Like a fledgling eagle, enduring the constriction of a great serpent.
For Orochimaru, Sasuke's rebellion did not seem unexpected at all. In fact, Uchiha Sasuke had never hidden his intent to overturn the board. Orochimaru simply did not care. He was confident that the final victory would belong to him.
That was why he had taught Sasuke so diligently.
He probably just never imagined that Sasuke's backlash would come this quickly.
"You don't have anything left to teach me anymore. In front of you, I can even become ruthless."
Uchiha Sasuke spoke calmly. At that moment, cursed seal patterns crawled all over his face.
The scene shifted.
Under Orochimaru's guidance, Sasuke defeated one subordinate after another.
"You didn't kill a single one of them."
Orochimaru's tone was flat.
"You're still too soft."
"The one I want to kill isn't them," Sasuke replied.
"If you don't become cold and ruthless, you'll never defeat Itachi," Orochimaru instructed.
But Sasuke had his own answer. He rejected it outright.
"In front of that man, I'll become cold and ruthless whether I want to or not."
"So you don't want to kill people. I think I understand."
Watching Sasuke in the diary, Jiraiya could not help saying it aloud.
He finally understood why Uchiha Sasuke could later be brought back by Uzumaki Naruto, while Orochimaru could not be brought back by him.
At the core of it, Sasuke had not truly stepped onto a dark path yet.
He still had a conscience. He was not beyond saving.
Hatake Kakashi saw the same thing.
Beneath Sasuke's inner struggle, there was still a trace of kindness. He was arrogant and loved to show off, but he had not crossed the line into irredeemability.
Besides, even someone as broken as Kakashi himself had eventually walked out of the shadows.
Uchiha Sasuke maintained his Chidori Current, then walked toward Orochimaru step by step.
"Orochimaru, you're weaker than me. There's no need for me to give you my body anymore."
"You really know how to talk, you little Uchiha chick!"
Orochimaru roared lowly.
Facing his accusation, Sasuke answered coolly.
"If I weren't a chick, you wouldn't have been able to get your hands on me in the first place."
"In that forest during the Chunin Exams, you trampled me when I was still just a chick."
The diary showed those scenes.
How Orochimaru had set his sights on Sasuke during the Chunin Exams, how he forcibly branded him with the Cursed Seal, and even fragments of Sasuke's defection.
To be precise, Sasuke had not followed the Sound Four to Otogakure entirely of his own free will.
It had been half coercion.
Yes, he wanted power. But he had also been beaten to the brink. Refusing would have meant dying on the spot.
"I'm a man driven by revenge. To achieve it, I don't care if I throw this body away. And you only want the Sharingan. You couldn't get Itachi's, so you set your sights on me, the little chick. Isn't that right, you so-called genius among the Legendary Sannin?"
Sasuke stripped away Orochimaru's hypocrisy without mercy.
"But you're only a genius in the eyes of the mundane. Forget surpassing the Uchiha name. You can't even touch it. No matter how talented you are, in front of the Uchiha name, you're nothing more than a mortal."
"You soaked your body in medicine, swapped shells again and again, all just to get closer to Uchiha power. From someone who actually bears that name, you look shallow and laughable."
"And I hate what you do. What's your goal?"
"Constantly changing bases, repeating experiments, toying with lives one after another, all while claiming you want to understand the truth of this world. What a boring, selfish excuse. You've always treated others like toys."
As he spoke, Sasuke thought of his brother.
Uchiha Itachi.
It was the same kind of nonsense. Talking about testing his capacity, seeing how strong he was, then slaughtering the entire clan.
That was something Sasuke would never accept.
It made him want to vomit.
With a roar, Sasuke lunged forward to finish Orochimaru.
But Orochimaru opened his mouth and spat out a massive white-scaled serpent.
"A white-scaled snake. So this is your true form."
Sasuke was completely calm.
He was no longer the helpless boy toyed with in the forest during the Chunin Exams.
"All these experiments, jumping from body to body. Is this your final form?"
