Chapter 4 – A Life in Darkness III
Time passed.
Without sunlight as a guide, the young woman had no real sense of how long she had been in that cell.
At first, she thought her captors just wanted information, but after a while, she realized they didn't care at all about what she or her teammate knew. Instead, they were exclusively interested in them — or, more precisely, in the secrets their bodies held.
Their routine consisted of waking up, eating, having a bit of blood drawn, and then returning to their cell, where they would wait for the second wave of experiments. After that, she would return to the cell again, only to pass out and wake up just in time to eat before everything repeated itself once more.
They were subjected to numerous experiments. Hers varied greatly, from simple blood draws to having pieces of her flesh cut off.
Her teammate, however, endured far worse, having organs removed on a whim. Both of them were exhausted, but they still held onto a sliver of hope that they might be rescued.
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The scene shifts.
In a new cell, the young woman, now an adult, leaned against a wall, staring into the void, her lifeless eyes fixed on a wall covered in tally marks she had made herself.
Each mark represented a day, and if someone were to stop and count, they would see the total reaching nearly five digits, meaning over 20 years had passed.
It seemed absurd to imagine that she had survived for so long under these conditions, but in reality, it was as if she either couldn't or wasn't allowed to die.
From the few conversations she overheard from the guards, it was clear that she was one of the last, if not the last, Senju women of relatively pure blood outside of Tsunade. This made her an item of extreme importance to the researchers, and they would never let her die without first extracting every ounce of value, as they did with her Uchiha teammate.
She still remembered the last time she saw him. The once-proud, confident young man had been reduced to nothing more than a dried-up body on a table. It hurt even more when she saw that the person responsible was someone she once deeply respected: Orochimaru.
It was in that moment that any last hope she had of being rescued was extinguished. Her captors, her tormentors, were the very people for whom she had fought, killed, and bled to protect.
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The Third Ninja War ended.
The woman in her cell overheard some of the researchers talking, and they seemed somewhat fearful.
Apparently, the Third Hokage had abdicated after the war, as too many sacrifices were made. With the growing discontent among the major clans and villagers, they needed someone to blame for such heavy losses.
After that, a new Hokage had been chosen, and it seemed he had managed to beat Orochimaru to the position.
These bits of news held little meaning for a prisoner like her, but she clung to them. She didn't know why; maybe, just maybe, deep down, she still had hope in the village, hope that someone would come to save her from that place.
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She was pregnant.
After so many years, it seemed the number of Senju descendants had finally dwindled. Even those who had merged into the village were taken to this or other hideouts.
Perhaps a few had escaped, going unnoticed, but honestly, she didn't hold out much hope.
As for the reason behind her pregnancy, well, she wasn't the only one. Four other young women with some Senju blood, along with several ordinary or ninja-born women, were impregnated using the genetic material of a Senju man who had received a sample of the First Hokage's cells — one of many attempts to awaken the Wood Release.
She had seen this scenario many times before. As for why they were only now doing this to her, she believed that she no longer held much value for them.
She was getting older, and years of experiments, despite her strong physique, had left her extremely weakened. So, this was probably a last effort to extract her remaining worth as a test subject.
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The first month of pregnancy went relatively smoothly, as did the second. But in the third, something happened, and one of the women turned into a tree.
The sight of her being torn apart from the inside, transforming, was truly horrifying.
Realizing this was likely due to an imbalance in the fetuses, which started to overflow with Yang energy, Orochimaru forcefully transplanted some spare Sharingan into a group of women with a higher chance of success.
As time passed, those who didn't receive the Sharingan to control the rising Yang energy gradually died, while those with it grew weaker as the fetuses demanded increasingly more energy.
Then it happened.
One day, as her due date approached, the Senju woman felt something within her, something long lost.
"Chakra…" she thought, startled and euphoric at the same time.
Gradually, she felt the seal that had resided in her body for years begin to loosen. It was subtle, but she could feel it.
It was a strange sensation, but over time, she grew accustomed to it. After all those years, she could feel her chakra, and it seemed stronger than ever, reaching a level she had never imagined.
She didn't know the reason for it, nor did she care. The moment she felt her chakra, a long-dormant fire ignited within her. But she didn't act immediately; instead, she focused on hiding her chakra and waiting for an opportunity.
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Blood and bodies littered the floor of a long corridor.
The woman walked with heavy steps, holding her belly with the child inside.
Her vision was blurry, and she had no idea where she was going, but something told her to follow this path.
The sound of footsteps was quickly heard, and suddenly she found herself surrounded. But with a simple thought, branches emerged from her body, striking down the men swiftly and lethally.
"Ugh—" with a groan, she forced herself to keep moving, tearing out the branches that sprouted from her body, ripping parts of herself in the process. But as quickly as she injured herself, she healed.
She then continued her journey.
Guards, researchers, or even other captives — all were killed. She didn't know how she was doing it; it just came naturally.
Suddenly, she felt the need to sit down. She could feel her child was about to be born, and right there, amid the bodies and blood, a baby came into the world.
Using a kunai, she cut the umbilical cord of the baby and exited the base, only to find herself in a scorching desert.
Feeling the sunlight after so many years, she gave a brief smile before starting to walk in a certain direction.
*****
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