"Ten pairs of single tomoe, five pairs of double tomoe, five pairs of triple tomoe."
Aburame Ryūma gave Orochimaru a little show, swaying the glass jar in his hand so the Sharingan inside drifted and rotated.
Orochimaru checked them with a glance from a distance, then nodded in satisfaction.
He patted the arm sealed in the cylinder of fluid.
"This arm has perfectly fused Hashirama's cells with the Sharingan. Yin and Yang restrain each other, so there won't be any rejection. As long as Chihaya Tō connects the nerves for Danzō, it'll…"
"Don't explain that to me. I don't understand."
Ryūma raised a hand and cut him off, then stepped aside to reveal Konome Taketori standing behind him.
"Yozuru is the professional. As long as she checks it and says there's no problem, the trade goes through."
Orochimaru's gaze immediately shifted to Konome. His golden pupils flickered.
Careless.
He'd offended the auditor.
Konome had been watching the transaction in silence. Now, with everyone's eyes on her, she frowned.
No wonder Danzō insisted she personally come on this mission. It wasn't only for her combat strength. There was another layer to it.
She walked straight past the others and stopped in front of Orochimaru.
The rain curtain and mist split around her.
Click.
Pale fingers popped open the lid on the glass cylinder. A sour, astringent smell of nutrient solution drifted out as Orochimaru presented the arm to her.
"Yozuru, right? You'd better inspect it carefully."
His golden eyes darkened, the threat in them turning sharp.
"I plan to inspect it very carefully."
The owl mask tipped forward slightly. Hollow black eyes met snake pupils, and Konome's voice dropped colder, more chilling.
"If the Hashirama cells and the Sharingan inside this arm aren't balanced, my teacher will die horribly. Who knows what you tampered with?"
"Ahem."
Aburame Ryūma coughed into his fist.
He didn't know what it was with these two. To him, their backgrounds and temperaments were strangely similar, yet their auras clashed so badly that they were ready to fight after two sentences.
Konome gave Orochimaru one last icy look, then refocused on the pale arm floating in the cylinder.
Her Byakugan zoomed in through flesh and fluid. Inside, an emerald chakra core shone with dense vitality.
It really was that distinctive chakra core only Hashirama's cells could produce.
"Give me two pairs of gloves."
Orochimaru's expression shifted. He reached into his pocket and handed them over.
Hashirama's cells had a terrifying trait.
They devoured chakra and the energy of other organic matter.
You couldn't touch them barehanded, and you couldn't do what ordinary medic nin did, using Yang Release chakra as an insulating layer.
Konome asking for gloves the moment she approached showed she understood Hashirama cells intimately.
And asking for two pairs proved she was truly professional.
The nutrient solution used to store Hashirama cells was mixed with acidic and alkaline agents. A single layer of gloves could corrode and split.
To prevent accidents, experiments were done with double layered gloves, and extra pairs were always kept on hand. That was why she didn't even ask. She simply demanded them.
From a glimpse, you could see the whole. From one corner, you could judge the entire room.
That one sentence alone exposed her training and lab discipline with brutal clarity.
The killing intent in Orochimaru's eyes dimmed, replaced by interest. He was always unusually tolerant toward talented shinobi.
And the next sequence of actions proved his instinct right.
Konome pulled on the gloves, lifted the arm from the cylinder, then drew a kunai. She rinsed it clean with Water Release and dried it by igniting a small flame at her fingertips.
Sterilized.
She cut open the cross section first, used a mild Lightning Release to stimulate the neurons, then corrected dead tissue with medical ninjutsu.
Next she activated Hashirama's cells with Yang Release, observing whether the cells grew overly active, whether the Sharingan could suppress the invasive property.
Once confirmed, she let it heal on its own, then checked that the cells' division and recovery ability remained intact.
Orochimaru and the others stood and watched.
Konome's hands moved cleanly, efficiently, five nature transformations and medical ninjutsu woven together with a smoothness that carried a strange artistic elegance.
The kunai teased apart fascia. Threads of muscle fiber slowly wriggled. Hashirama's chakra jumped and boiled, still violently active even under Sharingan suppression.
