Naruto: Cthulhu: Ch. 265

Orochimaru spoke the names of the three with his distinctively hoarse and dry voice, and instantly, a bone-chilling cold gripped their bodies.

Karin immediately shrank back half a step, hiding behind Sasuke with her head lowered timidly.

Suigetsu's lower body melted into a puddle of water, his eyes filled with fear. Only Jūgo still stood firmly by Sasuke's side.

Sasuke glanced at the companions he had gathered during Orochimaru's absence. As expected, they still feared Orochimaru deeply.

In truth, when Orochimaru left Sasuke behind to "watch over things," Sasuke had already suspected that Orochimaru might break his promise and not hand over the Three-Tails' jinchūriki.

After spending three years together, Sasuke understood that Orochimaru's obsession was in the pursuit of forbidden knowledge.

As for himself, he was nothing more than a tool for Orochimaru's ambitions.

Orochimaru would never risk angering the Akatsuki just to help him, nor would he lend his subordinates to assist in hunting down Itachi.

Any help Sasuke imagined he could get from Orochimaru had always been wishful thinking.

And even if Orochimaru did intend to help him, it would be too late by then.

So Sasuke had prepared a backup plan, to gather his own companions.

If Orochimaru returned and broke his word, refusing to hand over the Three-Tails' jinchūriki, Sasuke would confront him, sever ties, and take his own team to pursue the truth independently.

And just as Sasuke expected, when Orochimaru returned and Sasuke questioned him, he tried to brush him off with a flimsy excuse, that the Three-Tails' jinchūriki had been taken away by Guren.

Of course, he would not accept that, and so the moment of confrontation arrived.

"Jūgo... Are you serious about this?"

On Orochimaru's side, Kimimaro gazed at Jūgo, now standing beside Sasuke, and asked in a daze.

There was no need to speak of the bond between Kimimaro and Jūgo. Before meeting Kimimaro, Jūgo had long suffered from his violent, murderous impulses when he lost control.

Kimimaro had brought him hope, he was the only one who could suppress Jūgo's rampages.

From then on, Jūgo had regarded Kimimaro as a spiritual pillar.

So now, Kimimaro couldn't believe that the very person who once saw him as a guiding light had betrayed Orochimaru... and him, choosing to stand on the opposite side.

"Kimimaro...

You used to be like a ray of pure sunlight, piercing the darkness in my heart.

But ever since those things were put into your body... you're no longer the same."

The things Jūgo referred to were, of course, Orochimaru's experimental creation, Venom Shoggoth.

Since it was injected into Kimimaro, Jūgo, who had once been his close companion, could clearly feel the changes.

Kimimaro, like Jūgo himself, had developed a second personality, one that was sinister, cunning, and venomous.

As Jūgo said, Kimimaro had once been pure. But now, it was as if he had been corrupted.

That corruption wasn't just psychological; it was physical too.

Whenever Jūgo got close to Kimimaro, whose body carried Venom Shoggoth, an uncontrollable, instinctual agitation stirred within him, like a warning to flee from a deadly threat.

It was the opposite of how he used to feel, calm and joyful, when near Kimimaro.

This stark contrast in both mind and body led Jūgo to repeatedly plead with Kimimaro to give up the venom and return to who he once was.

But Kimimaro always rejected him harshly. They had even parted ways in conflict several times.

So now, as Jūgo spoke these words, Kimimaro finally understood why he had been betrayed, why Jūgo joined Sasuke.

And to that, Kimimaro said nothing. He didn't try to convince Jūgo to return.

Seeing Kimimaro's silence, Jūgo gave up as well.

He had hoped that his betrayal might jolt Kimimaro into giving up the venom, and if Kimimaro had agreed, Jūgo would have immediately returned to Orochimaru's side.

But Kimimaro's silence disappointed him deeply.

So all those years of camaraderie meant less to you than those terrifying, unnatural things in your body?

Unlike Jūgo's complex motivations, Karin and Suigetsu's betrayal was much simpler.

