*blub blub blub
The sound of bubbles gurgled thick around my ears. A bright cerulean blue clawed at my eyelids, pulling them by the lashes.
"Sir. Subject R746 appears to be in a stable condition" a muffled voice announced.
Stable condition? Am I in a hospital? Was I sick? Maybe it was all a dream. Maybe when I open my eyes, Mother, Father and Tsubaki will be by my side again.
I continued to feign my unconsciousness hoping to hear their voices chatter worriedly over me. The way they once did when I was plagued with nightmares, but the more I willed my consciousness away, the more awake I became.
My body felt weightless yet burdened with strain.
Finally the nagging sensation to roll back into reality was too much. I pried my eyes open to see the bioluminescent blue tube I had been dropped in. It was so wide and deep that I would have had to swim to meet the ends, but my body... was paralysed!. My eyes shot open completely and a few bubbles escaped my orifice.
What kind of hospital is this?!
Where am I?
Where was Mother?!
Father?
Tsubaki...?
A vague blurry silhouette of two figures formed at the bottom of my heavily piped tank, but mine wasn't the only one. There were hundreds of other pods scattered throughout the lab. However they were all either broken or inactive. A tingle ran through my arm as the voices buzzed, sending an involuntary twitch to my finger tips. A soft cool current curled through my bangs. Looking up I could feel the source of the blue solution emanating from a massive pipe. The smaller tubes clustered at the bottom of my cell must have been the outtake pipes. Stuck to me were tens of white circular patches that ran outside to a box that looked like it was responsible for the tingling sensation. The room itself was decorated with crudely sculpted spiralling dark purple tentacles making the space pulsate with a disgusting form of life.
The voices were coming through clearer now, "I see, so the fusion was successful" the man before me was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, well excluding his left eye.
Their exchange of data was interrupted when the man in charge noticed a pair of blank eyes stare at them from above.
"See what did I tell you" a voice hummed in amusement "unlike the older specimens, she shows no negative deterioration of health. In fact her physical prowess may have even heightened"
"We won't know until she surpasses the last synchronization rate of 2.5%." the mummified man retorted.
"Do you doubt my skills, Danzo?" the mysterious man challenged.
"Trust me you'll get your Jinchuriki."
"Show me" his order was final.
The man proceeded to lightly press a button on the box at the base of my tube "I'll bring out 5%".
The discs on my body buzzed with electricity and something began to stir within me. The warmth of the concoction was chased away by a prickling sensation from under my skin. Looking down a layer of blue scales ran the length of my arm like a coat of armour. A deep growl faded in from an unknown source and the room lit up, clear as day even though there were no windows or lamps present. Then suddenly a blast of heat ruptured from my throat, sending an explosion of silent bubbles towards the surface. The sparks in my veins seem to sear through to the surface, scrawling out white scaly stitches from either wrist. Lightening ripped through the bend of my arms before ricocheting furiously off the thick glass walls. My tiny body went into overdrive and slowly my vision of the world condensed into a single pinpoint of light.
"This is barely an improvement from before!" Danzo spat.
"At least this one survived," Orochimaru blatantly pointed out. He turned once again to the cylinder I was suspended in and deactivated whatever it was that was causing the change of form. Once again I was greeted with a heavy darkness and the uncomfortable thought that something else was residing in my body was last thing I saw were a pair of sickly yellow orbs trained on my limp being.
This was true. A majority of the subjects couldn't even make it past the first stage of the transformation without dying or suffering from fourth degree burns, but those who had survived the initial electrocution later died in the ER. However after hundreds of trials Danzo had realised those with either the same or opposing chakra nature as the beast's water-lightning nature survived longer than the rest.
"What's the point of her surviving? If she can't even fight? We need to be ready when the Jinjuriki goes out of control" Danzo exclaimed.
"Baby steps Danzo. Even though her earth nature is able to suppress the dragon's lightning we still would be running a huge risk of losing her if we rush things. She's our best specimen so far and losing her might mean we lose the opportunity to perfect a seal that could create an army of super powered ninjas."
Danzo clicked his tongue in irritation. "Fine, but I want to see 15% by the end of this month."
Orochimaru turned once again to the cylinder I was suspended in and deactivated whatever it was that was causing the change of form. Once again I was greeted with a heavy darkness and the uncomfortable thought that something else was residing in my body was dismissed.