— — — — — —
"Alright, come with me to the research department. Time for the injection!"
With that, Renzo led the group down toward the R&D department.
. . .
Before long, they reached the third basement level of the facility.
"Whoa… this place feels super high-tech. Totally different from everything upstairs!"
Obito and the others were wide-eyed, glancing around in amazement.
"Orochimaru! The serums and everything are ready, right?" Renzo stepped into a lab and casually asked.
"All ready. Leave it to me. Who wants to go first?" Orochimaru licked his lips as his gaze swept across Obito, Kakashi, and the others like he was looking at lab rats.
A chill ran down their spines.
They couldn't help remembering all the creepy stories they'd heard about Orochimaru.
This wasn't exactly reassuring.
All of them turned to Renzo with pleading looks in their eyes.
Renzo gave them a deadpan look. "Relax. He's not gonna do anything weird to you. Get on with it already. What are you all, shy schoolgirls?"
Then he added, "I'm heading out for now, Uncle Snake. I'll come pick them up later."
With that, he grabbed Kurenai, teleported, and disappeared from the room—
—leaving the others behind to face Orochimaru's intense, unblinking stare.
Kakashi, Obito, Asuma, and Rin: "…"
(Motherf—!)
They mentally let out a string of curses.
— — —
The next day
At Renzo's private training ground, the same group reunited.
Renzo grinned. "So? How do you all feel? Didn't I tell you it'd be worth it?"
"No complaints here! Thanks, man!"
"You're a legend!"
"Seriously, thank you!"
"Thanks so much, Renzo-kun!"
The four of them responded one after another, clearly in high spirits.
They felt stronger than ever.
"Alright, go get used to your new powers. Obito, you stay with me for a sec."
Renzo waved the rest off and walked toward a nearby stone bench, where he casually crossed one leg over the other.
"Come on, Obito. Show me those Sharingan."
"Huh?"
Obito blinked, confused for a moment. Still, he activated his Sharingan—and sure enough, three tomoe spun in each eye.
"Oho?"
Renzo raised an eyebrow. "Both of them are three-tomoe already? Not bad!"
"Hehe…"
Obito rubbed the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. "They were still two-tomoe yesterday. I hit three after getting the Sage Body bloodline."
Renzo wasn't surprised.
The Sage Body was known to boost the evolution of the Sharingan.
That said, Obito clearly had the potential to begin with.
"You probably already know—three-tomoe is just the start. Next are the Mangekyō and then the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, right?"
Obito nodded, a hint of envy in his eyes.
He'd only recently learned about the Mangekyō and Eternal Mangekyō from Renzo.
He finally understood what those giant chakra constructs were during Renzo's fight with the Uchiha Madara—Mangekyō abilities!
Super cool, honestly.
He wanted one too! So badly!
"I've got a method that might help you awaken your Mangekyō. But heads up—it could mess with your mental state a bit, maybe give you a bit of psychological trauma. Still want to try?"
Renzo grinned as he asked.
Yep. He wanted to help Obito unlock his Mangekyō—and ideally, just like in the original story, get Kamui.
That was the tricky part. But Renzo was confident enough to give it a shot.
"Wait, really?! You can actually do that?!"
Obito froze for a second, then broke into a wide grin.
Renzo might as well be a god at this point. Was there anything he couldn't do?
"I'm in! Please, I'm counting on you!"
The next second, Obito dramatically dropped to his knees in a begging pose.
Renzo: "…"
Not far away, Kakashi and the others watched with deadpan expressions.
"What is that idiot doing this time?" Kakashi sighed.
"Probably something about the Mangekyō," Asuma guessed. "Anyway, let's get back to training. That's Uchiha business."
Back at home the night before, his father, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had gotten really hyped when he found out Asuma had gained both the Sage Body and the Swift Release. He tested him over and over like a madman.
Then, for the first time in ages, they shared a drink together.
Asuma could tell his dad was genuinely happy. And a lot of the frustration and resentment Asuma had been carrying? Gone, just like that.
All thanks to Renzo.
So yeah, Asuma was more grateful to him than ever.
Sure, what happened to his old man did have something to do with Renzo… but even then, Asuma had never once blamed him.
Quite the opposite—he'd been thankful from the start.