Karin was loyal to appearance. Though Orochimaru was terrifying, Sasuke's good looks and domineering attitude had completely captivated her masochistic heart.

She figured, if someone's going to use her, might as well be a handsome guy.

Suigetsu, among the three, feared Orochimaru the most. Sasuke had the hardest time recruiting him, so he saved Suigetsu for last.

Sasuke's method? Become someone Suigetsu feared just as much, and make it clear that staying with Orochimaru would lead only to death.

In previous experiments, four of the five Oto ninjas had all died under Orochimaru's cruel hands.

If you're already a lab rat, how much longer do you think you'll live?

Under such intimidation, Suigetsu joined Sasuke, gambling on a slim chance.

Yet now, faced with Orochimaru's unreadable expression, Suigetsu's lower body once again turned to liquid in fright.

It was a puddle, softer than soft, with only his upper body sticking out of the surface, making it look like he was kneeling to Orochimaru.

"Hey, hey!"

"You've got no backbone! This, this level of fear is pathetic!"

Karin scolded Suigetsu's cowardice, but he snapped back immediately, "And you're not scared?"

"Hiding behind Sasuke and stuttering like a fool."

"Wh-who asked you?! I-I just caught a chill last night from not pulling the blanket up!"

Sasuke gave a sidelong glance at his bickering companions and felt more uncertain.

Was it reckless to rely on these people to go up against Orochimaru and his loyal followers?

Across from him, Kabuto watched Karin and Suigetsu argue and smiled faintly.

Sasuke had grown a lot in these three years, but against Orochimaru... it was at best a 50/50 fight.

As for Jūgo and Kimimaro?

Kimimaro was definitely stronger, much stronger.

If Kimimaro didn't hold back, Jūgo would be quickly defeated, even killed.

As for Karin and Suigetsu, that woman and coward, Kabuto figured he alone was more than enough to deal with them.

They didn't even get along. They couldn't bring out any synergy together.

Having completed his pre-battle analysis, Kabuto slowly reached for his kunai.

But just then, Orochimaru raised his hand, stopping Kabuto from moving further.

"Hehehe... Sasuke, since you've already made up your mind... Then from here on out, we go our separate ways."

"Orochimaru-sama!"

Hearing Orochimaru's words, Kabuto's heart roared in disbelief, and he turned to look at Orochimaru with a surprised expression.

In Kabuto's analysis of their fighting capabilities, Sasuke's group was no match for their side. So why was Orochimaru compromising?

On Sasuke's side, everyone also looked at Orochimaru in astonishment. But Orochimaru simply wore a ghostly smile and offered no further explanation.

Silence lingered in the air for a moment.

In the end, Sasuke said nothing. He slowly sheathed the Kusanagi Sword, then turned and left with Jūgo, Karin, and Suigetsu. Their figures gradually disappeared into the darkness.

After Sasuke and his group left, Kabuto could no longer hold back.

"Why did you let them go? With our strength, we could easily—"

"Kabuto."

Orochimaru's single word cut him off. "Have you forgotten? Sasuke still bears my Curse Mark."

At these words, Kabuto immediately recalled how, during the chunin Exams, Orochimaru had sent Kimimaro to use a modified Venom Shoggoth to manifest part of Orochimaru's body and place the Cursed Seal of Heaven on Sasuke.

That curse mark became the key to Orochimaru's potential resurrection.

Of course, all of this had been pre-planned by Orochimaru after being targeted by the Hounds of Tindalos.

And Kabuto, being familiar with most of Orochimaru's research, knew that the Curse Mark was essentially a fragment of Orochimaru himself, no matter how far it traveled, it remained mystically connected to the original body.

As long as Sasuke remained alive, the Sasuke with the Curse Mark could still be a vessel for Orochimaru's return.

Finding a suitable vessel capable of withstanding the Curse Mark wasn't easy.

"Separation is only temporary. Everything will eventually return to that eternal origin."

Orochimaru's voice was serene and confident, leaving Kabuto and Kimimaro standing there, half-understanding, half-confused.

