“What an interesting sample.” Hiroshi said as he looked through the corpses of two chimera dogs laying on the lab table. “You want me to recreate those creatures?”

“Not exactly as the same thing, but yes.” Kakuzu replied. “Can you, do it?”

“Probably. Give me some time. Animals aren’t exactly my area of expertise, but I’ll be a fool not to try at least.”

Hiroshi dissected one of the chimera dogs with a precision and put its various body parts into the containers.

“Say, can’t we combine this technique with yours? It may lead to some surprising results, don't you think?”

“Yeah, maybe later. After I deal with the current issue. I don't really have a time to learn a new Jutsu now.” Kakuzu responded. “Also, are you finished with what I asked?”

“Hm?” Hiroshi recalled about the item he was ordered to make. It did He rummaged through the nearby cabinet and pulled out ten red vials. “I guess you want them for your pets? If human drinks this, they will die. They are unstable. I can’t even call them finished products because honestly, they aren’t. Be careful with them… though I doubt this can kill you.”

“Unfortunately for you, we aren't going to find that out.” Kakuzu laughed it off. “Had enough of researching on the puppets?”

“Well, if it matters, I’ve been researching on myself as well…” Hiroshi shrugged his shoulders. “Jiongu was it? The medic-nin who created this must have been something else. And to think it’s primary use was just a convenient way to stich up the injuries.”

“Well, that man did eventually got to the point of transplanting organs as well. He was quite a talented figure. Though I don’t know if anyone else used it to transplant hearts.”

“You’re freak as well, maybe even more than myself. What was going through your mind, I wonder. Did you just see a heart lying around and thought it was good idea to add another? Why have one when you can have two, right?” Hiroshi laughed.

Kakuzu took the vials and discussed other matters for a while before he exited the lab. The vials weren’t for him to use. Rather, he intended to give them to Moroi and Ryuzetsu. Both had been a skilled shinobi before he even met them, and with a few modifications their bodies had gone through, they were strong enough to provide assistance with the current matter.

While they weren't exactly comrades in arms, he kind of needed skilled people that he could depend on. Doing everything alone wasn't something he could, or wanted to do. That would be just a future full of nothing but headaches. Basically, he had to gather a team that could take a role to handle things that didn't just need brute forcing its way through. Kakuzu didn't think that those two would betray him considering their circumstances, although their relationship didn't really start on an equal ground. But he was far from caring about such things at this point. He just needed people to get the shit done, and as long as he paid them enough, be in form of money or not, they would probably not stab him in the back. A though for the foreseeable future, he guessed. And the sooner the better. Maybe Tenten could be one if those people. The girl did seem to be quite kind-hearted even though she tried to keep a stoic demeanor. Maybe he could trust her. He just had to find that out one way or another anyways.

Anyway, the woman he had branded with a tracking mark hadn’t moved from the base. Whether it was caused by their arrogance or they were lying trap was unknown, but he had no plans in letting them go.

Attack strategy wasn’t anything complicated. He would divide the spirits he had among Moroi and Ryuzetsu, and while they held the enemy's attention, he would go for the head.

That's where the vials came into the plan. They would cause the spirits to go berserk and explode from the chaotic chakra fluctuations inside their hearts. The fireworks should be good enough to draw the minions gaze and properly evaluate their strength.

---

Guren was moving through the forest as she kept following the traces of a battle. It seemed to have been a recent one. Even though they seemed to have tried to conceal the marks, the battle of this scale wasn't easy to release.

Jounins, she guessed. The ones with a weird summons as well. Probably underlings of her targets.

Being hired for two different jobs at the same time wasn’t something she would normally do, but she had a hunch that they were connected somehow. She followed after the ones that had kidnapped the kekkei genkai user, but tracks became faint midway through. Maybe she should have brought a few of her subordinates to speed things up. Though, she guessed it would have been pointless. They would just die in a crossfire. They were still too weak to participate in the jobs of this level. Hopefully, her shadow clone would distract them long enough and she wouldn't have to listen to their naggings first-hand.

She had a hunch that something suspicion had been going on lately. She was almost certain that she was chasing someone not of this world, or at least connected to them somehow. The changes were big enough for her to be certain something was wrong. She wasn’t naïve enough to think that everything would turn out fine. Whatever caused her to come into this world could have easily resulted in one hell of a mess.

Guren opened her palm and flowed her chakra through it. A small crystalline figures appeared on top of it next second that resembled a dragonflies. Though nothing impressive in combat aspect, those little guys could take on a role a scout. They hovered around a site of the battle for a while, trying to get hold of residual chakra signatures that could have been left behind. Finally, one of them managed to pick up on something and went flying deeper into the forest, following a faint trail. 

Guren followed as she approached the area where one of her targets was located, and what would soon be reduced to the ruins by the upcoming battle among the otherworlders. A battle that would ultimately end up releasing a calamity into this world.