Chapter 4: The Pit.
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with something between fascination and greed as he watched the black steel recede from my hand, flesh returning where metal had been.
"Remarkable," he breathed. "The integration was seamless. Kabuto, prepare more samples."
More samples...
The words settled in my stomach like stones. I was still strapped to the table, still helpless, and now I had shown them exactly what I was worth. A successful experiment. A prize specimen, no doubt.
Kabuto was already moving, retrieving vials from a refrigerated cabinet against the far wall. Each one contained something different—hair, skin samples, what looked disturbingly like dried blood.
"Let us see how far this ability extends," Orochimaru said, that hungry smile never leaving his face.
* * *
What followed were hours of consumption.
Kabuto fed me sample after sample, each one triggering that familiar pulse from the system, each one bringing new notifications that I struggled to process while keeping a straight face, feeling my body change as it tried to absorb the foreign DNA.
[DNA SAMPLE DETECTED]
[KEKKEI GENKAI IDENTIFIED: BOIL RELEASE]
[INTEGRATION COMPLETE]
[+500 EXP]
Steam rose from my skin as the ability manifested, corrosive vapour curling from my pores before it burst out of my mouth, burning hot mist.
Orochimaru watched with undisguised delight, ordering Kabuto to document everything.
"Again," he commanded.
[DNA SAMPLE DETECTED]
[KEKKEI GENKAI IDENTIFIED: LAVA RELEASE]
[INTEGRATION COMPLETE]
[+500 EXP]
This time, heat flooded through me, different from before. My hand glowed orange-red, molten rock forming across my knuckles like a gauntlet of liquid fire. The straps creaked against the heat, and Kabuto hastily loosened them before they could burn through.
"Extraordinary," Orochimaru murmured. "Two kekkei genkai, both manifesting within minutes. Continue. I want to see more."
[DNA SAMPLE DETECTED]
[KEKKEI GENKAI IDENTIFIED: ICE RELEASE]
[INTEGRATION COMPLETE]
[+500 EXP]
Frost crept across my fingertips, crystalline patterns spreading like winter come early. The temperature in the room dropped noticeably. I could feel it, the cold, not as discomfort but as potential, as something I could shape and wield. Even if the effects were only small.
But even as I marvelled at the sensation, I felt something else. A strain. A pressure was building behind my eyes that had nothing to do with the system's notifications.
The ice flickered and faded; my hand returning to normal flesh as the effects wore off.
Orochimaru's smile faltered watching what was happening.
"It... dissipated," Kabuto noted, pen scratching against his clipboard. "The manifestation lasted approximately two minutes before losing coherence."
"Activate it again," Orochimaru ordered, his voice sharp.
I tried. Reached for that cold sensation, tried to draw it back to the surface. For a moment, frost flickered across my palm—weak, thin, nothing like before. Then it was gone entirely.
"The ability has faded, my lord," Kabuto said. "Shall I try another sample?"
"Try one more," Orochimaru said, his eyes running out of patience.
Kabuto nodded and gave me the last sample, more dried blood that almost made me sick. Somehow, I ate it, knowing if I didn't, it would be the last thing I ever did.
Again, the strange sensation in my body grew, the system flickering to life once again.
[DNA SAMPLE DETECTED]
[KEKKEI GENKAI IDENTIFIED: TYPHOON RELEASE]
[INTEGRATION COMPLETE]
[+500 EXP]
Wind suddenly roared around my hands, miniature cyclones forming between my fingers. Equipment rattled on the tables, and papers scattered slightly. Kabuto had to brace himself against the sudden gust, if only for a second.
And then, just like before, it faded. Two minutes. Maybe less.
The silence that followed was heavy. Orochimaru's expression had shifted from eager anticipation to something colder, more calculating.
"Run the numbers, Kabuto."
