Chapter 69: Sasuke’s Destined Bite!

Chapter 69: Sasuke’s Destined Bite!

Orochimaru’s eyes glinted.

In just a short moment, he had already formulated the plan for this operation.

“Guess we’ll stick to the old plan this time~

I’ll go test Sasuke’s strength myself.”

After making up his mind,

Orochimaru suddenly thought of something else.

“Why hasn’t Guren sent any word back yet?

Could it be…

the Black-Robed Organization is keeping her under too tight a watch?”

Though he felt a little puzzled,

Orochimaru didn’t dwell on it too much.

He knew very well

how difficult it was to smuggle any kind of message out from inside a secretive organization like that.

After thinking over the action plan once more

and confirming the current locations of the Black-Robed Organization’s members,

Orochimaru gave Kabuto a few final instructions.

Then he set off toward Konoha.

…

Meanwhile,

inside Konoha Hospital—

Looking at Kakashi, who had already regained his spirit,

Guy and the other two were utterly shocked.

“He recovered that fast?!”

“You… just how did you do it?!”

“Byakuya-kun really is amazing!”

The three of them showered him with praise.

After they finished marveling,

all three turned to look at Byakuya at once,

clearly dying to know exactly what technique he’d used.

Byakuya merely shrugged.

“That involves patient confidentiality.

So I think it’s better if I don’t say anything.”

He was starting to feel more and more like a real therapist.

“Alright then…”

The three didn’t press any further.

Instead they turned toward Kakashi

and immediately began fussing over him with concern after concern.

Kakashi had only just recovered mentally, so his reactions were still a bit slow.

Seeing him in this state,

the others only chatted lightly for a few moments before politely excusing themselves.

Byakuya gave Kakashi a casual goodbye as well,

then left the hospital together with the rest.

…

Time passed quietly.

Before long, it was deep into the night.

Sasuke stood alone in the courtyard of his home,

silently gazing up at the moon.

His expression flickered—

frowning one moment,

angry the next,

then filled with sorrow.

He clearly had a lot weighing on his mind.

“Just what injured Kakashi…?

If I’m not mistaken, it was mental damage.

Something only high-level genjutsu could cause!

High-level genjutsu…

Could it really be him…?”

Officially, Kakashi’s injury had been announced as being caused by the Black-Robed Organization.

No further details were released to the public.

That was all Sasuke knew.

To protect him, no one had told him about Itachi’s return to the village.

Still…

even though no one said anything,

even though he didn’t know the full truth,

even though he got no straight answers no matter who he asked—

from the nature of Kakashi’s wounds alone,

Sasuke had pieced a few things together.

“It has to be him!

Itachi!

And it happened the exact same day I met with Kakashi!

That’s why Kakashi told me to go find Byakuya back then.

Damn it!

Why is everyone hiding this from me?!

Am I really that weak?!”

Sasuke slammed his fist hard into the tree trunk.

Though he had already guessed the truth,

he never showed it in front of the others.

He had been suppressing his emotions the entire time.

He knew that kind of anger was nothing but powerless rage—

it only made people look down on him more.

But tonight, alone at last,

he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.

He ran out to the courtyard to vent.

One moment he was drilling taijutsu near the training dummy.

The next he was unleashing Fire Release over the artificial pond.

Then Lightning Release in front of the rock garden.

Only after exhausting himself completely did he finally feel a little better.

“Haa… haa… haa…”

He collapsed onto the ground,

staring up at the moon while panting heavily.

“Just you wait, Itachi.

One day… I will kill you.”

“At the rate you’re going, I’m afraid you’ll never have a chance in this lifetime~”

“WHO—?!”

The sudden voice startled Sasuke so badly he jumped straight to his feet.

Then he saw the all-too-familiar figure not far away.

“Orochimaru?!”

Sasuke stared in disbelief.

“You’re actually still alive?!”

“That palm strike the other day was indeed quite powerful…”

Orochimaru slowly extended his tongue, licking his lips once.

“But if you want to kill me…

you’re still far too lacking.”

“You…”

Sasuke quickly drew two kunai, gripping them tightly,

his face full of wariness as he stared at Orochimaru.

“Your purpose for coming here tonight…

is me?”

Karin had once told him all about Orochimaru.

So Sasuke understood very clearly what the man wanted.

“Of course.”

Orochimaru looked Sasuke up and down

with the gaze of someone appraising a fine piece of art.

“Sasuke…

you’ve grown very quickly.

But compared to Itachi,

you’re still nowhere close.

If you remain in Konoha,

you’ll never be his match in this lifetime.

If you truly crave power…

if you truly wish to become stronger…

then come find me.”

“In your dreams!”

The moment the words left his mouth,

Sasuke suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of fear surge through his chest.

His entire body froze.

“This is… genjutsu?

No!

This is pure killing intent!

Just killing intent alone!

How many people has he killed?!”

Looking at Orochimaru standing there,

Sasuke felt nothing but terror flooding his heart.

He couldn’t muster even the slightest thought of resistance.

He had the horrifying feeling that if he dared fight back,

he would die a very miserable death!

“Uh oh!”

Right at that moment,

Sasuke saw Orochimaru’s neck suddenly stretch and thin,

twisting like a snake.

Orochimaru’s face turned grotesquely distorted.

His mouth gaped wide, fangs gleaming,

lunging straight toward Sasuke to bite!

“Not good!”

Sasuke’s heart lurched.

He immediately stabbed a kunai into his own thigh—

barely in time to break the paralysis just before Orochimaru’s teeth reached him.

He dodged the strike at the very last second.

“Pretty fast on your feet, aren’t you?”

Orochimaru gave a chilling smile.

His mouth opened wide again—

and countless thin, long snakes shot out.

The moment they appeared, the little snakes surged toward Sasuke, coiling to bind him.

Sasuke desperately dodged and countered.

But after burning through so much chakra and stamina earlier,

his condition was terrible.

Before long, he was completely entangled.

“It’s over!”

A chill ran through Sasuke’s heart.

Then he saw Orochimaru’s head rushing toward him at terrifying speed.

Fangs sank deep into the side of his neck.

Only then did Orochimaru slowly pull back.

“Ah—!”

Sasuke cried out in pain, clutching his neck as he dropped to his knees.

“Sasuke…

I’ve given you a little gift.

This gift will let you truly feel what it’s like to possess power.”

As he spoke, Orochimaru lifted his head, glancing into the distance.

“The Anbu arrived so quickly?”

The smile on his face faded slightly.

He readied himself for combat at any moment.

“Shoo, shoo, shoo…”

A few light sounds rang out.

Then a very familiar figure appeared before him.

“Tsunade?

So it’s you…”

“Orochimaru!”

Tsunade glared at him with a grave expression.

“You actually didn’t die!”

“It’s not particularly surprising that I’m still alive.”

Orochimaru slowly raised his hand to his mouth

and bit down hard, breaking the skin.

“What is truly surprising…

is that a hemophobic medical ninja like you actually became Hokage.”

With that,

he held his hand out in front of him,

letting the blood drip steadily downward.

“Hm?”

Suddenly, Orochimaru froze.

Because he realized—

there was no trace of hemophobia on Tsunade’s face at all!

Wanna read ahead? Join my Patreon and support the story — you can enjoy 3 new chapters published every day!: patreon.com/ArealMaster