Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 206 Eye Transplant and the Birth of an Artist

Konoha Village, the home of the Uchiha clan.

Tonight should have been a joyous night, as the eldest son of clan leader Uchiha Fugaku was born, and the entire clan was celebrating. Even the Third Hokage sent someone to deliver a congratulatory gift.

However, at this moment, a chilling atmosphere permeated the clan's territory.

"Did you catch him?"

Fugaku Uchiha sat in the inner room, blood streaming from his eyes, his voice low and menacing.

"No," the clansman kneeling outside the door gritted his teeth and said, "That person was too cunning. After we surrounded him, he actually self-destructed."

"Self-destruct?" Fugaku frowned slightly.

"Yes. He had explosive tags on him, but they left nothing after they detonated. We only found this..."

A bloodstained piece of paper was handed in. Fugaku took it and traced the patterns on it. The incomplete design resembled the crest of a certain family.

"Fugaku".

Mikoto Uchiha's voice came from inside the room, filled with worry: "Your eyes..."

"fine."

How come nothing's wrong?

During the fight, he was forced to use the kaleidoscope. His eyes, which were already nearing their limit, finally couldn't take it anymore. His vision became more and more blurred every day, and today, all he sees is light and darkness.

"Chief, the infirmary staff have arrived."

As soon as he finished speaking, Orochimaru and Tsunade walked in from outside. One of them happened to be passing by, while the other was on duty.

"Let me see." Tsunade stepped forward, and Fugaku Uchiha endured his discomfort as she examined him.

After a moment, Tsunade said, "It's more serious than I thought. The eye tissue has already started to die, and the nerves are atrophying. In at most a month, you will be completely blind."

Orochimaru leaned closer, his snake-like eyes narrowing slightly beneath his purple eyeshadow: "The Mangekyou Sharingan... truly a wondrous thing. The more you use it, the faster your eyesight deteriorates, eventually leading to complete blindness."

"Is this the time for Orochimaru to bring this up?"

Orochimaru shrugged: "I'm just stating the facts. Since I'm going blind soon, a transplant is the only option."

"Transplant?" Fugaku asked.

Orochimaru continued, "Get a new pair of eyes. While your nerves aren't completely destroyed yet, we can transplant a new pair of eyes to preserve your vision. As for whether you can retain the Sharingan's power... that's certainly a worthwhile research topic."

Tsunade frowned and said, "Orochimaru, do you mean transplanting the eyes of an ordinary Uchiha?"

"Otherwise, do you have three tomoe?" Orochimaru said. "But I'm curious whether ordinary eyes can continue to develop three tomoe."

"I can provide a pair of three-tomoe jade pendants." An aged voice came from outside the door.

Uchiha Kakuno pushed open the door and entered, followed by a young clansman. The master was sitting in a wheelchair, clearly having broken both legs.

"Elder Fire Core..."

Huo He waved his hand: "This child is from a collateral branch, and he has good talent, having awakened three tomoe. However, his eyes were severely injured during a mission a few days ago and cannot be saved. Rather than wasting them, it's better to give them to the clan leader."

Tsunade examined the eyes and nodded, "They're still usable. Fugaku, what's your opinion?"

Fugaku remained silent for a long time. The power of the Mangekyou Sharingan was his only means of protecting his clan. If he lost this power after the transplant, could the Uchiha clan still maintain its foothold in Konoha?

But if one becomes completely blind, one is completely unable to do anything.

"Let's do the transplant," he finally said.

The surgery lasted all night.

Tsunade performed the surgery, with Orochimaru assisting. The two worked in perfect harmony, carefully transplanting the two three-tomoe Sharingan eyes into Fugaku's eye sockets.

"alright."

Tsunade wiped away her sweat: "The rest depends on your recovery. If all goes well, you'll be able to see again in a month."

Fugaku closed his eyes, feeling the unfamiliar chakra emanating from his new eyes, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

"By the way, have you found out about the assassin's background?"

"No," Elder Huohe said, shaking his head as he took out the half of Tonghui again.

When Orochimaru saw the pattern, his expression changed; clearly, he recognized the family crest.

The roots?

He smiled slightly, but said nothing.

-

The Land of Wind, Sunagakure Village.

In the dead of night in the desert, a red-haired boy sits cross-legged on a sand dune, surrounded by the remains of human bodies.

At thirteen, he was shorter than his peers, but he had eyes that were not commensurate with his age—calm and indifferent.

"It still doesn't work."

He muttered to himself, casually severing an arm from a corpse and carefully examining the muscle texture at the break.

A year ago, he learned all the puppetry techniques he could. The White Ten-Finger Secret Technique, the Red Secret Technique, the Black Secret Technique... He learned everything Granny Chiyo knew; and he even created his own techniques that Granny Chiyo didn't know.

Crows, ants, and salamanders are three types of puppets whose power far surpasses that of ordinary puppets.

But he wasn't satisfied. No matter how strong ordinary puppets were, they were still just puppets. They could only use physical attacks and couldn't unleash ninjutsu. When faced with a truly powerful opponent, they were ultimately just toys.

"If puppets could be made from humans, would they be able to unleash the power of that person in life?"

This idea had been brewing in his mind since he was eight years old. Living people have chakra, meridians, and flesh and blood; if a corpse could be transformed into a puppet, that would be true art.

Finally, in the year he became a Jonin, she asked Granny Chiyo for the secret manual of the Human Puppet Technique.

That was a forbidden technique of Sunagakure, mastered only by generations of puppet masters. But the old woman sternly refused him, warning him not to dabble in such unorthodox methods.

Scorpion laughed: "A crooked path? You use puppets to kill people, and that's the righteous path; I use corpses to make puppets, and that's the evil path?"

Since his mother-in-law wouldn't give it to him, he would create it himself.

The Mind Manipulation Technique is a secret technique he created over several months. It involves inserting special chakra needles into the target's brain to control their thoughts and actions. The controlled person appears normal, but their mind is completely under his control.

The first test subject was Yura, a boy in his class.

The ninjutsu was very successful, and Yura unknowingly became his spy. Later, through his connections, he sent her to prison as a guard.

"Go to the cell block and bring out three prisoners, alive." This was his first order.

However, the truth was soon revealed, and Yura was punished and reprimanded.

Scorpion finally turned his attention to the sand bandits in the desert.

He himself had lost count of how many corpses he had dissected. Each corpse was a failure, and each failure brought him one step closer to success.

"The flow of chakra requires a complete meridian system... Flesh and blood will decay, requiring special preservation... The ninjutsu used during one's lifetime requires the brain to be preserved..."

He silently recorded his thoughts in his mind, and one day he would create the perfect human puppet.

At that moment, a group of fleeing vagrants were brought before him. Scorpion stood up and looked down at them: "Don't be afraid, it's just an experiment. You will become art in his hands."

Art, however, has always been a solitary pursuit.