Chapter 610: The Person Waiting for Them.
What exactly is the feeling of clan honor?
Sakura Uchiha silently followed behind Sasuke, feeling somewhat confused in her heart.
Compared to Sasuke, she lacked the strong sense of Uchiha honor present in the youth. Seeing this scene of Orochimaru desecrating the Uchiha bloodline, she couldn't muster up much anger.
After all, she was also a cloned person.
To say something dark, Sakura Uchiha's acceptance of this scene was actually quite high. She even briefly wondered if she could use eye cells to cultivate some spare clone eyes... Cloning organs sounded less taboo than cloning people, didn't it?
However, seeing Sasuke's frost-covered face, Sakura dispelled her thoughts at the speed of light.
Unless she completely disregarded her friendship with Sasuke, it was better to entertain fewer twisted ideas.
—Otherwise, Sasuke would absolutely kill her!
Carrying a bit of guilt and awkwardness, the young girl followed Sasuke to the end of the room. Here, there was a door, the true entrance to the room. Opening the door, behind it was a dimly lit corridor. The lights overhead were still on, and they could see that the room was on one side at the end of the corridor; this place seemed to be a warehouse.
There was another door on the other side.
Sasuke hesitated for a moment and did not open the door. He didn't know what he would see next, he didn't know if he would see even more blasphemous experiments, and he didn't know if the anger he had finally managed to calm would flare up again.
He actually hesitated.
Sakura Uchiha took a step forward and opened the door for him.
The door was not locked.
Creak—
The room's lights were not on, but aided by the light from the corridor, they could faintly see the things inside:
There were still rows of nutrient tanks standing upright, with human bodies floating inside them.
The light from the corridor seeped through the crack of the door, falling onto the head of the first clone body; pink hair drifted silently in the water.
Sakura Uchiha closed the door at the speed of light.
Her face was covered in frost, while Sasuke found that his anger had suddenly vanished, replaced by a sense of awkwardness.
The emotions of the two instantly swapped, and the air solidified for a moment.
"Um—" Sasuke broke the awkwardness, stepping aside, and said, "I won't go in and check this room."
"Okay."
The young girl answered briefly.
She let out a long breath, forcefully suppressing the anger welling up within her.
At this moment, Sakura Uchiha suddenly understood how Sasuke felt just now.
Although Sakura, who possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, completely lacked Uchiha honor, she—perhaps even without realizing it herself—had a sense of pride as a clone of Haruno Sakura.
This sounded a bit strange, somewhat like a child showing off their parents.
Or perhaps, that was the kind of feeling the young girl had.
Regardless, despite her seething anger, once she calmed down, Sakura Uchiha quickly realized that this was a matter of course. When she saw the scene in the previous room, she should have realized:
Since Orochimaru would clone the Uchiha, why wouldn't he clone Haruno Sakura?
Itachi Uchiha might have defeated Orochimaru, but hadn't Haruno Sakura also beaten him until he had to scramble to escape?
Thinking of this, Sakura's heart completely calmed down. She opened the door, walked into the room alone, and a moment later, walked out with a calm expression.
"I disposed of the things inside."
The young girl said flatly. Her gaze was clear and serene, and not a trace of anger could be seen anymore.
"Disposed of"?
Sasuke was very curious about what this phrasing meant. But he didn't know, and he didn't dare to ask.
"I found some data." Sakura Uchiha handed several files and scrolls to Sasuke. "Inside are Orochimaru's experimental records in this base, as well as some information about the base itself. Let's walk this way and talk."
Walking along the corridor deeper into the base, they passed a few more rooms containing a large amount of experimental materials, instruments, and other sundries, including daily necessities for personnel.
One of the rooms contained defective products resulting from failed cloning experiments.
The various grotesquely shaped bodies made both of them feel nauseous.
"It seems this side should be the storage area. Looking at the map, if we leave the storage area, walk through the main hall and go left, it's the living quarters. Going right leads to the experimental area."
