Sasuke quickly through the damp cave corridor, his footsteps particularly clear in the confined space.
His Sharingan gleamed faintly in the darkness, the image of the twisted creature Suigetsu had described still lingering in his mind—a human-faced fish with gills on its neck and webbed hands and feet. This made him unconsciously touch his Cursed Seal, an indescribable sense of disgust welling up inside him.
(Another disgusting experiment like this...)
Pushing open the stone door to the laboratory, he saw Orochimaru lounging lazily on the bed. Hearing the noise, Orochimaru's golden snake eyes flickered slightly, and a playful smile appeared on his lips.
"Oh? Sasuke-kun's back so soon?" Orochimaru's voice was hoarse and cheerful. "It seems our 'guest' is quite important to you."
Sasuke, his face cold, cut straight to the point. "Suigetsu discovered a humanoid fish-like monster at the bottom of the sea. Was that your experimental subject?"
Orochimaru's pupils suddenly contracted, then he excitedly licked his lips. "A humanoid fish monster...?" He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, "Ah... that's it..."
His thoughts seemed to drift back to more than a decade ago—the smoke of the Third Shinobi World War, Danzo's gloomy face appearing in his memory.
"Orochimaru, we need a force capable of underwater combat."
(An amphibious ninja... interesting.)
Orochimaru snapped out of his reverie, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "How nostalgic... I abandoned that lab a long time ago, yet some test subjects still survived..." He chuckled softly, "And they seem... to have grown quite well?"
Sasuke's eyes grew colder. "So, what exactly is that?"
"Just some... small experiments." Orochimaru waved his hand casually. "By combining fish genes with ninja genes, I created a warrior capable of moving freely underwater." He looked at Sasuke, his smile deepening, "But now it seems it has undergone an unexpected evolution..."
Sasuke's fist clenched slightly. It was another experiment like this, turning people into monsters. He suppressed his anger and said coldly, "Now, what do you plan to do?"
A glint of greed flashed in Orochimaru's eyes. "Of course... capture him and study him." He slowly sat up straight. "Sasuke-kun, why don't you do it—"
"No time," Sasuke interrupted crisply. "I still need to train."
After saying that, he turned and left, his black robes drawing a sharp arc behind him.
Orochimaru paused for a moment, then shook his head helplessly. "He's really... getting more and more disobedient."
He stretched, his voice echoing in the empty laboratory. "Dou."
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Kabuto Yakushi emerged from the shadows. He adjusted his glasses, the lenses reflecting a cold light. "Lord Orochimaru."
"That test subject is yours to handle." Orochimaru tapped his temple lightly with his fingertip. "Find a way to capture it alive."
Dou bowed slightly. "Understood. However... is there anything you would like to specifically remind me about this experimental subject?"
Orochimaru's eyes lit up with reminiscence. "That was a project from the Third Shinobi World War..." His voice lowered, "I fused the gills of a shark, the nerves of an electric eel, the flexibility of an octopus... oh, and the resilience of a deep-sea fish..."
Dou's pen moved rapidly across the notebook, his eyes behind his glasses gleaming slightly. "Truly... a brilliant combination."
"Although it's far less advanced than it is now, if it has truly survived for so many years..." His eyes gleamed with excitement, "Perhaps it will exhibit some surprising mutations."
A smile played on Dou's lips, "I understand. I'll bring it back intact."
Orochimaru nodded in satisfaction and leaned back against the bed. "Go... I'm very curious, what has become of this forgotten 'work' all these years..."
On the other side...
The afterglow of the setting sun spilled onto the sea, dyeing the waves a blood-red hue. Suigetsu sat on a rock, clutching his Ninja Blade, his silver-white hair tousled by the sea breeze. He stared intently at the calm sea, his throat bobbing involuntarily.
"That disgusting thing... it should be gone by now, right?"
The sea breeze carried a salty, fishy smell, reminding him of the terrifying scene he had just witnessed underwater—a bloated human face covered in deathly pale scales, and those murky, nictitating eyes. Suigetsu shivered violently, goosebumps rising all over her body.
(We absolutely cannot let it reach the shore...)
(Just in case...)
The moment this thought crossed his mind, Suigetsu's imagination began to run wild. He could almost see the Fish-Man silently crawling out of the sea in the dead of night, its wet, webbed claws gripping the windowsill, its terrifying eyes staring at him as he slept through the window...
"Ahhh!" Suigetsu shook her head violently, trying to shake off the horrible images from her mind. "No, no, it's too disgusting!"
He scratched his hair in frustration, his Ninja Blade striking the rocks with a crisp sound.
"It's all Orochimaru's fault, that pervert!" Suigetsu muttered through gritted teeth. "He's always doing disgusting experiments, creating these monsters... He's like a snake himself, and he insists on turning others into monsters too..."
The sea remained calm, with only small waves lapping against the rocks on the shore. But this calm only made Suigetsu more uneasy. He stood up and paced back and forth on the beach, dragging his Ninja Blade behind him, leaving a long trail in the sand.
"I should have dragged Jūgo along..." Suigetsu muttered in annoyance. "Even though he can't tell friend from foe when he goes berserk, at least it's better than me being here alone in fear..."
Suddenly, an unusual ripple appeared on the distant sea. Suigetsu instantly tensed, raising his knife to his chest. His pupils contracted as he stared intently in that direction.
"Could it be... that it's coming back again?"
A few seconds later, a sea turtle slowly surfaced. Suigetsu breathed a sigh of relief, almost collapsing onto the beach.
"You scared me to death..." He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, chuckled self-deprecatingly, "When did I, Hozuki Suigetsu, become such a coward..."
But the next second, his smile froze on his face.
Further out on the sea, a blurry shadow flashed by. It was definitely not the outline of a sea turtle—it was larger, longer, and... it seemed to be swimming towards the shore.
Suigetsu's fingers gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. His throat was dry, but he still forced himself to shout:
"Hey! I... I saw you! Stop playing tricks!"
The sea breeze howled past, and no one answered his shouts. The shadow vanished as if it had never existed.
Suigetsu stood there, her heart pounding.