"Your words are meaningless! Your body will be my future!"
At that moment, Uchiha Itachi was completely ensnared, a writhing mass of white phosphorus snakes coiled around him, rendering him immobile. Orochimaru's golden eyes gleamed with a crazed, stupid light, saliva dripping from his fanged mouth. He swayed his massive serpentine body, hovering before Itachi, the victor savoring his prize.
"You… are mine!"
"Give yourself to me, Itachi!"
Orochimaru's jaw unhinged, and he struck, his fangs sinking into what he believed was Itachi's flesh. But instead of the satisfying crunch of bone and tear of muscle, his mouth was filled with nothing but a few crow feathers.
"Caw… Caw…"
A chorus of crows erupted from his very face. He had not eaten Itachi at all, but a flock of crows transformed by a genjutsu.
"Detestable!"
Orochimaru looked around fiercely, his reptilian eyes scanning the clearing. There, standing on a rock, completely unharmed, was Itachi, looking down at him with an unnerving calm.
"I told you," Uchiha Itachi murmured softly, his voice a dispassionate whisper. "It is useless."
"I have no more time to waste on you."
He opened his eyes slightly, the pinwheel pattern of the Mangekyō spinning to life, preparing to unleash another of its devastating techniques. Suddenly, Itachi's body began to tremble, and a wave of powerlessness and dizziness washed over him.
"Tsk tsk tsk…" Orochimaru let out a triumphant, rasping laugh. "It looks like my little trap has worked. The bodily fluids of these white snakes contain a potent paralytic neurotoxin that vaporizes on contact with the air. I cannot be destroyed. No matter what you do, it will be useless against me."
"Because you… cannot kill me!"
"Now, the poison has completely paralyzed your body. It is pointless for you to struggle. Come, Itachi. It is time to begin."
The next moment, Orochimaru's mouth opened wide once more, and this time, Uchiha Itachi was swallowed whole, disappearing head to toe into the serpent's gullet.
When Itachi regained consciousness, he found himself standing on a surface of red, writhing flesh. All around him was an endless, void-like space.
"What is this place?"
"This is the alternate dimension within my body," Orochimaru's voice echoed from all around him. Soon, the writhing flesh walls began to rise and spread, slowly taking on Orochimaru's form. At this time, Orochimaru was one with the dimension, a part of the tight, constricting flesh wall that was closing in on Itachi, little by little.
"The reincarnation ceremony will take place here."
"It is time to begin, Itachi."
As he finished speaking, a multitude of fleshy tentacles began to sprout from Itachi's own body, seeking to bind him to this new reality. Immediately after, ghostly figures began to emerge from the walls around him, each wrapped in the same pulsating flesh. These were the faces of all the bodies Orochimaru had once inhabited.
Looking at Itachi's eyes, Orochimaru couldn't help but sigh with rapturous desire. "What powerful eyes… so magnificent. I am finally going to have you, Itachi."
"Do you know? I have waited for this day for so long. Do not worry, I will not be unfair to you. At least, until I can obtain Pain's body, I will do my best to continue using yours."
"Hm?"
Just as Orochimaru was about to fully consume Itachi, the fleshy tentacles binding him suddenly began to turn black and flake away, dissolving into nothingness. Starting from beneath Itachi's feet, a creeping blackness began to spread rapidly, tainting the entire dimension, turning the pulsating red of Orochimaru's inner world into a void of absolute black.
Orochimaru was stunned.
"No… Impossible! This is the dimension I created! How could you possibly—"
Looking at the incredulous Orochimaru, Uchiha Itachi responded, his face a mask of cold indifference. "I told you… no matter what you do, it is meaningless before my eyes. Now… you should understand."
Remember this: those who crawl on the ground can only ever stay on the ground."
"How… How could this be happening?!" Orochimaru was in a full-blown panic. He had intended to consume Itachi's body, but he had never expected the roles to be so completely reversed, his own very essence being consumed by Itachi's will.
Just as his consciousness was about to be completely overwritten, Orochimaru's eyes snapped open. He was back in reality.
"?"
"What's going on?"
At that moment, Orochimaru had returned to his original state. He raised his head and looked at Itachi, who stood before him, completely unharmed. A lingering fear, cold and sharp, pierced his heart. "Why… why did you not take the opportunity to occupy my power?"
He didn't understand. It was clear that if Itachi had taken one more step, all of Orochimaru's power, all of his jutsu, all of his very being, would have been taken by the young Uchiha. But Itachi had not done so.
Itachi was silent for a moment, then quietly gave his answer, his voice laced with an ultimate, crushing contempt.
"I am sorry, Orochimaru, but your power… is beneath me."