In the lush green forest, Tsunade was swiftly moving forward, stepping on the treetops. The leaves rustled beneath her feet, barely disturbed by her precise movements. After leaving Yu, she immediately contacted Oyashiro, who in turn informed her of the meeting place with Orochimaru.
The meeting location was in a forest surrounded by mountains within the borders of the Land of Rivers. And she was heading to that spot.
Soon, she arrived at a crossroads. There was a stone statue of a local deity standing at the edge of the path.
She walked up to the statue and pressed it firmly. Then, the statue sank down with a soft grinding noise. After she released her hand, it returned to its original position.
All Tsunade had to do now was wait for Orochimaru to come out and meet her.
After some time, a figure came out of the forest.
"Tsunade."
"Orochimaru."
Although the person's upper body was obscured by bushes, she could immediately recognize this person as Orochimaru from that unique raspy voice.
He didn't come out of the shadow. "Did you bring the scroll?"
Without answering, Tsunade took the scroll from her chest and held it by her side.
"Open it."
Slightly displeased, she clicked her tongue but followed his instructions, unfolding the scroll in her hands and showing him its contents. Trust was never your strong suit, was it?
Inside the scroll was a sealing formation.
"Follow me."
Without further verification of the scroll's authenticity, he left. Tsunade quickly put away the scroll and followed him, her eyes never leaving his back as they made their way through the dense forest.
After some time, Orochimaru finally led her to a cave halfway up a nearby mountain. At the entrance of the cave, he removed his hood and took off his black cloak, revealing a linen-colored kimono underneath and a purple rope belt tied around his waist.
"You know my current situation. It's not very convenient for me to move around outside," Orochimaru said, though his tone was somewhat playful.
"Oh, why did you leave the village in the first place then?" Tsunade asked.
"Didn't you leave the village as well?"
"That's because I—"
Just as she was about to explain, Orochimaru cut her off. "I don't have much time. Where are those brains? Bring them out."
He didn't ask what help she wanted from him, as she had imagined he might. Instead, he directly asked for the brains.
It seemed he already knew everything about the situation.
"Is it because of the curse mark on Anko?" Tsunade asked while summoning the two metal cylinders from the scroll.
"That was only a half-finished product."
Orochimaru didn't elaborate further, but in fact, he had seen Anko's situation through the curse mark.
After the Second Shinobi World War, Orochimaru officially embarked on his pursuit of mastering all the ninjutsu in the world and achieving immortality.
During his travels, while collecting ninjutsu, he discovered Jūgo. His body was unique, allowing him to absorb natural energy and enter a pseudo-Sage Mode.
Later, Orochimaru extracted Jūgo's body fluids, hoping to impart this power to other ninjas through a curse mark.
However, most of the experimental subjects couldn't withstand the violent energy and died. The failures had been numerous and gruesome, each one pushing him closer to his goal, regardless of the cost.
And only Anko survived. Her curse mark was different from ordinary ones, as it carried a fragment of Orochimaru's soul.
Due to this soul imprint, the two of them were connected on a spiritual level to some degree, though he had absolute control over this connection.
Since receiving the mark, Anko often experienced pain in her sleep, the curse mark reacting with burning heat whenever she dreamed of him. This was the soul imprint responding to his presence.
The benefit of this imprint for him was that if his main body faced death, his soul wouldn't dissipate and could be stored in Anko due to the soul imprint.
Of course, if she faced danger, he could also sense the state of her soul imprint and thus know her condition.
However, only Orochimaru himself knew of these abilities.
Tsunade handed the two metal cylinders to him. As for the brain of Ishitaro, she still had it on her but hadn't given it to him yet.
Even though the two metal cylinders had no names marked on them, Orochimaru immediately picked up one of the cylinders and inspected it closely, muttering to himself.
"Anko..."
Seeing that only a brain remained of his former apprentice, Orochimaru showed no sign of sadness, but instead smiled.
Tsunade knew he wasn't mocking Anko's fate, as he didn't care about her at all.
His smile was likely pure joy—joy that he could witness the human body's frailty manifesting in such a way.
Yet, Tsunade still felt utterly disgusted.
After staring at the brain in the metal cylinder for a while, Orochimaru picked up both cylinders and walked deeper into the cave.
"Are you sure you want to come inside? This is going to get bloody."
His words made Tsunade stop in her tracks. Given her severe hemophobia, she knew she wouldn't be able to handle witnessing the surgery. The mere mention of blood made her palms sweat.
Besides, who knew what would happen after the procedure was done? She needed to keep her strength up.
Thus, only Orochimaru went deeper into the cave with the two cylinders, leaving her to wait alone outside. She watched him disappear into the darkness, the cylinders cradled almost affectionately in his arms.
From the shadows of the bushes, a pair of eyes behind a black mask stared at the cave.
Inside the cave, Orochimaru had just gone deeper, leaving Tsunade alone pacing near the entrance.
"Orochimaru, you wretched snake!"
A voice even more sinister than Orochimaru's came from beneath the mask. At the same time, a mechanically crafted scorpion tail slowly extended from behind to the front.
---
Tsunade tried her best to suppress the physical reactions caused by her fear of the unknown, but she couldn't stop herself from pacing back and forth at the entrance of the cave.
