"Who are you?"
A cold voice suddenly came from deep within the shadows.
It carried the clear chill and arrogance unique to a young man.
The voice was not loud.
Yet every word was as clear as if it had been carved into stone, echoing back and forth through the cave.
Hearing that young voice, the corner of Teizawa's mouth lifted slightly.
He had not expected to run into one of the main characters here.
This trip to Otogakure was already worth it.
Kabuto pushed up his glasses, and the eyes behind the lenses narrowed slightly.
"Sasuke, don't."
"This is Orochimaru-sama's guest: the Kazekage of Sunagakure. He isn't someone you can casually stop."
His voice was unhurried, his tone respectful and restrained.
But a trace of nearly imperceptible satisfaction flashed through his eyes.
Teizawa looked at Kabuto with a strange expression.
This two-faced bastard. You really just couldn't resist stirring the pot, could you?
He understood perfectly.
Kabuto still resented him for mocking Orochimaru and saying something was wrong with his head. So now Kabuto was deliberately saying those words for Sasuke to hear.
With Sasuke's arrogant, condescending personality, the more Kabuto elevated Teizawa, the more Sasuke would refuse to accept it.
As expected...
From the darkness, a young figure walked out with his upper body bare.
Black hair, black eyes, pale skin.
His features were sharp, handsome, and cold.
The corner of his mouth carried a faint curve of disdain.
Bandages wrapped around his body, leaving lean, firm lines of muscle exposed.
He looked like a black panther lying dormant in the dark.
"So what if he's the Kazekage?"
Sasuke's voice was very soft, as if he were talking about something utterly insignificant.
But the arrogance in that tone made people want to punch him more than any furious roar could have.
Teizawa silently rubbed his forehead.
Damn it. I really want to hit him.
He sure knows how to act cool.
Teizawa was too lazy to deal with this chūnibyō lunatic.
He walked around Sasuke and continued deeper into the cave.
"Orochimaru's at the very bottom, right?" His voice came from ahead, carrying a trace of impatience. "I'll go find him."
Before the words had fully faded, Sasuke's figure flashed.
Like a streak of black lightning, he stood steadily in front of Teizawa.
His speed was astonishingly fast.
Even Teizawa narrowed his eyes slightly.
Sasuke reached out and placed a hand on Teizawa's shoulder.
His fingers were long and pale, the tips pressing down faintly.
"Did I say you could leave?"
His voice was still very soft.
Soft enough that he might have been asking if the weather was nice.
Teizawa lowered his head and looked at the hand resting on his shoulder.
Then he raised his eyes.
He looked at Sasuke's cold face.
The cave was so quiet that even a falling needle could be heard.
Kabuto stood a few steps away.
Both hands were still tucked in his pockets, and the corner of his mouth held the faintest hint of a smile.
He did not speak, nor did he move.
He merely watched in silence.
Like an audience member waiting for the show to begin.
Teizawa found it both irritating and amusing.
If this were Sasuke from the end of the story, with the Rinnegan, he might take this a little more seriously.
But right now, this brat had not even awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
And he was already this arrogant?
What exactly had Orochimaru been teaching him?
How to show off?
Teizawa looked at Sasuke's cold face, and a playful smile rose at the corner of his mouth.
"You want to stop me?"
His voice was light, carrying a careless ease.
Sasuke stared at him with eyes like knives.
Those black eyes were filled with untamed defiance.
And with the reckless arrogance of a young man who had no idea how vast the world truly was.
"The Kazekage... is that impressive?"
His voice was very soft, as if he were asking about the weather.
But the provocation in it was stronger than any roar.
Teizawa shook his head.
"Not impressive." He paused, and the smile on his lips deepened. "But killing you would be easy."
The moment the words fell, he stepped forward.
Boom...
Sasuke suddenly felt an invisible force press down onto his shoulders without warning.
It was not chakra pressure. It was not the oppression of killing intent.
It was a more fundamental, more irresistible force.
As if the entire sky had collapsed and fallen onto him alone.
It grew heavier and heavier, more and more crushing.
His knees began to tremble. His spine creaked as if it were about to snap.