The two explored the base while studying the information the young girl had just found.
The data indicated that Orochimaru had already begun collaborating with Danzo on human experiments long before defecting from Konoha. In recent years, after mastering cloning technology, he began attempting to clone members of the Uchiha clan.
It seemed that due to being stored for too long (the materials were collected from the corpses of the Uchiha clansmen on the Night of the Extermination), the cell vitality had decreased, causing the experiments to consistently fail to reach the expected results. It was only recently that he made a breakthrough and obtained the Mangekyo Sharingan.
The specific details of the experiments were still left over in the experimental area, not sorted, filed, and stored in the storage area.
As for the clones of Haruno Sakura on this side, the experiments had not succeeded even once to this day.
Orochimaru was clearly very puzzled. For some reason, the cloned young girls possessed extremely poor innate talent and abilities. Let alone comparing them to the original Haruno Sakura, there was a world of difference even compared to some elite Jonin.
The most successful clone had only exhibited excellent chakra control and showed some talent in Medical Ninjutsu and Genjutsu.
The concluding analytical report clearly stated that Haruno Sakura simply possessed the constitution of an ordinary person.
Strength, speed, reaction, and chakra reserves—she didn't have a single strong point.
Overall, she was at most slightly stronger than an ordinary person, considered a minor genius who excelled in specific subjects.
At the end of the document, there was Orochimaru's angry handwritten note. He had rarely lost his composure, severely reprimanding the researchers—
"...Are you telling me I was defeated by such a piece of trash?!"
"Hehe."
Seeing this, Sakura Uchiha sneered.
Sasuke followed with a sneer: "Hmph, truly foolish. How could the likes of you imagine Sakura's talent! She is a true genius!"
"No, the conclusion of the summary is basically correct. The physical talent of the original is indeed nothing to speak of," the young girl refuted unexpectedly. "It's Orochimaru whose thinking is flawed."
Sasuke was instantly stunned.
Sakura didn't bother to explain. She simply took out a pen and swiftly drew a large cross under Orochimaru's note.
"Utter bullshit!"
After writing this, she casually stuffed the file into Sasuke's arms.
"Clearly, after encountering major setbacks in the experiment to clone the original, Orochimaru shifted his energy back to the Sharingan." The young girl walked casually in front, picking up another file and saying, "Look, this mentions a new key figure, 'Shin'."
The first page of the document was a photograph of this man named "Shin." His eyes were crimson, clearly displaying three tomoe. He had short, silver-white hair, and his skin bore the pallor of someone who hadn't seen sunlight for years.
"Who is he?" Sasuke noticed Shin's Sharingan at first glance, and his brows instantly furrowed deeply.
"A special test subject of Orochimaru. Look here." The young girl's delicate nail pressed against a line of text. "He is not a member of the Uchiha clan, but he possesses a special constitution from birth. He won't have any rejection reactions to allogenic tissues transplanted into his body..."
Sakura Uchiha continued flipping through the pages.
"This also records the experiments Orochimaru conducted using Shin... It's truly nauseating." Sakura looked at the pictures in the file, her face gradually darkening.
Sasuke's anger intensified, the emotions he had just calmed down rising once again.
"Look here! This guy voluntarily became Orochimaru's test subject, and he's still alive! So—" The two exchanged a look, instantly realizing something.
"Quick!"
Before the words had even faded, they vanished from their spot using the Body Flicker Technique, rushing rapidly toward the direction of the base's laboratory!
Bang!
In less than a few breaths, a loud crash came from the entrance of the base's laboratory!
Amidst the billowing dust and smoke, the bright brilliance of Susanoo shone through. The thick, solid iron door was as fragile as a piece of blank paper before it, tearing open with a single rip!
The young girl strode inside.
Her delicate sandals crunched as they stepped on the glass fragments covering the floor.
