As time passed, the skin of the young man on the far left became increasingly pale, taking on a translucent quality that allowed his blood vessels and organs to be seen through his skin.
He clutched his throat in a futile gesture as the flesh there writhed. Three translucent tentacles erupted from between his fingers, growing wildly toward the back of his head. Numerous fine cilia sprouted on these tentacles while his mouth split wider and wider. His eyes bulged, gradually becoming dull and vacant.
As the subject on the far left completed its mutation, the two on the right were also nearing the end of their transformation. The blood-red nutrient solution gradually cleared, revealing the true forms of the mutated subjects.
The subject in the middle was a young woman. Makiya had a vague memory of her face, recalling that he had seen her once or twice in the village. He hadn't expected that their next meeting would be separated by the glass of a test container.
At this moment, her body was covered in fine scales that reflected green and purple light under the pale lamps. Blue-violet stripes swept from her collarbone across her chest, converging at her lower abdomen and sketching out a graceful curve. Fleshy webbing had grown between her hands and feet. Her face retained its human features, but fish fins had sprouted outside her ears and on top of her head, looking like two discs embedded crosswise—a grotesque sight that ruined her once-fair appearance.
The man on the right had skin that had turned pitch black and coarse, wrinkling and writhing incessantly. All five of his limbs had mutated, looking like five ugly, bloated earthworms assembled onto one giant earthworm. It was revolting.
Human and animal traits were forcibly hybridized, as if a clumsy artist had used a meager skill set to graft the two together. Lacking any sense of beauty, the result was a creature that drained one's Sanity points, making Makiya feel as though his Mara-Struck state was about to flare up.
The nearby ninja, however, showed no such self-awareness. He approached the middle subject with a fanatical look, pressing his hands against the glass as if stroking a piece of perfect jade.
Once the conditions stabilized, the experiment proceeded to the next stage. As several switches were flipped, the nutrient solution drained away, leaving the three subjects slumped weakly in their containers.
In his fanatical state, the ninja hurriedly pulled out a scalpel and made a long horizontal incision across the fish-woman's abdomen, causing blood to gush out instantly.
Already weakened, the fish-woman collapsed onto the base of the glass cultivation chamber. Her dull eyes stared blankly at the incandescent lights on the ceiling as if waiting for death.
However, a miraculous sight occurred. The wound on her chest suddenly began to regenerate cells at a visible rate. The flow of blood slowed and stopped as the wound healed rapidly on its own without any external aid.
Makiya looked on thoughtfully. It was easy to identify the animal chakra fused into the three. Based on their physical characteristics, the one on the far left was likely a salamander, while the female ninja in the middle had fused with the genes of some fish—was it a zebrafish? The one on the right was undoubtedly an earthworm.
"As expected, she gained regenerative abilities! Lord Orochimaru's theory was correct!" The ninja beside him scribbled data into his notebook with a crazed expression, performing tests one after another according to the protocol.
Makiya patted his shoulder, silently leaving a Flying Raijin mark. A look of pain crossed his face. "Hiss... my stomach suddenly hurts. I'm going to the bathroom..."
"I told you not to eat those random wild berries. You've gone and upset your stomach, haven't you?" His companion waved him off dismissively. "Hurry back!"
Makiya nodded repeatedly while clutching his stomach, then bowed and walked out of the laboratory.
There were no cameras installed in the corridors. Once outside, Makiya's expression returned to normal. In this era, cameras and computers were still high-end technology; even with Orochimaru's wealth, the cost of large-scale surveillance was difficult to justify.
"What a truly bottomless experiment. Orochimaru is so afraid of death that he'll stop at nothing!" Makiya shook his head. Fear of death was natural for all living things, an instinct carved into their DNA. Orochimaru craved immortality, but his methods were too cruel, disregarding the lives of others to achieve his goals.
A mad scientist like Orochimaru would be highly sought after by the wealthy in the modern world. Those who didn't want to relinquish their power and riches and craved eternal rule and enjoyment would pour vast amounts of money and resources into supporting his research.
Makiya avoided everyone as he explored downward. The base was divided into five floors. The path leading to the very bottom was blocked by a heavy door made entirely of chakra-conductive metal and inscribed with numerous sealing formulas. A brute-force breach would certainly make a massive commotion.
There were no spiritual signatures below. Makiya speculated that the bottom floor was Orochimaru's private space, strictly off-limits to everyone. It was likely the most valuable part of the base, housing many forbidden jutsu and research records.
Spiritual signatures were scattered across floors one through four. Makiya did a careful count and found 114 people, along with 514 imprisoned experimental subjects, including humans and various animals.
The barriers within the base could sense chakra fluctuations. They were very similar to the defensive barriers used in Konoha; it was hard to say if Orochimaru had simply copied them directly from the village.
