In the dimly lit training room, Sasuke knelt on one knee, sweat dripping from his chin onto the metal floor.
His Sharingan Mitsudomoe wildly as he stared intently at Kabuto Yakushi, who was also panting heavily.
"That's enough for today." He pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting a cold light. "You've made rapid progress."
Sasuke slammed his fist into the ground, Lightning Release Chakra exploded, creating fine cracks in the earth. "This level... is simply not enough!"
Although his sparring with Kabuto over the past few days had helped him adapt to a more ruthless fighting style, his progress was far from what he had expected.
The images playing on the Heavenly Screen kept flashing through my mind—the battle between Sage Naruto and Pain, Sage Kabuto facing off against my and Itachi's overwhelming power...
Sasuke left the training room and went to another room to find Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru," Sasuke said, looking at Orochimaru in the laboratory, "I need a way to become stronger faster."
Orochimaru's golden vertical pupils gleamed in the dim light, and his long tongue slowly licked his lips. "Oh? Finally unable to hold back, Sasuke-kun?"
He approached slowly, his eyes sweeping over the neatly arranged test tubes on the lab table. "Most of my subordinates rely on Cursed Seals for power... but the Sage Mode recently displayed by the Heavenly Screen has given me new inspiration."
Sasuke's pupils contracted slightly. "Sage Mode?"
"That's right." Orochimaru spat out a sealed glass jar, inside which floated a writhing mass of flesh and blood, "The perfect fusion of Jūgo's cells and Natural Energy... After modification, I created this--"
He abruptly ripped off the black cloth covering the lab table beside him, revealing three side-by-side Cursed Seal diagrams:
"Heaven Cursed Seal, Earth Cursed Seal, and... the all-new 'Sage Cursed Seal'."
Sasuke's gaze was immediately drawn to the third pattern—a complex snowflake-like design, more intricate than the first two Cursed Seals, and faintly radiating ominous Chakra fluctuations.
"Compared to the orthodox Senjutsu of Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave, this is still only a semi-finished product." Orochimaru's voice was full of temptation, "But the side effects have been greatly reduced... So, Sasuke-kun? Do you want to accept this power?"
A deathly silence fell over the laboratory. Sasuke's mind flashed back to the Natural Energy surrounding Naruto when he activated Sage Mode in the Heavenly Screen, and to Kabuto Yakushi's overwhelming Senjutsu Chakra...
"Come on," Sasuke said, "There's no time to waste."
Orochimaru's smile widened to an exaggerated arc, "A wise choice."
His neck suddenly stretched out like a snake, and his fangs pierced Sasuke's neck with precision. Unlike ordinary Cursed Seals, this time it was not only Chakra was injected, but also Natural Energy that was concentrated to the extreme.
"Ugh--!"
Sasuke instantly collapsed to his knees, his bulging veins digging into the metal floor. It felt like a million red-hot steel needles were coursing through his veins, every muscle screaming in protest against the intrusion.
"Don't faint, Sasuke-kun ~" Orochimaru's voice seemed to come from afar. "If this fusion fails... I really will die."
Sasuke's vision began to blur, but his Sharingan remained strangely clear.
He saw something wriggling beneath his skin, black lines spreading from the Cursed Seal across his entire body.
"Hold on... you bastard..." He bit his lip, the metallic taste of blood stimulating his nerves. "How could I... die in a place like this..."
Fragments of memory flashed by like a revolving lantern: the blood of the night of the massacre, Itachi's cold gaze, Naruto's infuriating smile... finally settling on the image of himself fighting alongside Itachi against the Heavenly Screen.
"I... must... become stronger...!"
With a roar, Sasuke's Chakra suddenly erupted, and the black Cursed Seal patterns fully unfolded, forming a perfect snowflake-like design. But then, his pupils dilated abruptly, and his body slumped forward—
"Kabuto! "Orochimaru's expression changed drastically.
Kabuto Yakushi, already prepared with a syringe, swiftly stepped forward and injected the medicine into Sasuke's neck. "Vitality is unstable! Quickly prepare a sedative!"
Orochimaru, unusually flustered, exclaimed, "Damn it... the compatibility rate with Natural Energy is even lower than expected..." He had Kabuto use Medical Ninjutsu to stabilize Sasuke's Chakra, "I can't let you die like this, my dear vessel..."
As Sasuke was lifted onto the medical bed, no one noticed that the snowflake Cursed Seal on his neck flickered slightly before disappearing beneath his skin.
Deep within the dimly lit laboratory, Orochimaru stood before a culture tank, his golden vertical pupils reflecting the silver-haired boy floating within— Kaguya Kimimaro.
The pale skin was covered with bluish-gray spots, a sign of necrosis that only appears in the late stages of the Shikotsumyaku Bloodline Disease.
" Orochimaru... sama..."
Kimimaro weakly opened his eyes, and even in the nutrient solution, his voice could still be clearly heard through the vibration of his Chakra.
"Don't speak, Kimimaro." Orochimaru stared at the glass surface. "Soon, you will be reborn."
He turned to look at the Kabuto Yakushi behind him, who was preparing medicine. "How are the preparations going?"
