Orochimaru and Kabuto both held scalpels and directly cut away the two men's eyelids.
This eye transplant surgery couldn't use anesthesia. It was best done while they were awake.
The pain was far from ordinary.
And eyelids were hard to control, so they could only cut them off first.
Then Orochimaru and Kabuto directly started operating.
Itachi and Fugaku were both veterans who had been through many battlefields.
They had suffered countless injuries.
But having someone cut around inside their eye sockets like this was a first for both of them.
Fortunately, Orochimaru and Kabuto were highly skilled and worked very quickly.
In less than a minute, they removed both of their eyes.
They first placed them onto measuring devices to record the data, then began transplanting the new eyes.
A few minutes later, Orochimaru signaled that it was done.
At this moment, Rengoku walked over to Itachi and placed a hand on his head.
Inside his mind, he pulled up the Bond Star menu.
He opened Fugaku's fourth star, which he had never collected before.
["Ding! Uchiha Fugaku level four bond unlocked."]
["Congratulations, host! You obtained: 100% of Uchiha Fugaku's eye power."]
Inside Itachi's mental world, he crushed that star.
A large amount of Fugaku's eye power spread out and quickly merged with Fugaku's eyes inside Itachi's sockets.
Although Itachi had already been informed about the process beforehand, the sudden appearance of so much eye power still surprised him.
Rengoku's voice sounded out, "Don't move. Slowly merge your eye powers and repair these eyes."
"Understood, Senpai."
Itachi calmed down. Orochimaru also restored the eyelids and applied medicine.
These eyes were Fugaku's heavily damaged pair.
But now that enough eye power had been poured into them, they would recover soon.
Meanwhile, the eyes Fugaku received were Itachi's relatively healthier pair.
Because of the total amount of eye power, these eyes probably couldn't become Eternal Mangekyo eyes.
But they would still recover quite a bit.
These were Rengoku's estimates. The final result would still depend on the recovery process.
"Alright. Your eyes need some time to merge. Rest for now and carefully feel the changes in your eyes during this period."
"If Orochimaru needs your cooperation for anything, just follow his instructions."
Fugaku and Itachi underwent surgery without anesthesia. It was basically like being cut apart alive. They were also somewhat exhausted now.
The two greeted Rengoku, then fell asleep.
———
After the initial chaos passed, Konoha quickly sealed off the poisoned areas.
Then they set up a large number of tents inside those zones to treat the poisoned people.
Although many people were still bedridden, it didn't affect normal operations.
At almost the same time the various villages received the first reports, Konoha announced that because Sunagakure had sent a Jinchuriki to launch a surprise attack, Konoha would shut down all commercial trade and formally declare war.
Although the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind didn't have much business between them to begin with, there were still some merchant groups and ninjas carrying out missions in the Land of Wind. All of them immediately started withdrawing.
Sunagakure also quickly released a statement saying that Rasa had defected from the village.
They claimed the attack on Konoha was his personal action and had nothing to do with Sunagakure. Sunagakure was now also offering a bounty to locate Rasa.
But those words were useless. Konoha didn't react at all.
After all, Konoha had lost so many people. Did Sunagakure think a few statements could separate themselves from responsibility? Impossible.
For a time, the entire ninja world was shaken.
At that moment, Rasa had already escaped into the Land of Wind and was eating in a small city.
The discussion from the next table entered his ears.
"Hey, did you hear? Sunagakure's Jinchuriki Rasa defected."
"Yeah. I really don't know what he was thinking."
"Defecting is one thing, but he actually dared attack Konoha. Now Konoha has officially declared war on Sunagakure."
"Both Sunagakure and Konoha are searching for Rasa now. Who knows how many spies have entered already."
"Business here was already bad enough. Now it's even worse. I can't even finish this trip. I'll have to head back directly."
"Ah! Don't worry about it. Even if Konoha fights, they'll attack Sunagakure Village. It has nothing to do with people like us."
"Besides, with all this endless sand, Konoha won't come here to seize territory."
"That's not necessarily true. Look at the area around Sandthorn City now. It's basically all oasis land already."
"That's because it's backed by the water supply from the Land of Rain. Where would the central regions get water from?"
"What a pity. If seawater could be used for irrigation, the Land of Wind wouldn't be this barren…"
Rasa no longer paid attention to the rest.
What he cared about was that he had become a rogue ninja.
He had originally been controlled and captured by Obito. He still wanted to go back and explain things.
After all, Rasa had already reached an agreement with Shukaku. He could now be considered capable of controlling a tailed beast.
But the current situation left him numb.
Konoha directly declaring war on Sunagakure was obviously retaliation for the previous attack on Konoha.
Rasa listened to the surrounding diners' conversations.
Before this, he had been flying toward the Land of Wind on his sand cushion and knew nothing about these events.
Now that he heard Konoha had directly declared war on Sunagakure, he was shocked.
He had thought about how Konoha might retaliate against Sunagakure, or force them to hand him over.
He never expected them to go straight to war.
Sunagakure was clearly afraid. Before they even found him, they had already declared him a rogue ninja.
But now Konoha didn't care whether Rasa was a rogue ninja or not. They had pinned the attack on Konoha directly onto Sunagakure.
It was just unclear whether Konoha planned a large-scale invasion this time, or whether they would use the same flying and Flying Thunder God tactics as before.
Rasa's expression kept changing. He didn't know whether he should return to the village or simply flee.
But if he didn't go back to Sunagakure, where could he even go?
While Rasa was eating, a group of unwelcome guests arrived outside the small city.
All of them wore large cloaks that covered their entire bodies.
Even their faces were hidden behind cloth masks, and every one of them wore goggles over their eyes.
Judging by how dusty they looked and how much sand covered them, they had clearly crossed the desert to get here.
This city was in a good location, so the sandstorms weren't too severe. The leader pulled off her mask and goggles.
Under the windbreaker was a woman with a pair of breasts that looked ready to burst out and a smooth bare back exposed behind her. Beneath her brown-and-green mixed hair was a Sunagakure forehead protector.
It was the Fifth Kazekage, Pakura.
"Rasa is here?", Pakura stared at the small city as she asked.
Standing closest to her was her disciple, Maki.
Maki held something that looked like a teapot in her hand. A stream of chakra drifted out from it, pointing directly toward the city.
"That's right, Shishou. Rasa is inside this city."
Pakura made two hand signals, and the people beside her also removed their goggles and masks.
Every one of them was a powerful Sunagakure ninja, and the entire sealing squad was among them as well.
Konoha's reaction had mostly been within Sunagakure's expectations.
But Sunagakure's earlier statement had only been a first step. To truly survive this disaster, they still had to capture Rasa before they could negotiate.
Pakura waved her hand.
"Move!"