Naruto: Cthulhu: Ch. 207

Under the guidance of the Four Sound Ninjas, the group departed without raising any alarm in the village.

It seemed these individuals had a thorough understanding of Konoha. Could there have been a spy in the village?

Surrounded on all sides by the Sound Ninjas, Sasuke couldn't help but entertain such thoughts.

Once they left the influence range of Konoha, the group abandoned their pretense and began traveling quickly through the forest, heading toward the borders of the Land of Fire.

The journey was smooth and uninterrupted, and soon Sasuke's group arrived at the Valley of the End.

On either side of the waterfall in the Valley of the End stood massive statues—one of the First Hokage, Hashirama, and the other an unknown ninja, their hands forming opposing seals.

Following the Four Sound Ninjas, Sasuke leapt to the other side of the waterfall. At this moment, Sasuke officially stepped beyond the borders of the Land of Fire.

For a ninja, leaving the country's borders without mission authorization was tantamount to treason.

At that moment, Sasuke heard a voice behind him.

"Sasuke!"

His eyes widened as he turned to look back at the waterfall's opposite bank. But the familiar orange-clad boy was nowhere to be seen.

Was it just his imagination?

Sasuke looked up at the sky. It was already past noon. After traveling through the night and part of the day, they had finally reached this point.

But there was still no sign of any pursuers from Konoha. Perhaps the village hadn't noticed his departure yet?

Even if he had resisted these Sound Ninjas and ended up killed in his own home, his body would probably only have been discovered days later, when the stench of decay alerted the neighbors.

As expected, someone like me has no place in Konoha.

In that case, I might as well pursue the truth on my own!

Having made up his mind, Sasuke's eyes grew resolute, and he continued onward with the Sound Ninjas.

As night fell, the group of five ninjas finally stopped in front of a pitch-black cave after a day of long travel.

"This is the place, Sasuke-sama."

"Sama?" Sasuke was puzzled by Sakon's address.

Sakon explained, "If you join Orochimaru-sama's ranks, you automatically become our lord. Your status will be above ours."

"Wait, I never said I was joining him as his subordinate. I'm only here to have my questions answered."

"Heh, it's all the same. The final path is just ahead—this way, please."

Sakon gestured with exaggerated politeness, leading Sasuke deeper into the cave.

The cave's interior was spacious. Directly in front of Sasuke was a solitary seat.

Illuminated by the flickering flames on the stone pillars, Sasuke could make out the figure sitting in the chair. The shadows cast on the wall appeared thin and emitted an ominous aura.

Sasuke swallowed, forcing himself to remain calm as he approached with a composed demeanor.

Just then, the figure in the chair spoke.

"What's wrong? Are you scared, Sasuke?"

That voice... it had sounded so familiar.

He didn't have time to identify the voice's owner. He quickly denied, "I'm not scared!"

"Then why is your breathing irregular?"

"Because..."

"Don't be afraid, Sasuke."

The person who had been seated slowly stood and walked toward Sasuke. As the backlighting faded and the distance closed, he clearly saw the person's face.

"You're the one from that day... Kimimaro!"

The young man's face was pale and clean, with a wavy center-parted hairstyle adorned with peculiar hair accessories at the ends, and two small red dots on his forehead.

Sasuke could never forget this face—it belonged to the Sound Ninja who had marked him with the cursed seal during the incident in the Forest of Death.

"Shh." Kimimaro made a silencing gesture. "Don't be so agitated, and there's no need to be afraid."

"You're just like me now, a subordinate of Orochimaru-sama. We're equals."

"A subordinate of Orochimaru?" Sasuke's confusion deepened. He quickly asked, "Wait! You're not Orochimaru?"

"Of course, I'm not Orochimaru-sama, and he's not here right now either."

Hearing this, Sasuke's anger exploded, and he shouted, "What do you mean he isn't here?"

"If he's not here, why take me away from the village in his name?"

"What's your real objective?!"

Kimimaro, however, seemed unfazed by Sasuke's fury. He leisurely moved to Sasuke's side.

"Don't worry."

"It doesn't matter if he isn't here."

"As long as he is here... that's enough!"

