"Don't be in such a rush. Before the Reincarnation Ritual begins, Orochimaru-sama has assigned you a very important mission."
Kabuto pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he spoke.
Guren patted her ample chest with confidence and promised,
"Alright! Don't worry! I'll definitely carry out this mission perfectly! (⑅˃◡˂⑅)"
Kabuto: "…Let me finish."
...
On the other side.
Out on the water, Shinju and Naruto, drifting by boat, suddenly felt something and turned their heads.
On the riverbank, five familiar figures appeared!
The moment Hinata spotted Naruto on the boat, her face flushed bright red with excitement.
"Na–Naruto-kun~!"
Meeting familiar faces in a foreign land, Shinju gave Naruto a light pat on the back and jerked his chin toward the bank.
"Come on."
After stepping ashore, Shinju had a brief exchange with Kakashi.
"Orochimaru's base is near here?" Shinju asked in surprise.
"That's right," Kakashi explained. "The reason I brought Hinata's team along is mainly because their team is skilled at reconnaissance."
"You didn't know Orochimaru's base was here? Then what brought you here?" Kakashi asked in return.
Shinju explained, "Remember how Neji picked up that Akatsuki ring? I used that ring to slip into Akatsuki's communication network. While there, I learned that their next mission target is the Three-Tails, located in the Land of Water."
Kakashi: (´°Δ°`)
To get this far with just a ring… that was something only Shinju could pull off!
"That reminds me!"
Shinju's expression turned serious.
"When I entered that space, I saw the eyes of the Akatsuki leader! His sclera were purple, and on them were concentric ripple-like patterns!"
Kakashi: ⊙▽⊙
"Are you sure about that?"
Shinju nodded firmly. "Absolutely sure!"
Kakashi narrowed his eyes.
"This is a grave matter. It must be reported to the Hokage immediately!"
At his words, Shinju nodded. In just two seconds, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to deliver the message directly to the Hokage's office.
Afterward, the two sides exchanged a few more words, until Kakashi finally said,
"Since you have your own task to handle, I won't hold you back. Stay safe."
Naruto and Shinju nodded, then went on their way.
...
After parting with Kakashi's group, Shinju sat down cross-legged on the ground.
Just like when he had searched for the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki, he expanded his sensory perception to its maximum range.
Before long, about seventy to eighty kilometers away, he detected an enormous mass of chakra.
At the same time, Shinju's sharp senses picked up another familiar chakra signature approaching the Three-Tails' location…
But exactly where he had felt it before, he couldn't place…
"Let's go."
Having confirmed the Three-Tails' exact location, Shinju stood up, his eyes sharp as blades as he gazed into the distance.
...
A dozen minutes later, the two, now heading toward the Three-Tails, arrived at the outskirts of a fortress with a bizarre design.
After carefully observing it, Shinju said, "There are a lot of people inside, and…"
His brows furrowed.
This chakra… why did it feel so familiar…?
Suddenly, Shinju smacked his forehead.
"That's it! The chakra in these people—it's similar to the aura of Sasuke's curse mark!"
"Curse mark?" Naruto frowned at the words.
His quick thinking soon connected the dots. "Then this must be the Orochimaru base Kakashi-sensei was looking for?! (꒪⌓꒪)"
Shinju nodded. "Most likely. But I didn't sense Orochimaru's presence inside the fortress."
Naruto thought for a moment, then asked,
"So what now? Should we just destroy it?"
Shinju fell silent in thought.
Most likely, everyone inside this fortress was a test subject in Orochimaru's curse mark experiments.
Being captured and used as lab rats by Orochimaru was already tragic enough. Wouldn't it be too cruel to then kill them outright himself…?
But if he destroyed this fortress and released them all…
People bearing such abnormal powers could easily cause havoc in the outside world.
No matter how he weighed it, there wasn't a clean solution.
So Shinju began thinking about whether he could remove the curse marks from these people.
The curse mark developed by Orochimaru granted the bearer a massive surge in strength while active. But in exchange, it inflicted immense strain on the body and carried the risk of losing control.
Sasuke bore one of these marks himself. If Shinju could develop a way to remove them, it would surely be useful sooner or later.
(•̀⌄•́)
More importantly, this fortress held plenty of cursed test subjects—enough for Shinju to observe and experiment with…
With that thought, Shinju decided to sneak inside first and assess the fortress.
"BOOM!!!"
With a single Rasengan, Shinju blasted the fortress gates open!
Once inside, he discovered that the circular structure was essentially a prison.
Cells lined up side by side, forming concentric rings stacked upward floor by floor.
At a glance, there had to be nearly three hundred test subjects imprisoned here!
And every one of them looked grotesque and warped. Some had half their bodies transformed into cannons, others wore tight experimental suits making them look like plastic mannequins, and some looked downright like sea creatures…
Most had twisted faces and deformed bodies, a horrifying sight to behold!
One had to admit—when it came to human experimentation, Orochimaru was unmatched.
The moment the fortress gates burst open, the test subjects confined in their individual cells let out sharp cries!
"Who's this guy? Did he come to set us free?!"
"No idea, but those two don't look like Orochimaru-sama's subordinates!"
"What about Guren-sama? Why isn't she the one here today?"
"Could they be replacements for Guren-sama, sent to manage this base?"
"Yeah right. Those two brats look like total idiots. No way they could control a place this big…"
Shinju pressed both hands down, signaling the test subjects to quiet down.
Once the noise subsided somewhat, Shinju spoke.
"You're all mutated humans created by Orochimaru, aren't you?"
A single stone cast into the lake caused a thousand ripples!
That simple question stirred up a storm of reactions among the prisoners!
"Mutated humans? No—we were granted power by Orochimaru-sama!"
"Idiot upstairs! He experimented on you and you're still praising him!"
"Orochimaru's a bastard! I was just heading home that day, planning to have a good night with my wife, and his men dragged me off! (ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ)"
"All I did was fall asleep in the woods, and when I woke up, I wasn't human anymore! (*꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ)"
"You guys had it rough, huh? Am I the only one who volunteered for this?"
"I volunteered too…"
"Quit calling us mutants! You're the mutant, your whole family are mutants, I'll blast you to hel—"
"Splurt—!!"
The chatter was cut off instantly!
Shinju withdrew his blood-stained Kusanagi sword with a gentle smile.
"No worries, no worries. Go on."
"But remember—say the wrong thing, and you die. ∩_∩"
The prison fell silent at once!
Everyone froze in terror—not just at Shinju's ruthlessness, killing without hesitation—
But even more so because someone recognized the sword in his hand. It was none other than Orochimaru-sama's personal blade, the Kusanagi!
Looking at the silent crowd, Shinju continued.
"If no one else will speak, then I'll ask. How many of you are willing to give up your power and return to being ordinary humans? I might be able to help you… though it will require a few small experiments."