Land of Snow Research Institute, Biological Testing Zone.
As the heavy airtight door slowly slid open, an odor so thick it was suffocating instantly rushed out.
It was a mixture of preservatives, disinfectant, nutrient solution, and some indescribable scent.
"Ugh—"
Sakura instinctively covered her mouth and nose, her stomach churning as an instinctive physiological disgust made her almost want to turn and flee.
What met her eyes was a biological laboratory so enormous that it evoked an inexplicable sense of dread.
Under the pale lights, countless transparent IV tubes crawled across the walls.
In the depths of the laboratory, hundreds of cylindrical culture tanks were lined up densely, stretching out of sight.
Suspended in the green nutrient solution were pale bodies.
They kept their eyes tightly shut, had green hair, and their skin possessed a bizarre, deathly pale color.
Some had missing limbs; on the severed surfaces, there was no blood, but instead, countless white granulations were growing, writhing at a visible speed, intertwining, and repairing the limbs.
Some had been cut vertically, revealing non-human organs inside, alongside a type of muscle tissue similar to plant fibers.
Even more were unformed, embryo-like objects, constantly consuming the nutrient solution and slowly growing.
This bizarre existence, neither human nor object, halfway between plant and human, challenged the psychological limits of every normal human.
"Wha—what are these things?"
Sakura's face was pale, and her legs felt somewhat weak.
She had taken anatomy classes at the academy and had seen corpses before.
But this large-scale scene, like mass-producing livestock, still made her feel extreme physiological discomfort.
"It looks like some kind of biological weapon."
A calm, emotionless voice came from beside her.
Sai walked up to a culture tank, his face not only devoid of any fear but instead carrying a hint of curiosity.
He reached out and tapped the glass in front of the writhing monster inside, turning to Shin Uchiha beside him.
"Look, this muscle structure, it feels like its vitality is much stronger than ordinary human flesh."
"Ahem—indeed."
Shin Uchiha also had an indifferent expression, as if what was floating before them wasn't a humanoid organism, but a pile of pork.
"This kind of war weapon doesn't need pensions, doesn't need psychological counseling, and doesn't need body recovery if it dies—its value is immeasurable."
"If Root had possessed this technology back then—"
Listening to the two beside her conversing with such cold, near-ruthless calm, Sakura only felt a chill run through her entire body.
Is this the kind of ninja Root cultivates?
In their eyes, is life merely a number that can be calculated as a loss?
After Naruto destroyed Root, these reserves who hadn't finished their training were all assigned to regular squads.
Previously, other than thinking these two valued efficiency a bit too much, she hadn't thought they were any different from normal people.
Until this very moment, she felt a massive rift for the first time.
"You—don't you find this disgusting?"
Sakura couldn't help but ask.
Sai turned his head, his face wearing that standard fake smile again, his eyes calm but slightly puzzled.
"Disgusting?"
"Why disgusting?"
"Isn't this very efficient?"
Sakura opened her mouth, finding herself completely speechless.
Just then, a calm, decisive, and authoritative female voice rang out from the center of the laboratory, interrupting their conversation.
"Karin, you've come at just the right time, come and lend a hand."
This voice is—
Kakashi jerked his head up, a look of disbelief erupting in his dead-fish eyes as he looked toward the source of the voice.
In the core area of the laboratory, in front of an operating table.
It was a figure he was once incomparably familiar with, and even the one he pinned Konoha's last hope on.
The legendary Sannin, Lady Tsunade.
Kakashi froze in place, his mind going blank.
He knew Tsunade had been taken away by Naruto and had even imagined countless scenarios for her current state.
Perhaps raging in a prison cell, or perhaps drowning her sorrows in alcohol after having her chakra sealed, or even committing suicide due to her unyielding personality.
But the one thing he never imagined—was this scene before him.
Tsunade was actually working seriously for Naruto.
At this moment, Tsunade was wearing a lab coat stained with an unknown liquid, rubber gloves, and holding a scalpel made of chakra metal.
Her eyes were focused and serious, her movements precise and sharp, with not a single sign of being coerced.
The current Tsunade made Kakashi feel incomparably like a stranger.
"Yes, Lady Tsunade!"
Karin, who had just arrived with the group, did not hesitate for a moment.
She quickly changed into a lab coat and then nimbly walked up to the operating table.
While handing over instruments, she used her sensory abilities to monitor the state of the test subject, as skillfully as if she had coordinated with her countless times before.
Seeing this scene, Sakura's heart gave a sharp twitch.
That position—
The position of standing beside the legendary number one kunoichi, handing over instruments, learning ninjutsu, being trusted, being guided—
Should have been hers.
She looked at Karin.
The girl who only knew how to cower behind Naruto in the forest was now focused, radiating an aura of confidence.
"It was clearly me who came first—"
A sour and ugly jealousy surged uncontrollably from the bottom of Sakura's heart.
Why?
Why could that girl from another village stand there?
Just because she is of the Uzumaki clan?
Just because she chose to follow Naruto?
And herself—
Could she only stand here, shivering while looking at the monsters in the jars, like a naive, useless person?
"Lady Tsunade?!"
Kakashi's voice interrupted Sakura's wild thoughts.
He couldn't help but take a step forward, his voice filled with a hint of trembling and questioning.
"You—what are you doing?"
He pointed at the creepy culture tanks around them, and the white humanoid creature cut open on the operating table.
"These are—human experiments!?"
"You are someone who was given high expectations, you are the First Hokage's granddaughter!"
"How could you fall to the level of—Orochimaru?"
Tsunade, who was performing precise operations, paused her hand movements.
"Human experiments?"
Tsunade, who originally couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Kakashi, stopped her movements after hearing this sentence.
She reached out and expressionlessly cut a piece of white tissue from the White Zetsu's chest cavity.
The piece of flesh twitched slightly on the tweezers, as if it had an independent life.
"Kakashi, don't use your narrow common sense to define science."
Tsunade casually tossed the tissue into a petri dish filled with nutrient solution, watching it rapidly proliferate, her tone calm.
"These things are not people."
She took off her mucus-covered gloves, turned around, and looked coldly at Kakashi.
"They don't need to eat, have no sense of pain, have no parents, and don't even have self-awareness."
"They are just some—plants with a human appearance."
Tsunade walked to a row of culture tanks and gently tapped the glass wall with her knuckles, making a crisp sound.
The White Zetsu inside still kept its eyes closed, with no reaction.
"And, as consumables—they are much more useful than humans."
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250 POWER STONE = BONUS CHAPTER
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