The Undesired Second Chance

Chapter 24: The Serpent

The laboratory was lit with a green glow, casting the surroundings in a sickly pallor that made it feel as if all other colors had been wiped out of existence. Death hung heavy in the air, particularly around a stack of boxes covered in preservation seals.

Boxes just large enough to hold a child.

Most of the space was occupied by a series of tall glass cylinders, and within hung the subjects for his current run of experiments. Limp bodies floated suspended in thick fluid, cables and tubes wrapping around their young, fragile limbs. Over half of the testing chambers were empty: drained of liquid and unlit.

At a lab table amidst the various testing apparatus, waiting for a cloudy solution to congeal, Orochimaru considered his notes.

The project had been proceeding precisely as he had expected it to: poorly.

By now nearly all of the test subjects had failed, either succumbing to the chakra drain from the injected Hashirama cells or simply too weak to survive the procedure in the first place. Obviously, none had shown any sign of developing the Wood Release kekkei genkai.

"Such a waste," he murmured to himself, vaguely irritated with the situation.

He may as well have just tested on cadavers.

Doing so was generally preferred, actually; there was less risk involved, and no consideration need be made for the survival of the subject. Granted, some experiments did require a living participant, but he had an... agreement with the Torture and Interrogation Department for those cases. The unfortunate death of a traitor or prisoner had never been much of an issue.

Not that it was much of an issue now. Clearly nobody cared if the street orphans simply vanished—it would not have been so easy to get the case dropped otherwise.

Still, if the commander hadn't been so insistent that the project remain completely secret, he would have rather followed his usual methods. The secrecy meant an annoying lack of human subjects for introductory experiments, and there was only so much he could learn from stray animals.

So instead, subjects that could have been worth something ended up dying in the preliminary tests.
Like he had said: a waste.

As things were, two thirds of the original S1-15 group had failed, leaving five barely alive and fading fast. The second group, S16-25, had lost only two, but the remaining eight were all on a steady decline and their deaths were basically assured. All but one of S26-35 had died. Testing on S36-45 had only just begun, but he was certain that its results would be much the same.

All sacrifices to even begin to understand the effects of the injections.

At least, dead or alive, there was much that could be learned from the bodies.

There was a shift in the chakra seals lining his laboratory, and he spared it enough attention to determine that the detected intruder actually had the clearance to visit.

Unfortunately, yes.

With an irritated scowl, Orochimaru tapped a quick sequence on the table and pulsed his chakra: a seal built into the wood immediately stored away all of his research notes save what few he'd actually share. As much as he disliked detailing his discoveries to a second party, at least the man he reported to could appreciate his work.

With the Hokage... Sarutobi-sensei had always looked sad. Apologetic.

The lab door slid aside.

"Commander Danzō," Orochimaru greeted, smile drawing up on one side into a sarcastic smirk. He tapped the side of the beaker in front of him, checking how much the cloudy solution had thickened. "What a pleasant surprise."