"Come, Sasuke!"
The serpent bore a head resembling Orochimaru's as it spoke.
"Give me your body."
He charged forward, countless giant snakes surging with him.
Sasuke had been ready.
He immediately activated Cursed Seal Level Two.
"A snake that crawls on the ground, dreaming of flying into the sky. Impossible."
"But you still wanted it, so you set your sights on a chick still in its nest. And because of that, you were targeted instead."
Power exploded from Sasuke as he spoke, shredding the entwining snakes into broken segments.
"Targeted by an eagle soaring through the sky."
Watching Orochimaru like this, Jiraiya closed his eyes.
Was this really the once peerless genius he had known?
What had Orochimaru turned his body into?
Could this thing even be called human anymore?
Probably not.
Seeing his old friend sink further and further, becoming something neither human nor monster, Jiraiya felt a painful knot in his chest.
Especially knowing Orochimaru had coveted Sasuke's body and been devoured in return. It was ugly beyond words.
That man had once been someone Jiraiya admired and chased after.
Now it felt like a dream shattering.
The scene changed.
Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru, both wearing Akatsuki cloaks, walked along a hillside.
"You destroyed the Uchiha Clan, and you still came to Akatsuki."
As Orochimaru spoke, he attacked Itachi from behind.
"With those precious Sharingan right in front of me, I'm incredibly lucky. Then I won't hold back. I'll take your body."
Before he could press the attack, Itachi cast a genjutsu, freezing Orochimaru in place.
"How is this possible? I got caught by a paralysis illusion?"
Orochimaru himself could not believe it.
Such a simple genjutsu had trapped him.
"That ocular power. Incredible."
But his soul had long since been deeply damaged. And the one casting the genjutsu was Uchiha Itachi, the unrivaled master of illusion.
In his perception, massive stone spikes pinned him in place.
After a moment, he barely managed to move and tried to form hand seals.
The next instant, Itachi severed his arm.
"Orochimaru, your ninjutsu is completely useless in front of these eyes."
Itachi's voice was cold.
"So something like this happened in the past too?"
Jiraiya muttered.
"That's really ugly, Orochimaru."
Clinging to life in such a disgraceful way was completely at odds with Jiraiya's beliefs.
He was Jiraiya the Gallant. Even in the face of death, he could accept it with a smile.
For Itachi, this was merely a replay of the past.
He quietly added another note to the paper.
The diary videos could not only show the future. They could reconstruct the past.
And with astonishing accuracy.
Which meant the future they showed was likely just as reliable.
"So because you couldn't handle Itachi, you came after me instead… Orochimaru."
Sasuke clenched his fists.
Still, he did not want to abandon this opportunity, even if it meant sacrificing his body.
But now he knew.
Three years later, Orochimaru would be far weaker than expected. Too weak to shoulder the burden of revenge.
The scene shifted again.
Sasuke withdrew from Cursed Seal Level Two and said flatly,
"Is it over? How boring."
Before the words even settled, he suddenly dropped into a half-crouch, discomfort washing over him.
The severed Orochimaru revealed a satisfied grin.
"It should be taking effect about now."
He lifted his grotesque head.
"The bodily fluid of this white snake turns into an anesthetic when it hits the air. I'm immortal. Your ninjutsu can't kill me."
"All right. I'll take it."
At this moment, everyone felt their hearts tighten.
Even knowing what White Robe Sasuke and Mangekyo Sasuke would later become, they still could not help worrying.
Then, without warning, the scene shifted.
Within a gray, shapeless mass of flesh, Sasuke stood, scanning his surroundings.
"What?"
Sasuke spoke.
"This is the different space inside my body."
Orochimaru's form separated from the flesh.
"The reincarnation ritual takes place here. It begins now."
Countless tendrils and strands of flesh sprouted around Sasuke.
Only then did he notice that others were already present.
This was not a physical space. It was some kind of mental realm.
Orochimaru noticed it too and praised him.
"What incredible ocular power. Just like those eyes back then."
"These eyes are finally mine."