"What's wrong? Out of chakra and out of options?"
In the video, Uchiha Itachi spoke with calm indifference.
"What…?" Uchiha Sasuke's face twisted in pain as a voice echoed through his mind.
"I'll lend it to you. My power—I'll give it to you. Don't you need me, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru's voice slithered through his thoughts, tempting and insistent. "Didn't you come here for revenge against Itachi? Go on… release my power. If you do, your wish can be—"
As Sasuke's strength waned and his control slipped, something began to emerge from within him.
The Yamata no Orochi.
It rose up from his body, massive and grotesque, nearly overtaking him completely. Even when compared to Itachi's towering Susanoo, it did not seem inferior in the slightest.
The sudden transformation stunned everyone watching the diary.
No one had expected that Orochimaru, who should have already been out of the picture, still possessed such a terrifying ability.
In Kaede Kitahara's earlier entries, Orochimaru had clearly been suppressed when he attempted to take over Sasuke's body. Yet not only had he survived, he was now attempting to seize control once again.
"Orochimaru…" Tsunade's gaze darkened as she stared at the monstrous serpent on the screen.
She remembered what she had seen before, deep within Sasuke's consciousness—two souls, a man and a woman, both victims of Orochimaru's possession.
Which meant Orochimaru had never truly erased them.
He had only suppressed them.
And his own defeat at Sasuke's hands hadn't been true death either. He had simply been forced into dormancy, buried deep within Sasuke's body.
The two souls Orochimaru had previously taken were ordinary people, incapable of resisting him. But Orochimaru himself was a Kage Level shinobi. The strength of his soul far exceeded that of normal humans.
The fact that he had been effortlessly defeated by Itachi's genjutsu said nothing about his overall resilience—it only proved how terrifying Itachi's genjutsu truly was.
Had Orochimaru never encountered other powerful shinobi?
Had no one else ever tried to use genjutsu against him?
Of course they had.
But none of them had reached Itachi's level.
If Orochimaru had suffered such defeats before, he would never have approached Itachi so carelessly in the past.
So he had remained inside Sasuke all along, lying dormant, waiting for his chance.
And now, with Sasuke's chakra depleted and his body pushed to its limit, that rare opportunity had finally come.
"Orochimaru… what have you turned yourself into?" Jiraiya murmured under his breath. "Is this what your soul really looks like now? What kind of monster did you make yourself into…?"
He had never imagined that even after everything, Orochimaru could still stir up trouble like this.
First, the invasion of Konoha, which resulted in devastating losses and the death of the Third Hokage. Then the clash between the Three Sannin. After that, being ambushed by Sasuke and having his soul sealed.
And yet, even after all of that, he still wasn't dead.
It was absurd.
Jiraiya considered his own survival abilities to be formidable, but compared to Orochimaru's, they felt trivial.
"Orochimaru…" Namikaze Minato let out a quiet sigh.
Since learning that Orochimaru would one day become his rival for the position of Fourth Hokage, he had begun investigating him.
What he uncovered was horrifying.
Despite Orochimaru's caution and Danzo's efforts to conceal his actions, Minato had still managed to uncover fragments of the truth.
Human experimentation.
Not just on outsiders, but on shinobi from within the village as well.
The scale of it had grown until it eventually drew the attention of the Third Hokage.
No matter the circumstances, Orochimaru had already strayed from the right path.
For his own sake—and for Konoha's—Minato knew he had to stop him. He could not allow Orochimaru to ever become Hokage.
"So it finally showed itself," Itachi murmured softly, his gaze fixed on the scene.
Because the version in the video was himself from another timeline, he understood everything clearly.
He had been deliberately wearing Sasuke down, draining his chakra and stamina. There had been many chances to kill him, yet he had held back.
This must have been what Kaede Kitahara meant by "holding back in battle."
But it wasn't just restraint.
It wasn't only about conveying something to Sasuke.
More importantly, it was about eliminating the final trap Orochimaru had left inside him.
Ordinary people had no way to deal with Orochimaru.
But he was different.
