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"Don't be angry, Sasuke."
Orochimaru tried to placate him.
"Your goal isn't just to know the details of what happened back then, is it?"
Sasuke didn't answer, so Orochimaru continued on his behalf.
"Your goal is also to kill Kagaya and Itachi, isn't it? And to achieve that goal, what do you need? You need power! But you can't obtain the power to kill those two by yourself. So, you need me, Sasuke. I will give you power. I will give you the power to kill those two."
Here, Orochimaru paused, looking at Sasuke's body with a hint of greed.
"No, perhaps more accurately, "you" will give "me" power. You will give me the power to help you kill those two."
Having been with Orochimaru for this length of time, Sasuke was already quite familiar with the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique. Orochimaru had never hidden his intentions for Sasuke, so Sasuke understood the meaning behind Orochimaru's words.
"Orochimaru, after you obtain my body, will you truly have the ability to kill those two?"
Sasuke spoke up, having calmed down. Orochimaru was right; his goal wasn't just to learn the details of what happened. He also needed to kill those two.
Orochimaru extended his tongue, licking his lips.
"Of course. Once you give me your body two years from now, I will possess the power to kill those two. At that time, your wish will be fulfilled. We both get what we want."
"Is that so?"
"Yes!"
The two fell silent for a moment. Then, Sasuke was the first to turn and leave, leaving only a single sentence.
"Fine. I'll be waiting."
Orochimaru couldn't help but reveal a look of delight on his face. Sasuke's cooperation was simply excellent. From now on, as long as he nurtured Sasuke's body while waiting for the Living Corpse Reincarnation's cooldown to end, he, Orochimaru, would possess an Uchiha body!
Excitement, joy—a multitude of intense emotions filled the mind of this usually exceptionally calm Orochimaru.
It had been so long, so very long. His desire for an Uchiha clan body wasn't a matter of a day or two. And now, finally! Finally!!
"Keh keh keh..."
Barely suppressing his inner excitement, Orochimaru let out a low chuckle.
This Orochimaru completely failed to notice the flicker of doubt that had appeared in Sasuke's eyes the moment he turned away.
Orochimaru had shamelessly admitted to deceiving Sasuke one minute, and the very next minute guaranteed he could kill Kagaya and Itachi.
How could such behavior not make Sasuke doubt whether Orochimaru was deceiving him again? What if he gave his body to Orochimaru, only for Orochimaru to fail to kill those two? Wouldn't that mean he could never take his revenge?
This young serpent, having just entered the snake pit for the first time, began to distrust the king snake within. Yet the excited king serpent remained utterly oblivious.
The shinobi world returned to peace. Naruto followed Jiraiya for training. Orochimaru tirelessly nurtured Sasuke. The members of Akatsuki carried out missions from time to time, gathering information on the tailed beasts during their idle moments.
Suddenly, the entire shinobi world quieted down. Everyone returned to their usual order. Although in many places, shinobi still fought and killed each other for their respective missions, for the shinobi world, this was just normal. Shinobi themselves represented conflict. As long as no large-scale deaths occurred in a short period, for shinobi, that "was" peace.
A month later, after giving some instructions to Karin and Haku, Kagaya found a random excuse, saying he needed to go to a mysterious place for a while. Then, he ran off to a deserted location alone to await the System's forced transmission.
The process was sudden. Intense pain struck instantly. Then, the moment Kagaya felt that pain, his vision went dark, and he lost consciousness.
He didn't know how much time passed before Kagaya finally opened his eyes. And what he saw was a kunai flying straight toward his face!
!!!
Without giving Kagaya any time to react, the kunai instantly pierced the skin of his forehead. His terrifying dynamic vision allowed him to see everything clearly. This kunai might seem fast to others, but in Kagaya's eyes, it moved at a snail's pace. Under normal circumstances, such a kunai could never hit Kagaya; he wouldn't even give the thrower a chance to attack.
Even now, Kagaya "should" have been able to easily dodge this kunai!
But for some reason, Kagaya's entire body was sending pain signals to his brain, likely caused by the System's transmission. This intense pain prevented him from moving his body quickly. In other words, he couldn't dodge this kunai now!