Many of the ninjas in the base were members of Root. They generally participated in even bloodier and more anti-human experiments. One advantage they had over ordinary ninjas was that their lives were completely controlled by Danzo, so there was no fear of them leaking secrets due to any misplaced compassion for the subjects.
"114 of them, huh? That's fine. It's best to take them all out in a single instant."
While tiptoeing through the corridors, Makiya heard a sound and immediately ducked into a nearby corner. The dim lighting provided perfect cover as two Root ninjas walked past, laughing and joking while carrying the scent of blood.
Thanks to the base's centrally symmetric construction and stair layout, Makiya made his way to the stairs between the second and third floors, placing him almost exactly at the center of the upper four levels.
"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Shadow clones appeared one after another in the stairwell, systematically rushing toward the upper and lower floors. Each clone was flanked by over a dozen half-foot-long golden flying swords.
Noisy commotion soon erupted throughout the base. As ninjas were taken down one by one, some with keen senses managed to react and confront Makiya's shadow clones head-on.
A flash of golden light streaked by. A Root ninja, who had just finished his fifth hand seal, shuddered. Blood poured uncontrollably from his abdomen as intense pain spread through his body. He felt his strength draining away bit by bit.
"Five Elements Seal!"
The flying sword pierced through his body, followed immediately by a large hand pressing against him. The sealing formula spread from his abdomen to the rest of his body, instantly severing his connection to the chakra within.
Makiya had a use for these Root ninjas; killing them outright would be such a waste.
Makiya casually removed his mask and covered the weakened Root ninja's mouth, slowly leaning him against the wall. The heat released by the flying sword continuously cauterized the wound, filling the corridor with the smell of charred flesh.
"Mmf, mmf!" The Root ninja's eyes bulged, the whites filled with bloodshot veins as if he were about to manifest the Ketsuryugan. The agonizing pain made it hard to breathe, and the sudden appearance of the attacker made his heart sink to the bottom of his chest.
As a senior member of Root who had been in this base for a long time, he knew full well that nothing here could ever see the light of day. Seeing the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in the other's eyes, he concluded that the Uchiha had come for revenge.
'The naturally evil Uchiha... You should all be inside the cultivation tanks. Lord Danzo will avenge me.' Brainwashed by Danzo, the Root member continued to silently curse Makiya even though he knew his end was near.
"What's that noise? Haven't I said many times not to disturb me while I'm experimenting..." A nearby door was kicked open rudely, and a ninja in a white lab coat stepped out with an annoyed expression, grumbling as he walked.
Before he could even finish his sentence, Makiya used the Body Flicker to appear in front of him. He was so fast that the man didn't have time to react; his vision merely blurred for a moment before the sealing formula was imprinted onto his body.
Makiya adhered to the principle of sealing whenever possible and killing with a sword only when necessary. He quickly cleared out the ninjas in the underground base. Faced with Makiya's overwhelming momentum, the base's ninjas had no power to resist and were swiftly neutralized one after another.
At one point, an alarm blared in the corridor but was silenced just as quickly. Makiya had already breached the barrier's central hub and subdued all the nearby guards. However, the brief alarm still had an effect; the ninjas who hadn't been reached yet became wary, and a few clever ones began destroying evidence.
Inside a massive laboratory, an Uchiha clansman was bound to an operating table with special chains. His chest had been completely opened, revealing a beating heart and lungs that expanded and contracted with every breath. The smell of blood permeated the room.
A mass of white flesh was being implanted into his chest by a Root ninja. The flesh seemed to possess a consciousness of its own; as soon as it touched the living tissue, it spontaneously extended countless tentacles that dug into the cellular structure, simultaneously releasing a massive amount of life force.
The Uchiha clansman howled in agony. His Sharingan activated automatically, its two tomoe spinning rapidly. Dense branches began to grow from his abdomen, their emerald-green leaves dripping with crimson blood—a sight both eerie and vibrant.
Bang!
The iron door of the laboratory was kicked open. Makiya burst in, his flying swords streaking through the air like meteors, reaching the two Root ninjas in an instant.
Seeing that they still harbored thoughts of resistance, the flying swords spun nimbly, tracing a perfect arc in the air. Two arms flew into the sky.
After hitting each of them with a sealing jutsu, Makiya turned to look at his clansman, only to find that he had already stopped breathing. Wooden structures were continuously growing from his abdomen, wrapping the entire body in a trunk, as if the man and the tree were originally one.
"Heh, hehe..." The Root ninja with the severed arm grinned, his face contorted by the unbearable pain of his cauterized wounds. Yet, his intensive training allowed him to maintain a sliver of sanity. He glared at Makiya. "Makiya Uchiha... I know who you are. To think you'd dare destroy a Root experimental base... Argh! Lord Danzo won't let you get away with this! Just kill me; I'll be waiting for you in the Pure Land!"
"Danzo?" Makiya chuckled. "I was actually planning to have a chat with Little Danzo once I finish my current tasks. I'd like to see exactly how he intends to not let me off."
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