He possessed a legendary artifact that even Uchiha Madara had failed to obtain.
"Orochimaru… your life ends here," Itachi said quietly.
Sasuke himself was equally shaken.
He had never imagined that Orochimaru was still hiding within him, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
This man had coveted his body all along—and had never given up.
"Damn it… all of you…" Sasuke glared at the massive serpent before him. "All of you are after the Uchiha Clan's blood."
The thought that something so vile had been lurking inside him made his skin crawl.
In the video, Itachi simply looked at the Yamata no Orochi and said calmly, "That presence… Orochimaru's Eight Branches Technique?"
"What is that thing?" White Zetsu asked, equally stunned.
"Sasuke's chakra is completely depleted," Black Zetsu explained. "He tried to force out more power, and that allowed Orochimaru's suppressed chakra to break free."
On the screen, the two colossal beings drew closer to each other.
It looked like a clash straight out of myth—god against monster.
As the Yamata no Orochi lunged forward, Itachi's Susanoo stood like an untouchable deity. In its hand appeared the Sword of Totsuka, which it swung without hesitation, severing one of the serpent's heads in a single strike.
The massive head crashed to the ground, shaking the earth.
One after another, heads fell in quick succession.
But the Yamata no Orochi coiled around Susanoo, binding it in place.
When only one head remained, Orochimaru's true form finally emerged from within it.
That was the moment Itachi had been waiting for.
"So, it's finally here," he said, a faint smile touching his lips.
Orochimaru's body oozed into view, slick with slime, grotesque as ever. From his mouth, he spat out the Kusanagi Sword.
"Still the same as ever," White Zetsu couldn't help but remark. "A disgusting guy who pulls things out of his mouth."
Even Jiraiya and Tsunade found themselves nodding in agreement. There were far cleaner ways to wield a weapon, yet Orochimaru insisted on doing it like that.
It was revolting.
"He's exactly what his name implies," Black Zetsu added. "A snake through and through."
"This is it… the moment I've been waiting for," Orochimaru said, staring down at Itachi with glee. "Thanks to you, the chakra Sasuke used to suppress me is gone. Now I'll take his body, and then—"
Before he could finish, Itachi's Susanoo thrust the Sword of Totsuka straight into him.
"How can he just spell out his entire plan like that?" Jiraiya muttered. "He's turning into a textbook villain."
Then he paused and shook his head. "No… he already is one."
Orochimaru showed no reaction to the strike. Instead, he began to laugh.
"You think an attack like that can defeat me?"
But almost immediately, his expression changed.
Something was wrong.
"So, Sasuke… what will you do next?" Itachi said, ignoring Orochimaru completely as he turned his attention back to Sasuke.
At the same time, the power within Susanoo began to pull Orochimaru's body outward, inch by inch.
"That sword… could it be the Sword of Totsuka?"
"Itachi… so you've been hiding it all this time."
Orochimaru finally understood.
Itachi had been waiting for this very moment.
"What is that thing?" White Zetsu exclaimed in shock.
"The Sword of Totsuka—also known as the Sakegari Longsword—is a sealing blade," Black Zetsu explained. "Anyone it pierces is trapped forever in a genjutsu-like dream world. The blade itself is a variant of the Kusanagi Sword imbued with sealing power. Orochimaru has been searching for it all along."
As the Sword of Totsuka took effect, the Yamata no Orochi was gradually stripped away from Sasuke's body, piece by piece, drawn into an illusory space.
At last, Sasuke's true form was revealed—bare from the waist up, freed from Orochimaru's influence.
"Itachi really is incredible," White Zetsu said in awe.
"That idiot…" Tsunade pressed a hand to her forehead.
The last time she had seen Orochimaru face Itachi, he had been defeated in a single move, losing an arm instantly. If Itachi had intended to kill him, he would have died on the spot.
And now, after all his schemes and preparations, the result was the same.
One strike.
The Sword of Totsuka had buried every plan he had made.
Itachi was Orochimaru's perfect counter.
A natural nemesis who suppressed him completely.