The clearing was vast and circular, surrounded by towering bamboo stalks that filtered the morning light into pale golden beams.
*Clan clank clank!!*
Today though, the tranquility of Shikkotsu Forest was shattered by the sounds of struggle and rage everywhere.
Hundreds of prisoners were chained to wooden posts driven deep into the ground. Their wrists were bound with thick, chakra-reinforced rope. Some thrashed wildly, cursing and spitting, while others simply hung limp, their eyes hollow with despair.
"What a sight." I whistled.
I stood at the center of the clearing, my arms crossed, my expression blank.
Katsuyu was beside me in her human form, her blue-gray eyes scanning the prisoners with little interest. She wore a simple white robe today, her white bob perfectly framing her face.
"Let me go, ya fuckin' piece of shit!" one man screamed, his face purple with rage. The dude was a bandit leader who had terrorized three towns according to Katsuyu's information. He had burned villages for fun, killed families for sport, and personally raped and murdered over a dozen women. "I'll gut ya like a fish, ya hear me?! I'll fuckin' wear yer intestines as a scarf!"
"Shut yer yap!" another voice snarled from nearby. This one was a rogue ninja with a scar across his face. He had been a chunin before he deserted his hidden village, and his crimes included kidnapping children and selling them to the underworld. "Can't ya see we're in deep shit here?! Save yer breath for beggin'!"
"Beggin'?! I ain't beggin' nobody!" The guy spat back. "I ain't never begged fer nothin' in my life, and I ain't startin' now for sum overgrown red haired ape!"
"Then yer dumber than ya look! We ain't gettin out of er." The other man replied.
"Release mei bitch! I'll kill you! I'll fuckin' kill you when I get outta here! I'll rip yer fuckin' head off and shit down yer neck!" a third voice joined the chorus.
"Hehe! You aren't killing nobody bro. We are cooked! We're all gonna die here, just accept it." Another prisoner said with a maniac laugh.
"Fuck you bitch! I ain't dyin' in no fuckin' forest! I'm gonna live forever, ya hear me?! FOREVER!" The hysterical man shouted in rage and hidden fear.
"He he he! You aren't gonna live you dumb bastard." The crazy guy replied with another laugh. "You gonna die like the rest of us cattles. Probably screaming and crying like a little bitch!"
*clank clank clank!*
Crazy dude thrashed against his chains, his face turning red with rage. "I'll show ya who's a bitch! I'll–"
"Enough!" a cold voice cut through the chaos as killing intent spread across the prisoners.
*Silence.*
The voice belonged to an elite jonin who had been captured by Katsuyu's clone after a battle that took less than a few seconds where he got stomped.
He had been a jonin of the Hidden Cloud before he defected. "All this screaming is pointless. We're not getting out of here."
"And who the fuck are you to tell us what to do?!" The crazy guy raged.
"Look around you idiot. These chains are chakra-reinforced, and the woman standing next to that that guy, which I assume is Hatake Garou, is the Slug Sage of Shikkotsu Forest. We're not escaping here, so shut your filthy mouths, you are annoying." The cloud ninja replied bitterly as he stared at Katsuyu and Garou with regret. His luck has finally run out after years.
A heavy silence fell over the prisoners. Some of them looked at Katsuyu with newfound fear, their eyes widening as the realization sank in.
Someone whispered, "The... the Slug Sage? The one from the legends?! I thought it was only a myth!"
.
I listened to their screams and insults for a long moment, letting the noise wash over me.
"These scum are sure noisy." I said with disgust.
"Well, they are scared. It's their fear acting up." Katsuyu replied calmly.
I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders as I thought about how I should start this.
"You plan to turn all of them?" Katsuyu asked with interest as she made many clones and scattered them around so she could analyse what Garou will do better and restrain the turned monsters if they were aggressive.
"Yes. But first, I want to know what will happen when I do this on a sentient being, so I will start with the weakest ones. Don't want to mess up before I get more info." I replied.
And the prisoners heard me as they all focused on what I said with horror in their eyes as they already got to know what will happen to them.
They were being used for some kind of test like a rat.
All of them were familiar with these kinds of stuff. Most of them have trafficked humans to people who did whatever kinds of insane experiments. And now it seems they were in such a situation themselves.
*step step step*
I walked toward the nearest prisoner, a scrawny man with shifty eyes who flinched with every prisoner around.
