The Hidden Sound Village. Underground base.
Inside a biological laboratory.
"Ngh..."
A faint groan, laced with pain, rose from somewhere in the room. Kabuto slowly opened his eyes as he lay in the nutrient tank.
A brief look of confusion crossed his face, then disappeared just as quickly. He pushed himself up from the nutrient tank with considerable difficulty.
The moment he stepped out, his legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor, breathing hard.
"Lord Kabuto, you're awake?"
Several Sound ninja who had heard the noise pushed the door open and came hurrying in. Seeing his condition, they moved to help him to his feet.
"Lord Kabuto, Lord Orochimaru said your injuries were severe. Please don't move."
... Impressive jutsu. This body took far too much damage from their attack.
But as long as I'm not dead, that's enough.
The pain in Kabuto's eyes faded, replaced by his usual clear, composed calm.
This body had taken severe damage, but his constitution was naturally unusual. Between the various specialized medicines here and his own medical ninjutsu, he could restore himself quickly enough.
He gently pushed away the Sound ninja who had moved to support him, got dressed, and after a period of adjustment, was already able to move his body freely.
After taking a slow look around, Kabuto turned to the Sound ninja nearby and asked. "How many days was I unconscious?"
"Five days, Lord Kabuto."
Five days. That's a bit long.
Kabuto gave a small nod. "And where is Lord Orochimaru?"
The Sound ninja exchanged glances and answered in a subdued tone. "Lord Orochimaru is with Uchiha Sasuke. He asked us not to disturb him."
Uchiha Sasuke?
Wasn't he missing?
Lord Orochimaru actually found him?
Kabuto turned this over quietly for a moment, then said. "Understood."
He turned and left the room. The Sound ninja looked at one another, mouths opening slightly before closing again without a word.
Kabuto was effectively the number two figure in the Hidden Sound Village, second only to Orochimaru. He didn't need to announce himself to see Orochimaru. He wasn't someone the likes of them could stop.
After leaving the room, Kabuto made his way through the underground passage alone, his mind turning over what the Sound ninja had just told him about Orochimaru.
Is Lord Orochimaru performing the Living Corpse Reincarnation on Uchiha Sasuke?
Kabuto knew Orochimaru had originally planned to cultivate Sasuke for a period before carrying out the reincarnation. But Sasuke's growth had been far too rapid. His strength already satisfied Orochimaru's requirements.
On top of that, Orochimaru had suffered one setback after another over this past month, even coming close to death.
When Uchiha Sasuke walked in front of him, Orochimaru would not have been able to wait. He would have moved to perform the reincarnation immediately, driven by the need to take the boy's body.
Turning all of this over in his mind, Kabuto arrived at the door of the room at the far end of the passage. Complete silence. Not a single sound came from within.
... The reincarnation ritual must be underway.
Kabuto gave a faint smile, adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, leaned against the wall beside the door, and closed his eyes to wait.
Lord Orochimaru. Once you have obtained Uchiha Sasuke's body...
Will you truly be able to see all the truths of this world, as you've always said?
I look forward to seeing it. Heh heh.
---
A boundless, oppressive darkness blanketed the sky above. The ground was covered entirely in writhing masses of flesh, tangled together and constantly squirming like coils of snakes. A dimensional space unlike anything real.
Sasuke's figure appeared at the center of this dimensional space. The masses of fleshy coils moved like pythons, wrapping around his legs and steadily spreading upward across his entire body.
Orochimaru's low, raspy voice came through.
"This is the dimensional space within my body."
A mass of flesh slowly rose from the ground, and Orochimaru's figure emerged from within it.
His body was covered everywhere in those writhing coils, each one twisting into the shape of a fleshy serpent.
"This is where the reincarnation ritual takes place. Heh heh heh."
"It begins now."
Orochimaru licked his lips. The fleshy serpents extended slowly toward Sasuke, coiling around every part of his body.
At the same moment, behind Sasuke, a number of figures appeared, all similarly coiled and bound. Men, women, and some who were neither clearly one nor the other.
"Those eyes with such formidable dojutsu power. They make my mouth water."
"Your dojutsu power is already almost a match for your brother's. Just like that time..."
Looking at the Sharingan in Sasuke's eyes, the hunger inside Orochimaru burned hotter.
"But this is my dimensional space. You cannot resist me in the slightest here, Sasuke."
"I will use your body to seek out the truths of this world. I will become a being like the Sage of Six Paths himself. Heh heh."
"Oh?"
The fleshy coils had almost reached Sasuke's head, but he showed not the slightest trace of alarm. He looked at Orochimaru before him, and something playful gleamed in his eyes.
"Not a bad dream. Not a bad ambition, Orochimaru. But..."
"It seems you've celebrated a little too early."
The moment the words left his mouth, Sasuke's body seemed to become a human sun.
A massive explosion of light and endless heat erupted outward, and a sea of fire swept out in every direction, consuming everything in its path.
In an instant, every fleshy serpent coiled around him, and every mass of flesh across the ground, was incinerated and reduced to nothing.
"How can this be!?"
Orochimaru cried out in disbelief. "Impossible! Impossible! This is a dimensional space I created! You shouldn't be able to..."
He stopped mid-sentence. His eyes went blank. Then his expression changed in an instant.
"You! Your eyes!"
"A Mangekyou Sharingan!?"
Under Orochimaru's horrified gaze, the boy stood utterly composed, and the three-tomoe pattern in his eyes had transformed at some point into the strange, otherworldly design of the Mangekyou Sharingan.
"Impossible! Why do you have the Mangekyou Sharingan!?"
"All of your intelligence was supposed to be in my hands!"
All of Orochimaru's composure collapsed. He raged like a cornered animal, screaming without any of his former control.
What horrified Orochimaru was not only that Uchiha Sasuke had slipped beyond his grasp and already awakened the Mangekyou.
What he found almost impossible to accept was that the dojutsu power in the boy's eyes seemed to exceed even Uchiha Itachi's, the same Itachi who had defeated him years ago.
And the pattern itself, seeming to be composed of two distinct designs merged into one, was already telling him this was not the same as Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru had not been fortunate enough, as Danzo had been, to hear the Second Hokage mention certain secrets in his lifetime.
If he had, he would have known that Sasuke's eyes were not an ordinary Mangekyou Sharingan.
They were the Eternal Mangekyou.
"Heh heh heh." A low laugh rose from Sasuke.
"Orochimaru. Orochimaru. Do you know what I enjoy most?"
"Watching people like you, people who are certain they have everything in their hands, discover in the moment that counts that they have nothing at all. That look on your face. Heh heh."
"You thought you were watching a fledgling still in the nest. You never considered that the fledgling had already grown strong wings and sharp talons."
"You treated me as your prey. But when have I ever not been treating you as mine?"
In that detached, unhurried voice, Sasuke looked at the disbelieving Orochimaru before him.
A faint contempt flickered within those crimson eyes.
"In front of these eyes, Orochimaru, you are nothing."
___
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