Chapter 11—Last Chances
The next time Orochimaru went to the recovery room, many more of the beds were empty.
"The cellular degeneration was too much for most of them to handle," Kabuto explained. "The foreign chakra began spreading faster than they could adapt to it."
"You said one was ready," Orochimaru said, his voice revealing nothing of the frustration he felt. "Bring the blood to me as soon as you've collected it."
Orochimaru was about to leave but Kabuto stopped him. "Lord Orochimaru, you should know that if the testing process kills the subject again, we might not have enough of them to produce a success in the end."
Ran opened her eyes subtly and glanced from Kabuto to Orochimaru. Kills the subject… again… She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remain still as another wave of pain pulsed through her.
"I didn't ask for your opinion, Kabuto."
Orochimaru left and Kabuto sighed. "Really, Lord Orochimaru," he muttered, shaking his head. Then he turned to a young man in a bed a few down from Ran.
"Come with me," Kabuto said. "We may as well get this over with."
[X]
Kabuto brought the new blood to Orochimaru and he mixed it with a modified solution to extract the solute particles. Despite Kabuto's urgings for him to work on something else while the crystal formed, Orochimaru decided to stay and watch its development this time. It formed more quickly than he expected, growing with smooth facets as the first crystal had. The only visible difference between them was the color. The crystal that had been treated with the new filtering solution was a deep purple, and when he picked it up he could immediately sense that it possessed a more benign nature than its predecessor. Still, he took the precaution of binding the new subject for the testing period.
[X]
When he came back a day later, the subject was still alive. After having Kabuto confirm that the man had suffered no ill-effects, Orochimaru released him, but did not take the crystal back. Instead, he showed him a brief series of hand signs.
"This jutsu is meant to resonate with the crystal and release stored chakra back to you. You will perform this jutsu for me now," Orochimaru told the man.
The man saw no reason not to comply. He formed each seal then touched the crystal resting against his chest as Orochimaru had instructed.
The effect was immediate. The subject let out a horrible scream as the crystal shattered and blood spurted from his chest. He staggered backward and fell and his back arched off of the floor as his whole body went rigid with pain, his eyes wide and his mouth opening and closing silently and he fought unsuccessfully for breath. In the few moments it took Orochimaru to recover from his surprise, the man had died, his eyes and mouth still open in frozen horror.
Orochimaru approached curiously and knelt beside him, observing the splintered pieces of crystal scattered around the body. Kabuto suddenly appeared in the doorway.
"Lord Orochimaru, what was–?" He stopped when he saw the body. "Another one, huh?" he sighed quietly. "That's not good. Another has died in recovery. We only have one left."
"One will have to be enough," Orochimaru said, straightening up with a few of the bloody purple shards in his hand. "Take care of that," he added glancing at the man on the ground. "Tell me anything you can. And let me know when the last subject will be ready."