As Kimimaro finished speaking, he suddenly reached out to grab Sasuke. Sasuke reacted swiftly, jumping back to evade.

However, before Sasuke could retreat far, he collided with a solid "wall of flesh."

Looking over his shoulder, Sasuke saw Jirobo, the burliest of the Sound Five, grabbing him from behind.

Under Jirobo's immense strength, Sasuke couldn't break free and could only watch as Kimimaro approached him with a fervent gaze.

At the same time, Kidomaru and Sakon rushed over, forcing Sasuke to the ground.

As he was pinned to the ground, a new voice emerged from behind him.

"This is the Curse Sealing. It seems Kakashi was the one who applied it."

That voice...

"Can you undo it?" Kimimaro asked.

"It shouldn't be a problem. A technique like this just needs to be reversed..."

Sasuke strained his eyes to glance sideways and saw a familiar figure: silver hair and round glasses.

Kabuto!

What was he doing here?

Before Sasuke could process his shock, Kabuto began forming hand seals.

"Kai!"

Kabuto placed his palm over the cursed seal on Sasuke's neck. Immediately, Sasuke felt an intense heat at the back of his neck.

The heat quickly turned into searing pain, as if his skin was being ripped apart.

"Argh!"

As Sasuke cried out in agony, a white serpent began emerging from the cursed seal, tearing through the skin of his neck.

The snake grew larger and larger as it slithered out, eventually forming an unsightly funnel shape.

Finally, the serpent's massive jaws slowly opened, releasing a body from the dark, foul-smelling maw.

Pinned to the ground, Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief, tears streaking his face as his expression froze in shock.

At the same time, the other Sound Ninja released Sasuke and kneeled on one knee before the figure being expelled from the serpent, their postures signaling reverence.

The figure, drenched in mucus, slowly stood. It had a slender frame and a face resembling that of a snake.

It was Orochimaru.

He had been resurrected!

As he emerged from the snake's mouth, the massive white serpent collapsed, replaced by the slowly rising figure of Orochimaru.

Sasuke stared at Orochimaru before him, utterly stunned, momentarily forgetting the pain from his skin being torn open moments earlier.

His mind couldn't comprehend Orochimaru's technique, but in the shinobi world, resurrection and rebirth were indeed concepts beyond the grasp of ordinary understanding.

The Reverse Tetragram Sealing performed by Danzō had indeed sealed Orochimaru at the time. However, Orochimaru had preemptively arranged for Kimimaro to embed the Heavens' Curse Mark on Sasuke.

This had been the key that had allowed him to willingly let himself be sealed by the Reverse Tetragram Sealing without resistance.

After being hunted by the Hounds of Tindalos, he had carefully devised a plan to escape.

In his understanding, the hound could pass through angular spacetime infinitely. However, they could not penetrate the spherical spatial seal of the Reverse Tetragram Sealing, as the surface of the sphere had no angles equal to or less than 120 degrees.

Thus, the Reverse Tetragram Sealing had been the only jutsu capable of restraining the Hounds of Tindalos.

The problem, however, had been that while Orochimaru could use this sealing technique, he couldn't perform it on himself. The technique sealed a spherical space inside the caster's body, and if Orochimaru were to revive himself, the contents of the sealed space would be released, rendering the technique ineffective.

Therefore, the Reverse Tetragram Sealing had to be performed by someone else to seal the hound.

Orochimaru had selected Danzō as the executor. During the final round of the Chunin Exams, he had planned to lure the Hounds of Tindalos into the Four Flames Formation and manipulate Danzō into using the Reverse Tetragram Sealing.

As a former subordinate, he had known that Danzō always carried the Four Symbols Seal, partly as a means of mutual destruction against enemies and partly to prevent his body from falling into enemy hands.

With the Hounds of Tindalos sealed, Orochimaru had then turned to the matter of his resurrection.

Only the curse mark had contained Orochimaru's chakra and a fragment of his soul. The previous curse mark on Anko had disappeared after she changed bodies.

Thus, he had needed a new host for the curse mark.

After weighing all factors, Orochimaru had chosen Sasuke as the new host. He had instructed Kimimaro to apply the curse mark on Sasuke in the Forest of Death.

