Impossible to Foretell

Chapter 27: Darkness from the Past

The tour had begun. There was a hallway filled with row after row of rooms holding captured young women. The haunted look in their eyes burned an aftermath into my vision that I kept seeing every time that I blinked. Anzu clung to my hand the entire time.

The next hallway was even worse.

The air was heavy with the scent of death and pain as we walked by rows of rooms where people were being experimented on. Kanaye had been an associate of Orochimaru's after all. People were strapped down onto bloody operating tables as people in white hospital robes injected them with chemicals, cut them apart, tortured them, put them back together again, and more. Every step brought with it a new sight even more disturbing than the last. Anzu was trying her best to appear unfazed, but her knuckles were white as she clutched my hand even tighter.

Kanaye was acting like a realtor trying to sell a nice property to newlyweds.

"This wing of experimentation mostly deals with poisons, infections, jutsus, and other forms of bodily harm. In truth, these experiments aren't where my heart lies, but they are for my benefactor. She gives me all of the man power that I need so long as I provide her with my research and the funds that I can gain by selling the women that I've captured."

"W-what does your benefactor need money for if she can provide you with all of this?" I wasn't sure if I wanted him to answer my question.

"Oh, money isn't a primary goal, but you can't organize something large without it. Nothing in the world is free, and she is able to manipulate many with the funds that I provide her."

We reached the final wing of the tour.

Kanaye grinned from ear to ear with pride, "And this is my own personal side-project. I've been working on this for years, and I'm so close now that I can taste it. I've finished the jutsu; I just need to create some way of making the recipients stable enough to relay what they've seen afterwards." His heels clicked against the floor a he started to lead the way into the hallway. The first room held a person who was laying on a bed, staring at the ceiling without seeing a thing as a small trickle of drool leaked from the corner of his mouth. The next room held someone who was making animal noises while slowly banging his head against the wall, a trail of blood flowing down from his brow.

Kanaye looked like a child on Christmas morning. "I have created a genjutsu which sends a mind into the future. With this, my benefactor and I will be completely unstoppable. Unfortunately, the experience completely destroys their minds, making it impossible to learn what they saw of the future, but I'll have that problem fixed in no time."

There was a shriek as a woman bolted out of the room in front of us.

Her hair was a matted mess of light blue and her eyes a bloody red. Her pale skin glowed under the white hospital-like gown that she was wearing. She looked right into my eyes and froze.

"Darkness from the past

Kunai ever looming

Nights without rest, nights without slumber

She comes for you

But not for you alone

Beware the dead once hailed as hero!"

A man dressed in scrubs came out of room and grabbed her, throwing her back into the room that she had come from.

"I apologize, Lord Kanaye, she's gotten very unruly lately."

Kanaye smiled, "She was so close to being a successful experiment as well. Tie her down. The last thing that we need is to lose such an important specimen right now." The man nodded and disappeared into the room the that strange woman had been thrown into.

We reached the end of the hallway, finally, and Kanaye led us into a small office.

Anzu, Oreikoku, Ouki, and Oroka stood along the back wall as Kanaye gestured for me to sit down in the hard, wooden chair in front of the desk. With a glare, I sat down as he placed himself in the throne-like chair on the other side of the desk.

With a smirk, he pulled a thick deck of cards out of his pocket. "Hey, Kaiyo, do you want me to do a magic trick for you? I'm pretty good."

My mother wasn't there this time to make me say yes. "Hell no."

"I really wasn't giving you a choice."