Kabuto adjusted his glasses, the lenses reflecting a cold, eerie blue light. "The cell fusion rate is 97.3%, even smoother than expected." He pointed to the densely packed test tubes on the lab table, "These are high-quality cells extracted from 67 ninjas, including..."
"No need to elaborate." Orochimaru interrupted Kabuto, a meaningful smile playing on his lips. "I trust your judgment, Kabuto."
Dou's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
Ever since the image of "Sage Kabuto" appeared on the Heavenly Screen, Orochimaru's attitude towards him underwent a subtle change—he no longer treated him as a simple assistant, but rather as... a companion?
"Let's begin." Orochimaru lifted the lever in the center of the experimental table, revealing a device covered in runes. "Kimimaro's time is running out."
As Kimimaro was strapped to the device, his pale lips trembled slightly. "Lord Orochimaru... can I... continue fighting for you?"
"Of course." Orochimaru rarely showed such a gentle expression. "Not only will we continue fighting, but we will become stronger than ever before."
He gestured for Kabuto to activate the device, then leaned down and whispered in Kimimaro's ear, "Remember that 'Sage Kabuto' playing in the Heavenly Screen? Soon, you will possess that power too..."
Kimimaro's dim eyes suddenly lit up with a faint light. Of course he remembered—that powerful being, Kabuto Yakushi, whose entire body was covered in snake scales and whose transformations were so drastic, requiring the Uchiha brothers to join forces to fight him.
"For... Lord Orochimaru..."
He struggled to raise his hand and grabbed Orochimaru's sleeve, as if grasping at a last straw.
Kabuto had completed the final preparations; the murky liquid inside the syringe glowed with an eerie light. "This is Tayuya's sonic perception, Kidomaru's Spider Sticky Gold, Jirobo's Earth Release enhancement, and other properties, plus the Senjutsu Chakra that Lord Orochimaru brought back from Ryūchi Cave..."
Orochimaru nodded in satisfaction. "Begin the injection."
The moment the needle pierced Kimimaro's carotid artery, this once-powerful vessel suddenly straightened its body.
Beneath his grayish-white skin, countless insects seemed to wriggle; his veins bulged like tree roots; and his bones emitted a sickeningly loud "crunching" sound.
Ahhh--!
A piercing scream echoed through the laboratory. Dou nervously monitored the various indicators. "The cell rejection response has reached the critical value! Should we pause?"
"Continue." Orochimaru observed coldly, "The bodies of the Kaguya Clan don't collapse so easily."
As if to confirm his words, Kimimaro's screams suddenly turned into inhuman roars. His spine pierced through his skin, but instead of the familiar bone spurs, it was strange bone wings covered with snake scales!
"First stage of fusion successful!" Kabuto's voice trembled with excitement. "Senjutsu Chakra is beginning to adapt!"
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with fanaticism. "Perfect... too perfect..."
However, at that moment, the monitoring equipment suddenly emitted a piercing alarm.
Kimimaro's body began to swell unnaturally, and dozens of blurry faces appeared on his skin—the faces of the ninjas whose cells had been extracted!
"Oh no!" Dou's expression changed drastically. "Cellular memory backlash!"
Orochimaru swiftly formed hand seals, placing his hands on the edge of the altar. "Sealing Jutsu: Five Elements Suppression!"
Five beams of light rose from the altar, temporarily halting the rampaging fusion process.
Kimimaro's body gradually returned to calm, but the newly grown bone wings could not be retracted, and snake-scale-like patterns were permanently left on his grayish-white skin.
"Did you... succeed?" Kimimaro asked weakly, his voice carrying an eerie echo, as if multiple people were speaking at the same time.
Orochimaru carefully examined his condition, then suddenly smiled with satisfaction, "Although not as perfect as expected, he has indeed broken through the limits of the Shikotsumyaku)." He turned to Kabuto and recorded the data. "Integration rate 83%, Senjutsu compatibility 62%, can be defined as 'Half-Sage Mode'."
Kabuto was quickly taking notes, but a strange glint flashed in his eyes behind his glasses—he noticed Orochimaru quietly putting a small tube of liquid into his sleeve; it was Kimimaro's expelled "failed cells."
"Kimimaro, get some rest." Orochimaru patted the modified container.
The two Sound Ninja who came in later carried Kimimaro to the rest room to recuperate.
When only Orochimaru and Kabuto remained in the laboratory, the atmosphere between them suddenly became subtle.
"What a delightful result, Kabuto," Orochimaru said meaningfully. "It seems the future revealed by the Heavenly Screen has indeed given us quite a bit of inspiration."
Kabuto bowed humbly. "It's all thanks to Lord Orochimaru guidance."
"Heh..." Orochimaru licked his lips with his long tongue, "So, are you ready to accept your own 'evolution'?"
Kabuto looked up abruptly and saw that Orochimaru had somehow acquired a syringe filled with a murky liquid—the mixture of Kimimaro's cells and Senjutsu Chakra that he had secretly collected earlier!
"After all..." Orochimaru's voice was like a viper's hiss; "How could someone who has witnessed the future be content to remain merely an observer?"
In the shadows of the laboratory, the two figures gradually overlapped...