Darkness stretched endlessly inside Sukuna's inner domain, a silent void where only two presences existed.
Orochimaru's soul stood whole despite the violence inflicted upon it, pale and amused even as Sukuna's fists passed through him again and again.
It's been some time since he'd been pummeling Orochimaru's soul fragment inside his soul domain. However, nothing seemed to work. It felt like he was very close to hitting the soul itself; however, he was still missing something. He was very close, just something essential was missing.
Each blow carried terrifying intent, dismantling technique and body alike—yet here, they meant nothing. Not until he could directly connect his attack with Orochimaru's soul.
"You're a stubborn one, ain't you. It's not gonna work." Orochimaru said calmly, folding his hands as another strike tore through his chest without effect. "I don't know this domain of yours. However, as much as I am aware, this is your mind scape, and here you can't touch me. I'm not real you, I'm just a soul fragment—"
Orochimaru, after a while, understood their current situation with his intellect; it was easy enough for him to figure out. The state they were in was peculiar, if nothing else. Neither seemed to be able to touch the other, neither could harm the other. They had to coexist.
At least until his Curse Seal of Heaven started to corrupt the boy's mind and he had an opportunity to take over, or even better, his physical body extract this little soul fragment out of here.
Sukuna punched him again. He wasn't even listening to the Snake Sannin.
Again.
And again.
He attacked relentlessly.
He didn't respond. He didn't even look annoyed. He simply kept attacking, dismantling, tearing, observing. Changing the frequency of his cursed energy, trying to figure out whether he could cheat it by coming up with some kind of binding vow. Each failed strike was not frustration—it was study.
Orochimaru's smile thinned. "You don't listen well, do you?"
Sukuna tilted his head, eyes narrowing slightly. "Can't you stop that, can't you see I'm trying to concentrate here!"
Orochimaru's lip twitched at this. Here he was, trying to explain to the boy why he couldn't attack him, and he was acting like this. Youth nowadays really was rude.
Sukuna sighed, backing off a bit before stretching his body. It wasn't his real body, so he wasn't tired or anything; however, this helped him concentrate.
"Perhaps I'm mistaking something here. Going by Ryomen's memories is not always reliable. The bastard was a freaking genius when it comes to jujutsu.
What he saw in his memories was his understanding. The problem was that a genius' understanding sometimes isn't that easy to decipher.
So let's go with an idiot's perspective. How the heck Yuji did it." Sukuna muttered to himself and recalled the anime.
And then he blinked. "Shape of his soul, not others."
He clearly recalled that Mahito described Yuji being able to damage his soul as him knowing the shape of his own soul.
Then, like a light bulb lighting up inside his soul, he punched again.
This time, something cracked.
Orochimaru froze.
A fissure spread across his soul, thin as a hairline fracture in glass. Pain—real pain—flashed across his face for the first time.
"…What did you do?" Orochimaru gaped.
Sukuna grinned slowly, understanding blooming like fire. "I simply understood that I don't understand anything."
Orochimaru looked baffled. 'What's that supposed to mean?'
He stepped forward, fists now heavy with certainty.
'Alright then, let's end this already. I have a feeling that any more of this and me going back would become even more dangerous than staying here with this Sannin.' He winced, thinking of the complaints those out there were going to throw at him for pulling this stunt.
So he hurried up, each strike shattering deeper, no longer passing through, no longer harmless. Orochimaru reeled back, fragments of his soul splintering under relentless blows.
"This shouldn't be possible, how you're doing this," Orochimaru breathed, awe mixing with fear.
"Nothing much, just the things I do for power…"
—-<>—-
The moment Sukuna's eyes snapped open, he knew something was wrong.
Not with Orochimaru—him, at least, he had dealt with—but with himself.
A violent surge ripped through his body before he could even sit up. He barely replied to the quarreling of two sons of destiny before he felt his energy go completely violent.
The Curse Seal of Heaven flared, black markings burning across his skin as it poured natural chakra into his system without restraint.
'Fuck. I almost forgot the natural energy drawn by the curse seal…' He internally kicked himself. He planned to put some binding vows to fix that before getting up, but he forgot.
He clenched his teeth, finally realizing the mistake he had made. Getting rid of Orochimaru's soul fragment would only take care of his hold over him; that didn't mean he could masterfully use the curse seal and control natural chakra right off the bat.
