"This thing has a remote control signal." Sasuke threw the chip to Naruto, "The signal source is underground. And..."
Sasuke looked deep into the mining area, where there was a dry well that had been sealed for many years.
"There's a very unpleasant smell there. It's the same as what I smelled in Daming Mansion."
Naruto crushed the chip in his hand, and the fatigue in his eyes disappeared, replaced by the sharpness that belonged to Hokage.
"It seems that the gopher's nest has been found."
The dry well was like a huge, insatiable mouth, a black hole facing the sky. The walls of the well were covered with greasy moss, and the air was filled with a stench of Machine Oil, rotten flesh, and old mold.
"I hate this smell." Naruto covered his nose and stood on the edge of the elevator.
This is an old-fashioned mining elevator with drafts on all sides. The cables are rusty and make a tooth-breaking "crunching" sound every time it shakes.
"Bear it." Sasuke leaned in the corner and closed his eyes to rest, "Compared to Orochimaru's Laboratory, this place is relatively clean."
"Do you have any misunderstanding about the definition of clean?" Naruto kicked a dead mouse away from his feet, "Seriously, does a place like this really have such high-tech gadgets?"
"The dirtier the place, the easier it is for shady things to breed." Kurotsuchi stood on the other side, with a gloomy face that could drip water. "This well was abandoned fifty years ago. The record on the file was because of a gas explosion. Now it seems that it was to cover up something."
The elevator finally landed.
What appeared in front of us was a huge underground cavity. It was not as dark and humid as Naruto imagined, but instead it was brightly lit. Countless huge pipes covered the rock wall like blood vessels, transporting a black liquid to a huge pool in the center.
Around the pool, hundreds of Culture Tanks like glass coffins are arranged neatly.
Even Naruto, who is used to big scenes, couldn't help but gasp when he saw this scene.
In every Culture Tank, there is a person floating there. In other words, it was once a person.
Their bodies have been extensively modified, their limbs have been mechanically replaced, and their skins are covered with tubes. Black liquid circulates in the tubes, maintaining their minimum vital signs.
"These are..." Kurotsuchi's voice was trembling, "Are these the people who have disappeared at the border in recent years?"
"Not entirely." Sasuke walked up to a Culture Tank, and Sharingan scanned the nameplate on it, "There are also wandering ninjas, and even rebellious ninjas from various villages. They treat people as batteries."
"Battery?" Naruto clenched his fists and dug his nails into his palms.
"Although that Black Oil can store Chakra, it itself is inactive." Sasuke explained, "A living body is needed as a medium to convert Natural Energy into Chakra that can be used by machines. These people were..." while they were alive.
"Stop talking." Naruto interrupted Sasuke, his voice was horribly low, "Blow this place up."
"Wait, that's..." Kurotsuchi suddenly pointed to a high platform in front of him.
On the high platform, a man in a white coat with disheveled hair was operating the console with his back to them. Standing beside him were several guards wearing full armor.
"I didn't expect a mouse to sneak in."
The man turned around. He was wearing a pair of thick goggles, half of his face was burned, and his blackened teeth were exposed.
"Welcome to my kingdom, Seventh Hokage, Uchiha Sasuke, and... oh, the fourth generation Lord Tsuchikage." The man saluted exaggeratedly, holding a wrench dripping with Black Oil in his hand.
"Who are you?" Kurotsuchi shouted sharply.
"Name? I have long forgotten that kind of thing." The man shrugged, "You can call me "Foreman". I am the person responsible for replacing parts in this world."
"Replace parts?" Naruto took a step forward, "To turn a living person into this kind of ghost thing, is this what you call replacing parts?"
"Human beings are too fragile." Foreman knocked on his mechanical leg, "They will get sick, they will age, and Chakra will also be exhausted. Just like you, Lord Hokage. Without that fox, do you feel like a rusty gear now?"
This sentence hurt Naruto precisely.
"But he's still turning." Sasuke said coldly, pressing his hand on Kusanagi Sword, "And you are just a pile of scrap metal."
"Tough talk." Foreman pressed a red button, "Now that you're here, don't leave. Just in time, my experimental product needs a few high-end "batteries."
Boom!
All those Culture Tanks suddenly opened. The Cyborgs inside were like activated zombies, roaring and crawling out. They had no sense, only an extreme desire for Chakras.
"There are too many!" Kurotsuchi looked at the Cyborg coming like a tide, "And the space here is too small, so we can't use a large Earth Release, otherwise the whole underground will collapse!"
"Can't hurt their core." Naruto shouted, "They're still alive!"
"Alive?" Foreman laughed, "That's an illusion. Their brains have been burned out long ago, and what drives them now is just the instinct to eat!"
A Cyborg pounced on Naruto at an astonishing speed.
Naruto dodged sideways and cut the opponent's neck with a palm.
Bang!
It felt like hitting a steel plate. There was actually a metal piece implanted under Cyborg's skin.
"So hard!" Naruto shook his hand.
More Cyborg rushed forward, dividing and surrounding the three of them.
Sasuke wielded Kusanagi Sword and could only attack with the back of the knife, trying to stun them. But he found that these things did not know pain at all, and would continue to crawl even if their bones were broken.
"Damn it, this will never end!" Kurotsuchi kicked two of them away, "Naruto! Don't worry about life or death! They are hopeless!"
Naruto gritted his teeth and looked at the unrecognizable faces. One of the faces looked familiar. It seemed to be the wandering ninja who wanted to rob someone he had seen in the caravan before.
"Is it really... hopeless?"
The moment Naruto hesitated, a mechanical claw with high-voltage electricity grabbed his ankle.
Sizzle!
A strong electric current spread throughout the body instantly. Naruto groaned and half-knelt on the ground.
"Caught it!" Foreman rubbed his hands excitedly, "Chakra of Seventh, even if there is only a little left, it is still top-notch fuel!"
"Naruto!" Sasuke wanted to rescue, but was tightly entangled by more than a dozen Cyborg.
The Cyborg who grabbed Naruto opened his mouth, and a tube with a needle protruded from his mouth, piercing Naruto's heart.
At the critical moment.
Naruto did not struggle, but raised his head. There was no fear in those blue eyes, only a kind of heart-stopping calm.
"You just said that I am a rusty gear?"
Naruto's palm suddenly grasped the stabbing pipe.
There is no Chakra Cloak, and there is no Rasengan.
But an invisible wave suddenly burst out in his palm. It was the technique Sage Fukasaku taught him when he was practicing at Mount Myōboku - Frog Kumite. Use Natural Energy to form an invisible attack outside the body.