertainty. He lifted his head, casting a chilling glare directly at Orochimaru as he waited for him to provide an explanation.
"Do not be angry, Tennin."
Orochimaru smiled faintly, and then slowly began to explain in his uniquely raspy voice, "It was precisely because of your legendary exploits. Near the end of November last year, Hyuga Masato felt deeply inspired, so he sought me out, begging me to help him crack the Caged Bird so he could attain a great power matching yours."
"I conducted research on the Caged Bird, but this curse mark jutsu is highly peculiar. Once branded, it cannot be undone except through death. Even with my methodology, I remained entirely helpless against it."
Speaking to this point, Orochimaru paused, leaning back against the sofa with his arms crossed, his fingers lightly tapping against his forearm as he spoke in a ghostly tone, "However, with your example paving the way, I deduced the possibility of using Medical Ninjutsu to bypass the Caged Bird. Furthermore, by using the intel available on you, I systematically eliminated the various types of Medical Ninjutsu you could have employed."
"Ultimately, I locked onto the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique [also known as the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique]."
"Your surgical procedure at the time must have involved gouging out a main house Byakugan, gouging out your own Byakugan, and within a fraction of a microsecond before the Caged Bird could trigger its self-destruction, transplanting the main house Byakugan to circumvent the activation of the curse mark."
"I arranged the exact same surgery for Hyuga Masato, but unfortunately..."
Orochimaru shrugged, turning to look at Hyuga Yu with a trace of mock regret on his face. "He died."
Hyuga Yu stared back at Orochimaru. From the man's expression, he could easily read that Orochimaru didn't regret the death of his disciple in the slightest; he merely regretted failing to successfully replicate Hyuga Yu's surgical feat.
To him, human lives were as cheap as dirt.
Furthermore, the process Orochimaru had deduced was incredibly close to the actual procedure Hyuga Yu had performed when transplanting Hyuga Motomitsu's Byakugan. Except, Hyuga Yu's surgery had involved countless other variables—for instance, Hyuga Motomitsu had actively triggered the Caged Bird himself, Hyuga Yu had already been blinded in one eye due to his battle against Kushimaru Kuriarare and Jinpachi Munashi, and Hyuga Yu's own surgical capabilities far outstripped any medical ninja Orochimaru could ever source...
A stack of complex, highly volatile factors had lined up perfectly, and only then did that single instance of eye transplantation achieve a fluke success.
Even if Hyuga Yu were thrown back to that exact day under those identical conditions, there was no guarantee he could pull it off a second time.
Right then, Orochimaru spoke up again, "The surgery was a failure."
He continued in a tone that sounded like he had stumbled upon a stroke of luck, "However, this operation managed to rescue Hyuga Masato's Byakugan from the shackles of the Caged Bird right before it died. Even I have to admit, the surgical plan you designed... truly is exceptionally professional!"
Hyuga Yu caught the critical detail hidden within Orochimaru's narrative. "What you're saying is—"
"You managed to acquire a main house Byakugan for Hyuga Masato?"
"And you successfully extracted Hyuga Masato's Byakugan while he was still bound by the Caged Bird?"
"Correct." Orochimaru narrowed his elongated golden pupils slightly, casting a glance at the pair of Hyuga Masato's Byakugan resting on the table as he laughed hoarsely, "This at least proves that your surgery can indeed isolate a branch house Byakugan intact."
"And precisely because of this, although my lovely disciple perished, it left me with a pair of freshly extracted, living Byakugan harvested from a Hyuga branch house member. And when it came into contact with the other Byakugan I had preserved from the Hyuga clan..."
"A bizarre phenomenon occurred—"
A mocking sneer surfaced on Orochimaru's face. "The moment I placed Hyuga Masato's Byakugan among the collection of other Byakugan I had gathered, it actually began to spontaneously consume the other eyes."
"Directly following that..."
"A peculiar, purple chakra!"
"Was birthed right from within Hyuga Masato's Byakugan!"
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