He tried to gather chakra and resist.
But he could not even move a finger.
That force had not only crushed his body.
It had sealed all of his strength.
Even breathing became difficult.
"What is this power...?"
Sasuke's expression changed drastically.
That cold face twisted, and veins bulged across his forehead one by one.
"Ah...!"
A scream exploded through the cave.
Sasuke was crushed flat onto the ground.
His knees hit the floor, his hands braced against the stone, and his head hung low.
He was kneeling fully before Teizawa.
That posture looked like worship. Like submission. Like a wild beast pinned by the neck, struggling with all its might yet unable to move.
Beside them, Kabuto swallowed.
He had not seen Teizawa do anything at all.
No hand seals. No chakra release.
He had not even moved a finger.
He had merely taken one step forward, and Sasuke collapsed.
Kabuto knew Sasuke's strength.
Although he was still far from a true Kage-level powerhouse, the current Sasuke was already beyond Kabuto himself.
Yet this Sasuke had no power to resist in front of the Kazekage?
Kabuto's fingers trembled faintly.
Hidden inside his sleeves, they clenched and loosened.
This Kazekage...
"Lord Kazekage..." His voice was slightly hoarse. "Sasuke is someone Orochimaru-sama has high hopes for."
He was reminding Teizawa, and also probing him.
Teizawa ignored him.
Of course, he would not actually do anything to Sasuke.
As one of the saviors of the world, who could say whether that old schemer, the Sage of Six Paths, had left some kind of contingency on Sasuke?
Right now, Teizawa was not confident enough to face the Six Paths head-on.
Still, bullying a protagonist felt rather satisfying.
Just now, he had simply adjusted the magnetic field in the area.
If it had been someone clever, the instant they sensed something was wrong, they would have responded immediately.
But Sasuke had chosen to endure it head-on?
Then he deserved it.
Teizawa lowered his head and looked at Sasuke sprawled on the floor, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
"I'm not your soft-hearted, useless brother..."
His voice was light, as if he were saying something irrelevant. "Provoke me, and you'll die."
Sasuke's pupils shrank violently.
His brother?
Itachi?
This Kazekage knew Itachi?
His lips moved, wanting to say something.
But his throat felt blocked by something, and not a single word came out.
Teizawa did not look at him again.
He turned and walked into the depths of the darkness.
The dark-gold robe gave off a faint sheen in the cold light.
His footsteps grew farther and farther away, quieter and quieter.
At last, they vanished entirely into the depths of the cave.
The gravity pressing down on Sasuke receded like a tide.
It disappeared without a trace.
Sasuke's whole body loosened, and he gasped for air in great gulps.
Like a drowning man who had just been hauled onto shore.
His body was still trembling faintly. His palms were slick with cold sweat.
Sweat slid down his forehead and cheeks, dripping onto the cold stone floor.
Damn it...
He cursed inwardly.
But even that voice sounded weak.
The scene from moments ago kept replaying in his mind.
He could not move. He could not resist. He had not even had the right to struggle.
What kind of power was that?
He raised his head and looked in the direction where Teizawa had disappeared.
His gaze was complicated.
He had thought he was already strong.
He had even believed that the current him could kill Orochimaru.
But now, reality had slapped him hard across the face.
Not only could he not defeat Sunagakure's Kazekage.
He did not even have the right to fight back.
I still have to become stronger.
He silently swore it in his heart.
His fist clenched, and his nails dug deep into his palm.
Then, he suddenly remembered Teizawa's final words.
"I'm not your soft-hearted, useless brother."
He knew Itachi?
And from his tone, he seemed very familiar with him.
Sasuke's eyes flickered.
An indescribable emotion surged in his heart.
Who exactly was that man?
Why did he know Itachi?
What was his relationship with Itachi?
Countless questions churned through his mind, but no one could answer him.
Kabuto stood a few steps away.
He pushed up his glasses, and a complicated light flashed behind the lenses.
He looked at Sasuke lying on the ground, then at the direction where Teizawa had disappeared. After a long silence, he quickly followed.
Letting the current Orochimaru-sama face such a dangerous man alone was far too risky.
(End of Chapter)
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