"The Sharingan suppression isn't perfect. Hashirama's cells are still somewhat invasive."
Konome plucked a thin strip of tissue, studying it closely.
"I only used double tomoe on my end, so the effect is a bit weaker. Later, you can transplant triple tomoe yourselves. That'll lower the invasiveness further."
"And what if triple tomoe still can't suppress it?"
Orochimaru's magnetic voice carried a hint of impatience, like a college student sweating under a thesis defense panel.
He cared a lot about this trade.
Sharingan were a resource he could only get through Danzō.
To obtain enough of them, he'd even offered up one of Shin Uchiha's arms as payment.
He did have a few triple tomoe Sharingan.
But would he ever waste them letting Danzō decorate an arm?
Of course not.
So he'd thrown in five pairs of double tomoe to muddle through.
If single tomoe weren't so weak at suppression, he would've used those.
Chihaya Tō never left the village. Root's tool squads wouldn't discover him. Orochimaru hadn't expected Danzō to take this trade so seriously that he'd send an expert to verify the goods.
Now his little shortcut had been caught by someone who understood every screw and seam.
The difficulty of this deal just skyrocketed.
Konome answered calmly, without missing a beat.
"If double tomoe can suppress the cells until they stop going wild, triple tomoe will definitely suppress them completely. Keep the cells sealed in everyday conditions, then release the seal in combat. The performance won't deviate much."
Plop.
She tossed the arm back into the cylinder. Solution splashed, speckling the glass.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, killing intent flaring sharply.
Konome removed the gloves. She ignored that pressure completely and turned to Aburame Ryūma, who was waiting quietly for the verdict.
"There's a small flaw, but overall it's fine. The trade can proceed."
Ryūma nodded, unruffled.
"Good work."
"No problem."
Konome gave him a look of mutual understanding and walked back to Root's side.
Danzō's deal with Orochimaru had nothing to do with her.
She'd done her inspection properly, and on the side, she'd squeezed Orochimaru a little as a warning.
And she had to give Ryūma face, too.
During the inspection, she'd caught something in the corner of her vision, the "friendly" and "nervous" emotion points above Ryūma's head.
That was when she realized she might've overcomplicated things.
Danzō probably hadn't planned an inspection step at all.
When she asked Ryūma about the true mission earlier, he'd said it wasn't her business, so there was no need to tell her.
Ryūma insisting she inspect the arm was likely a spur of the moment decision.
Squeeze Orochimaru a bit.
Help her get even.
He gave her a chance to vent, she couldn't repay him by ruining the trade and sending him back empty handed to be punished.
A quiet, unspoken understanding.
"Heh. Sharp eyes, little one."
Orochimaru raised a brow. The killing intent in him melted like ice under sunlight. Since she hadn't taken the chance to sabotage him, he followed the flow and offered praise.
"Four nature transformations, solid medical ninjutsu too. Danzō found himself a fine disciple."
Konome shared the same calculation.
"I read your work back when I was in Root. Your discussion of Yin Release and Yang Release inspired me a lot."
She looked at Orochimaru's body, remodeled so heavily it barely resembled a normal human anymore.
Forget his character.
His talent was undeniable.
On human experimentation, he was an absolute authority. And he controlled the key senjutsu resources of Ryūchi Cave. They'd likely cooperate again in the future.
In front of real利益, petty friction meant nothing.
"Your theory that yin originates from yang was brilliant. I later confirmed it through experiments."
"Oh?" Orochimaru's interest sparked for real this time. His golden pupils brightened.
"You succeeded?"
"The process and results are valuable. I can't disclose them."
Konome smiled slightly, becoming the kind of person she once hated most.
"But I can tell you this. The Yin Yang conversion theory does exist."
The method for cultivating triple tomoe using Hashirama's cells was not something she would ever hand to Orochimaru for free.
If he wanted it, he could trade senjutsu resources for it.
"Not even a little more detail?"
"It involves the key to evolving the Sharingan into a higher stage. I can't."
Seeing Orochimaru's "excitement" emotion points rising, Konome's smile curved as she slowly reeled him in.
"Ahem."
Watching their atmosphere turn strangely warm, Aburame Ryūma had no choice but to interrupt them for the third time.