An iron trap had been hidden secretly among the clutter on the ground, forming a crude trap. Sakura Uchiha stepped into the trap without a care. The mechanism triggered, and the sharp iron pieces snapped shut violently, biting onto Sakura's slender ankle and toes. The hard steel collided with the delicate skin, ending with the complete collapse of the steel mechanism.
The young girl didn't even glance at the trap on the ground. She looked up; the laboratory was in a complete mess, most of the instruments were smashed, and the floor was covered in the ashes of burned scrolls and documents. It seemed someone had intentionally caused destruction before leaving, wanting to erase some traces.
"There is no chakra signature; he is already gone from here," Sakura said with a cold face.
Sasuke followed behind, his face equally as gloomy as still water.
He walked up to a table. On the table was an overturned cup, and water stains that hadn't completely dried left an ugly yellow spot on the surface. The youth picked up the cup, observed it carefully for a moment, and said: "This should be a specially made nutrient fluid used exclusively for clones..."
"Yes." Sakura walked over, lightly touching the table with her fingertip, narrowing her eyes. "This type of nutrient fluid is relatively viscous, and there is no wind in the underground laboratory, so it dries very slowly in the shade... Inferring from this water stain, he should have left a few hours ago. In other words, it is highly likely that he left here immediately after discovering Orochimaru was defeated. It seems he doesn't like us..."
"Forget it, we can't do anything about him for now."
After searching for a while longer, the two still found nothing.
Although a more careful search would definitely turn up some valuable things, Sakura and Sasuke decided to return to the surface first and leave the remaining work to the others.
"Is there bad news? Why do you look so grim?" Sai, who was waiting for them on the surface, looked at them with some surprise.
The young girl shook her head.
Taking a deep breath, she said: "It's nothing. Just that the big fish slipped away, leaving only some fish scales. There is some information here; I'll have to trouble you to pass it back later. What about your side? Any progress?"
"Yes." Sai nodded. "I found another big fish. Moreover, there are signs of people being active inside!"
Sakura and Sasuke's spirits instantly lifted.
"Has the big fish not slipped away yet?" The young girl raised her brow, the corners of her mouth curling up. "Then let's move out!"
Next, a sudden cry of an eagle sounded from the flat ground, and the three figures instantly shot up into the sky.
The ink eagle was extremely fast. In just a short moment, they traversed dozens of miles, arriving in front of a remote and tranquil small lake.
Sai remained behind once again, while Sakura and Sasuke proceeded.
The entrance to the base was an inconspicuous small door nestled beside a small hill. The camouflage barrier at the entrance had already been deactivated.
Stepping through the door, the view opened up, revealing a slanting, long corridor extending underground, its bottom swallowed by darkness.
It looked exactly like a ferocious giant beast with its mouth wide open, waiting for prey to throw themselves into the net!
However, the newcomers were highly skilled and daring. If they weren't even afraid of Orochimaru, why would they fear a tiny base built by him?
Walking to the end of the corridor, the light shining in from the outside had become practically negligible. In the extreme darkness, even the two ninjas possessing the Mangekyo Sharingan could only faintly make out a door.
The young girl smiled calmly, completely unafraid of any potential traps triggered by switches, and walked straight forward, preparing to open the door.
Yet the door opened on its own.
Someone was there!
The two were slightly startled.
"Welcome," a crisp female voice sounded. "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
"Who are you?" Sakura Uchiha's elegant brows furrowed slightly, feeling somewhat surprised.
With a click, the stranger in the dark flipped the light switch, and the corridor instantly lit up.
Sakura looked closely. The person was wearing a long purple top and black hot pants, exposing a delicate navel. Black stockings wrapped around her slender, straight thighs. She was astonishingly a fashionably dressed, beautiful young girl.
She looked to be about the same age as Sakura and Sasuke.
"Nice to meet you for the first time, hello." The unfamiliar young girl pushed up her glasses and smiled.