Natural energy flooded him.
And it met cursed energy.
Now, when it came to their mixture, Sukuna had many hypotheses and almost no solid idea what exactly it would look like. But honestly, none of his hypotheses readied him for this.
The reaction was immediate—and catastrophic.
Unlike ordinary chakra, cursed energy did not need harmonizing with natural energy. If anything, it blended with it a little too well.
Both were forces of nature, and as chaotic as it came.
It devoured, clashed, and multiplied the violence of the incoming power. Sukuna's muscles twisted as if reforged from the inside, bones cracking and reshaping under unbearable pressure. His skin darkened, veins standing out sharply as two additional eyes tore open beneath his original pair, burning with feral awareness. Then came the arms—another set forcing its way from his sides, dripping blood before solidifying into flesh.
In seconds, the boy was gone.
What stood there now was something closer to the Heian-era monster whispered about in cursed legends.
His aura exploded outward, heavy and suffocating, thick with bloodlust and madness. The air itself seemed to recoil.
"Wha…." Sakura let out an indignant scream when she saw the transformation, her pupils trembling upon seeing her brother turning into what she could only describe as a monster.
For the first time, a primal fear took hold of her. This wasn't like Orochimaru. She was afraid of him, but this fear was something else.
Even with Orochimaru here, she was calm, mainly because she knew Sukuna was there for her, for them. But this… she just saw her brother turn into a four-armed monster.
Sakura covered her mouth, face pale. "That's… that's not—" Tears became visible in her eyes.
Karin stumbled back with a sharp gasp, her legs nearly giving out. "S-Sukuna…?" Her voice shook, eyes wide with horror.
Sasuke's Sharingan spun instinctively, sweat beading on his brow as he took a step back. Naruto felt it too, the crushing pressure pressing down on his chest like a mountain.
"BRAT! WHAT'S GOING ON OUTSIDE, WHAT IS THIS MALICIOUS ENERGY!" Kurama inside Naruto roared, his own chakra reacting to the malicious chakra emitting from Sukuna.
The energy felt a bit like Hashirama Senju when he drew natural energy, but this was malicious, dark, and almost evil.
Kiyomi saw the transformation, and her heart felt like it skipped an entire set of beats. She was from the Zenin clan; there was no way she didn't know what that appearance was.
Sukuna rose slowly to his feet.
When he spoke, his voice was deeper, layered, carrying a resonance that didn't belong to a single throat. "Leave."
The word was flat. However, the deeper tone of his voice gave everyone chills.
No explanation. No reassurance. Just leave.
He didn't even look at them. His gaze was fixed forward, locked onto Orochimaru.
Orochimaru himself was stunned. He wasn't even expecting the boy to pull through, since most vessels that were not strong enough just died before ever accepting the curse seal's power.
But here he was. The boy not only woke up in just a few minutes, but he broke through the ceiling of the first level of the curse seal. Something others needed a special ritual to undergo.
"Who is this boy?"
Karin shook her head desperately. "No—wait, we can—we have to help him. He can turn back, I know he can."
Sukuna turned his head just enough for one of his extra eyes to glance at her.
The pressure spiked.
Everyone froze.
Sasuke immediately moved. That glance was bad news; he and Kiyomi could both tell that. They immediately moved toward the two girls who refused to budge to drag them away—Sakura and Karin.
Of course, Naruto was another person who refused to budge. Knuckleheaded as he was, he was fiercely loyal.
However, he had to when Sukuna's pure murderous killing intent was released. It was so much pressure that he couldn't even keep standing. He felt the Nine Tails' chakra starting to leak out in response, and of all things, the last thing he wanted was to lose control right now.
As much as they didn't want to go, as much as fear and confusion clawed at them, they moved.
Only Sukuna and Orochimaru remained.
"Fufufufufu… what has that old man done in the past few years? How come every junior I meet nowadays is a hidden monster." Orochimaru chuckled, a bead of sweat trickling down his face at the overwhelming pressure radiating from Sukuna's monstrous form.
Sukuna just grinned. He had only one thing in mind.
He wished to kill.
Go wild.
xXx
A/N : Ah, did I blue ball you guys or what. Sorry about that. I was planning on writing the fight right now, however, its too late and the upcoming fight will take a lot from me, I wanna make it good. So I rather write it when I'll can give my best.
Don't worry, I'll make it good.
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