Chapter 246:
Several prison guard-type scientific ninja tools raised their machine gun-equipped right arms and fired continuously at the advancing Sasuke.
"Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi!"
Manipulating the shape of the black flames, he formed a shield in front of himself, blocking the barrage of incoming ninjutsu from the front.
As Sasuke charged into the midst of the prison guard units, he swung his Kusanagi Sword again and again. One by one, the guards' heads flew off, revealing wires sparking with electricity in their necks.
"What's going on? I think I hear something strange..." Yamato muttered to himself as he glanced sideways down the corridor. "It sounds like fighting..."
As the explosions grew louder, it was clear the battle was moving closer to the prison cells.
"Sasuke?!"
Hearing Yamato's voice, the others imprisoned in the facility also rushed to the front of their cells.
"It really is Sasuke! The village didn't abandon us after all!"
Lee's son shed tears of gratitude.
Sasuke reached the cell door and sliced through the iron bars with his Kusanagi Sword.
"Sasuke, look out!"
At the same moment Yamato shouted, Sasuke instinctively turned around—only to find a zombie hound lunging directly at his face, its mouth reeking of blood and rot, drool dripping from its jaws.
"Shinra Tensei!"
The zombie hound, which had almost sunk its teeth into Sasuke, was immediately blasted into the distant wall. With a miserable whimper, it fell lifeless.
"Sasuke, that was a zombie hound, wasn't it..."
Yamato entered the cell, his face grim.
Having been monitoring the Umbrella organization all along, Yamato was naturally familiar with what Konoha found most terrifying about it.
"Zombies showing up here..."
This was Sasuke's first time encountering zombies since arriving.
Umbrella's underground base.
"...As expected, Naruto went to the undersea prison to rescue the villagers."
Orochimaru stared at the scientific ninja tool in his hand, which was flashing red with alerts. He extended his tongue to lick his face but couldn't reach, so he settled for licking the corner of his mouth.
On Mitsuki's arm was a scientific ninja tool developed by Orochimaru, specifically designed to detect if Mitsuki went berserk in Kama Mode, and it also had chakra-sensing capabilities. As reincarnations of Asura and Indra, Naruto and Sasuke's chakra signatures were naturally distinct and easy to detect.
Though Mitsuki wasn't Orochimaru's biological son—merely an artificial human—Orochimaru was still deeply intrigued by him.
Whether it was his RC cells or the powers he had acquired after devouring Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, Mitsuki carried the might of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
As he walked over to the control console and pressed a button, Orochimaru said to Kabuto, who was immersed in his own research, "Kabuto, want to take a look at the zombies I've been working on?"
"Zombies... created by you, Lord Orochimaru?"
Kabuto paused his research and looked over.
"Yes," Orochimaru nodded. "While they're not as powerful as the ones from the Bio-Ghost Project, the ones I've modified do possess the ability to infect others."
As he spoke, the monitor switched to a feed showing the current situation inside the undersea prison.
Imprisoned within were not only Konoha's shinobi, but also helpless civilians.
"Mama!"
Two zombie hounds were gnawing at something on the ground. One of them began creeping toward a trembling little girl.
"Leaf Hurricane!"
Might Guy's grandson, Metal Lee, delivered a spinning kick to the advancing hound, killing it on the spot.
"Nice one, Metal!"
The cat-ninjutsu user, Iwabee's teammate, Izuno Wasabi, cheered.
Due to the collar around their necks that prevented them from using ninjutsu, Metal Lee was their only combatant.
"Huh?"
Metal turned around, looking flustered and unsure what to do, his expression awkward and nervous.
"Metal, behind you!"
"What?!"
Alerted by Wasabi, Metal turned around and saw the girl's mother—previously lying dead—swaying as she rose and suddenly dashing toward him at a speed far beyond that of any normal person.
Caught off guard, Metal froze completely, unable to react as the reanimated corpse lunged toward him.
"Chidori Sharp Spear!"
A piercing electric lance shot forward, passing through the zombie's head just inches from Metal.
The little girl watched in horror as her mother died all over again and let out a terrified scream.
"Are you all okay?!"
Yamato rushed over right behind Sasuke, shouting as he ran.
"Captain Yamato!" Sumire Kakei hurried over and asked urgently, "Please, what's going on? Why are people who were already dead suddenly coming back to life and attacking us?"
Yamato hesitated, unsure what to say. Information about the Umbrella organization was restricted to jōnin-level and above, and these young shinobi, fresh out of the Academy, clearly didn't qualify.
Sensing Yamato's difficulty, Sasuke glanced at Sumire and said, "Gather all the remaining survivors quickly. I'll use my Rinnegan to get you out of here."
"Okay..."
Sumire nodded, but Wasabi, still persistent, demanded, "Why can't we be told anything?! Just what are those things?!"
Sasuke didn't answer. He simply stared intently down the pitch-black corridor. Yamato, too, looked conflicted.
"Yamato, a lot of them are coming."
"A lot...?" Yamato's face showed confusion at Sasuke's strange comment—then realization struck. "Sasuke, you mean—!"
As he spoke, the sounds of running and hoarse roars grew louder from the darkness beyond.
"Get the rest of the survivors and gather them now! I'll hold these things off!"
"Right—we're counting on you!"
Yamato called out to Sasuke. Having once saved the shinobi world alongside Naruto, Sasuke was someone he trusted deeply—perhaps even more than Naruto, in some ways.
"Amaterasu!"
Black flames erupted over a group of zombies. Even as the fire spread over their bodies, the zombies kept running forward, unfazed by pain.
Unlike the zombie hounds, these undead wouldn't stop unless dismembered or decapitated. But even so, it would take a while for Amaterasu to burn them completely to ash.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
A wall of earth rose in front of Sasuke, blocking the advancing zombies still ablaze with Amaterasu.