The residual waves of Soren Sokatsui gradually subsided. The scorched earth still radiated a heart-palpitating high temperature.
The Kusagakure's Shinobi stood unharmed at the other end of the ruins, though his clothes had been torn to shreds in the explosion, revealing the form-fitting combat suit underneath.
He looked at Sasuke floating mid-air, golden serpentine pupils gleaming with irrepressible greed.
"You can even fly?!"
He extended his long tongue, licking the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse with excitement, "Sasuke-kun, you become more and more interesting to me."
Sasuke slowly descended to the ground, drawing the second sword always sheathed at his waist, Indra.
"You are very strong."
Sasuke's voice was calm, "I acknowledge your capacity."
He pointed the ominous black blade at his opponent, the crimson three-tomoe Sharingan slowly rotating.
"State your name. You are worthy of dying by my blade."
This statement was not arrogance, but the highest form of respect given to an opponent after judging their strength.
"And…" Sasuke's eyes turned sharp, "You are the first shinobi to force me to use this power."
"This power?"
The Kusagakure's Shinobi's pupils constricted sharply, catching the deeper meaning in Sasuke's words. An idea so incredible it shocked even himself surged into his mind.
His breathing grew rapid, a trace of anticipation and tremor in his voice, "Don't tell me... you've already mastered 'that' power?"
'At only twelve years old, he already possesses the same eyes as Itachi's?'
While he was still reeling from his own speculation, a low incantation had already begun to flow softly from Sasuke's lips.
It was a language he had never heard before, stirring the very air around them.
"O moon, fall into silence..."
A blackish-red aura, filled with malice and ferocity, spread out from Sasuke's body like a tangible shadow, spreading wildly.
In the distance, under the pressure of this pure malice, Naruto couldn't even stand, shrinking back uncontrollably.
"Interesting... truly interesting!"
The Kusagakure's Shinobi licked his lips in disbelief, gazing greedily at Sasuke's form and the black flames beginning to ignite along the blade.
He had seen Itachi use Amaterasu before.
But it was completely different from how Uchiha Sasuke was manifesting it now!
'Why was it a sword, and not his eyes?'
'And why, like that strange Fire Release Ninjutsu earlier, did it require an incantation?!'
The secrets Sasuke possessed were far more numerous, far more alluring, than he had imagined!
Under his greedy gaze, Sasuke chanted the final verse of the incantation.
"Let vengeance fill the emptiness of this body!"
He raised the long, dark sword high, calling out its true name, "Indra!"
The moment the words fell, the blackish-red aura surged back violently, pouring entirely into Sasuke's body and the sword in his hand.
His blue short-sleeved shirt was instantly shredded by the blackish-red Reiatsu, replaced by a Shihakusho seemingly woven from shadows, its edges burning with black flames.
On the back of the garment, a fragmented Uchiha Clan's fan emblem flickered faintly within the flames.
His entire person was enveloped by those never-extinguishing black flames, like a Shinigami returned from hell.
"So it is the flames of Amaterasu..."
The Kusagakure's Shinobi looked at the familiar black flames, confirming softly, enthusiasm flashing in his golden serpentine eyes, "Exactly the same as Uchiha Itachi's."
"It seems you know quite a bit." Sasuke's voice had grown somewhat hoarse.
Before the words fully faded, he moved.
Without any warning, his foot stamped down, and his figure vanished.
Alarm bells screamed in the Kusagakure's Shinobi's mind. He raised the kunai he already held in his hand, crossing it in front of his chest to block.
However, it was utterly ineffective.
The kunai, the moment it made contact with Indra, dissolved like a candle.
The black blade didn't pause in the slightest, slashing heavily onto the Kusagakure's Shinobi's body.
"Haah!"
With Sasuke's cold shout, a condensed crescent-moon-shaped black flame erupted violently from the Kusagakure's Shinobi's chest.
The Kusagakure's Shinobi was thrown back as if struck by lightning, a deep, bone-exposing gash left on his chest.
Even more terrifying, the black flames clung like maggots to bone, ignoring the defensive Chakra on his body's surface, and began to spread wildly and corrode throughout his entire body through the wound.
"This is... truly troublesome."
The Kusagakure's Shinobi looked down at his wound, which was being continuously consumed by the black flames, yet a sick smile appeared on his face.
In the next second, his neck stretched out at an angle that defied common sense, like a venomous snake striking from its hole. His mouth opened wide, tearing towards Sasuke's neck!
This was his final counterattack!
However, Sasuke had anticipated all of this.
Facing the rapidly approaching head, he didn't even make a move to dodge.
He simply calmly raised his right hand.
"Chidori."
Black-and-white intertwined lightning instantly took form in his palm.
Without hesitation, Sasuke pressed that ball of violent lightning onto the flying head.
The lightning flashed violently, the violent energy instantly blowing the Kusagakure's Shinobi's head to pieces, turning it into scattered charcoal and bloody mist.
"It's over..."
Naruto, watching from afar, subconsciously swallowed hard, his heart calming slightly.
However, Sasuke's crimson Sharingan showed no sign of relaxation.
He watched quietly as the headless corpse, which should have fallen, remained standing.
Something was wrong.
The corpse not only refused to fall but began to convulse violently, the Chakra within it still fluctuating in a bizarre and intense manner.
Then, under the horrified gazes of everyone present, a truly spine-chilling scene unfolded.
Riiip…
Like a snake shedding its skin, a pale, slimy hand forced its way out of the gruesome wound on the headless corpse's chest!
Next came dripping wet black hair, followed by a complete head.
Finally, an entirely new body, slick and sticky, crawled completely out of the ruined old husk.
"Hehehehe..."
Orochimaru shook off the viscous fluid, his golden serpentine eyes gleaming with a sick fanaticism. He looked at Sasuke, his voice thrilled.
"Marvelous! Simply marvelous, Sasuke-kun! Your power, your eyes, everything about you... is even more perfect than I imagined!"
He showed no concern over having just been "killed," his eyes filled with undisguised possessiveness.
"But, it's still not enough."
Orochimaru slowly stepped forward, spreading his arms as if presenting something to Sasuke, his voice dripping with temptation.
"Do you wish to become stronger? To obtain power sufficient to kill that man, even to surpass him?"
"Come to me, Sasuke-kun."
He extended his long tongue, greedily licking his lips, "I can grant you eternal life, give you endless time to study all forbidden techniques."
"I can free you from this fragile flesh, allow you to become a truly perfect existence!"
"Only I can make those eyes of yours shine with their true radiance!"
Faced with these honeyed, seductive words, Sasuke's expression remained utterly unmoved.
'Eternal life?'
'For a Shinigami, that was not some unattainable dream.'
He watched quietly as this monster before him, this disgusting spectacle.
The black flames wreathing around the blade of Indra and those burning on his Shihakusho quietly receded. He slowly sheathed his sword.
"What you mean to say..."
Sasuke spoke slowly, "...is that your path to strength is to constantly discard your own rotting old skin like a worm, and then steal someone else's new body?"
The smile on Orochimaru's face faltered slightly.
"You call this 'eternity'?"
A curve of extreme ridicule lifted the corner of Sasuke's mouth, "How pathetic."
He turned his face slightly, those crimson Sharingan now filled with undisguised contempt.
"You speak of surpassing limits, yet you yourself lack the courage to face death with your original flesh and blood."
"Your so-called 'eternity' is filled with cowardice and filth."
"This kind of power... cannot help me kill that man."
He took one last look at this existence that disgusted him, his eyes holding nothing but pure scorn.
"It would only... tarnish the name of Uchiha."
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