WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎🔥 30→2ch | 60→5ch | 100→8ch | 200→15ch | 400→25ch⏰ Resets Monday!
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Sasuke, Orochimaru, and Kabuto arrived at an abandoned, underground facility hidden beyond the Valley of the End.
"The Second Hokage secretly built this place after the great battle here," Orochimaru explained, his voice echoing in the hollow space. "He intended to hide Madara's body, keeping it from the First. Once Madara used Izanagi to escape, it was abandoned. A perfect, hidden stage for our ritual."
Sasuke handed the mask to Kabuto. "You saw the process in my genjutsu."
Kabuto took the mask, hesitation clear on his face. "Lord Orochimaru… I still don't fully trust Sasuke. So, let me be the sacrifice to the Reaper. If it fails, you remain unharmed. If it succeeds, you retrieve the souls of your hands. The only cost is my life."
"Admirable dedication, Kabuto," Orochimaru said, his tone gentle yet firm. "But this ritual must be performed by me personally. You will understand why in a moment."
Kabuto's expression turned solemn. "I know you possess techniques from your future self, knowledge that doesn't exist in this world. But how can you be certain that 'future you' is real? What if it's a fabrication by Sasuke, or if Sasuke himself is being manipulated by some unknown entity? Can you truly rule that out?"
He was being overly cautious, paranoid even. But with Orochimaru's life at stake, he had to be. He'd even steeled himself. If it came to it, he'd destroy the mask. At least then, his lord wouldn't face an unknown risk.
The ever-rational Orochimaru didn't dismiss him. "Even so, my curiosity compels me to verify the answer personally. I am willing to pay the price, even if it costs me my life."
"Then let me satisfy your curiosity, Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto pressed, voice urgent. "With my life!!"
Orochimaru didn't explain further. Instead, he smiled—a warm, genuine smile—and spoke words that struck straight to Kabuto's core. "Allow me to rephrase it, then… Kabuto. Your life, to me, is immeasurably precious. More precious than the answer itself. Do you understand?"
Kabuto's eyes welled with hot tears. "Lord Orochimaru… I… I am not worthy of such…"
"Now…" Orochimaru's smile remained. "Will you help me?"
Kabuto took off his glasses. Wiped his tears. Polished the fogged lenses. Settled them back on the bridge of his nose. He stepped forward, voice thick with emotion. "If you fail… I will follow you into the afterlife."
He personally placed the mask, the key to summoning the Shinigami, upon Orochimaru's face.
Just as before, Orochimaru unleashed his chakra in a torrent.
BOOM…!!
A white storm erupted. The spectral, monstrous form of the Shinigami materialized behind him.
Kabuto gasped. "That is the God of Death?!"
"Begin… Kabuto," Orochimaru commanded.
Gritting his teeth, Kabuto placed a kunai in Orochimaru's grasp. He guided his lord's arm, driving the blade towards his own abdomen. In perfect sync, the Shinigami behind him slashed its tantō sword through its ghostly gut.
"This time is different," Orochimaru grunted. "We only need to free the souls of my hands. A small opening, just large enough for them to pass, will suffice…"
Kabuto understood. "A… minimally invasive procedure?"
WHOOSH!
From the tiny wound in the Shinigami's belly, two streams of light—the souls of Orochimaru's hands—shot out. They flowed like liquid radiance, merging back into Orochimaru's arms. His soul was whole again.
Sasuke clenched his fists, gaze low. "The size of the wound doesn't matter. The price for breaking the Reaper Death Seal is the caster's soul. Last time, he escaped via the Living Corpse Reincarnation. But he can't use that now… which means the main event starts now."
"Kekekekeke…"
The Shinigami behind Orochimaru cackled, its ghastly hand reaching through its bead necklace, ready to claim its sacrificial soul.
"Alright, Kabuto," Orochimaru said calmly. "Stand back."
Kabuto retreated to Sasuke's side, his entire body taut with tension.
A smirk played on Orochimaru's lips. His hands flew through a sequence of seals never before seen.
—Forbidden Art: Soul Concealment Technique!
WHOOSH…!!
The Shinigami's soul-snatching hand… froze. A look of bewilderment twisted its grotesque, terrifying face.
Kabuto stared, shocked. "Lord Orochimaru! What did you do?!"
