The underground of Otogakure, once a laboratory representing gloom and rationality, had now completely fallen into a demonic lair of revelry.
A purple, viscous mist filled the air. This energy did not belong to chakra and carried a nauseatingly sweet, fishy stench.
Kabuto Yakushi stood at the highest point of the ruins, the mutated purple claw still dripping an unknown liquid. He pushed up the round glasses he could not bear to discard even though half of them had shattered, then looked down at the four monsters that could no longer be called "human"—the Chaos Four Apostles.
"Power... Is this the end of evolution?"
Kabuto gazed obsessively at his palm. The pleasure of that ever-flowing, destruction-hungry power made him feel omnipotent. The Will of Fire, the truth of the Shinobi World—before this pure chaos, all of it seemed so pale and powerless.
"Orochimaru-sama, can you see this?" Kabuto muttered to the empty darkness, the corners of his mouth stretching into an exaggerated grin. "The thing you spent your whole life carefully studying—I surpassed it in just one day. You're a remnant of the old era, while I... I'm the guide of the new world."
The mass of flesh that had once been Jirobo let out a muffled roar, as if answering its master's declaration. Kidomaru's tentacles scraped against the walls with a grating sound, while the giant mouth in Tayuya's throat continued opening and closing, craving more flesh and blood.
Kabuto turned around and looked toward the gate leading outside, deep within the laboratory.
"Pass it down." Kabuto's voice turned cold and sharp. "All shinobi of Otogakure are to receive the 'Blessing' immediately. Kill anyone who refuses."
Purple shadows spread through the underground, and Kabuto Yakushi gazed around in intoxicated fascination.
"Everyone, enjoy yourselves."
A hundred kilometers from Otogakure,