The Chimera Fusion Surgery had entered its final stage.
The most difficult technical challenges had already been solved by Orochimaru and Hiruko themselves, leaving only the remaining procedures to be handled by Root's medical ninja.
In many ways, Root functioned as a miniature version of Konoha.
The former Uchiha Clan Compound had once been considered a village within a village, but Root surpassed even that.
It possessed its own military forces, intelligence network, interrogation units, medical divisions, and scientific research teams. Nearly every department that existed in Konoha could also be found within Root.
Hayashi had no intention of abolishing these seemingly redundant organizations or merging them into the village's existing structure.
In his view, Root served a purpose that Konoha itself could not.
Just as many technologies were first developed in specialized laboratories before being adopted by military forces and eventually reaching the public, Root would serve as Konoha's frontier research facility.
The technology developed here would always remain ahead of what was available to ordinary shinobi.
Only after a project had fully matured would portions of it be distributed throughout the village.
The Joint Softening Technique developed by Orochimaru was a perfect example.
It remained impossible to mass-produce, and even now only five doses had been successfully created.
Of course, Orochimaru was fully capable of manufacturing more.
He simply saw no reason to.
One dose for himself and one for Hayashi had originally been enough.
The additional three doses only existed because Hayashi had repeatedly persuaded him to continue production.
The results had been excellent.
Hayashi was extremely satisfied.
Setting aside its more specialized applications, the technique genuinely enhanced a shinobi's combat capabilities.
The real issue was cost.
If Root devoted sufficient manpower and resources to further research, reducing those costs might eventually become possible.
That alone made it worthy of continued investment.
The same was true for numerous other projects.
Improved explosive tags.
Research into extracting and reproducing the Hōzuki Clan's Hydrification Technique.
Scientific ninja tools.
Each individual advancement might seem minor.
But if Konoha's tens of thousands of shinobi were equipped with technology even slightly superior to that of other villages, the accumulated advantage would become enormous.
Technology was productivity.
Because of that, Root would also become the largest consumer of funding in Konoha.
As the newly appointed Fourth Hokage, Hayashi valued Root even more highly than Orochimaru did.
He had never believed that controlling the shinobi world through Kotoamatsukami would solve every problem forever.
Reality was never that simple.
Unexpected situations would inevitably arise.
When that happened, Konoha would need genuine strength and practical solutions of its own.
In truth, Hayashi's vision for Root resembled the Hydra organization from his previous life.
Its ultimate goal was straightforward.
World domination.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru disliked the name.
After all, he was currently studying the Eight Branches Technique, and having an organization named Hydra under his watch felt inappropriate.
Otherwise, everyone could have proudly shouted, "Hail Hydra!"
The image alone was enough to make Hayashi laugh.
After entrusting the surgery to his subordinates, Orochimaru accompanied Hayashi on a routine inspection of Root.
As they walked through the underground facility, Orochimaru spoke in his usual hoarse voice.
"How does it feel to be the Fourth Hokage?"
"It's not bad," Hayashi replied with a smile. "There are endless documents to review and mission requests to approve every day, but I've mostly adapted to the rhythm."
The position certainly came with countless trivial responsibilities.
Even so, taking control of Konoha had gone far more smoothly than he had expected.
The Administrative Department, the most important branch of village governance, remained supported by the Third Hokage and Utatane Koharu.
Meanwhile, Himeji, Minato, Nawaki, and Shikaku were steadily learning the ropes as assistants.
The village's other major organizations were similarly secure.
Root remained under Orochimaru's control.
The Anbu was now led by Sakumo.
Kana commanded the Medical Corps.
Shinnosuke headed the Military Police Force.
Inoichi oversaw the Interrogation Division.
Kushina commanded the Barrier Team.
Every critical department was effectively run by Hayashi's closest allies.
Of course, this wasn't nepotism.
It simply reflected reality.
Long before Hayashi became the Fourth Hokage, the younger generation had already begun taking control of Konoha's power structure.
That was true influence.
