Orochimaru and Sasuke emerged from the Flying Thunder God kunai Orochimaru had left on Pale Moon Island before their departure.
Sasuke's emotions still churned from the strange reunion with his lover from a past life. But reality allowed him no pause.
"Let's rendezvous with Kabuto immediately," he said, his voice clipped. "Pool our intel. We need to get Naruto back from Black Zetsu as soon as possible."
"My thoughts exactly."
Orochimaru, still in his Reaper Liberation state, gazed into the distance, his eyes profound and dark.
"But do you sense it, Sasuke-kun? An unusual chakra signature…"
Sasuke frowned slightly, focusing his senses. "No."
"Is that so… Then follow me."
Shwoop!
Orochimaru shot towards the source of his perception. Sasuke kept pace.
"HEEEELP! GHOST! THERE'S A GHOOOOOST!!!"
Up ahead, a white-haired boy was sprinting for his life, wailing at the top of his lungs.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Suigetsu…?"
Chasing close behind Suigetsu, floating in mid-air, was a gaunt, aged figure.
"Danzō…!?"
Sasuke's pupils contracted. Danzō was dead. He had killed him. The body had been incinerated by Amaterasu.
How could he be here?
Orochimaru's gaze turned intrigued. "How… fascinating."
Swish—!
Suigetsu, spotting them, slid across the ground in a wave-like tackle and latched onto Orochimaru's leg. "Lord Orochimaru! Save me! That thing isn't human!!!"
BOOM!
Sasuke didn't hesitate. A skeletal arm of his Susanoo materialized and launched a massive arrow straight at the floating Danzō. The projectile passed right through him.
"…!?"
Sasuke's eyes widened for a fraction of a second. His hands flew into a familiar seal.
— Wood Style: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!
CRRRRUMBLE—!
The earth erupted. Trees exploded skyward, their flowers releasing a thick, soporific pollen.
The Danzō apparition stopped. It opened its mouth and inhaled. A powerful, reversed wind erupted, sucking the pollen toward it. The gale intensified, ripping the massive trees from their roots and dragging them all toward that dark maw. As the trees approached, they shrank, impossibly, swallowed whole into the abyss of its throat.
It was as if… Danzō's body connected to another space entirely.
Sasuke's brow furrowed. "This is a far cry from the man he was. In a way, he's another Obito Uchiha now."
Orochimaru's lips curled. "I suspect it's more than that…"
Danzō stopped his devouring. His unfocused, murky eyes locked onto Sasuke and Orochimaru. A trace of madness flickered within the haze.
"For Konoha… For the shinobi world… I will end you here…!!!"
— Reverse Four Symbols Seal!
WHOOM!
Black lines erupted from the remaining seal markings on his chest, instantly covering an area hundreds of meters wide.
Sasuke and Orochimaru reacted instantly. Grabbing their human-shaped Suigetsu accessory, they flash-stepped backward.
Shwip!
A black sphere formed and collapsed inward with terrifying force.
Where it had been, a vast, perfectly smooth crater now sat.
The sheer destructive power was staggering.
"Orochimaru," Sasuke said, his voice low. "Any ideas?"
"Remember the strange phenomenon during your battle with Danzō on this very island?" Orochimaru replied.
Sasuke searched his memory. "He had his Baku summon inhale my pollen. When the Baku died, the summoning contract didn't release it."
"Precisely. I hypothesized then that it was related to the island's unique environment."
"But what does that have to do with Danzō's 'resurrection' and this… power surge?"
"Danzō hasn't been resurrected. He exists as a soul."
"A soul…!?"
"A preliminary hypothesis. Souls that die on Pale Moon Island do not pass on to the Pure Land. If the deceased holds powerful resentment, they transform into… a 'Jibakurei'—an Earth-Bound Spirit."
"An Earth-Bound Spirit?"
"A unique state of existence for a soul. Bound by powerful grudges to the location of their death. Depending on the individual, they can gain formidable powers."
"And that devouring technique he used, just like the Baku? Swallowing my Wood Style whole?"
"Likely a result of using the Reverse Four Symbols Seal on the Baku's corpse as he died. The Baku's vengeful spirit has fused with his own, creating a dual-layered Earth-Bound Spirit."
Seeing his sealing attempt fail, a dark, malevolent aura began pouring incessantly from Danzō's missing right eye socket.
"Observe," Orochimaru murmured. "The physical manifestation of resentment—'Grudge Chakra.' But beyond the surface spectacle, I'm more curious about the deeper reason why Danzō's soul was trapped here, giving birth to this spirit. Unraveling that will take time."
ROOOAR—!!!
The overwhelming resentment coalesced behind Danzō, forming a monstrous entity eerily reminiscent of a Susanoo.
"Kill… you… Return… to Konoha… Become… Hokage!!!"
"A soul, then," Sasuke muttered, his expression grim. His hands moved, forming an unfamiliar seal. "Perhaps only 'that jutsu' will work…"
"Allow me, Sasuke-kun."
BOOM! A colossal white specter rose behind Orochimaru.
"The power of the Shinigami… is the perfect bane for wayward souls."
Orochimaru shook a bell-like ritual implement. A soul-quelling chime rang out. The Danzō spirit clutched its head in agony. The monstrous entity behind it began to flicker and fade.
"Danzō… You were never destined to become Hokage. Yet in death, you've achieved a state that surpasses one. How ironic." Orochimaru's voice was a cold whisper. "How fortuitous. Kabuto's right eye is blind from using Izanagi. We desperately need to find Kagami's Mangekyō. Let's use you to find it."
Shwoop—!!
The Reaper Death Seal's Shinigami extended its curse-marked arm through its prayer beads. The massive hand passed through the chest of Danzō's Earth-Bound Spirit.
"GGRRAAAAAGHHHH—!!!"
Danzō roared with futile defiance, but he couldn't resist the Shinigami's pull.
Orochimaru swung the Shinigami's ritual blade.
— Memory Severance!
SCHLICK!
A tainted ball of light was carved from the spirit. Danzō's soul was then drawn fully into the Shinigami's belly, becoming part of Orochimaru's own power.
The Reaper Liberation mode dissipated.
Orochimaru strode forward and clenched the glowing orb of memory. He closed his eyes, sifting through the information he sought.
Images flashed through his mind. The truth behind the long-buried death of Uchiha Kagami was finally laid bare.
Danzō had ordered the assassination. The mortally wounded Kagami, found by the Third Hokage's personal ANBU, had already lost his eyes.
But Danzō never obtained them.
There had been a traitor within ROOT. That traitor had taken Kagami's eyes and fled. For years, Danzō had hunted him relentlessly, but the traitor had vanished from the face of the earth.
The location of Uchiha Kagami's Mangekyō Sharingan—the eyes that held the dōjutsu 'Amaterasu's Brilliant Life'—had remained one of the few secrets even Orochimaru, in his past life, had never uncovered.
The traitor's name.
The light in Orochimaru's hand faded. He opened his eyes.
—"So it was him. No wonder ROOT's decades-long search yielded nothing. The son of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Father to Tsunade."
His lips formed the name.
"Senju… Kashō."
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