The kunai pierced the skin of Kagaya's forehead, about to penetrate his brain!
Kagaya's mind raced. Though he had no idea why he was about to die the moment he woke up, he had to save himself!
'Susano'o? No, can't mobilize chakra in time! Genjutsu? No good either, can't see the enemy. By the time I lift my head to find them, this kunai would have already pierced my skull. Then... then...'
A sense of frustration rose in Kagaya's heart. Under normal circumstances, he had ten thousand ways to dodge this kunai. But right now, he couldn't move his body, the kunai came too fast, and his chakra couldn't be mobilized in time. There seemed to be no way to survive!
'Damn it all, you cursed System!'
In Kagaya's eyes, that slowly moving kunai was about to pierce his forehead and kill him for good.
But at that moment, another kunai flew swiftly from a different direction. With a speed several times faster than the one aimed at Kagaya, it struck the incoming kunai at an extremely precise angle, deflecting it.
Saved!
That was Kagaya's first feeling.
The user of the second kunai possessed far superior skill in kunai techniques compared to the first!
That was Kagaya's second feeling.
Then, Kagaya's spirit relaxed slightly, no longer focused solely on the previous kunai. As his concentration waned, time around him seemed to instantly return to normal. In his eyes, things were no longer moving at that incredibly slow pace.
This was normal. Facing a life-or-death situation, combined with his dynamic vision, naturally made time feel slow. Once the danger passed, that feeling of time moving slowly naturally vanished.
It was also from this moment that Kagaya began to hear the chaotic sounds around him. Earlier, he had been too focused on the kunai aimed at him to hear anything else.
"They're here!"
"Attack!"
Two sentences, very brief, uttered by two different people. Yet, though the words were simple, they carried an air of extreme decisiveness. These two simple sentences made Kagaya sense an incredibly thick killing intent.
Someone wanted to kill him!
After those words, the sound of clashing swords rang out.
"Arrgh!!!"
"Kill them!!"
"Leave none alive!!!"
"Fire Release—"
"Water Release—"
Clearly, shinobi were fighting here. But the noise was too chaotic; Kagaya could only make out the first few syllables before the words were drowned out by shouts and battle cries.
Kagaya now noticed he was lying under a large tree. Not far in front of him, dozens of shinobi were engaged in relentless battle.
His fingers twitched slightly. Kagaya wanted to stand up, but then he let out a bitter laugh.
He couldn't move!
For some unknown reason, his body felt as if it had been severely battered, wracked with intense pain throughout.
In the world of Naruto, where offense far outstripped defense, with such injuries, moving was out of the question.
When it came down to it, in terms of physicality alone, Kagaya wasn't much stronger than an ordinary person.
In fact, every time he attacked an enemy physically, Kagaya would coat his fists or feet with a layer of chakra to prevent injuring himself while striking the opponent.
Shinobi battles weren't long. Though dozens of shinobi seemed like a lot, deaths in shinobi combat were frequent. In just a few minutes, only a dozen or so remained.
A splash of blood landed on Kagaya's face. During the fight, two shinobi, locked in combat, moved to within a few steps of Kagaya. Then, one shinobi sliced off the other's head and shoulder with a single sword stroke. Blood spurted out, splattering Kagaya.
The surviving shinobi turned his head to glance at Kagaya, but without hesitation, immediately left to rejoin the battle.
Kagaya, left behind, was momentarily stunned after meeting that shinobi's gaze.
That was...
Kagaya took a deep breath. He couldn't be mistaken. It was the Sharingan. That was the Sharingan!
That person just now was a member of the Uchiha clan! Though it was only a one-tomoe Sharingan, it was undoubtedly the Sharingan!
According to the System, he should be in the Warring States Era. Therefore, the existence of the Uchiha clan made sense. But who were their enemies?
"Heh... I'm just deceiving myself. Who else could the Uchiha's opponents be?"
Looking at the gruesome battlefield littered with corpses ahead—in the Warring States Era, any two clans could be fighting each other. However, only the Senju clan could fight the Uchiha to a standstill and kill so many Uchiha members in a battle of equals!