*clank clank clank!*
"Stay away from me freak!" The man shrieked, his eyes widening with terror. "Don't touch me fucker! I'll kill you I swear I'll fucking kill you!"
He thrashed against his chains, his thin body twisting and writhing, but the chakra reinforced ropes held him firm.
I didn't respond.
I grabbed his head with one hand and extended my index finger with the other, he tried to bite my hand but my vise grip held his head in place without letting him move an inch.
The tip of my finger sharpened to a fine point, and a single drop of blood formed at the end. The sight made the man shed tears as he tried with everything he had to move but to no vail.
*pierce!*
I pierced the man's skull and pumped the small amount of blood directly into his brain.
*Silence.*
I released the man who went limp as his head bobed.
"Is... is he dead?" Someone whispered, but in this absolute silence, it was loud enough.
The man remained limp for a few moments before...
*twitch twitch.*
A tremor went through the bound man and his body started to twitch.
After that, the effect of the blood was immediate.
The man's body convulsed violently and his head snapped upwards! His eyes rolled back until only the whites were visible, and foam began to form at the corners of his mouth.
His skin started to bubble, raising in blisters that burst and reformed into something thicker. The sound of his bones cracking and reshaping filled the air with wet and sickening snaps that echoed across the clearing.
"AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" It was a high screeching wail coming from the man that made everyone swallow their saliva in shock.
'What da fuck!' Everybody thought, even the elite ninja stared with batted breath.
The man's limbs then twisted at unnatural angles, his joints popping out of their sockets and reforming in different positions. His fingers elongated into claws, his teeth sharpened into fangs, and his face stretched and warped until it no longer resembled anything human.
"BY THE SAGE, WHAT'S HAPPENIN' TO HIM?!" Somone screamed.
Then the man's body exploded outward!
Flesh and muscle and bone erupted in a shower of gore, splattering the nearby prisoners with blood and viscera "AGHHHH!!" They screamed and recoiled, but the chains held them in place. The transformation continued for several more seconds as the body rearranged itself into something new.
When it finally ended, the thing that stood before everyone present was no longer human.
It was a grotesque monstrosity! A pig-like creature with matted fur and four lion-like limbs ending in razor-sharp claws. Mindless eyes and a snout that snorted and drooled. It stood about four feet tall and radiated an aura of dumb and animalistic rage.
The chains holding the body was removed during the transformation by Katsuyu, and now the creature was ready to lash out as it looked around with hungry eyes much to the horror of everyone who couldn't believe their eyes.
Even the elite jonin with his skills, knowledge, and vast experience couldn't believe what was happening.
'This Hatake Garou was supposed to be a crippled businessman. How the fuc- no! What the fuck is he?! That shit isn't something a human could do!' The jonin thought frantically.
"Behave." I calmly said to the beast who was about to attack everything around him.
The command immediately made the pig-like monster freeze in its place. It looked at Garou with a fearful expression and immediately sat down like a puppy. Not daring move a muscle.
I stared at it for a long moment.
"It was a failure. Mindless and barely genin level. The intelligence isn't entirely gone, but the monster's IQ is too low.."
Katsuyu stepped closer, her eyes gleaming with curiosity as she touched the monster, feeling it's rough skin. "Facinating... the mind did not survive the process and degraded. Maybe the stronger the will and strength of a person, the better the result."
"Seems that way. Let's try another one." I walked toward the next prisoner without feeling much about these fuckers suffering. The mind may collapse, but they were not dead, so I didn't need to lose my sleep over it.
These lowlifes would be used for the greater good anyways. I would be doing the world a favour. They should thank me for this free therapy session and power up.
The next lab rat was another low level thug.
He was screaming before I even reached him.
"Please! Please, I'll do anythin'! I'll serve ya! I'll suck your ass! Yer cock! Yer everyting! Just don't do me like that man! Please!"
"For the greater good. Good luck." I replied indifferently.
"No nooo! Fuck yo–"
I grabbed his head and pumped my blood into his skull without wasting another second.
He went limp instantly just like the first guy.
The transformation was similar to the first. His body convulsed, his bones cracked with wet sounds of muscle tearing and reforming filled the air, and blood sprayed from his ruptured skin.
"AGGGGHHHHHH!!!" He woke up and howled with incoherent screams. "IT HURTS! IT FUCKIN' HURTS!!!"
"Welp, he took it better than the first one." I muttered.