---

After leaving Orochimaru's base, Jūgo, Karin, and Suigetsu all breathed a sigh of relief, as if a huge weight had been lifted.

They had all mentally prepared to die standing against Orochimaru, but to their surprise, they escaped his grasp without even a fight.

"Phew! I seriously almost peed myself back there!"

Suigetsu, with his exaggerated expressions thanks to his peculiar body, shared his fear in an overly dramatic way.

But to be honest, the idea that he had "almost peed himself" might not be far from the truth, his lower half had literally turned into water earlier, so no one could say for sure if he really had or hadn't.

"Hey! Don't say stuff like that in front of a girl!"

"What girl?"

"You trying to start a fight!?"

As always, Suigetsu and Karin started bickering the moment they disagreed. Sasuke still couldn't figure out why these two never seemed to stop arguing.

Jūgo glanced back at the deep cave behind them. His old friend Kimimaro was still inside.

But things had come to this point, there was no turning back now. So he walked over to Sasuke and asked, "Where to next, Sasuke?"

"We're going to find Guren."

After leaving Orochimaru, Sasuke still intended to follow the plan Orochimaru had once promised him: use the Three-Tails' jinchūriki to lure out members of the Akatsuki, and eventually find his brother, Itachi.

Thus, the next priority was to find Guren, since she was the one who had taken the Three-Tails' jinchūriki.

Sasuke had recruited Karin into the team not only because she could heal, but more importantly because of her sensory abilities.

Karin's Kagura's Mind Eye could detect chakra fluctuations within dozens of kilometers, a unique ability from the Uzumaki clan.

If she had previously encountered a specific chakra, she could even pinpoint its exact location and movement.

Though she couldn't locate someone she had never sensed before, like Itachi, she could definitely track down Guren.

"So it's that woman..."

The moment Sasuke mentioned Guren, a look of disdain appeared on Karin's face as she pushed her glasses up with one finger.

When she was younger and had just been taken from Kusa to Orochimaru's hideout, Guren had been assigned to show her around. That was their first meeting.

But during the tour, Guren suddenly turned and harshly warned young Karin not to even think about seducing Orochimaru.

Later, when Karin replaced Guren as the warden of the Southern Hideout and Guren was assigned to Orochimaru's inner circle, the two rarely saw each other again.

But truthfully, Karin never felt grateful to Orochimaru, he was just another person using her. The hideout was nothing more than a place to stay.

In fact, Karin found Guren rather pitiful, for tying her entire existence to someone else. And worse, that "someone" wasn't even a handsome guy.

"I really don't want to see that woman again, but since Sasuke insists, I guess I have no choice."

With that, Karin closed her eyes and formed the necessary hand signs, beginning to scan for chakra within a wide radius.

The shinobi world wasn't that vast in size, so scanning several dozen kilometers covered a substantial area.

A moment later, she slowly opened her eyes.

"Well?" Sasuke leaned in with a slightly anxious expression.

"Ah, yep, found her."

As she looked at Sasuke leaning in close, Karin's face flushed red. Though she was answering his question, her mind was elsewhere.

Ah! This is the first time Sasuke has ever leaned in this close to me!

"Then let's get moving! I don't want to stay near this place for even one more second!"

Suigetsu glanced back fearfully at Orochimaru's secret base.

Even though he was now free, just being near the place made him shudder.

"Karin, lead the way."

"We're heading out."

---

In a small, ordinary house hidden deep in the mountains, Guren was laboring to draw water from a well and pouring it into a large vat.

Since leaving Orochimaru, she had been living in seclusion here with Yūkimaru.

As she turned the crank of the well, she wiped the sweat from her brow with the towel hanging around her neck.

For someone with Guren's abilities, fetching water from a well should have been effortless. And yet, she was sweating.

Was this... the hardship of daily life?

A small smile curled at the corner of Guren's lips.

Far away, in the shadows of a cluster of trees, two figures stood silently, watching.