Everything had unfolded as he had anticipated. Danzō had used the Reverse Tetragram Sealing, and after Orochimaru's departure, Kimimaro had controlled the Sound Ninja to abduct Sasuke and revive him.

In this way, Orochimaru had not only escaped the Hounds of Tindalos but also spread false news of his death to confuse his enemies, halting their pursuit.

This had allowed him to focus on his research. For this mission, Orochimaru had even ordered Kimimaro to seize some interesting research materials from Konoha's lab.

So far, his plan had been a success. The only uncertainty now was whether the Hounds of Tindalos had truly been sealed by the Reverse Tetragram Sealing.

After all, it had been just a hypothesis, and whether it worked remained unknown.

"Orochimaru-sama, welcome back."

"Don't say a word!"

Orochimaru quickly silenced the Sound Ninja who greeted him, his eyes nervously scanning his surroundings, especially the edges and corners of the cave.

The air was still for a long moment. Only after confirming that no telltale white mist, symbolizing the Hounds of Tindalos, was seeping from any corner did Orochimaru finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Phew, it seems it worked."

Having successfully escaped the pursuit of the Hounds of Tindalos, Orochimaru's confidence and wicked smile returned once more.

"Well done, Kimimaro."

"Thank you, Orochimaru-sama, for your praise," Kimimaro replied humbly.

Kimimaro had been the MVP in this operation. Without him placing the mark on Sasuke in the Forest of Death and later, his loyalty in orchestrating Orochimaru's resurrection even after his own death, the entire plan would have fallen apart.

Orochimaru turned his gaze toward Sasuke, who stood nearby.

At that moment, Sasuke's expression could only be described as utterly stupefied. His vacant, wide-eyed stare was fixed on Orochimaru, who had just emerged from within his own body—a sight that seemed to have paralyzed Sasuke with fear.

"Such a sight might be too much for a genin," Orochimaru mused with mock sympathy.

He stepped closer to Sasuke, gently lifted his chin, and locked his serpentine eyes with Sasuke's Sharingan.

"The Sharingan... and such a young, vigorous body."

"Unfortunately," Orochimaru continued, "I've just been resurrected, and my soul is still too fragile to perform the Immortality Jutsu directly."

While he did entertain the notion of using Sasuke as his vessel for the Immortality Jutsu, it wasn't his primary goal—not yet. He had another purpose in mind: he had wanted to peer into the memories locked within Sasuke's mind, curious to uncover anything interesting hidden there.

Ever since Itachi had asked him about a man named the Black Pharaoh during their time in the Akatsuki, Orochimaru had been intrigued.

The name had appeared once before—in the Necronomicon, a rare and arcane tome Orochimaru had studied. According to the text, in an ancient epoch of Earth, there had been a coiuntry called "Egypt," whose rulers were known as Pharaohs.

Among them, one Pharaoh had been called the Black Pharaoh. He had been described as violent and arrogant, outwardly human in appearance but in truth an incarnation of a deity.

Which deity, exactly, had been unclear, as none of the Necronomicon volumes in Orochimaru's possession had contained that information. This omission had suggested that the Necronomicon had been compiled over multiple generations, with earlier sections presenting unresolved mysteries and later authors attempting to address them.

Still, the term "Black Pharaoh" had been exceptionally rare in the annals of ninja history, appearing only in this single reference.

Orochimaru was now almost certain that the Black Pharaoh mentioned by Itachi had been the same one referenced in the Necronomicon.

Though he no longer had access to Itachi to verify this, Sasuke remained an open possibility.

According to Kabuto's intelligence gathered in Konoha, Sasuke had once claimed that his family was attacked by a samurai and a tall, dark-skinned man dressed in strange attire.

The matter, however, had been suppressed, with Danzō ensuring that no deeper investigation was conducted. Officially, the Uchiha clan's massacre had been attributed solely to Itachi.

Not long after, Sasuke himself had stopped mentioning the incident.

But now he stood before the Sannin, and the enigmatic fragments of his past piqued Orochimaru's curiosity.

"Stand up, Sasuke," Orochimaru commanded, his voice both soft and commanding.

"If you want to uncover the truth behind your questions, follow me."