— — — — — —
The moment Orochimaru heard what it was, his eyes lit up as he stared at the vial in his hand like it was treasure. He held it close and licked his lips before chuckling with satisfaction.
"This is perfect! Absolutely perfect!" he said, grinning. "What a generous gift! Way more valuable than the little things I gave you. Hehe... I'll gladly accept this one without shame."
Over the past few days, he'd just received sea king meat, spirit-infused tobacco, and the body training method from Renzo.
His body had leveled up a lot from those—his physical strength, even his mental state had improved.
And now, here came the Uzumaki Sage Body bloodline serum.
Everyone knew the Uzumaki clan was famous for two things—huge chakra pools and insane vitality.
With this in hand, Orochimaru finally felt confident he could master Sage Mode.
It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to train it before—it was that he didn't meet the requirements. Now? Things were different.
He quickly pulled out a blank sealing scroll, sealed the vial carefully inside, and tucked it away close to his body.
Then he turned back to Renzo, eyes gleaming with interest. "Looks like your research into bloodline limits and genetics goes way deeper than I imagined, Renzo-kun," he said with genuine admiration.
"You even cracked the Uzumaki bloodline and managed to create something like this?! Compared to you, I'm way behind!"
Then, with eyes full of curiosity and a hopeful grin, Orochimaru asked tentatively, "By the way… have you, by any chance, managed to decode the Wood Release bloodline and the First Hokage's Sage Body too?"
He had a strong suspicion—was Renzo's current sealed-up state the result of injecting those into himself? Maybe the transformation was so intense that his body couldn't suppress the overflowing power, hence the sealing.
It wasn't out of the question. We're talking about Wood Release and the First Hokage's Sage Body here!
Orochimaru had spent a long time studying Hashirama's cells. He knew just how powerful that stuff was.
Compared to the Uzumaki bloodline and Sage Body, he wanted thateven more.
Renzo just shrugged playfully. "Not yet! I mean, I don't have the original Hashirama cells, do I? Unless, Uncle Snake, you can get me a bit?"
"You really expect me to believe that?" Orochimaru chuckled.
"Speaking of which, a while back Danzo totally lost it—someone raided one of the labs we used to share, and apparently something really important got stolen. He even sent me a furious letter about it.
"I dug around and found out—this lab got completely cleaned out. Silent and clean. Not a trace left."
Orochimaru gave Renzo a knowing smile. "Don't tell me that wasn't you. There's no one in Konoha who could pull something like that off... except you, Uchiha Renzo."
"Damn," Renzo whistled, shaking his head. "As expected of you, Uncle Snake. Your intel work is spot on. Makes me even more excited to team up and take Danzo down."
Honestly, he was starting to think Orochimaru had infiltrated Danzo's supposedly untouchable Root division.
"Don't change the subject!" Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "You've probably got a good stash of Hashirama cells by now, haven't you? Give me a sample!"
He was clearly drooling for it.
"Sure," Renzo said casually. "Once we're back, I'll split a small sample with you—enough for research. But I want to share the results."
He didn't mind. If Orochimaru could develop something from it, he could always trade or borrow it. Saved him the effort.
"Deal! Thanks—sharing is no problem at all," Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with excitement.
"So it was you after all," he thought. "Damn impressive."
Renzo just stood up and stretched. "Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's wrap up the battles here quickly. I'll get Clan Head Fugaku to back you up. It's time for the Uchiha name to shine."
And with that, he vanished from Orochimaru's tent.
"Ooh? Fugaku?" Orochimaru muttered, a spark of interest flashing in his eyes.
Based on what he knew, Fugaku's power shouldn't be enough to meet Renzo's expectations.
But if Renzo said it so confidently... then could it be? Did Fugaku awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan?
He hadn't noticed anything before. But now, things were getting interesting.
"Tsk tsk... very interesting," Orochimaru muttered with a twisted grin, licking his lips.
— — —
The very next moment, Renzo appeared inside Fugaku's command tent.
"Who's there?"
Fugaku jumped, instinctively going on high alert as he stared at the sudden intruder. But when he saw Renzo's face clearly, his expression shifted to mild shock.
"Renzo? It's you? You're allowed to leave the village now? And what are you doing here—did something happen to the clan?"
Renzo just waved it off and casually found a chair to sit down in. "Relax. The clan's fine. And the Third Hokage has no idea I left the village. I used the Flying Thunder God to get here."
"What?!" Fugaku's eyes went wide, a mix of surprise and joy in his voice. "You mastered the Flying Thunder God? The Third actually let you learn that jutsu? That must mean he trusts you quite a bit."
"Don't test me," Renzo said with a smirk. "It was just a reward for my past achievements—and a bit of compensation for dragging me back to the village. It also had to do with me helping Asuma."
"No need to overthink it, Clan Head."
"I'm here now because I want you to wrap up this war ASAP. It's been enough. The ones who needed to die are dead. The rest? We can't afford to lose any more."
Fugaku sighed and shook his head with a bitter smile. "I know that too. But it's not entirely up to me. It depends on whether Kiri is willing to pull back—and Orochimaru's stance matters as well."
Of course he wanted the fighting to end. Did he look forward to watching his clansmen die every day?
Even when it was those in the clan who opposed his leadership, their deaths still hurt. They were still Uchiha.
"You don't need to worry about that," Renzo said, seeing right through his thoughts. "I've already talked to Orochimaru. He's on board. He's going to go all-out and try to end this fast."
"As for your side, I need you to use your Mangekyō Sharingan and help Orochimaru secure the victory. Can you do that?"
Yep. Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyō recently after the death of a close friend.
That's war for you. You never know who's gonna die. Some of Fugaku's allies and supporters didn't make it either. Not a huge number, but enough.
"…What?"
Fugaku froze. Then—swooch!—he shot up from his seat, staring at Renzo in disbelief. "How do you know about that? I haven't told anyone…"
Then it hit him.
He turned sharply toward Renzo. "So you… You've awakened your Mangekyō too? And not recently—you've had it for a while, haven't you?"
That would explain how Renzo could see through his condition so easily.
And there was no doubt in his mind now—Renzo's strength far surpassed his own.
Otherwise, he would've noticed something was off with him a long time ago.
Renzo chuckled. "Bingo. I've had my Mangekyō for a while now."
Fugaku's gaze flickered, something unreadable behind his eyes. He asked in a low voice, "Then you should know… overusing the Mangekyō leads to blindness, right?"
"And… are you sure the Uchiha are ready to face the Third Hokage and Danzo head-on?"
"Showing off my Mangekyō—and yours too—might draw attention we don't want right now. Are you really sure this won't backfire?"
The last thing he wanted was to give the Third and Danzo a reason to strike early. Or to make things worse for the clan.
Renzo nodded calmly. "I've thought of all that."
"As for the blindness—that's only true for those with normal Mangekyō evolution. I don't have that problem. In fact, I can even lend you some of my ocular power to help offset the strain on your eyes."
"And about the Third and Danzo—I have a plan."
"My goal is to have the Uchiha earn massive merit for the village in this war—so much so that Danzo and even the Third feel threatened and desperate."
"That's when I'll strike. When they're cornered and forced to make a move, I'll have all the justification I need to crush Danzo and drag the Third down in the public eye."
"It's all prep—for the Fourth Hokage's rise to power… and for ushering in a new era for the Uchiha."
When he made his move, he wasn't playing games.
No slow grinding. No political dance.
One strike. Total knockout.
He planned to hit Danzo and the old monckey so hard they'd never recover.
.
.
.