Some minutes passed.
When the transformation ended, he had become a hulking creature with a zebra's head and oversized arms that dragged on the ground. His body was covered in a patchwork of black and white stripes, and his eyes were just as empty as the first creature's.
"Sighhh, same result. He went from peak civilian to Peak genin, but still useless since he is not smart."
"These men are weak. Try the stronger ones I captured." Katsuyu looked at the creature with fascination. Many things going around her head and thought about the possibilities of Garou's blood.
She needed to see what will happen to a strong subject.
I nodded.
Then I moved to a third prisoner, he was some rogue ninja who had been a genin before turning to banditry according to Katsuyu.
He was pale as a sheet, his eyes wide with terror as I approached.
"P...please," he begged, his voice cracking as tears came down his eyes.
*Grrrrr!*
"Did you just shit yourself?" I raised an eyebrow. But no one blamed the guy for being that afraid. Everyone has come to terms and were staring in despair at what was happening.
They will soon become one of those... things too.
"Man up bro. Those two thugs were weaker than you and didn't go that far as shitting themselves, but anyways. For the greater good bro." I said with a smirk.
"Plea–"
I didn't let him finish as I grabbed his head and pumped my blood into his skull and he went limp.
Though, this time something was different.
"The chakra is interacting with your blood inside his body." Katsuyu said.
The chakra inside the previous thugs was too small and insignificant to make any difference, but this genin had enough of it and my blood seemed to be attracted to it as it started devouring the chakra.
So the transformation was different this time. The flesh turned pitch black, his bones stretching and bending into new shapes. The screams of the man was muted as his vocal cords got destroyed. His face dissolved and reformed into a grotesque mask of shifting black.
The transformation took longer than the others. The body grew taller and taller until he stood nearly three meters high. His arms became long, his legs twisted and backward bending, and his entire form radiated a cold aura.
But the transformation didn't stop as my HumanoidShifting virus mixed with the monster blood started to take effect finally which it didn't for the previous subjects since the virus deemed the subjects not intelligent enough, which was a limit I gave to the virus to only give human-like features for those monsters with above 70 IQ.
The black and monstrous body of the creature condensed, the twisted limbs straightened quickly, and the grotesque face smoothed into something more human.
A few more minutes, the transformation ended.
The sight made me grin widely 'Finally!' I thought.
A man with grayish skin stood before me. A tall, lean figure dressed in dark assassin's robes made from biological tissues that seemed to absorb the light. A hood obscured his face.
[Picture]
Without much pretense, the moment the transformation ended, he dropped to one knee in front of me, which made my grin wider.
"..." The now assasin stayed silent and didn't speak. Just kneeled with his head down.
I looked at him for a long moment, then nodded in satisfaction.
"Can you understand me?" I asked.
The assasin paused for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"Then speak. Who are you and what do you remember before this?" I asked.
"..." it stayed silent, he only lowered his head more.
"Hmmm, maybe he didn't lose his intelligence, but his memories and speech is gone." Katsuyu said.
"Do you remember who you were?" I asked to confirm what Katsuyu said.
The assassin shook his head.
"Shit! What about your combat experience and instincts? You were a ninja before." I said but the assasin only looked up a little, showing a little of his grey face and unnaturally pitch black eyes.
The assasin raised his hand and suddenly, two hidden blades made of some black iron looking thing came out of his forearms.
"Oh, Bio Material Generation? Seems you got the same ability as mine. But I still don't know if you still have your combat experience when you were a ninja. If not, then it will be troublesome teaching you everything from the start. Also, your aura suggests only peak chunin." I said with some disappointment visible on my face.
"..." the assassin retracted his hidden blades silently and lowered his head again, slightly disappointed in himself too for disappointing Garou.
Katsuyu was practically vibrating with excitement. The transformations was too entertaining to watch. "Next, just start with the elite jonin. Don't worry about losing a valuable lab rat, I can always capture more. But it will take some time." Katsuyu said much to the despair of the rouge cloud ninja.
"You sure? When I asked you for these many people, I didn't know you could do it this fast." I said with a raised eyebrow.
"Hehe~ don't worry about it. The whole world for me is like a playground. If I wanted something, no one can stop me." Katsuyu said proudly as she puffed her generous chest.
'What a sugar mommy material this bitch is.' I thought as I looked at Katsuyu briefly.
