Ch.74 Competition Begins

Karin was connected to other factions, so nurturing the half-damaged Mangekyou Sharingan had to be voluntary on her part. Forcing her would only risk the secret leaking, which could lead to the loss of the Mangekyou Sharingan, an outcome that wasn't worth the risk.

This was why Uchiha Shinji refrained from using his authority as the leader of the organization to force Karin into compliance.

Luckily, he still needed a week to practice the eye transplant surgery, which conveniently gave Karin time to consider her decision.

Looking at the now-empty round table in front of him, Shinji thought to himself, "If I could mark Deidara as well, I could use Jikibi to stay in contact with him."

Shinji still had his eyes set on obtaining the White Zetsu cells.

Getting Karin to transplant the half-damaged Mangekyou Sharingan could only restore the eye's activity, but her current Yang Release chakra likely wouldn't be sufficient to fully restore the sight in the completely blind Mangekyou.

To fully restore both the half-damaged Mangekyou and the fully-blind one, Karin would need to further advance her Sage Body abilities, which was where Deidara, who had joined the Akatsuki, came into play.

Shinji wasn't sure what the limit was for how many spiritual bodies he could mark with Jikibi, but he felt confident that marking seven or eight individuals should be possible. He was eager to meet Deidara again and mark his spiritual body.

As Shinji continued mastering the Mangekyou Sharingan inherited from his grandmother, Uchiha Naori, he began to sense a connection between the blind left eye's Wazunagi dojutsu and Jikibi. The true strength of this Mangekyou Sharingan might not lie in Jikibi, but rather in Wazunagi.

"Why did she abandon Wazunagi back then? Is Wazunagi stronger than Jikibi, or is there some deeper reason for her choice?"

Suddenly, a sharp pain in his eyes interrupted Shinji's thoughts.

He sighed and deactivated Jikibi.

Once his consciousness returned to his apartment, he took off his mask and removed his red cloud cloak, thinking to himself, "Without the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, everything feels so restrictive. I can't even push my limits freely."

After resting for a while, Shinji glanced at the clock on the wall and noticed it was still early. He resumed his studies, immersing himself in the medical textbooks.

The next morning, Shinji skipped shinobi academy altogether and went straight to Hidden Leaf Hospital, where he resumed learning organ transplant surgery from Kusadō Kaoru.

By this point, Shinji had acquired the basic qualifications of a medical shinobi.

Kusadō Kaoru had even begun considering recruiting him into the medical division, allowing him to officially join the Hidden Leaf Village as a medical shinobi.

For the next week, Shinji practically lived in the lab.

He performed over a hundred organ transplant surgeries on various animals, spending every day either performing surgeries or dissecting specimens.

Watching his obsession with medical ninjutsu, not only Kusadō Kaoru but even the other medical shinobis in the department began to believe that Shinji was a natural-born medical shinobi.

Meanwhile, the academy wasn't at peace either.

Since his crushing defeat at the hands of Kimimaro, Sasuke felt deeply humiliated. Over the course of the week, he challenged Kimimaro three more times, with the same inevitable results—total defeat.

This made Kimimaro's reputation skyrocket.

Many expected Kimimaro to ride this momentum and challenge the other two prodigies of the school, Uchiha Shinji and Neji. But to everyone's surprise, Kimimaro stopped challenging anyone.

This left many onlookers disappointed and made Sasuke feel even more humiliated.

Had Kimimaro also defeated Shinji and Neji, people would only praise Kimimaro's strength. But with Sasuke being the sole student defeated by Kimimaro, while Kimimaro refrained from challenging Shinji and Neji, Sasuke stood out as the only loser.

Now, even when walking down the street, Sasuke could feel the judgmental stares and whispers behind him.

In response, he intensified his already intense training regime. On some nights, even after Rock Lee had finished running laps around the village, Sasuke could still be found pushing himself to the limit on the training grounds.

Neji, too, was driven to train harder by Kimimaro's presence.

Although he appeared calm on the surface, Neji was secretly anxious, dreading the day when Kimimaro might challenge him.

Neji knew that while he was stronger than Sasuke at the moment, the gap wasn't significant. If he were to face Kimimaro, the outcome wouldn't be much different from Sasuke's.

Kimimaro's training was another level of self-torment. His relentless and emotionless practice left even seasoned observers uneasy.

And so, the already competitive environment at the ninja school became even more intense after Kimimaro's arrival.

Even students like Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, and Shino were pressured by their families to join the training competition.

While others didn't know what was happening, Shinji did—Orochimaru's plan had succeeded.

A week after the last meeting, Shinji once again activated Jikibi at 11 p.m., summoning the soul projections of Haku and Karin.

After a brief exchange, Haku asked, "Sir, no signs of demons this week either?"

"Correct," Shinji nodded.

It had been half a month since their last encounter with the invaders, and there had been no word from the "Lamp." This was unusual.

But there wasn't much Shinji could do.

The ninja world was vast, and he could only rely on the "Lamp" to detect invaders. However, the "Lamp" had been disrupted by the mysterious "Lampbearer," leaving Shinji in a passive position.

He didn't know whether the demons had stopped invading the shinobi world or if the "Lamp" was being interfered with, preventing it from detecting them. It was also possible that the invaders were preparing a bigger move.

After finishing the exchange, Shinji first cut off Haku's projection, then turned to Karin and asked, "Have you made your decision?"

Karin hesitated for a moment before asking, "Can I really ask for a favor from you?"

Shinji replied, "Yes, as long as it's within my power."

Karin stopped hesitating, "Alright, I'll do it!"

Shinji was elated and immediately began discussing the details of the surgery with her.

Karin's eyes were a rare shade of red, and after transplanting the half-damaged Mangekyou Sharingan, her eye color would change noticeably.

To address this, Shinji devised a plan—Karin would switch from wearing regular glasses to dark-tinted goggles.

Since Karin already wore glasses, this change wouldn't raise any suspicions.

Seeing how meticulous Shinji was, considering even the color of her eyes and the potential problems she might face in everyday life with one blind eye, Karin felt more at ease.

Once the details were sorted, Shinji said, "Now, tell me your request."

Karin took a deep breath and looked at Shinji's projection behind the round table. "I request that you save my mother!"

Shinji immediately understood, his voice turning serious. "The people behind you are using your mother to threaten you, forcing you to work for them, correct?"

Karin nodded vigorously.

Shinji uttered a single word: "Who?"

Karin responded with hatred in her voice, "The Hidden Grass Village!"