"You seem to be mistaken."
Orochimaru's grin widened into a sharp, sarcastic smile. "Setting aside the danger, the body-enhancement surgery I perform gives a huge boost to a ninja's strength. You think just asking me is enough to get it?"
Jinsuke froze, snapping out of his noble sacrifice mood. His passionate resolve cooled instantly.
But before he could speak, Orochimaru continued, "And that's not counting my fee. Just the cost of the surgery alone is thirty-five million ryo."
Jinsuke's eyes went wide. He was completely stunned.
Thirty-five… million ryo? How could it be that much?
Even an S-rank mission only pays one or two million. In this war against Kumogakure, only a handful of people even earned S-rank pay. Most mid and upper chuunin only get A or B-rank rewards.
Thirty-five million ryo… that's almost what it would cost to hire the entire police force!
Fugaku frowned as well. If thirty-five million ryo could guarantee another Mangekyou Sharingan in the clan, he might consider it. But for an experiment? That price was way too high.
The room fell silent. Everyone was shocked by the sky-high cost—everyone except the medical-nin.
They knew the truth: Orochimaru must have included the price of some rare equipment in that figure.
But knowing it was one thing. Saying it out loud was another, so they kept quiet.
On the other side, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura exchanged a look and let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The whole process was unpleasant, but at least the result was fine. They didn't completely ignore an Uchiha hero, and they didn't hand out any real benefits either. Everything followed procedure well enough to keep the clan calm.
"Now you understand."
Orochimaru gave Jinsuke a sidelong glance. "If Shisui hadn't earned such great merit this time—and if the elders hadn't told me to share—do you really think I'd perform surgery for free?"
Shisui gave a weak smile, not sure what to say.
Utatane Koharu's face turned dark. She knew Orochimaru was taking another jab at her and turned her head away, refusing to look at his annoying face.
On the bed, Jinsuke's face turned pale again. He had come with the spirit of sacrifice, ready to give his life so Shisui could see again. But Orochimaru's words crushed him completely.
Money, favors… this was all so cold and practical.
Wasn't this the time to talk about something more noble?
Like "the Will of Fire" or something?
Orochimaru licked his lips, a faint, twisted smile on his face.
He really did want an obedient Uchiha elite to speed up his First Hokage cell research.
But as he said before, the surgery was still extremely risky—almost certain death.
What if something went wrong and the subject died?
If he killed a Leaf shinobi in a human experiment—even he, Orochimaru—couldn't bear the consequences.
Not to mention, after that, no one would ever volunteer again.
His reputation, for now, was still important. He couldn't let it rot inside the village just yet.
So, if he wanted to operate on an Uchiha jounin, he needed to change his approach—come up with another way to say it.
There's nothing wrong with the surgery itself. With a cost this high, how could there be a problem…
Even if something goes wrong, it would only mean you're the problem. You're getting the surgery for free, what more do you want?
You were the one begging for it in the first place!
Tsk tsk… how shameless!
Orochimaru curled his lips into a slight smile. After being tricked by Genie for so long, it's not like he didn't learn a thing or two.
"Thirty-five million ryo. I can pay it."
Uchiha Jinsuke gritted his teeth and forced the words out.
He was still young and didn't want his wish to fail just because of money. That would be too awful.
Of course, Jinsuke wasn't stupid. As he thought about raising such a huge amount, his eyes turned to the clan leader.
For Shisui's Mangekyou Sharingan, he believed the clan leader wouldn't make him pay alone.
Seeing the hope in Jinsuke's eyes, Fugaku gave an almost unnoticeable nod.
Fugaku couldn't bear to give up the Mangekyou Sharingan, and besides, with such a high price, the surgery should be worth it.
Jinsuke was already an elite jonin of the clan. With one more step, even if he didn't awaken Mangekyou, he would at least be Kage-level.
This deal wasn't really a loss.
Before Orochimaru could speak, Utatane Koharu said, "I don't agree with this."
She turned to Orochimaru, her face serious. "The risk is too high. This surgery isn't a simple surgery anymore. If Jinsuke dies on the operating table, do you understand the consequences, Orochimaru?"
She paused, then added, "And Orochimaru, Hiruzen would never agree to this surgery either."
Hearing this, Orochimaru's face darkened, his gaze turning cold as a chilling aura spread from him.
Koharu's breath caught, but she kept her brows furrowed, refusing to look away, her eyes full of warning.
This wasn't just to stop Shisui from regaining his sight—it was about Orochimaru himself.
She knew very well, and so did most of the higher-ups in Konoha, that Orochimaru was obsessed with chasing immortality, and his bottom line kept sinking lower.
Experiments on enemy ninja bodies were something they could turn a blind eye to, but if they let him start with their own ninja, who knew how far things would go?
Even worse, if something like "surgery failed, Jinsuke died" happened, the village would definitely start spreading rumors.
After the Hatake Sakumo incident, Koharu was certain of that.
But Orochimaru was not like Hatake Sakumo. He was not someone who would tolerate being slandered. If this escalated, the best outcome would be him defecting from the village.
After seeing Orochimaru's terrifying strength during the war, how could Koharu let that happen?
The two stared each other down for a while, until Shisui suddenly spoke, his voice sincere. "Please, both of you, don't go through so much trouble for me."
Then he turned his head toward where Jinsuke had spoken. "Jinsuke, Orochimaru-sama already said it. Maybe in two or three years, when the technique is more mature, I can have the surgery. For just a few years, I can't let you risk your life for me."
"But…" Jinsuke wanted to speak again, but Shisui cut him off. Though his eyes were closed, Jinsuke could feel his pleading gaze. "Don't make this harder for me."
Jinsuke opened his mouth, then lowered his head in defeat.
Since the person at the center of this said so, Orochimaru had no reason to insist. He gave Koharu a cold snort and walked out of the medical room.
Fugaku handed Shisui to the medical ninja and quickly followed after him.
"Orochimaru-sama, is there really no way to save Shisui's eyes?"
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