Outside the reincarnation chamber, Kabuto stood with his back against the wall, eyes closed, thinking.
Creak.
After a while, the door to the reincarnation chamber finally swung open. At the sound, Kabuto slowly turned his head. Sasuke walked out with a perfectly composed expression.
Kabuto's eyes shifted slightly. His mouth opened, about to say something, but Sasuke was faster.
"So it's you."
Sasuke glanced at Kabuto and said this in a tone that was neither warm nor cold.
At that tone, Kabuto's pupils contracted instantly, and his pulse spiked in a single moment.
For someone who had been trained in espionage and acting from childhood, whose performance had become second nature, this reaction should not have been possible.
But Sasuke's voice had sent a frightening thought rising in Kabuto's chest.
After a brief silence, Kabuto asked in a hoarse voice. "Are you Orochimaru right now, or are you Uchiha Sasuke?"
Sasuke studied him for a moment, then gave a quiet smile. "What do you think, Senior Kabuto?"
His tone was entirely flat, but the way he said Senior Kabuto carried just enough emphasis that anyone could hear the teasing beneath it.
Kabuto's eyes narrowed. "You're Uchiha Sasuke?"
"Heh heh. Senior already figured it out, didn't he?"
Sasuke said this calmly. "I took everything from Orochimaru. His power, his knowledge. He's dead."
Sasuke knew Orochimaru had left a contingency inside Anko, but that detail existed only in his own memories, absorbed from Orochimaru, and in Orochimaru's own knowledge.
Not all cursed seals could revive Orochimaru. Only the Heaven Seal could.
From Orochimaru's memories, Sasuke had learned that without outside help, Orochimaru could not revive himself.
He didn't have any particular interest in hunting Orochimaru down to the last trace of existence.
His goal had been accomplished.
Whether Orochimaru lived or died was entirely within his control. Leaving a thin thread of survival open might even yield unexpected returns someday.
Kabuto fell into silence again.
How was this possible?
How could Orochimaru have failed?
Sensitive as he was, he had felt that something was wrong the instant he laid eyes on Uchiha Sasuke.
But even having Sasuke confirm it directly, an overwhelming sense of absurdity filled him.
Part of him wanted desperately to believe this was just a joke Orochimaru was playing on him after successfully completing the reincarnation.
But Kabuto understood that even as the person Orochimaru trusted most, Orochimaru would never have made that kind of joke.
"A venomous snake that sets its sights on a fledgling and treats it as prey had best be ready to be torn apart by that fledgling."
Sasuke gave a quiet laugh and asked in an offhand tone. "Don't you think so, Senior?"
"I see. You knew all along. Was it because of me?"
After a moment, Kabuto weighed his words carefully before speaking. "Was there something that exposed me?"
From Sasuke's words, Kabuto had quickly understood that Sasuke had long known Orochimaru had been targeting him, and had prepared accordingly.
What Kabuto still couldn't figure out was how Uchiha Sasuke knew any of this. He had concealed himself carefully.
Even more incomprehensible to him was how Uchiha Sasuke had actually defeated Orochimaru in a battle of souls. It was beyond anything he could make sense of, even now.
"It has nothing to do with you, Senior. As the shinobi world's most capable spy, I believe that completely."
Sasuke studied Kabuto with a look of quiet amusement and said lightly. "I simply had certain sources that gave me access to certain truths."
"I see. Lord Orochimaru and I both underestimated Sasuke."
Kabuto gave a self-deprecating smile.
Both he and Orochimaru had been confident they had gathered all the intelligence on Uchiha Sasuke, that he was entirely within their grasp.
Looking back now, everything they thought they knew had been precisely what Uchiha Sasuke had deliberately let them know.
What a profound mind.
We were being played in the palm of his hand the entire time.
Kabuto laughed inwardly at himself, then went quiet again before asking in an uncertain voice. "What happened to Lord Orochimaru?"
He was asking about the body. After accidentally killing his adoptive mother, Nono, he had never had much reason to keep going.
He'd had no aim in life, drifting along like an empty shell.
Orochimaru had given him the will to go on. Now Orochimaru was gone, and he felt his reason for living disappear with him.
"His body is with me."
Orochimaru's remains still held enormous value. Sasuke had no intention of leaving them unattended the way things had gone in the original story.
"I see."
Kabuto let out a quiet sigh. "So what are you going to do with me, Sasuke?"
Uchiha Sasuke had been able to kill Orochimaru.
He didn't know the details, but Kabuto understood he was no match for him. That was already certain. Add to that the fact that Sasuke had just absorbed all of Orochimaru's power and knowledge, which would have only increased his strength dramatically.
And Kabuto was still recovering from serious injuries. He was in an even worse position to compete.
Whether it was revenge for Orochimaru or trying to recover Orochimaru's remains, he simply didn't have the means.
He's probably going to kill me.
Kabuto thought this quietly.
"You're wondering if I'm going to kill you?"
