"What kind of ability is this? It's too bizarre! No wonder Sarutobi Asuma died at his hands."
The two ANBU who were still uninjured grew even more anxious. The technique was far stranger than the Mind Transfer Technique used by the Yamanaka clan.
Kakashi Hatake forced himself to stay conscious and opened his Sharingan, attempting to locate a flaw in the technique for the two ANBU.
The Zabuza assimilated body raised his kunai once again.
For him, even losing his heart would not mean death. At worst, it would only affect his combat performance.
"…Forget it. If everyone ends up severely injured, Kakashi Hatake won't be able to return to Konoha in his current condition."
"Shadow Clone Technique."
The assimilated body lowered the kunai and formed hand seals.
Bang! Bang!
Two shadow clones appeared, and the three of them rushed toward Kakashi Hatake together.
The two ANBU who could still fight finally let out a sigh of relief. What they feared most were invisible attacks.
At that moment, Kakashi Hatake staggered to his feet, as if declaring that he could still fight evenly.
The two ANBU clashed with the shadow clones.
Meanwhile, Kakashi Hatake stood there blankly.
He had fallen into a genjutsu.
"Ah!"
Kakashi Hatake screamed again.
His Sharingan was forcibly torn from his eye socket.
The intense pain broke the genjutsu, but his injuries were already severe. With the added trauma, he lost consciousness immediately.
"Got what I came for. I won't play with you anymore."
The Zabuza assimilated body turned and prepared to leave.
Of course, he did not flee immediately.
Instead, he acted for a moment, pretending that he had just used a forbidden technique and was suffering heavy aftereffects. His two shadow clones were destroyed by the ANBU, and he himself appeared too injured to continue fighting, forcing him to retreat temporarily.
The two ANBU exchanged glances and abandoned the idea of pursuing him.
Kakashi Hatake was gravely injured and unconscious. If both of them chased after Zabuza, Kakashi Hatake would be left vulnerable.
If one pursued while the other stayed behind, the one who pursued would be in danger.
Even wounded, Momochi Zabuza was far beyond their level.
"Withdraw first. Contact the other ANBU in the Land of Fire and have them send medical ninja immediately. Kakashi Hatake must not die."
The older ANBU made the decision quickly.
He briefly checked Kakashi Hatake's injuries and performed basic treatment.
One ANBU carried Kakashi Hatake on his back.
The other carried the body of their fallen teammate.
The mission had ended in failure.
In the ANBU's judgment, dealing with Momochi Zabuza would require at least three full ANBU squads—especially now that Zabuza had obtained Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan. His strength would only increase.
The Zabuza assimilated body ran for a short distance before stopping.
He knew the ANBU would not pursue him.
"With this Kamui Sharingan, dealing with Obito Uchiha will become much easier."
Obtaining this Sharingan had been his true objective all along.
Obito Uchiha's Kamui ability was simply too troublesome.
Even Uchiha Madara had needed a Kamui Mangekyo Sharingan to counter another Kamui Mangekyo Sharingan.
If Madara had possessed another method, he would not have needed to steal Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan in the original timeline.
"The Kamui Sharingan is useful for far more than that. Others who obtain it merely gain a spatial eye technique. But the original body and I are different."
"With the Absolute Control ability, we can accelerate our mastery of the Kamui space. Eventually we'll understand that power better than Obito Uchiha himself."
"And from there… learning the Flying Thunder God Technique becomes possible."
The Zabuza assimilated body dug out his own left eye and replaced it with Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan.
His original eye was crushed in his hand.
There was no need to create another Tomie clone right now.
The Sharingan spun rapidly.
It transformed into the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Feeling the power of Kamui space, the Zabuza assimilated body could sense his combat strength rising dramatically—at least doubling.
Spatial abilities were simply too overpowered.
Soon, the spinning Mangekyo faded back into an ordinary eye.
After assimilation, Zabuza's bloodline had become that of Uchiha Fujie.
Because of this, after transplanting Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan, he could freely control when the eye was active.
Unlike Kakashi Hatake, it would not constantly drain his chakra.