No other clan, not even the Hyūga, qualified!
In the Warring States Era, the Uchiha and the Senju were the two strongest clans. For any other clan to fight them evenly was pure fantasy.
The battle soon ended. The once verdant forest now looked eerily sinister. Red blood splattered on the trees, making them resemble demonic trees that fed on human blood, sending chills down one's spine.
A man completely covered in "red" approached Kagaya. The smell of blood instantly became overpowering. He extended a hand still dripping with blood.
"What's your name? Not dead yet, are you? Those Senju scum actually tried to kill one of our Uchiha right under our noses. Seems they don't know their own strength."
From this sentence, Kagaya understood. The clumsy kunai that had tried to kill him the moment he opened his eyes was undoubtedly the work of a Senju clan member. And the technically masterful kunai had been thrown by one of the Uchiha clan members. It made sense. The Senju might rival the Uchiha, but when it came to shuriken and kunai skills, ten Senju couldn't match one Uchiha.
Also, this battle had apparently been won by the Uchiha.
Kagaya managed a slight grin.
"My name is Uchiha Kagaya. I'm fine, just... can't move."
The man withdrew his hand and gave a bitter smile.
"Can't move, huh? As you can see, I don't have the strength to carry someone away right now."
The implication was clear: he intended to abandon Kagaya. As someone who couldn't move, lying here, Kagaya would almost certainly die under normal circumstances. Remember, this was a battlefield! More people would undoubtedly come here soon!
"I understand."
Without hesitation, Kagaya accepted the other's decision to leave him behind.
Because this was war. An individual must never burden the collective due to their own shortcomings. Though it seemed heartless, it was an ironclad rule.
Moreover, though they were both Uchiha, and this "blood-covered man" seemed to regard Kagaya as a "clansman," Kagaya couldn't bring himself to trust someone he had just met, even if they had saved him.
Being saved earned the man Kagaya's gratitude, but not his complete trust. There was no contradiction there.
The blood-covered man nodded.
"Good that you understand."
Then, he turned and left. No words of comfort, no apologies. In his life, he had witnessed far too many partings and deaths. Abandoning an individual for the sake of the collective was something he had done countless times. Perhaps later, they would return with a larger force to retrieve the bodies of the fallen Uchiha clansmen, to bring them "home." But not now.
After several dozen seconds, those who were alive and could move had left. Those remaining were the dying, not yet dead.
Like the person cut in half at the waist—a waist cut didn't kill instantly. So this person, still with their upper body, lay on the blood-soaked ground, wailing, struggling, begging for death.
Or another, impaled by a thick tree branch, hanging from the tree, bleeding continuously. Not dead yet, but before long, immobile, he would surely die from blood loss.
In short, this was a field of carnage.
His hands began to tremble slightly. Kagaya took a deep breath. In front of those unfamiliar Uchiha clansmen, to play it safe, he had pretended to be calm. But in reality? He wasn't someone who had experienced war multiple times. Though he had imagined its horrors, seeing it for the first time, he couldn't help but feel fear from the depths of his heart.
This terrifying field of carnage was the result of a mere battle involving a few dozen people.
Thinking this, Kagaya couldn't help but chuckle. Amidst the wailing, a unique laughter rang out. What was he laughing at? Himself? This field of carnage? This battle? No one knew.
Right now, Kagaya only wanted answers to two questions.
First, he had just arrived in this world and wasn't wearing Uchiha clan attire. Yet, both the Senju clan member who tried to kill him and the Uchiha clansman who saved him clearly recognized him as an Uchiha.
But why? Before Kagaya opened his eyes, they couldn't have seen his Sharingan!
Without seeing the Sharingan or Uchiha attire, how could they determine he was an Uchiha?
Second, were Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama nearby? Since the Senju and Uchiha were already at war, it was possible for Madara and Hashirama to appear here. Kagaya definitely didn't want to run into those two monsters. If they were here, he needed to get far away, fast!
A golden skeletal arm appeared, swatting away a severed head lying near Kagaya. Then, golden ribs enveloped Kagaya, sprouting two skeletal legs that slowly carried him away from the scene.