Chapter 84:
"What exactly happened here?" Karin asked uneasily as she stood on the street behind Sasuke.
All around them was deathly quiet, the only sound being the rain falling onto the ground. The street was littered with blood and mangled body parts.
"Sasuke, there's someone ahead."
Karin tugged on the hem of Sasuke's clothes. Following her gaze, they saw a man resembling a vagrant with his back turned to them, seemingly eating something.
As if he heard movement behind him, the man slowly turned his head. The half-gnawed human skull clutched between his teeth dropped to the ground, and he flashed a sinister smile at Sasuke and the others.
It was only then that the group fully saw what the vagrant was eating.
"Sasuke… he's eating a person…"
Karin said in a trembling voice, shrinking behind Sasuke. She had faced many enemies before—some as grotesque as Orochimaru—but this was the first time she'd encountered someone who ate people.
And it wasn't just Karin. The other three showed the same reaction.
"What a revolting grin… Who are you?"
Sasuke's question went unanswered. The man staggered toward him, arms outstretched as if craving Sasuke's body, growling low in his throat.
"Another mindless beast?"
Losing interest, Sasuke sidestepped the lunging creature and sliced through its skull with his Kusanagi sword.
That the slash hit the head so precisely was due entirely to Sasuke's exceptional combat instinct. His experience as a ninja had taught him never to assume someone was dead unless the kill was certain. Only by severing the head could one ensure the enemy didn't suddenly lurch back to life.
"It's not a beast. It's a zombie."
A fully-armed young woman in her twenties suddenly appeared behind the group. Her voice instantly drew the attention of the other three—Karin, Suigetsu, and Jūgo—who quickly surrounded her cautiously.
"Relax. I'm not a zombie. My name is Jill. Like you, I'm one of the few people still alive. And you are?"
"Karin," she said.
"Suigetsu," he followed.
"Jūgo," the third replied.
"Sasuke." He looked at Jill and continued, "What happened here?"
"Just as you saw. The Umbrella Corporation's virus leaked, causing a biohazard outbreak."
Jill spread her hands as she spoke. Sasuke then recalled something he had pushed aside: Uchiha Itachi had once told him that Umbrella had suffered a viral outbreak, leading to a biohazard disaster.
Based on this, Sasuke made a logical inference—he had somehow traveled back in time to the day of the virus leak. It was possible that the Umbrella Corporation was the predecessor of the Umbrella Organization he knew.
"Your hand… did you cut it off because a zombie bit you?" Jill asked curiously. "I heard that if you cut off the bitten area in time, you can avoid turning into one of them."
"Let's keep moving." Sasuke ignored the question and turned toward his destination.
Jill's sudden appearance hadn't changed his plan to investigate the Umbrella Corporation.
"Where are you going?" Jill quickly caught up.
Eventually, the five of them stood before the ominously silent automatic doors of the Umbrella Corporation.
"What an imposing building," Suigetsu commented, looking up in awe.
The Umbrella Corporation complex was divided into five sections, composed of five independent skyscrapers. Based on the containment level of biological hazards, each building was classified into a different danger level: Level Zero (minimal threat), Level One, Level Two, Level Three, and Level Four (extreme threat). The higher the level, the greater the danger.
The group had arrived at the Level Zero building, which housed research offices, conference rooms, and the like.
Scattered files and broken chairs painted a picture of violent chaos.
"Your goal is the same as mine?" Jill asked, holding a submachine-gun-type scientific ninja tool, eyes scanning the area cautiously. "If we can find the antidote, this can all be over."
"There's an antidote here?"
Sasuke tilted his head toward Jill.
"…Not sure. But I think there is," Jill replied after a brief hesitation. As if to bolster her own confidence, she added, "The Umbrella Corporation wouldn't have gone without preparing one."
"Jill, what did you mean when you said a zombie bite causes infection?" Karin, who had been visibly unsettled, finally voiced the question that had been weighing on her mind.
"Just what it sounds like. If a zombie bites you, you'll turn into one too. That's why I've had to kill too many of my own companions." Jill's tone was heavy, but she quickly collected herself.
The Level Zero building was the only access point to the higher-level facilities. The buildings were connected by sterilized passageways.
Jill took down a zombie feigning death on the stairs with a small knife.
"You seem to know a lot about these zombies," Sasuke noted—even he hadn't realized the zombie on the stairs was still alive.
At some point, Jill had naturally taken the lead.
"I wouldn't say I know a lot. I'm just cautious," she said, descending the stairs ahead. "You have to be careful with any zombie that still has a head. That's just experience."
Standing before the glass door to the disinfection passage, Jill entered a password and remarked, "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us."
Inside, the corridor was packed with zombies in white lab coats—clearly researchers who hadn't escaped in time.
After inputting the code, Jill stepped back, blocking Sasuke's group as the reinforced glass door slowly opened.
With nowhere left to retreat, they had no choice but to fight. The zombies launched their attack, only to be met by a one-sided massacre from Sasuke's team.
In the end, these zombies were nothing more than grotesque, mindless clones created by Orochimaru—no consciousness, only instinct. Even a regular three-man genin squad could handle them, let alone Sasuke.
"Step aside, one-armed man," Jill quipped.
Sasuke didn't even need to lift a finger. Jill unleashed a hail of fire from her submachine-gun-style scientific ninja tool. Spiraling projectiles—essentially Rasengan blasts—fired in rapid succession, mowing down the zombies before they even got close.
"You actually know the password to open the passage?"
Standing behind her, Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He was already prepared to draw his Kusanagi with his remaining hand and kill her the moment she made a suspicious move.
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