Kisame finally regained consciousness.
The first thing he felt was that his whole body seemed to be bound.
Specially-made metal shackles locked his wrists and ankles.
He was sitting on a cold metal chair, facing a huge one-way observation window.
On the experimental platform in the center of the room, a massive weapon wrapped in bandages lay quietly.
Samehada.
Kisame tried to circulate his chakra, only to find he couldn't move it at all. Clearly, his captors were being very cautious—their seals had shut his chakra down completely.
Even through the bandages, he could hear Samehada's low, restless growl.
The door to the observation room slid open without a sound.
Two figures walked in.
One of them was someone Kisame truly did not want to see, a man whose very presence made him feel suffocated by pressure.
The Second Hokage, Tobirama.
That legendary figure who, back in the Land of Water, had made him tremble with just a single glance.
The other was Shinju.
Kisame's heart sank to the bottom.
He had fallen into the worst possible situation.
Tobirama didn't even look at him. He walked straight over to the experimental platform in the center.
He put on a special pair of goggles, his face showing the focused, feverish excitement of a researcher who had just gotten his hands on a never-before-seen treasure.
"Interesting. Too interesting," Tobirama muttered as he circled the table. "So it's a chakra-aggregated lifeform that forms a symbiotic relationship with its host to extract energy…"
"This kind of structure, if I can analyze it and replicate it…"
Replicate?
What were they planning to do to Samehada?
"Bastards! Let it go!" Kisame growled, struggling against his restraints, but the shackles didn't budge in the slightest.
Shinju walked up in front of him, standing on the other side of the observation window, quietly meeting his gaze.
"Kisame, don't look at me like that."
"If anything, you should feel honored. That sword of yours is about to become the key that opens a brand-new era. Using it as a prototype, I'll equip every member of Shintei with a biological weapon that can 'grow.'"
Kisame felt like his brain couldn't keep up.
Biological weapon? Mass-production?
That was even more infuriating than killing him on the spot. It was an insult—no, an utter humiliation—to both him and Samehada.
Samehada wasn't a tool. It was his partner—an extension of his own body.
"How dare you! You animals!" Kisame roared.
Inside the lab, Tobirama had already picked up a chakra scalpel. He spoke to the researchers beside him without looking away from Samehada.
"Activate the A-3 chakra circulation analyzer and hook it up to the specimen. I want the most detailed internal energy flow chart possible."
"Yes, Tobirama-sama."
Several mechanical arms descended, each tipped with a tiny probe. They slid with precise accuracy into the gaps in Samehada's scales, connecting themselves to the blade.
A massive light screen unfolded along the wall, displaying the entire "operation" in progress.
Kisame was forced to watch. Even if he wanted to avert his eyes, the restraints gave him no choice.
The pain and resistance coming from Samehada were transmitted clearly to him.
"Stop it! You bastards, stop it right now!" he shouted.
It was as if Tobirama couldn't hear him—or simply chose not to.
Eventually, Kisame's shouting became too much.
"Could you stop making noise? Don't push me, I do actually have a temper."
Tobirama's chakra flared. His killing intent almost took physical form, pressing down on Kisame so heavily he could hardly breathe.
Then Tobirama turned back as if nothing had happened, once more immersing his full attention into the unprecedented research before him.
What a fascinating "lifeform."
"The mental link is extremely stable… Is it based purely on chakra frequency resonance? No… that's not all. There's an even deeper layer of soul-binding involved. Brilliant," he murmured as he studied the data on the screen.
After watching for a moment, he spoke to Kisame without looking away.
"This sword of yours is very unstable. Its consciousness is overflowing with a desire to devour. Have you ever considered that the only reason you've been able to control it all this time is because your chakra reserves are large enough to satisfy its 'appetite'?"
"The moment you become weak, it will turn on you without hesitation. For you, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Can you guarantee that your chakra will always stay at a high level?"
Two of his fingers condensed an extremely compressed water needle, sharper than any scalpel.
"Now then, the real show starts here. I'll do you the favor of cutting this fragile link for you."
Tobirama placed his palm between Kisame and Samehada.
An invisible blade slashed through something that couldn't be seen with the naked eye.
Out in the observation room, Kisame's heart jolted.
Why… couldn't he hear Samehada's voice anymore?
Could the Second Hokage actually have been right—that there really was some kind of "mental link" between them?
The feeling of being bound by blood vanished completely, as if a tenth of his own soul had been forcibly ripped away.
Inside the lab, Samehada—now stripped of its psychic link—instantly went berserk.
Like a rabid dog that had suddenly lost its owner and its food source, it rampaged wildly.
The bandages exploded off its surface. The massive mouth on the hilt split open and lunged straight for Tobirama, who was standing closest.
Tobirama didn't seem surprised in the slightest. He certainly wasn't afraid. His gaze remained absolutely calm.
Just before Samehada's jaws could close around him, his fingers tapped twice on its blade, striking two extremely well-hidden "chakra cores".
The two water needles sank in.
Samehada's frenzied movement stopped instantly.
Kisame stared blankly at the scene, unable to believe his own eyes.
The partner he'd always prided himself on, the demon blade that could devour even tailed beast chakra, wasn't even a toy in this man's hands.
With just two fingers, Tobirama had completely subdued it. There weren't many people in the world who could have done that.
As he watched his partner be "dissected by science," Kisame's mental defenses collapsed completely.
All his life, he had chased greater power.
He had always believed that might made right.
Back in his village, he'd carried out missions with cold efficiency. Any target that needed to be eliminated, he killed without mercy. The weak were guilty by birth. There was no need for them to exist.
Today, he had seen a level of "strength" he truly could not oppose.
Tobirama's power was real, absolute—resistance was meaningless.
Tobirama didn't spare another glance for the demon sword that no longer posed any threat.
He took off his goggles, a look of satisfied afterglow still on his face.
"Very valuable data. I'm quite pleased," Tobirama said. "As payment for this dissection, Kisame, I happen to be in a good mood. I can give you an opportunity. Whether you grab it or not is up to you."
Kisame raised his head numbly.
"I can reconstruct your body," Tobirama said in the same tone one would use to describe a product's selling points. "I'll fuse Samehada's cores with your chakra network on a 'cellular' level. You won't be its 'host' anymore. You'll become its true 'master.'"
"You'll gain its ability to devour chakra. Your body will gain an ultra-high-speed regenerative capability. You will become a 'human tailed beast' in the truest sense."
"Of course," he added casually, "in exchange, you'll serve Shintei forever. And you, of all people, should understand—we're not even slightly afraid of you rebelling. Anyone present here could easily crush you to death."
Kisame looked at the calm youth standing outside the glass, then turned to look at the familiar demon blade on the table.
He knew he didn't really have a choice.
Or rather, the "deal" Tobirama was offering him was an open trap that he had no reason not to walk into.
Becoming stronger was the only goal he had ever pursued as a shinobi.
"…Fine. I accept," he said at last.
Shinju watched it all unfold, and a smile finally appeared on his face.
In his hand, he had gained yet another powerful chess piece.
And the core data for the "biological weapon" project… had also successfully fallen into his grasp.
(End of Chapter)
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