Deep within a vast, rarely visited sand valley in the Land of Wind lay a world utterly unlike the yellow sands surrounding it.
This was the first true secret base Toyotomi Yinglang had established in Shinobi World No. 1-the "Sandcastle."
The base's main structure was embedded deep in underground rock, built by modifying and expanding natural caverns. Its exterior was covered in alloy armor several meters thick and an optical camouflage energy barrier, shutting out the windblown sand, heat, and most means of detection.
Inside, it looked entirely like a fusion of futuristic laboratory and military fortress: alloy corridors gleamed cold white, energy conduits pulsed like blood vessels within the walls and ceilings, precision instruments ran silently, and biological tissues or unfinished specimens of various shapes soaked in Growth Chambers. The air carried faint smells of ozone, nutrient solution, and something peculiar to high-pressure energy.
In the central, most heavily guarded main laboratory, Sasori stood before the central Control Console. His dark purple, high-collared uniform jacket lay carelessly over a nearby mechanical arm, leaving him in a black bodysuit that outlined his lean, muscular frame. The rimless glasses on his nose reflected the data cascading down the enormous light screen before him. His golden serpent eyes never blinked, his concentration bordering on obsession.
Beside the Control Console stood a cylindrical Growth Chamber three meters tall, its texture a blend of metal and organic matter. A burly human figure floated in the translucent, pale green nutrient solution. He was a Sunagakure Chunin who had volunteered for the advanced stage of the "Bedrock" project. Now his eyes were tightly shut, his body naked. Beneath his skin, a metallic sheen and complex energy circuits could faintly be seen flowing slowly. At key points along his chest, spine, and limbs, several miniature biochemical organ