"Next, I need to watch out for Obito Uchiha."
"He never bothered reclaiming the eye while it remained with Kakashi Hatake. But now that it's with me… he'll definitely come for it."
Now that the Zabuza assimilated body possessed the Kamui Mangekyo, he no longer feared Obito Uchiha very much.
Obito's strength relied heavily on Kamui's intangibility.
Once Kamui was countered, Obito Uchiha would become far less threatening—arguably easier to deal with than one of the Five Kage.
Perhaps it was time to collect a little interest from him.
"Still… this battle proved something."
"If I don't rely on the Eight Gates or the abilities of other clones, my combat strength isn't particularly impressive."
"The only reason I'm ahead of the other clones and assimilated bodies is because of the Eight Gates."
"It seems I need to further strengthen my Water Release and swordsmanship."
Perhaps because he had assimilated Zabuza, this body's talent leaned heavily toward blade techniques and Water Release.
Even if other clones used Absolute Control to learn abilities developed by another clone, they could never replicate the same level of mastery.
Take the Aizen clone's genjutsu, for example.
Other clones could learn it.
But none of them could cast illusions as effortlessly as the Aizen clone—releasing genjutsu with every movement, as if genjutsu itself had taken human form.
Only the original body was truly exceptional.
In fact, among all of them, the clones' talents were closest to the original body.
Assimilated bodies might begin with slightly higher strength, but their potential was lower.
Clones possessed exactly the same bloodline as the original body.
Assimilated bodies combined the original body's bloodline with that of the assimilated individual.
Each had its own advantages and disadvantages.
"There's no reason to remain in the Land of Fire anymore."
"The Sharingan is mine now. Many people will be interested in an eye like this outside Konoha's control."
"Besides Obito Uchiha, others will come looking for me as well."
"And that means plenty of opponents to sharpen my skills."
After reaching that conclusion, the assimilated body left the Land of Fire.
If too many powerful enemies surrounded him, things would become dangerous.
The Zabuza assimilated body was no longer traveling with Haku.
For now, it was inconvenient.
Haku had been sent to the Aizen clone.
At this point in time, Haku had not spent long with Zabuza. He could not tell that the current Zabuza was no longer the same person.
Their bond was still shallow.
Not only Haku.
Karin had also been taken away.
With the Aizen clone's strength, taking Karin from the Grass Village had been effortless.
Karin was extremely valuable.
If the sensory technique developed by the Kawakami Tomie clone eventually proved inferior to Karin's Mind's Eye of the Kagura, then temporarily inhabiting Karin's body would be worthwhile.
As long as assimilation had not fully completed, the original body—Uchiha Fujie—could terminate the process at any time.
So Karin would remain safe.
Meanwhile, in the Ninja Academy of Konoha, Uchiha Fujie continued refining chakra.
His chakra reserves had already grown considerable.
Most people had to be careful when extracting chakra. Overdoing it could damage their cells.
But Uchiha Fujie had no such concern.
Even if his cells were damaged, his Hyper Regeneration ability would repair them instantly.
"Has Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan been secured?"
"I need to obtain the Flying Thunder God Technique as soon as possible."
"Konoha may be safe, but it's not convenient for training."
Uchiha Fujie originally intended to fuse Mangekyo Sharingan and awaken the Eternal Mangekyo.
But within Konoha, too many restrictions existed.
He could only abandon the idea for now.
Only after Danzo Shimura was fully assimilated could he safely perform the fusion inside Konoha.
In the end, everything still revolved around Danzo Shimura.
To learn the Flying Thunder God Technique—Danzo was necessary.
To fuse the Eternal Mangekyo—Danzo's Root organization provided the safest location.
Even the later stages of revenge against the Konoha F4 depended on Danzo.
However, Uchiha Fujie believed that one of his clones could awaken the Eternal Mangekyo first.
If he did not possess absolute control over his clones, he would never dare allow such a thing.
Unlock 100+ advance chapters on P@treon — every follow inspires me to keep going!
patreon.com/legacyverse1
PLEASE SUPPORT MY WRITING ON P@TREON