Sasuke raced through the dense forest, leaping from branch to branch with practiced agility. His destination was a small town just outside Konoha's borders—a meeting point Haku had mentioned during their battle against Kisame Hoshigaki. According to Haku, he and his allies would wait there for exactly one week. After that, they would leave without him.
Sasuke had planned to slip away from the village under the cover of darkness, but fate had other ideas. Danzo's reckless provocation of Menma had thrown the village into chaos, creating the perfect distraction for his escape. No one noticed him leave.
As he ran, his mind raced with strategies for surviving in this unfamiliar territory. Suddenly, the light in the forest vanished. A massive shadow loomed overhead.
Sasuke reacted instantly. He spun around, propelled himself into the air, and pushed off a nearby tree to retreat—but it was too late.
Thump!
The shadow slammed into the ground with earth-shaking force, sending billowing clouds of smoke everywhere. As the dust cleared, Sasuke saw a boulder the size of a small house. Standing atop it was a man with burn scars covering his body and twisted, tadpole-like black curse marks crawling across his skin.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked warily. He didn't recognize the man.
But before the stranger could answer, a second figure burst from the trees beside him. Another scarred man with identical cursed seals lunged forward, closing the distance in a blink. His fists were already cocked back for a double strike aimed straight at Sasuke's chest.
"This speed... this is a Jōnin!"
Sasuke had no time to dodge. He crossed his arms to block the blow while simultaneously leaping backward to absorb the impact. But just as the punch landed, a third threat appeared behind him.
The sound of blades cutting through the air whistled past his ears, followed by a chilling voice.
"Shikotsumyaku. Dance of the Camellia."
"Another one behind me!"
Feeling the cold edge of bone against his back with no way to dodge, Sasuke made a split-second decision. He let the Nine-Tails' chakra erupt from his body.
"If you're blind enough to miss me, don't complain when I hit back!"
Whoosh!
Golden-red chakra flames instantly enveloped him. Two massive fox tails swayed in the wind like whips.
Clang!
The bone spike in the enemy's hand struck the chakra cloak and rebounded with a metallic ring. It had been completely deflected.
"I didn't expect the Nine-Tails' chakra to be forced out so easily..." the man muttered, retreating quickly.
Where he had just stood, Sasuke's two fox tails slammed into the ground, leaving a massive crater in their wake.
With the Nine-Tails' power flowing through him, Sasuke felt invincible. He looked down at the three attackers with a smirk.
"Not bad. Dodging that attack means your skills aren't completely worthless." He turned his cold gaze on them. "Now, tell me who you are and why you attacked me. Your answer will determine whether you walk away alive or in pieces."
Kimimaro and the others exchanged glances. Their objective had been to intercept Sasuke and force him to use the Nine-Tails' chakra. Now that they'd succeeded, there was no need to fight further.
"We're the Sound Five," Kimimaro said calmly. "I'm Kimimaro."
"I'm Sakon," said the scarred man who'd rushed him earlier.
"And I'm Jirobo," the boulder-man added.
"The Sound Five?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Orochimaru's men."
Kimimaro didn't deny it. "You should consider yourself lucky. Lord Orochimaru chose you as his vessel to fulfill his dream. In exchange, he'll grant you unimaginable power. We're here to show you what you're missing."
Sasuke laughed coldly. "You've got to be kidding me."
He glared at them, voice dripping with contempt. "You shameless bastards. You're weak, yet you act like you're strong. You treat that pathetic power of yours like some treasure." He raised a hand, blue lightning crackling around his fingertips. "Fine. I'll show you what real power looks like."
He was about to strike when he noticed the numbers didn't add up. "Wait. There were supposed to be five of you. Where are the other two?"
Kimimaro shook his head. "No need. Those two pieces of trash are already dead."
As he spoke, he activated the second stage of his curse mark. His pale skin turned grayish-brown, his eyes went completely black, and intricate patterns spread across his face. Sakon and Jirobo followed suit. The tadpole-shaped marks spread across their bodies, turning their skin black and red. Sakon's face twisted into a horned demon mask, while Jirobo's face became covered in pockmarked scars.
These two had survived the massive explosion in the Menma—the same blast that had killed their brothers. Sakon had barely made it by using Ukon's body as a shield, while Jirobo had escaped by wrapping himself in Earth Release jutsu at the last second. Both would have died if not for Hashirama's Wood Release absorbing the bulk of the blast. Even with only ten percent of the original force hitting them, they'd barely survived.
Orochimaru's surgical skills and Kabuto's medical ninjutsu were the only reasons they were standing here now—fully healed just three days later.
"Dead?" Sasuke stared at their indifferent expressions, a spike of anger shooting through him. "You bastards..."
He tensed his calves and launched forward, crushing the ground beneath him as he transformed into a golden-red blur. "I'll send you three to reunite with them!"
Sakon and Jirobo moved to intercept, but Kimimaro raised a hand to stop them.
"Time's up. Lord Orochimaru's plan has worked."
As if on cue, Sasuke's body froze mid-charge. He skidded to a halt, then dropped to his knees, his hands barely catching his weight.
At the same time, the Nine-Tails' chakra within him thinned. One of his two tails vanished completely.
"What... what did you do?!" Sasuke gasped, forcing his head up to glare at Kimimaro.
Half of Kimimaro's face was now covered in the tadpole-shaped curse marks. "Still don't realize it? We've been stalling this whole time, talking just to buy time. Our goal was to weaken the Nine-Tails' chakra with the curse marks on your back and activate the Heavenly Curse Seal on your body."
"What?" Sasuke's eyes widened, and he finally noticed it. His Nine-Tails cloak was stained black, and golden-red chakra was leaking out of the corrupted areas like escaping gas.
"If you weren't so arrogant and actually paid attention to your body, you would've noticed and purged the curse mark immediately," Kimimaro continued. "But you didn't. You kept the curse mark active while you chatted with us."
He took a step forward. "Now, the Wakening Pill is working to help you unlock the second stage of the curse mark, and the remaining Nine-Tails chakra will keep you alive through the process. Once that's done, you'll be ready to become Lord Orochimaru's new vessel."
He reached down to grab Sasuke, but in that instant, Sasuke vanished.
Kimimaro's head snapped up, eyes narrowing as he stared into the distance. Standing between him and Sasuke was another figure he recognized.
"You," Kimimaro spat.
Menma is here.
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