"Already done, my lord." Kabuto's voice was clinical, detached. "Each ability manifests for approximately one hundred and twenty seconds before complete degradation. Additionally, the manifestations appear to be..." He paused, consulting his notes. "Incomplete. The Steel Release, for instance, achieved perhaps forty percent of the density we would expect from a natural user. The others showed similar deficiencies."
Orochimaru was silent for a long moment. When he spoke, the warmth had drained from his voice entirely.
"Two minutes." He turned away from the table, from me, his interest visibly cooling. "Two minutes of a pale imitation. The theory was sound, but the execution..." A soft, disappointed sigh. "Useless."
The word hit harder than it should have. Useless. From someone like Orochimaru, that wasn't just an insult. It was a death sentence.
"My lord," Kabuto ventured carefully, "perhaps with further refinement—"
"The subject has reached the limits of Project Chimaera's design." Orochimaru waved a dismissive hand. "Further investment would be wasteful. Perhaps he will have other uses in the future. For now..." Those golden eyes found me one last time, cold and appraising. "Throw him in the pit with the other prisoners and failed experiments. If he survives, we may revisit the matter. If not..." A shrug.
"Then he was truly useless after all."
Wait did he say the pit... Failed experiment!
I watched as he left without another word, the door closing behind him with a finality that echoed through the sterile room, leaving me alone with Kabuto.
Kabuto sighed before he walked over and released my straps with methodical efficiency, his pleasant smile back in place as if we'd just finished a routine checkup.
"Well then, 402. It seems your accommodations are changing." He said without a care in the world.
I knew this wasn't good. If I were of no use to Orochimaru, then what good would I be? Was this chimaera system really so useless? I didn't have time to think or process, as Kabuto finished undoing the straps.
"Come on, 402. Let's go." He said, readjusting his glasses, the expression on his face making me nervous.
* * *
The pit was exactly what it sounded like.
Kabuto led me through corridors I hadn't seen before, deeper into the earth, past cells that grew increasingly crowded, increasingly desperate. The air changed as we descended—thicker, fouler, carrying the unmistakable stench of too many bodies in too small a space.
Finally, we reached a large chamber, roughly carved from the rock, with iron-barred cells lining the walls. Unlike the individual cells I'd passed before, these were communal. Packed. Eyes peered out from the shadows, tracking our approach with the wariness of animals who had learned that attention from their captors rarely meant anything good.
Kabuto stopped before one of the cells and produced a key.
"Welcome to your new home, 402." He gestured for me to enter, that smile never wavering. "Try not to die too soon. Lord Orochimaru does so hate waste."
The cell was cramped. A dozen people were already inside, pressed against the walls, occupying every available inch of floor space. They watched me enter with expressions ranging from hollow indifference to calculating assessment.
The door clanged shut behind me.
"Sleep well," Kabuto called, already walking away. "The trials begin tomorrow."
Trials. Of course, there were trials. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse...
I looked around, feeling the eyes of everyone in the cell on me. I found an empty spot against the far wall and lowered myself to the cold stone, my back against rough rock, my eyes fixed on the bars. The other prisoners didn't speak to me. Didn't acknowledge me at all beyond that initial assessment. Everyone here kept to themselves, hoarding what little they had, trusting no one, most likely for good reason.
Smart, I thought. In a place like this, trust is a luxury no one can afford.
I closed my eyes, not to sleep, I knew that would be impossible, but to think. To process everything that had happened to me so far in this crazy nightmare.
That's when the system pulsed.
Not a subtle notification this time. Light blazed behind my eyelids, text assembling with an urgency that demanded attention.
[EXPERIENCE THRESHOLD REACHED]
[LEVEL UP!]
[KAGEMARU — LEVEL 1 → LEVEL 2]
[CHIMERA ABILITY UPGRADE AVAILABLE]
My eyes snapped open. I kept my face blank, my breathing steady, but inside my heart was racing.
Level up? Now?
The text continued, patient and methodical.