He'd sent Konome to inspect the arm to warn Orochimaru, to establish leverage for future negotiations.
He hadn't expected these two, who were moments away from killing each other, to start chatting like old friends and nearly forget the trade entirely.
"Come visit my underground base next time."
"We'll talk."
Orochimaru's eyes were bright as he extended the invitation. Konome refused, and he looked genuinely regretful.
"Let's exchange. Now."
Ryūma finally stepped forward, holding the jar of Sharingan.
Orochimaru shot Konome two more unwilling glances. He was deeply curious about her research, but seeing she didn't intend to continue, he forced himself to let it go.
He sealed the arm and handed it over as well.
"Wait."
Chō spoke suddenly. The two who were about to complete the exchange paused at once.
"Two unfamiliar chakra signatures are approaching the summit. Fast," Chō said grimly, hands clasped, eyes closed as he sensed.
Orochimaru and Ryūma exchanged a look.
The things in their hands were not meant to see the light.
Both immediately sealed them into scrolls.
Hum.
Purple chakra flared. Veins rose at the corners of Konome's eyes.
With her Byakugan's monstrous vision, the entire mountain turned transparent before her.
Below the cliff.
Two blazing chakra cores were racing toward the summit. The deep blue one was especially bright, like an aquamarine sun, searing itself into her field of view.
That amount of chakra was far beyond a normal shinobi.
She'd only felt something that vast from Naruto and the Nine Tails.
Orochimaru and Ryūma each activated their own sensing methods.
Kikaichū swarms spread outward. Infrared perception expanded. The moment they caught that abnormal chakra, both men frowned.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Two figures flashed over the cliff edge, landing on the flat ground of the summit.
Chō lowered his hands.
There was no need for sensing anymore.
Black cloaks with red clouds, dust smeared and slightly disheveled.
Rings, sandals, and purple nail polish.
A red tear troughed少年 and a towering blue skinned man with a shark face stood opposite Konome and the others.
"Itachi… this place is lively," Kisame Hoshigaki said, looking at the corpses carpeting the ground and the masked Root shinobi. His sharklike face twisted into a strange grin.
Uchiha Itachi swept the group with his Sharingan.
His gaze paused for a heartbeat on the small figure wrapped in purple chakra, then locked onto Orochimaru.
"Everyone. We have business with Orochimaru. Could you step aside?"
The instant Itachi's scarlet Sharingan swept over him, Orochimaru dropped his gaze, refusing to meet it.
"Persistent as a ghost."
His voice was clenched, the earlier calmness completely gone.
"They're here for you?" Aburame Ryūma asked, turning slightly toward Orochimaru. His expression barely changed.
Orochimaru touched the hard sphere in his stomach and forcibly suppressed the reflex to use Reverse Summoning and flee.
That treasure of the Taketori clan had been in his hands for nearly half a year, yet he still couldn't unlock its secret.
A blade couldn't cut it.
A hammer couldn't break it.
It couldn't be sealed.
It couldn't be summoned.
It showed no reaction to chakra or even natural energy.
It was like an indestructible lump of stone.
And the more unmovable it was, the more Orochimaru's obsession itched.
How could he abandon a relic left behind by the Sage of Six Paths so easily?
"Help me stall them."
"If you do, I'll hand it over after," Orochimaru said.
"That was bought with Sharingan."
"If I die, you'll get nothing."
He swallowed the scroll that sealed Danzō's arm back into his stomach, deciding on the spot to pause the trade.
Ryūma sighed.
"No choice."
He lifted his head. Behind the black lenses of his sunglasses, purple eyes met Itachi's gaze.
"I can only hold off Uchiha Itachi. The blue skinned big one is yours."
"Deal!"
Fearing Itachi's Mangekyō genjutsu, Orochimaru agreed without even a second of hesitation.
"Ryūma. Don't meet Itachi's eyes."
"Mm."
In a blink, Aburame Ryūma and Orochimaru formed a temporary alliance.
Konome looked up at Itachi and Kisame in their black cloaks with red clouds, and her head started to ache.
So much for "just destroy Raikodō Mountain."
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