Shaking my thoughts away, I started to walk towards the strongest prisoner in the group... the cloud elite jonin.
Unlike the others, he was not thrashing or screaming. He simply sat there, watching me with cold, calculating eyes.
"Didn't expect the person who is known for a philosopher that promotes new age morals to be this... insane." The ninja said with a frown, his lips curved up a little.
"Ohh you know me." I replied with a small smile.
"Obviously, hard not to with how much the fire country has changed because of you." The ninja said.
"Well, ninja, you should be the last person to lecture me on morals and what I do when you are no different than a devil." I replied as I moved closer.
"Heh, well then, I welcome you to the team." The ninja replied mockingly.
"I'm going to transform you, so whether it's worse or not depends on your perspective which I don't give two shits about. You will be reborn and become something that will contribute to the society. Be proud." I said as my hand came closer to grab his head.
"You are a hypocrite." The ninja said mockingly as the hand became bigger in his eyes.
"Everyone is."
"..."
"When you wake up, you may or may not be You anymore, but at least you will still be alive. Have a nice trip." I said.
Then I grabbed his head and pumped my blood into his skull.
Then I moved away and looked at the man.
The transformation was clearly different.
Surprisingly, the guy didn't go limp, but aware of everything happening to him.
The pain of the transformation made him grit his teeth until blood trickled fown his lips. He didn't scream or thrash. He simply closed his eyes and let it happen until he lost consciousness in the process.
His body shifted and changed, his features rearranging themselves into something new.
The more positive part was, he didn't become monstrous like the previous subjects. The Humanoid body granting virus didn't even need to do it's job as the ninja transformed and retained most of his human features on its own.
The chakra inside the ninja all began being devoured by the monster blood and converted it into something new and superior.
His muscles swelled and contracted, his bones cracked and reformed, his skin darkened and then lightened again. Blood wept from his pores, and steam rose from his body as the changes accelerated.
The face stretched and molded, his nose straightening, his jaw sharpening, and his cheekbones rising.
And then little by little, with bio material generation, the body got covered in an attire.
Dark washed out gray and black robes featuring intricate Ottoman style embroidery. Eagle beaked hood, a dark red sash wrapped tightly around the waist to secure utility pouches, and metal plated leather gauntlets designed to house his hidden blades.
When the transformation ended, the man stood before me.
And man, what a glorious sight!
Katsuyu beside me gasped in surprise and excitement as she looked at what was in front of us. It was like discovering a new pokemon.
[Picture]
The man wore the iconic assassin's robes. The only differences between him and the original man I had in mind were his skin tone, a little paler than the original, and the faint black veins that traced patterns beneath his skin.
He dropped to one knee.
"Well well well, just look at that! Kage level?!" I apread my arms with excitement as I looked at the kneeling monster.
With this, I can mass produce elites and have my own army.
"..."
"I have noticed this pattern. A civilian becomes peak genin. A genin becomes a peak chunin. And now this previously elite jonin individual has become a Kage. Close to surpassing mid-Kages at that." Katsuyu added.
"Right?! This changes so much things!" I said as I thought about how much my plans can become easier if I mass produce Kages.
I turned my attention back to the kneeling assasin, "Can you speak?"
"... ..." The assassin opened his mouth, but a moment later, he closed his mouth and lowered his head and didn't speak.
My smile immediately disappeared, "Fuck!! He is a mute too!" I messaged my forehead in frustration.
"Wait, I don't think so." Katsuyu suddenly said as she approached the kneeling assassin.
She gently grabbed the assassin's chin that was covered with a light beard filled with white follicles, lifted his head up and looked at the normal eyes he had, which was different from the pitch black ones the weaker assassin has.
"What do you mean?" I hopefully looked at Katsuyu.
Katsuyu looked in interest at the indifferent expression of the assassin that looked back at her without fear.
"Well, I think he is just... confused?" Katsuyu said as she pinched the cheeck of the assassin gently.
"Huh?" I let out.
"The moment he opened his eyes, he started looking around subtly without letting you catch the movement. Then in that fraction of a second, he saw the other kneeling man wearing the same clothes as him, and in that brief gathering of information, he decided to just kneel too. And now he is playing mute in hopes he can gather more info about his situation."
"..." ×2
"Surprising, right?" Katsuyu said with a small smile at me as I speechlessly looked at the kneeling man.
"Well damn! That's Ezio for you!"
The End.