The Blood Letter in the Underground Laboratory and the Serpent's Frenzy

Deep beneath the border of the Land of Fire lay a place disguised as an abandoned mine.

The air was thick with a strange odor that would not dissipate, a mixture of Formalin and damp earth. There was no sunlight here, only glowing test tubes embedded in the rock walls, casting a dim, ghostly green light like will-o'-the-wisps.

Beneath that light stood rows of neatly arranged glass culture dishes, containing all manner of nauseating, twisted tissues and organs.

Gurgle... Gurgle...

Inside a massive cultivation tank, bubbles constantly churned. Soaking in the nutrient solution was a "Wood Release test subject" who had only just lost all signs of life. His chest had been brutally cut open, and countless overgrown, deformed Wooden Fibers erupted wildly from the wound, only to wither and carbonize the instant they touched the nutrient solution, turning into black sediment.

It had failed.

Orochimaru stood before the cultivation tank, his golden snake eyes utterly devoid of emotion as he coldly recorded the data. He raised a pale, slender finger and lightly tapped the icy glass wall.

"Still no good..."

"The rejection is too severe. Even cells diluted a thousandfold still cannot be borne by the bodies of these ordinary mortals."

His hoarse voice, like the hiss of a snake, echoed through the empty laboratory with a trace of sickly amusement.

"What perfect material, Baishi-kun... What secrets does your body truly hide?"

His desire for that man's body had already surpassed his obsession with the Sharingan, becoming the newest and most fervent subject of his scientific career.

Just then.

An extremely faint rustling sound, nearly impossible to notice, came from an inconspicuous ventilation duct in the corner of the laboratory.

Orochimaru paused. Those inhuman golden vertical pupils slowly turned, precisely locking onto the source of the sound.

A tiny