[CHIMERA ABILITY LV 1 → LV 2]
[UPGRADE UNLOCKED: PERMANENT INTEGRATION]
[User may now permanently retain ONE kekkei genkai. Temporary absorption limit remains unchanged for additional abilities.]
[SELECT KEKKEI GENKAI FOR PERMANENT INTEGRATION:]
[1. STEEL RELEASE]
[2. BOIL RELEASE]
[3. LAVA RELEASE]
[4. ICE RELEASE]
[5. TYPHOON RELEASE]
I stared at the options, my mind racing.
Permanent integration. One choice. Did that mean the ability I selected would be mine forever—not a two-minute imitation, but a true kekkei genkai?
That's why the abilities faded, I realised. The system wasn't strong enough to hold them. Level 1 could only manage temporary absorption. But now...
I considered each option carefully.
Boil Release... Corrosive steam, useful for both attack and defence, but requiring careful control to avoid harming myself.
Lava Release... Raw destructive power, but conspicuous, hard to hide, and limited in utility beyond combat.
Ice Release... Could be versatile, beautiful, deadly in the right hands, but perhaps too associated with certain clans, too likely to draw unwanted attention.
Then there was Typhoon Release... Powerful, mobile, excellent for evasion and offence, but requiring open spaces to use effectively.
And finally, Steel Release.
I remembered how it felt when the black metal had crept across my hand. The weight of it. The solidity. In a place like this, surrounded by people who would kill me for an extra scrap of food, the ability to turn my body into a weapon, into armour, might be the difference between life and death.
Defence and offence in one package. No flashy elemental effects to draw attention. Just steel. Hard, unforgiving, yet practical.
I focused on the first option.
[STEEL RELEASE SELECTED FOR PERMANENT INTEGRATION]
[INTEGRATION IN PROGRESS...]
Heat flooded through me again, but different this time. Deeper. More permanent. I felt something settle into my bones, into my blood, becoming part of me in a way the temporary abilities never had.
[INTEGRATION COMPLETE]
[STEEL RELEASE — PERMANENTLY ACQUIRED]
[CHIMERA ABILITY LV 2: User may permanently retain 1 kekkei genkai. Additional abilities may be temporarily absorbed for 2 minutes.]
I flexed my hand in the darkness, feeling the potential coiled beneath my skin. The steel was there now, waiting, ready to be called upon whenever I needed it. Not for two minutes. Forever.
[STATUS]
Name: Kagemaru.
Level: 2 EXP: 500 / 2,000
SKILLPOINTS: 1
[JUTSU]
None.
[PERKS]
CHIMERA ABILITY LV 2 — User can now hold one Kekkei Genkai permanently. Normal limitations apply.
[KEKKEI GENKAI ABSORBED]
Steel Release - Lv 1 - Strength of Kekkei Genkai at 25% of full power.
I studied the new stats that the system displayed for me, taking in the new information.
So that's how it works, I thought. The system was too weak at Level 1 to hold the abilities permanently. But as I grow stronger, as I level up, it can hold more. Do more...
Orochimaru had called me useless. A failed experiment. He'd thrown me into this pit expecting me to die with the rest of his discarded specimens.
But he didn't know about the system's true potential. He didn't know that what he'd seen was just the beginning, a preview of what I could become if I survived long enough to grow.
I looked around the cell at the other prisoners, at the hollow eyes and defeated shoulders, at the people who had given up hope of ever escaping this place.
I won't be like them, I swore silently. I won't break. I won't give up.
Kabuto had mentioned trials. Whatever they were, whatever horrors Orochimaru had devised for his failed experiments, I would face them. I would survive them. And with every challenge, every fight, every scrap of DNA I could get my hands on, I would grow stronger.
The system pulsed once more, quiet and patient, as if acknowledging my resolve.
[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE]
Yeah, I thought, closing my eyes against the darkness of the pit. Still working on it.
But this time, the words didn't feel like desperation.
They felt like a promise.