Renzo had changed him. Changed his fate. Taught him so much.
As for what happened to his old man?
Honestly, in Asuma's view, it was just karma. The old man brought it on himself.
You mess up, you deal with the consequences.
---
"..."
"Alright, get your butt up already, or I'm not helping you anymore!"
Renzo shot Obito a deadpan look as the guy clung to his leg like a shameless kid.
"Wait, wait, wait! I'm up! I'm up!" Obito scrambled to his feet, eyes sparkling. "Please, boss, tell me what I have to do!"
It was the Mangekyō Sharingan, man!
The power he'd been dreaming of!
Shame? What was that?
"You don't need to do anything," Renzo replied casually, pointing to a stone bench nearby. "Just sit and watch."
"Huh?"
Obito blinked in confusion, but didn't hesitate. He rushed over and sat down like a student waiting for a lesson, staring eagerly at Renzo. "Okay! I'm ready! What now?"
"Look into my eyes."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Renzo activated his Eternal Mangekyō and locked eyes with Obito, who looked back instinctively.
"Genjutsu Art: Limited Tsukuyomi!"
Now, this wasn't the same Tsukuyomi that Itachi or Madara would use in the future.
This one was something Renzo had created himself—an S-rank+ genjutsu technique inspired by the idea of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, merged with his own experience in illusion crafting.
It dragged the target into a perfectly simulated virtual world of Renzo's own design.
And for this one, he'd recreated the events from the original timeline.
To make it more convincing, he even sealed away all of Obito's memories from the moment Renzo had saved him, Rin and Kakashi—so the illusion would feel like reality to him.
...
Half an hour later
"AHHHHH!!!"
"NO!!! RIN!!!"
"KAKASHI! I'LL KILL YOU! YOU LYING BASTARD!! HOW COULD YOU??!"
Obito suddenly screamed in anguish.
His eyes snapped open, blood tears streaming down his face. Both Sharingan spun violently, the tomoe whirling faster and faster, distorting—morphing into something new.
They were transforming—but seemed to stall just before completing.
Without missing a beat, Renzo used [Fantasy Creation] to generate a small amount of pure ocular power and injected it into Obito's eyes.
Finally, they completed the evolution—a perfect pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, just like in the original timeline.
Kakashi: "???"
Asuma: "????"
Rin: "What the heck is wrong with Obito?"
Kurenai: "No idea. Let's go check it out."
The four of them walked over curiously.
"It's done."
Renzo stood up with a smile, looking down at Obito.
"What's done?" Kurenai asked.
But the moment she and the others saw Obito's eyes—two fully awakened Mangekyō—they all froze in surprise.
"Huh? Wait... Are those... Mangekyō Sharingan?!"
All of them were stunned.
"KAKASHI! DIE!! YOU LYING, BACKSTABBING TRAITOR!!!"
"I WILL KILL YOU!"
Obito, still stuck in the illusion's emotional aftershock, hadn't snapped out of it. The second he saw Kakashi, his rage boiled over—and he instinctively activated both eyes, both Kamui!
"Memory Seal—release!"
Before Obito could go berserk, Renzo swiftly sealed the surrounding space, blocking the Kamui from activating, and then released the memory seal on Obito's mind.
Just like that, all the memories he'd sealed came flooding back.
Obito froze.
"What the hell was that all about?" Kakashi muttered, still shaken.
He definitely felt like death was right at his throat just a second ago.
"Yeah! What's with Obito? Why'd he suddenly lose it?" Rin asked, equally confused. "And… how did he awaken the Mangekyō?"
"Relax, relax," Renzo waved it off. "It was just a little experiment I've been working on. A Mangekyō Awakening Protocol."
"I created a genjutsu that replicated the events from back when I rescued you guys from Uchiha Madara."
"In the illusion, I didn't show up. Obito went through everything, watched you die, Rin... and saw Kakashi kill you with his own hands."
"Before that, I sealed all his memories from after I saved him. I wanted the illusion to feel real—to push him hard enough to trigger the awakening."
"And well… it worked. You all saw the result."
Renzo smiled proudly.
And judging by the technique Obito had just activated, it was still that Kamui.
He silently gave himself a thumbs-up.
.
.
.