Time slowly passed in despair. Hiroshi Bito witnessed one cruel experiment after another, often hearing screams from outside. Many experimental subjects died every day.
Orochimaru seemed to become increasingly insane. He was no longer satisfied with simple human modification experiments and began attempting to forcibly fuse genes from different creatures into human bodies.
Once, Orochimaru injected the genes of a highly venomous spider into a young prisoner's body.
As soon as the experiment began, the prisoner let out a bloodcurdling scream. His body started to change rapidly, a layer of black fur grew on his skin, his fingers became slender like spider legs, and his joints twisted like deformed branches.
However, this change did not bring power; instead, it plunged him into endless agony.
His body began to reject the foreign genes, swelling violently. His skin gradually ruptured, and green venom oozed from the wounds, emitting a nauseating stench.
Orochimaru, however, stood by, excitedly recording everything, his eyes filled with a morbid appreciation for pain and death.
Hiroshi Bito watched from the side, his heart filled with despair and helplessness.
Every day, he waited for a chance to escape, but each ray of hope burst like a bubble.
As time went on, Hiroshi Bito's body grew weaker and weaker. Hunger and despair, like two poisonous snakes, constantly gnawed at his will.
He began to hallucinate, as if seeing his family and friends laughing in a sunlit world, while he himself was trapped in this dark hell, with no hope of escape.
Finally, on another day of observing experimental subjects, Orochimaru came before Hiroshi Bito.
His eyes revealed an unusual excitement, as if Hiroshi Bito was the perfect experimental sample he had been waiting for.
"You... what do you want to do?"
Hiroshi Bito asked weakly, his voice tinged with fear.
"It's been five days. You are the most perfect experimental subject so far, the most compatible with the Hashirama Cells I've modified!!" Orochimaru's eyes were full of excited light, his expression extremely infatuated.
Then he smiled coldly, waved his hand, and several subordinates came forward, dragging Hiroshi Bito from his original spot and taking him to a more spacious room filled with various bizarre instruments.
In the center of the room, a large transparent container was placed, filled with a faintly glowing liquid.
Various complex pipes and wires were connected around the container, emitting a buzzing electrical sound.
"This will be your final destination, and the moment you contribute to this great cause."
Orochimaru said, walking towards a control panel and beginning to operate it skillfully.
Hiroshi Bito watched everything around him in horror, struggling desperately, but his strength, depleted by long-term imprisonment and torture, was almost gone, making it impossible to break free from those vise-like hands.
"No! Don't!!"
Hiroshi Bito cried out in despair, his voice echoing in the room, but there was no response.
He was forcibly shoved into the transparent container, and the cold liquid instantly submerged him.
He wanted to breathe but could only choke on mouthful after mouthful of the pungent liquid.
His body began to feel an unprecedented intense pain, as if every cell was being torn apart and reassembled.
Orochimaru stood outside the container, watching Hiroshi Bito's painful struggles with focused eyes, a satisfied smile on his face.
"This time, it will definitely succeed. You will become the perfect creature I create, an existence transcending humanity! Ha... haha!!..."
Hiroshi Bito twisted his body in agony in the liquid. His consciousness gradually blurred, and everything before his eyes became increasingly illusory.
He seemed to see a faint light, the last illusion of the beautiful world he had once lived in.
However, this light was also gradually disappearing, swallowed by endless darkness.
"No... no way?! Am I going to die now? Does it have to be this miserable..."
Finally, Hiroshi Bito's body stopped struggling. His eyes stared blankly ahead, and the light of life seemed to have completely extinguished in this dark underground base.
Orochimaru looked at the motionless Hiroshi Bito in the container. The smile on his face gradually froze, then turned to anger.
"Why? Why did it still fail!"
Orochimaru roared maniacally, slamming his fist onto the control panel.
But soon, he regained his composure, and a fanatical light rekindled in his eyes.
"It doesn't matter, there will always be a day when I succeed. This world will ultimately be changed by my power."
Orochimaru murmured to himself, as if proclaiming his twisted and terrifying ambition to this dark world.
"Lord Orochimaru! Something is wrong! The base is under attack, a large number of Ninja have broken in!"
Suddenly, a subordinate emerged from the ground like a ghost, kneeling on one knee, one hand clenched tightly on the ground, reporting to him urgently.
The subordinate's expression was panicked, his forehead covered in large beads of sweat that glistened with panicked light under the dim illumination.
Orochimaru was focused on flipping through the data in his hands, completely unaware of the disturbance around him.
Orochimaru didn't turn his head, his hands still moving, only asking indifferently, "Who are the intruders? Which country's Ninja do they belong to?"
The subordinate's body trembled slightly as he said in a hurried tone, "They are Ninja from Konoha and the Purple Country. Their leader is a short old man. He wields a long staff and his strength is unimaginably powerful! It seems he is their leader."
Hearing this, Orochimaru's expression instantly changed drastically. His previously calm vertical pupils suddenly contracted, as if sharply pierced by something.
He murmured to himself, "Is that so? It's Teacher Sarutobi..."
Immediately, he ordered without hesitation, "Retreat at once!"
After speaking, he quickly gathered all the important data from the table in one go, his movements swift and skillful. Then, his figure flickered, disappearing from the spot like a black lightning bolt, leaving behind only a slight whoosh of wind.
"Bang!"
"Boom!"
The entire underground base seemed to suffer a strong earthquake, trembling violently.
Fierce battles erupted everywhere, in the corridors and laboratories.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, held a sturdy staff, his movements as agile as a nimble monkey, moving freely through the enemy lines. Wherever he went, none could stop him.
His gaze was sharp as an eagle's. Every time he swung his staff, it carried a fierce wind sound, smashing heavily into enemies. The Ninja who tried to stop him were sent flying.
Soon, the Ninja from Konoha and the Ninja from the Purple Country cooperated closely, quickly taking control of the base like a tide.
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood in the laboratory where Orochimaru had just been, looking at the bloodstains everywhere and the twisted bodies from failed experiments. His brows were tightly furrowed, his eyes filled with grief and anger.
A pungent smell of blood mixed with chemicals permeated the air, making one nauseous.
"Gurgle!..."
Just then, inside a large container filled with strange liquid, an experimental subject's body moved slightly. Bubbles continuously rose from his mouth and nose, as if he was struggling desperately under the Grim Reaper's clutches.
The liquid showed a bizarre color, swaying slightly within the container and reflecting eerie light.
Just then, a Konoha Anbu Ninja wearing a cat-face mask quickly approached the container and examined it carefully.