The defenses of the Land of Grass were too weak, and Ye Zi infiltrated the castle without any difficulty. Following the directions given by the Land of Grass's daimyo before his death, Ye Zi arrived at the entrance to the basement.
A small squad was guarding the area.
Ye Zi quickly dispatched them and opened the door. As he descended the stairs, his footsteps echoed through the silent passageway.
The sound of his approach must have alerted the person he was looking for, so Ye Zi quickened his pace.
At the end of the stone-bricked passageway stood an iron door. Ye Zi reached it, and without hesitation, he pushed it open.
With a loud, screeching noise, the door opened, allowing dim light to spill out into the corridor, illuminating Ye Zi's silhouette.
The large room inside was filled with various instruments and cables piled up in the corners.
In the center of the room stood a woman dressed in a black cloak, her cold gaze fixed on Ye Zi. Her pale hand, exposed from the sleeve of her cloak, was holding a syringe, which she concealed behind her as she stood with her palm facing forward.
Her cloak's hood was down, allowing her long, black-and-white hair to flow freely down to her waist, obscuring the hood. Her bangs were parted and tucked behind her ears, revealing her smooth, pale forehead. Beneath her thin eyebrows, her cold eyes suddenly widened in shock, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. The coldness in her eyes was slowly overtaken by disbelief.
In the dim light, the woman stared at Ye Zi standing in the doorway, as if she were seeing something impossible. Her eyes widened to their limit, and her lips parted in surprise.
Ye Zi, too, displayed a look of disbelief as he looked at the woman standing in the room.
This woman was Nanako, whom he had long believed to be dead.
"Ye Zi?"
"Nanako?"
Their voices, filled with equal amounts of confusion, echoed almost simultaneously.
After speaking in unison, both fell silent again, staring at each other with complicated emotions.
If their mutual surprise could be put into words, it was as if both of them were seeing a ghost.
"I thought you were dead."
Once again, they spoke in unison, both repeating the same sentence.
Nanako took a deep breath, and the syringe slipped from her hand, falling to the floor with a sharp clatter. She could feel her heart racing—not from love at first sight, but because her eyes were witnessing something that clashed with the facts she had long accepted. The thought crossed her mind: Could this be a dream?
Her heart raced faster, driven by fear.
"Are you really alive?" she asked, taking a small, hesitant step forward, her eyes nervously fixed on Ye Zi standing in the doorway.
"I'm alive," Ye Zi responded in his usual straightforward manner.
As he looked at Nanako, memories long buried in the corners of his mind resurfaced clearly, and a feeling of joy welled up within him.
This uncontrollable emotion rose from his heart, slowly spreading to his face, causing the usual coldness to melt into a faint smile.
"Pfft," Nanako couldn't help but laugh at Ye Zi's response. It was exactly the kind of answer she expected from him.
Just then, Ye Zi's expression shifted. He suddenly reached behind him and caught a kunai thrown from the shadows. His hand was covered in wood, allowing him to grip the kunai tightly without injuring himself.
Turning coldly toward his attacker, he saw a scarred woman with a crazed look on her face.
Distracted by Nanako, Ye Zi had failed to notice the woman's approach, nearly falling victim to her surprise attack. A surge of killing intent rose within him.
The scarred woman, her face full of rage, tried twice to pull the kunai free but failed. So she quickly let go and, with a look of madness, sent thick streams of electricity through her hands, burning her skin as she thrust her palms toward Ye Zi's chest.
"Stop!" Nanako shouted anxiously.
The woman hesitated for a moment, but her attack was already in motion, too fast to stop.
In that instant, Ye Zi, who had been prepared to kill the scarred woman, changed his mind. He released the kunai and caught her electrified hands with his own.
"You…" The scarred woman's eyes widened in shock. Despite pouring all her chakra into her attack, disregarding the harm it caused her own body, Ye Zi had easily caught her electrified hands and remained unharmed.
Clang.
The kunai fell to the ground with a soft sound.
"Ye Zi, she's my subordinate," Nanako hurried over, relieved to see that Ye Zi hadn't killed the woman.
Ye Zi released his grip, and the electricity faded. The scarred woman collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, her hands severely burned.
Glancing at the scarred woman, Ye Zi turned to Nanako and said indifferently, "You've got a good subordinate."
This woman was weak but reckless. Without considering whether her enemy was undefeatable, she had thrown all her chakra into a desperate, fearless attack. Ye Zi knew she had done it for Nanako.
"Mm." Nanako nodded and crouched down to check on the scarred woman's condition. She held her hands over the woman's burns, and a pale green glow emitted from her palms, healing the wounds at a visible pace.
"Sakana, how could you be so reckless?" Nanako scolded gently after finishing the treatment.
The scarred woman, named Sakana, lowered her head and replied, "When I saw the guards dead, I knew the enemy was after you, so I didn't think twice."
"Don't let it happen again," Nanako said, helping Sakana to her feet.
Sakana remained silent, but Ye Zi knew that in a similar situation, she would make the same choice again.
"She's my subordinate," Nanako explained, glancing at Ye Zi before pausing for a moment, then said, "You can call her Sakana."
"Sakana, this man is my…" Nanako started, looking at Sakana, but her words caught in her throat.
"He's a very important test subject," she finally said after a brief pause, quickly explaining to Sakana, who seemed a bit puzzled.
"A test subject…" Ye Zi raised an eyebrow but said nothing, turning instead toward the equipment in the room. He approached a tank and fixed his gaze on the writhing mass of flesh floating inside.
Sakana, watching Ye Zi's back, quietly asked, "Is he really such an important test subject?"
Nanako smiled and whispered, "Yes, he's one of a kind— and extremely important."
With that, she walked over to Ye Zi's side. Seeing him intently studying the mass of flesh she was cultivating from Hashirama's cells, she explained, "This is a sample I developed using Hashirama's cells."
Ye Zi's eyes flickered, and he calmly asked, "Not only are you still alive, but where did you get your hands on Hashirama's cells? With Danzo's methods, you shouldn't have been able to escape from Konoha, let alone acquire those cells."
Nanako fell silent for a moment before answering, "It's a long story. I didn't expect to survive either, but it was thanks to Orochimaru."
"Orochimaru…" Ye Zi muttered, surprise flashing in his eyes.
As the two conversed, Sakana, exhausted, quietly exited the room and stood guard outside.
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Currently on Chapter 272 - Even in Death, I'll Stand Until the End