If Hayashi had wanted to stage a coup before his official appointment, there likely would have been little resistance.
Fortunately, village affairs were running smoothly.
More importantly, Hayashi had no intention of personally handling every matter.
A capable leader delegated responsibilities to capable people.
Trying to seize every bit of authority for oneself only created inefficiency.
Konoha was merely a village, not the entire world.
Hayashi certainly had no desire to end up like Naruto in the future, buried beneath paperwork and unable to spend time with family and friends.
That would be the greatest failure of all.
Besides, if everything proceeded according to plan, he would only serve as Hokage for a few years.
Eventually, Minato, Nawaki, or one of the others could inherit the position.
Afterward, Hayashi fully intended to travel the shinobi world as freely as Tsunade did.
"By the way, Sensei, I'll be leaving Konoha for a while."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
Hayashi had come today partly to check on Hiruko's progress.
The real reason, however, was that he was preparing to leave Konoha.
More accurately, he was preparing to leave Earth.
Before doing so, he intended to transplant Hashirama's cells into his body.
The cells of the First Hokage could stabilize the Mangekyō Sharingan and prevent blindness.
Their effects were, in many ways, comparable to obtaining an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
"You've already found the entrance to the moon?" Orochimaru asked, visibly surprised.
Hayashi nodded.
Finding the moon's entrance through conventional means was nearly impossible.
In the original timeline, Naruto and his companions had only located it by following their enemies.
Hayashi lacked even a starting point.
Sending reconnaissance teams to search openly would attract attention and risk exposing information.
If Black Zetsu discovered the moon's entrance, the consequences could be disastrous.
There would be no need for the Eye of the Moon Plan.
It could simply release the Ten-Tails on the moon and destroy the celestial body, breaking Kaguya's seal directly.
That outcome was completely unacceptable.
Unable to conduct a large-scale search, Hayashi had instead focused on individuals who might already know the answer.
Fortunately, the Three Great Sage Regions each possessed ancient beings who had lived since the distant past.
Unfortunately, none of them proved particularly cooperative.
Katsuyu genuinely seemed unaware of the entrance's location.
Her gentle nature aside, her memory appeared remarkably vague.
Even if she remembered more than she admitted, she likely had little involvement with Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki's family and therefore possessed limited information.
The Great Toad Sage was another matter entirely.
Hayashi had sent Minato to inquire several times.
Each time, the ancient toad conveniently acted forgetful, behaving as though age had robbed him of all memory.
In the end, Hayashi was forced to seek help elsewhere.
His final option was the White Snake Sage.
Given its age, it should have known the answer.
At first, however, it stubbornly refused to say anything.
Hayashi visited repeatedly, pressing the matter so relentlessly that it nearly felt as though he was about to tear Ryūchi Cave apart.
Eventually, the White Snake Sage relented.
To be precise, it was afraid.
Afraid that Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki might one day come looking for answers.
Its attitude practically screamed that it had only spoken under duress.
Still, beneath that reluctance, the White Snake Sage was secretly delighted.
It had never particularly liked the Great Toad Sage.
In nature, snakes ate toads.
By all rights, Ryūchi Cave should have enjoyed the superior position.
Instead, the Great Toad Sage had leveraged its connection to Hagoromo and repeatedly involved itself in the affairs of the shinobi world, selecting chosen individuals and influencing history.
As a result, Mount Myōboku had overshadowed Ryūchi Cave for generations.
Now, someone was preparing to cause chaos on the moon itself.
The White Snake Sage could hardly have been happier.
Aside from the White Snake Sage, the person most excited about the moon expedition was undoubtedly Orochimaru.
The Ōtsutsuki bloodline fascinated him.
In his eyes, it was even more valuable than Hashirama's cells.
His only request was simple.
"Leave some alive."
He wanted research subjects.
In fact, Orochimaru had already begun considering whether he could use Ōtsutsuki genetic material to create an entirely new clone body for himself.
At this point, he no longer had any interest in borrowing Jiraiya's genetic material for such experiments.
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