Realizing his vision had been restored, Obito could hardly conceal his excitement.
When he had previously instructed White Zetsu to secretly intercept some chakra while coming into contact with his Sharingan, he hadn't held much hope. After all, pupil power was just pupil power; without the physical eyes, even if he obtained some energy, it didn't mean he could manifest Kamui.
However, he hadn't expected the pupil power intercepted by White Zetsu to be so pure. Not only did it restore his sight temporarily, but it also granted him a single chance to activate Kamui.
"Is it because they evolved into Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?"
In an instant, he pushed that question to the back of his mind. Now was clearly not the time for research. The pupil power White Zetsu had intercepted was like rootless duckweed—it would diminish with every use. His top priority was to reclaim his eyes as quickly as possible.
Indeed!
Even in such a dire situation, Obito wasn't thinking of immediate escape. He wanted to take back the eyes that belonged to him!
He calmed down instantly and began considering his next move.
Although he had been blind recently, he had silently memorized the layout of the laboratory. Combined with the general direction of the Group 3 lab that White Zetsu had told him earlier, he oriented himself and immediately phased into intangibility.
He knew that from the moment he activated intangibility, the clock was ticking. He didn't dare delay, passing through one lab after another in his intangible state until he found Group 3.
Naturally, the reason he found it so easily was that he spotted White Zetsu being experimented on atop a surgical table.
Thud, thud.
Obito exited his intangible state and struck instantly, silently knocking out the two researchers working on White Zetsu.
Bound to the table, White Zetsu cried out urgently, "Quick, save me! I know where your Sharingan is!"
As Obito untied White Zetsu, he asked, "Where?"
White Zetsu pointed: "In that storage room!"
Obito lunged forward, using his last bit of pupil power to activate Kamui. He phased through the storage room door and saw rows of nutrient jars arranged neatly inside.
Floating within these small jars, without exception, were pairs of crimson Sharingan.
"Damn it, which pair is mine?"
Obito was incredibly anxious. There were monitors in the temporary cell; his escape via Kamui wouldn't remain unnoticed for long. He could be exposed at any moment.
However, joy soon flashed across his face. Among the jars, one was clearly labeled with the characters for Kamui.
"It's my Sharingan!"
Obito immediately opened the jar, took out the pair of eyes, and roughly shoved them into his sockets.
A wave of dizziness washed over him, making him stumble. But he adapted quickly and was stunned to find that his pupil power had increased several times over. "This... this is the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?!"
Beep, beep, beep...
While Obito was lost in wonder, a piercing alarm blared through the lab.
"Not good, I've been spotted!"
Obito didn't dare stay. He scanned the storage room, his eyes lighting up as he snatched several culture dishes and shoved them into his pocket. He then activated intangibility to return to the Group 3 main lab.
White Zetsu was panicking. Seeing Obito emerge from storage, he rushed over: "We have to go now or it'll be too late!"
"Mm!"
Obito wasted no time on words. With a nod, he activated Kamui, first warping White Zetsu into the Kamui dimension before vanishing himself into the distorting vortex.
Some time later, the two appeared in the remote Land of Tea.
After tossing White Zetsu out of the Kamui dimension, Obito walked to the shore. Feeling the surging power within his eyes, he said excitedly, "I possess the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan!"
White Zetsu walked over: "Yes, we've truly gained a blessing in disguise! With these eyes, we no longer have to fear being hunted by them!"
Obito shook his head: "With just the Eternal Mangekyo, we are no match for 'A'."
White Zetsu asked suspiciously, "You... you don't actually want to try for the Rinnegan, do you?"
Obito smiled and countered, "Why not?"
Through eavesdropping on the researchers, he already knew the conditions for awakening the Rinnegan.
First, one needed a pair of Eternal Mangekyo at their peak intensity. Second, the chakra of Otsutsuki Indra and Otsutsuki Asura.
Uchiha Sasuke was the reincarnation of Indra in this generation, and the lab stored a vast amount of Sasuke's chakra for experimental material. Obito only needed the chakra he had just stolen to complete the Indra half.
As for Asura's chakra, that was even less of an issue.
The previous reincarnation of Asura was the First Hokage. White Zetsu was created by Uchiha Madara mixing the power of the God Tree with Hashirama's cells. Therefore, White Zetsu's body contained Hashirama's cells. Obito, having been transplanted with White Zetsu cells, already possessed Asura's chakra within him.
In other words, having reclaimed his eyes, Obito was only missing Sasuke's chakra to strike for the Rinnegan.
By sheer luck, when he was reclaiming his eyes, the culture dishes he grabbed were exactly the ones containing White Zetsu cells infused with a large amount of Sasuke's chakra. This wasn't entirely surprising; Group 3 had been attempting to evolve Obito's eyes into the Rinnegan, so it stood to reason they had the necessary materials ready in the storage room.
Learning this, White Zetsu was shocked: "You even managed to snatch Sasuke's chakra?"
Obito laughed: "They were too careless. The storage door can stop an ordinary shinobi, but it can't stop my Kamui!"
White Zetsu suddenly remembered something: "If that's the case, I have some news to tell you!"
"What news?" Obito asked.
White Zetsu replied: "I heard the Group 3 researchers say that after 'A' defeated Otsutsuki Isshiki, he seized a smaller Ten-Tails from him."
Obito's gaze sharpened: "What did you say?!"
White Zetsu continued: "I'm not sure; it was just something those researchers mentioned in passing. If you can awaken the Rinnegan, you'll have the ability to seal the Ten-Tails. If we can find Isshiki's small Ten-Tails, we might finally possess the strength to rival 'A'!"
At this moment, Obito's ambition was completely reignited.