Or could it be that the Mangekyō Sharingan truly possessed so many overlapping eye techniques?
Orochimaru activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, and his figure vanished from where he stood.
"Did he… disappear?"
The girl was momentarily startled, but she quickly located both Orochimaru and Tsunade again. Instead of easing her suspicions, this only deepened them.
"…So words are useless," she muttered coldly. "Then there's no need to hold back anymore."
In the next instant, Orochimaru slammed Tsunade to the ground, shielding her with his body.
"Tsunade," he warned sharply, "watch out for eye techniques. That black flame will not go out until it reduces its target to ashes."
"I understand."
Tsunade glanced at the snakeskin that had already been burned into nothingness by the black flames, her heart tightening.
Lightning Release surged through her body as Lightning Stimulation activated fully. Faint arcs of electricity flickered across her skin. Her hairpin snapped with a sharp crack, and her hair fluttered loosely around her shoulders.
That eye…
It would not be fooled by illusions again.
---
The Battle Escalates
"Sage Art: Water Oscillation — Water Shockwave!"
Orochimaru formed hand seals rapidly.
From beneath his feet, an enormous torrent of water erupted, surging forward like a collapsing dam and rushing straight toward the girl.
Her eyes widened.
Clenching her teeth, deep crimson chakra erupted from her body. A massive skeletal frame instantly formed around her, then rapidly layered itself with muscle and flesh. Finally, a cloak of chakra enveloped the entire structure.
Susanoo — Second Form.
"…So this is the Uchiha clan's Susanoo?"
Tsunade had heard of it countless times—but this was the first time she had ever seen it with her own eyes.
The girl controlled Susanoo effortlessly. The giant warrior swung its long blade, cleaving the massive wave cleanly in half.
"Tsunade!" Orochimaru called.
His hands were already forming seals.
"I know!"
Tsunade immediately followed suit.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
They completed their seals simultaneously.
The divided waves transformed midair into two enormous water dragons, one attacking from the left and one from the right, coiling around Susanoo.
Lightning surged around the dragons, converting them into Lightning Water Dragon Jutsu.
If the girl failed to defend Susanoo properly, lightning would paralyze her entire body, leaving her completely immobile.
The girl's eyes narrowed.
Susanoo extended a massive hand.
Three spinning tomoe shot outward, scattering the Lightning Water Dragons into fragments before continuing toward Orochimaru and Tsunade.
The black flames still burned.
Unextinguishable.
Amaterasu.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes and charged forward, every step taken with extreme caution. Yang Release chakra flooded her body as she threw a punch with her full strength.
Crunch!
Cracks spread across Susanoo's body.
At that moment, Tsunade felt her confidence crack as well.
Impossible…
That punch was thrown with everything she had.
She was certain it would shatter Susanoo completely.
And yet…
The defense was still standing.
The girl was shocked as well.
Even the second form of Susanoo was not supposed to be breached by pure taijutsu.
Let alone cracked.
Then—
Another punch.
Tsunade swung again.
The girl instantly understood her intention.
"Tsukuyomi."
The moment Susanoo's second form shattered, Tsunade's movements froze.
Her consciousness was dragged into a crimson nightmare.
Her face turned deathly pale as sweat poured down her skin.
Another eye technique…
Tsukuyomi.
That made three.
What kind of monster is this?
---
White Rage
Orochimaru appeared beside Tsunade in a flash, surprise flickering across his face. A white snake's tail wrapped around her body, stabilizing her.
"Sage Art: White Rage Technique!"
His cheeks puffed slightly.
From his mouth burst a glowing crimson dragon, clutching a pitch-black sphere within its claws.
With a flick of his wrist, Orochimaru threw a kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God formula.
He vanished instantly, reappearing outside the technique's range with Tsunade.
"…Chakra… not enough…"
The girl sensed it clearly.
She attempted to activate Eight Thousand Spears, trying to draw chakra from the sealed sources within her body—but failed.
Nothing came.
Frowning, she could only focus on repairing her shattered Susanoo.
The crimson dragon circled the black sphere once—then plunged into it.
The sphere exploded in a blinding flash accompanied by a piercing, ear-splitting sound.
"Ugh—!"
The girl clutched her ears as pain surged through her entire body. The vibrating air felt like needles stabbing into her bones.
She couldn't even maintain Susanoo.
"Tsunade, are you alright?" Orochimaru asked quietly.
Tsunade wiped the sweat from her face and forced herself to stand.
"…I'm fine. Just spent seventy-two hours in a genjutsu world."
She staggered.
Orochimaru caught her.
"Don't push yourself."
He knew Tsukuyomi's terror well.
A moment in reality could be an eternity inside the illusion.
"The Uchiha clan's Mangekyō Sharingan is completely unfair!" Tsunade snapped, blushing slightly as she leaned against him.
Seventy-two hours buried underground.
Suffocating.
Again and again.
She wanted to punch that girl—but then remembered she had been sealed underground for a full hundred years.
Her anger twisted into something far more complicated.
"How did she endure that…?"
---
A Sealed Child
"I'll leave the rest to you," Tsunade said quietly. "She knows far too much about things from a hundred years ago."
"Rest," Orochimaru replied gently.
He activated Flying Thunder God again.
Appearing beside the kunai embedded in the ground, he looked down at the girl curled up in pain.
A white snake extended from his sleeve, spitting out the Kusanagi sword.
Sage chakra flowed into the blade, causing it to glow faintly blue.
With a single downward slash, the sword severed the shackles at her ankles and embedded itself in the ground beside her neck.
The girl froze.
One careless move, and she would die.
Orochimaru studied her calmly.
"You were sealed for a hundred years. I don't care what grudge you held against the Senju clan—because the Senju are gone."
"Konoha belongs to the Uchiha now."
At the mention of the Uchiha clan, hatred far deeper than her resentment toward the Senju flared in her eyes.
Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths…
What exactly is this child?
---
The Truth Emerges
"Can you tell me why you were sealed?" Orochimaru asked softly.
The girl hesitated, then whispered:
"…I was sealed by the Senju clan and the Sarutobi clan… together."
"…Sarutobi?"
Orochimaru was stunned.
If the Sarutobi possessed advanced sealing techniques, they wouldn't have relied on the Reaper Death Seal.
Then what kind of sealing technique had been used on her?
"…No Uzumaki?" he asked carefully.
She shook her head.
"…Will you kill me?"
"No," Orochimaru said immediately.
He frowned.
Her chakra was chaotic—multiple chakra sources forced together, barely stabilized by an unknown balancing force.
Those eye techniques had never truly belonged to her.
This child was treated like a weapon…
His killing intent vanished.
Instead, pity surfaced.
"Don't look at me like that!" she shouted, Mangekyō Sharingan flaring with rage. "You don't understand anything!"
"Ninja… this world… I hate it!"
"This world has ugly places," Orochimaru replied calmly, placing his hand on her head, "and beautiful ones."
A sealing mark bloomed on her forehead.
Eye Sealing Curse Mark.
Her Mangekyō regressed into a Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
"…What did you do to me?"
"Prevented you from losing control."
Orochimaru stared at her eyes in shock.
He had not expected the Mangekyō to regress completely.
"…Interesting