"The Soul Concealment Technique," Orochimaru explained, his voice steady. "A jutsu to hide one's soul. I've hidden mine. If the Shinigami cannot find my soul, it cannot complete the sacrifice."
So that was it.
Sasuke allowed himself a small smile. "Then… we just need to remove the mask, dispel the Shinigami, and it's over, right?"
Yet, Orochimaru's lips curled into a deeper, more inscrutable grin. "That would be one way. But it wouldn't… satisfy me."
SWISH!
His long hair whipped around him. His hands, already freed, began weaving yet another series of complex seals.
Sasuke's eyes widened. "You… what else are you planning?"
"Hiding my soul wasn't to escape the sacrifice!" Orochimaru declared, his voice rising with fervor. "It was to create the prerequisite… for the Shinigami to take up residence within my body!!!"
Sasuke's mind raced, realization dawning. "Don't tell me you intend to…!!"
SWISH!
The final seal snapped into place.
"Correct!" Orochimaru's voice boomed. "This is a sealing technique developed specifically… to contain the Shinigami of the Reaper Death Seal!"
—Six Paths Shinigami Coffin Seal!
Though it bore the "Six Paths" prefix, it had no true connection to the Sage. It was merely the future Orochimaru's tribute—a shinobi's salute to the legendary founder of ninjutsu.
BOOM…!!!
A terrifying suction force exploded from Orochimaru's body.
CRACK! CRACK!
The mask on Orochimaru's face splintered. The Shinigami, sensing the danger, tried desperately to sever its link with the 'medium'. But it was too late. The sealing array was already active.
The Shinigami's form dissolved into a raging river of white light, being violently sucked, pulled, devoured into Orochimaru's very being.
"LORD OROCHIMARU…!!!"
The scene unfolding before him shattered Kabuto's understanding of the world.
Sasuke, having witnessed greater wonders, didn't lose his composure. His shock was tempered by something else—a profound, stirring emotion.
The Orochimaru he knew hadn't reached this level of research. The truth settled over him, warm and heavy. "In the ten years after my narrow escape… the years I spent defeated, listless, wallowing… he kept moving forward. Silently. All so that I… could challenge a god once more?"
Before them, Orochimaru's form had completely transformed. Symmetrical horns curved from his brow. An ethereal, white robe-like substance coated his skin, pulsing with an inner light. Dark, shifting curse marks snaked across his flesh. A string of ancient prayer beads hung around his neck. A sword was sheathed at his hip. In his hand, he held a bell-shaped ritual implement… His form bore a resemblance to a Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, yet the aura of his chakra was utterly, fundamentally different.
CRUNCH.
The mask disintegrated completely. Orochimaru's vertical serpent-pupils had darkened to a deep gray. And on his forehead… a single, stark 'd'-shaped mark.
"Without a doubt," Sasuke murmured. "He has become the Jinchūriki of the Shinigami."
"The powers of the Shinigami are mine to wield in this state," Orochimaru intoned, his voice resonating with new depth. "Including, of course, the power of the four Hokage souls contained within it. Kabuto… do you believe Sasuke-kun now?"
Having witnessed such a miracle with his own eyes, how could Kabuto harbor any doubt?
He adjusted his glasses, then dropped to his knees in a bow of absolute reverence. "From this day forth, I pledge everything I am. I will walk beside Lord Orochimaru… and aid Lord Sasuke in achieving his goal!"
Sasuke stepped forward, offering a hand to help Kabuto up. "The honor is mine."
"Now, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said, turning his new, depthless gaze upon the young Uchiha. "I will assist you in taking the first step toward becoming an Ōtsutsuki. This, too, was one of the primary reasons for taking control of the Shinigami."
He raised his left arm, the bell implement in his right hand chiming softly. From the sleeve of his white robe, a phantom serpent of pure energy shot forth—and sank its fangs into Sasuke's neck.
"I will transfer Hashirama Senju's chakra to you in its entirety. Your thirteen-year-old body, of course, cannot withstand such power all at once. Therefore," Orochimaru's smile returned, "there is no more suitable vessel than the 'Cursed Seal'…"
GURGLE… GURGLE… GURGLE!
As the vast, potent chakra of the First Hokage flooded into him, the pure black mark on Sasuke's neck began to churn, to shift… its darkness bleeding away, transitioning inexorably toward a blinding, pristine white.
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