In the past, she had always been the one working inside the operating room. This time, she was the one standing outside, waiting.
It was an unpleasant feeling, especially since she was fully aware of how difficult it would be to restore Anko to normal.
What made things worse was that, in her rush due to Orochimaru's urging, she had forgotten to ask him how he planned to treat Anko. Or more specifically, what method he intended to use to reconstruct her body.
Earlier, he had mentioned the possibility of blood—was he going to transplant Anko and Heiji's brains into other bodies?
But doing that would result in the loss of two lives.
Tsunade couldn't be as ruthless as Orochimaru, who saw ordinary lives as insignificant. Even if he succeeded in bringing Anko back this way, she doubted that Anko would be happy with it.
Waking up every morning only to see herself inhabiting someone else's body. What right do I have to make this choice for her?
Damn it!
What am I even thinking?
These thoughts of guilt kept swirling in Tsunade's mind, but she could only console herself with another idea: that brain transplantation wasn't much different from her initial plan, which was to revive the nerves that had once been in a state of death.
It's not so different, is it? Just... more extreme.
From a medical standpoint, it was impossible. She couldn't achieve it, and he certainly couldn't either.
Besides this, she couldn't think of any other method he might use.
"It's done!"
There was a sense of satisfaction in Orochimaru's voice, which inevitably made one think of the word success.
It's done... but what exactly is it?
Tsunade hurriedly ran into the cave and saw him standing before two liquid tanks, his arms spread wide in rapture.
"My greatest masterpiece!"
He kept praising the liquid tanks as if admiring an unparalleled piece of art.
Tsunade quickly rushed over as well to see what was inside the tanks.
What she saw made her reason almost vanish.
Inside the two tanks were two black and shapeless masses, sprawled like sludgy lumps at the bottom.
The sight was so alien, so wrong.
These masses were constantly undergoing bizarre transformations, and within their shifting forms, Tsunade could make out two human brains trapped inside.
Shocked, she turned to the metal cylinders on a nearby table, where the green liquid remained, but the human brains were gone.
It was clear that Orochimaru had placed Anko and Heiji's brains into these disgusting things.
"What have you done?"
Tsunade grabbed Orochimaru furiously, glaring at him.
Unfazed by her anger, he smiled and glanced at the liquid tanks. "As you wished, I've helped restore their bodies."
"You call that restoring their bodies?"
Tsunade didn't even want to look at the black masses again.
Their ability to transform was something that shouldn't exist in this world; it felt like it belonged in the darkest depths of human nightmares.
No! Even in the most terrifying nightmares, such things shouldn't exist.
"If you want to know what comes next, let me go."
Tsunade then glanced at the liquid tanks, at the black masses that were slowly engulfing the human brains. She fought the urge to destroy the tanks, reminding herself of Anko's condition. Realizing that there was no turning back, she released her grip on Orochimaru.
"This black substance is called Shoggoth. As you can see, its most basic ability is to transform."
"But after my research, I discovered that its abilities go far beyond that. Their entire bodies are made of protoplasm with basic intelligence."
"They instinctively devour organic matter to maintain their biological functions. And they can evolve each of their cells according to their environment!"
"These so-called transformations are actually their protoplasm evolving and reorganizing in an instant."
"When evolved, the Shoggoth can generate different tissues and organs based on environmental needs, no matter how complex. It can simulate human organs."
As Orochimaru spoke, Tsunade found herself reluctantly fascinated.
"But they have one limitation—they cannot simulate a brain."
"Shoggoths have a certain level of intelligence, but it doesn't come from a thinking brain. It comes from prolonged cell division and their desire to please their creators."
"They gather experience and methods into wisdom, but their origin means they are a slave species. No matter how they evolve, they can only follow the command of higher intelligence—they can't become that intelligence themselves."
"They're essentially organic puppets waiting for a master"
"So, I erased the wisdom the Shoggoths had accumulated using illusions, and I reconditioned them to allow human thought to dominate them."
"However, I'm not their creator. I can't establish a control relationship between a human and a Shoggoth from the outside."
"To control it, the only way is to make the human brain part of the Shoggoth, allowing the human consciousness to control it from within."
"And that's when you showed up with these two brains, Tsunade."
At this point, his eyes fixed on the liquid tanks. Tsunade, too, set aside her chaotic thoughts and focused on the tanks. It's actually working... She found herself taking an involuntary step forward.
Inside, the two Shoggoths were slowly forming into shape.
Starting from their feet, the black shapeless masses began to pile up, transforming into human skin as the transformation process continued.
First the feet, then the legs, then the waist—this process of shaping complex human tissues seemed easy for the Shoggoth, and it all happened quickly.
"Watch closely, Tsunade. This is the future of medical science!"
The human brains, representing wisdom, continued to rise as the Shoggoth structures grew taller, like jewels atop fountains, until they reached the head of the bodies.
Once the brain was in place, the Shoggoths encased it, and then adorned the bodies with hair, nails, and other finishing touches.
Finally, they even formed certain indescribable parts.
"A miracle, truly a miracle!"
"Bear witness to the great miracle!"
The Shoggoths had now fully formed into human bodies, controlled by the implanted human brains, which dictated their every transformation. Anko... Heiji... is it really you?