"ROOOAR—!"
A hoarse, muffled roar suddenly erupted.
It sounded like the throats of countless beasts being forcibly stitched together—an agonized, distorted howl that made one's scalp prickle.
The soundwave carried a fetid wind that blasted forward.
Kai turned his head slightly, glancing over.
"…If I remember correctly," he said calmly, "that thing was just a pile of rotten flesh."
At the deepest part of the laboratory, a cultivation tank over two meters tall exploded.
BOOM—!
Pale-green nutrient fluid sprayed everywhere, splattering like corpse slurry left to rot under the sun.
Crash—!
From the shattered tank, a twisted figure burst through the glass and slammed heavily onto the ground.
Calling it "human" would have been generous.
It was closer to a grotesque monster crudely stitched together.
Its skin was bloated and corpse-pale.
Muscle chunks of different shades—some even covered in coarse hair—had been forcibly sewn together with thick black sutures.
Its left arm was as thick as a grown man's waist, covered in black fur, fingers shaped like beast claws.
Its right arm, however, was slender and pale—ending in a delicate hand painted with crimson nail polish.
A fusion of beauty and beast.
But the most horrifying part was its head.
Three faces—different ages, different genders—were crudely sewn onto a single skull.
Some twisted in agony. Others frozen in feral rage.
Three faces. Two arms.
Six eyes in total.
Two dull human eyes.
Two blood-red single-tomoe Sharingan.
And one ghastly pale Byakugan.
All of them rolled wildly, locking onto Kai.
"Hee… hee… eat… eat… eat you…"
Its mouths opened and closed irregularly, producing slurred, broken sounds.
"Ex… ex… experimental subject… Zero…"
Sai, who had just begun to recover some color, immediately retreated.
He curled up at the edge of the broken cage, clutching his sketchbook tightly.
He had seen this thing before.
Disobedient "materials" were torn apart by it without effort.
Beside him, Shin—who had only just regained consciousness—reached out weakly and patted his younger brother's head, whispering reassurance.
The two huddled together across half-destroyed bars.
Seeing this, Kai shook his head slightly.
The cages are already broken, he thought. You could just come out…
Of course, bringing them under the Uchiha banner had been a casual decision.
What really caught his attention—
Was the monster behind him.
Kai frowned as he watched corpse fluid and writhing flesh regenerate across its body.
"…This thing wouldn't happen to have Wood Release cells too, would it?"
Experimental Subject Zero.
Most likely predating Yamato.
Thump—!
At the same time, the monster stomped hard against the ground.
SNAP!
The sutures holding its organs together stretched taut.
Then—
Its bloated body exploded forward with terrifying speed!
So fast it rivaled the Body Flicker Technique!
BOOM—!
The massive beast claw screamed through the air, raised high, then slammed downward toward Kai's head.
A faint sheen glimmered on the talons—clearly coated with deadly poison.
Just the pressure of the wind nearly suffocated Sai.
He instinctively lowered his head, unable to watch.
Then—
CRASH—KRAK!
The claw froze in midair—less than a foot from Kai's face.
A spiral of pale silver ripples bloomed outward.
Kamui — Transfer.
SNAP—! CRUNCH!
The enormous arm was violently twisted off and dragged into Kamui's space.
Before discarding it, Kai casually fired an air cannon—
Reducing the limb into pulped meat.
Corpse fluid splattered everywhere.
"…That should stink enough to keep Obito awake at night," Kai mused.
"Maybe White Zetsu will enjoy the leftovers."
With that thought, his right hand moved gently.
The space within three feet of him shifted.
Three Feet Ahead — Repulsion.
Or rather—
Shinra Tensei.
The range was small.
But the force was anything but.
CRACK—CRUNCH—!
The monster's body emitted sickening sounds as bones and joints bent backward at impossible angles.
Its massive form was blasted away—
BOOM!
Smashing into another cultivation tank as glass shattered across the floor.
"GRAA—ugh…?"
All six eyes filled with pain and confusion.
Its limited brain simply couldn't comprehend what had happened.
The opponent hadn't even touched it.
"Disgusting thing…" Kai muttered.
Not fear—just pure revulsion.
The stench of formalin mixed with rotting flesh was unbearable.
Perhaps only White Zetsu would find it appetizing.
"RAAA—!!!"
The creature roared again.
Its remaining right arm—the delicate woman's hand—lifted and spread its fingers toward Kai.
The palm split open, flesh writhing.
ZZZT—
From within emerged a rapidly spinning three-tomoe Sharingan.
Dark-red chakra gathered.
A beam of ominous chakra shot forth like a venomous snake—aimed straight at Kai's forehead.
"Sharingan… genjutsu shock?" Kai paused briefly.
Then he laughed.
"Using a Sharingan against a Mangekyō?"
"What do you think you are—Kakashi?"
Buzz—!
With a thought, Kai subtly altered the repulsion vector within his domain.
The beam curved—
And snapped back on itself.
PFFT—!
It slammed into the monster's own twisted arm.
"RAAARGH—!!!"
The creature thrashed wildly for a moment—
Then collapsed.
Silent.
"…It's over?"
Behind him, Sai slowly straightened.
His wide eyes stared in disbelief.
That terrifying experiment—one that had slaughtered countless Root members—
Had been toyed with.
Who was this boy?
Fear crept into Sai's heart… mixed with awe.
And something else.
Something dangerous.
Beside him, Shin said nothing—but his trembling gaze said enough.
"This guy…" Shin thought.
"At this age… he's already at elite jōnin level…"
"How did Lord Danzo ever let a monster like this inside Root?"
The more one knew—
The more terrifying Kai became.
Elite jōnin.
To them, it was a godlike existence.
Of course, Kai didn't pay them any attention.
His eyes passed over the corpse—
And locked onto the shattered base of the cultivation tank.
Beneath it, inside a hidden compartment—
Several drops of emerald-green viscous liquid remained.
Even under harsh white light, it radiated terrifying vitality.
"…Hm?"
Kai's pupils shrank instantly.
This aura—
He knew it far too well.
Wood Release cells.
And far purer than what he'd copied from Danzo's arm.
"That old bastard really did hide the good stuff."
He swiftly collected the droplets with extreme care.
At that moment, the system's cold prompt sounded.
[Ding! Detected high-purity residual Wood Release cells.]
[Attempting analysis…]
"High-purity Wood Release?"
Kai's thoughts raced.
"…That's Hashirama's."
His head snapped up.
Slowly, his gaze swept across the remaining cultivation tanks.
A chilling light bloomed in his eyes.
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