Seeming to read his thoughts, Sasuke smiled faintly. "I'm someone who values the bonds I've had. Even if Senior's reasons for getting close to me were your own, you were still my guide and teacher in medical ninjutsu. The strength I have today owes no small amount to three years of your diligent instruction."
"If it can be avoided, I genuinely have no wish to kill you, Senior."
At those words, Kabuto's gaze dropped slightly, and a bitter smile touched his lips.
"What do you want from me?"
Kabuto knew the real reason Sasuke wasn't killing him had nothing to do with what he'd just said. It was because he still had a use.
"I want you to help me take control of the Hidden Sound Village, and to serve as my assistant in research."
Sasuke laid out his conditions plainly.
Kabuto was the second-in-command at the Hidden Sound.
If Sasuke intended to inherit everything Orochimaru had built, he couldn't do it without him.
Beyond that, Kabuto's talent in medical ninjutsu was extraordinary, surpassing even Orochimaru himself in that specific discipline.
In Sasuke's view, while Kabuto was one of the finest spies the shinobi world had produced, it was a profound waste of his abilities.
With a talent for medical ninjutsu like his, spending a career as a spy was throwing away something remarkable.
Translated to his previous life, Kabuto's expertise was at the level of a national-tier academician. Imagine a nation sending someone like that to do underground fieldwork in a foreign country. The thought was absurd.
"I appreciate Sasuke's confidence, but..."
Kabuto paused, then shook his head.
Life and death held no particular weight for him. With Orochimaru gone, he had even less reason to continue.
Sasuke wasn't surprised by the refusal.
Kabuto might look like someone perceptive, clever, and ambitious. But in certain ways he was also completely single-minded.
Orochimaru had given him the will to live. Orochimaru had been the foundation of his life.
Now that foundation was gone, and meaning had drained out of his existence.
Deep within Kabuto's heart, he genuinely admired Orochimaru. The way the two of them sparred and maneuvered around each other in their day-to-day exchanges was one thing, but in the original story, every time Orochimaru faced real danger, Kabuto had been the first to step in front of it.
Even when Orochimaru was at his most vulnerable, not a single thought that would have worked against him had ever risen in Kabuto's mind.
After Orochimaru was killed by Sasuke, Kabuto had even joined hands with Obito to launch the Fourth Great Ninja War, purely to complete what Orochimaru had left unfinished.
Uchiha Sasuke.
"Don't be too quick to refuse, Senior." Sasuke smiled faintly. "I'm not asking you to serve under me forever. Three years."
He gave a specific timeframe.
"Three years at most. During those three years, you will have full access to everything Orochimaru achieved in the Hidden Sound. And at the end of three years, I will give you Orochimaru's remains."
At those words, a visible shift crossed Kabuto's expression.
"Do you mean that?"
"Of course." Sasuke nodded.
In an instant, Kabuto's resolve wavered. He considered it for a moment, then spoke. "How can I be sure you'll keep your word?"
Sasuke shrugged. "There's no guarantee I can offer you that would fully answer that. All I can say is that if you want Orochimaru's remains, trusting me is the only option available to you."
Kabuto looked at the boy in front of him for a long moment, then after a prolonged silence, he spoke. "Fine. I accept. I'll help you take control of the Hidden Sound, and I'll serve as your research assistant. My only request is that you honor your word. Three years from now, give me Lord Orochimaru's remains."
"You might not have to wait the full three years, Senior. Heh heh."
Sasuke smiled faintly and extended his right hand. "Then it's a pleasure to work with you, Senior Kabuto."
Kabuto paused briefly, then reached out and shook it.
"A pleasure to work with you."
"One more thing."
With the agreement settled, Sasuke spoke again. "Although we've reached an understanding, there's something I need to ask of you in the short term. It's not a matter of trust, simply a precaution against any unforeseen circumstances."
Kabuto's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing complicated."
Sasuke shook his head with a smile, offering no further explanation.
The red mark on his brow opened, and the Mangekyou Sharingan with its four-point shuriken pattern revealed itself, spinning rapidly.
"That is...!"
Kabuto's expression froze. In the next instant, a wave of disorientation washed over him.
Kotoamatsukami.
The dojutsu that could invade the target's mind without their awareness and rewrite their will.
"Now then, why don't we discuss how to take control of the Hidden Sound Village, Sasuke?"
Kabuto adjusted his glasses with a light touch and smiled pleasantly.
The Mangekyou at Sasuke's brow had already closed, returning to a faint red mark.
Kabuto noticed nothing amiss. His memory remained entirely at the moment they had reached their agreement.
'... In order to ensure Uchiha Sasuke can deliver Lord Orochimaru's remains to me when the time comes, I must help him take control of the Hidden Sound Village as quickly as possible.
Yes.
I'm not betraying Lord Orochimaru. I'm enduring hardship for a greater purpose.'
---
Note: In the original story, Orochimaru only ever revived through the Heaven Seal. There is no evidence that any other cursed seal could accomplish the same.
___
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