Staring at the object submerged in the vat of formaldehyde—or some other unidentified chemical cocktail—Ren Uchiha's jaw dropped in sheer disbelief.
"This is..."
"Correct," Orochimaru's lips curled into a faint, eerie smile. "This is the Eight-Tails!"
Ren silently added a mental correction to his teacher's grand statement: The Eight-Tails' horn.
Even though he knew Orochimaru eventually came into possession of Gyūki's biological tissue, seeing this item—which shouldn't logically exist in this capacity yet—left Ren reeling.
The object in the massive glass cylinder was indeed the horn of the Eight-Tails, severed by a young A during a rampage years ago. However, it wasn't the original severed horn. This was a complete, three-meter-long replica grown from a tiny sample Orochimaru had collected after placing the previous Jinchuriki, Blue B, under a genjutsu to orchestrate a rampage.
In the original timeline, this feat of bio-engineering was only perfected during the Fourth Great Ninja War by Kabuto Yakushi. At this point in time, it should have been nothing more than a finger-sized scrap of flesh.
Sensing Ren's confusion, Orochimaru spoke. "Remember the day I gave you the Curse Mark cultivation scrolls?"
Ren thought back to the night of the Nine-Tails' suppression. His eyes widened. "You mean—"
"The iterated Senju cells used on the Zero-Tails... they work on the Eight-Tails as well?"
"The technology is still flawed," Orochimaru explained, crossing his arms as he looked up at the gargantuan specimen. "But for short-term use, sealing this sample into your body as a 'pseudo-Tailed Beast' should provide roughly half the power of the actual Eight-Tails. There should be no issues."
"Think of it as a disposable battery. Once the chakra is exhausted, the horn will vanish, leaving behind only the original sample dust to be extracted. The damage to your body from such an extraction is, for you, negligible."
Orochimaru's raspy laughter echoed in the lab. "With this kind of power, you'll have more than enough to turn the Five-Kage Summit upside down!"
Ren nodded eagerly, practically pressing his face against the glass. He exhaled, fogging up the surface, and rubbed it clean with his sleeve. His current chakra reserves compared to his "Maxed-Out +20" gear was embarrassing—like owning a Ferrari Enzo that could hit 280 mph but being stuck in first gear during rush hour.
He had been worrying about his engine's fuel, and here was Master Snake delivering a Burnout Paradise DLC pack right to his door!
"Heh... heh heh... good stuff!" Ren cackled. "I've never fought a battle with this much 'budget' before! I'm going to crash into them like a freight train!"
Orochimaru's eyes flickered with a hint of amusement, which was quickly masked by a predatory, abyssal greed. He took one last look at the vat and turned to walk deeper into the lab, his voice drifting back to Ren.
"On the table, you'll find the recalculated drifting coordinates for Turtle Island. Once you've sealed the Eight-Tails sample, go if you wish. But remember—improve yourself as much as possible before the Ghost Festival arrives... Ren Uchiha."
With that, Orochimaru was gone.
Left alone in the silence, Ren's joyful grin slowly faded. He looked at the horn and realized the terrifying implication of Orochimaru's words. If Orochimaru could grow a full Eight-Tails horn from a scrap of DNA and infinite Senju cells... did that mean he could now mass-produce Jinchuriki?
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Unming City.
In the basement of a derelict cathedral built in an Orthodox architectural style, a small, black-robed figure stood before a headless statue. Two figures lay prostrate at its feet, dead for only a short while, their chests pierced with clean, transparent holes as if struck by a lance.
A pool of blood spread slowly across the floor.
The small figure grunted, pulling a jagged black spear from their own chest. They slumped against the floor, wiping a trail of blood from their lip. The information extracted from those two Cloud ninjas swirled in their mind.
"Ren Uchiha..."
"That idiot... he really didn't die! And he's here in Unming City. Assassinating the Daimyo in five days?"
The figure gripped the blood-stained spear, their eyes flashing with a cold, absolute resolve.
Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed through the chapel. A red-haired man wearing an Iwagakure headband and monk's robes emerged from the shadows. His head was wrapped in blood-soaked bandages. It was Rōshi, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, who had previously been "home-runned" by Ren.
He looked at the dead Cloud ninjas and then at the small figure, a crazed glint in his bloodshot eyes. "Well done, Hidan!"
Rōshi spat on the ground, his teeth bared in a snarl. "Cloud ninjas again? They never stop!"
Ever since Kitsuchi's Great Moving Earth Core had devastated the inner city, relations between the Stone and Cloud had collapsed. The Cloud was now hunting Rōshi, who was heavily injured and lacked a "Perfect Jinchuriki" bond to help him heal.
"Soon," Rōshi hissed, his eyes burning with madness. "Five days from now... Ren Uchiha... and you Cloud bastards..."
"You're all going to die!"
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