Orochimaru's Allegiance

"Such formidable strength is truly terrifying!" Uchiha Itachi muttered to himself, his mind focused on Konoha's perspective, pondering how to uncover more intelligence so that Sasuke could bring it back to the village as a hero, thus making his aura shine even brighter.

"With this kind of strength, I'm really curious if your leader can suppress him!" Orochimaru licked his lips in a sinister smile.

"Such strength is something I've never even heard of before. Could he be a powerful figure from a distant era that I overlooked?" Black Zetsu pondered to himself. "With his strength, even Pain might not be able to suppress him. To prevent him from developing any disloyalty towards the Rinnegan, it seems we must accelerate the progress of our various operations!"

"Idiot, why are you spouting so much nonsense? Hurry up and save me!" Manda roared angrily at the Eight-Headed Serpent, which was several times larger than itself.

However, Orochimaru merely glanced at it disdainfully and said, "Since even Ryuchi Cave has been destroyed, what's the point of a useless summoning beast like you still being alive? Your corpse, on the other hand, can be kept as research material to give me my last bit of usefulness!"

"What?! You bastard!" Manda's vertical pupils widened in disbelief as it struggled with its shattered body, seeking revenge. However, it was swatted away by Eight-Headed Serpent's Haki. In the face of Orochimaru's ultimate technique, its proud speed and strength were nothing.

"As expected of a cold-blooded viper, even treating its own summoned beast like this!" Itachi maintained the power of Susanoo's eyes, confronting Eight-Headed Serpent with a monster body of the same size, and said sarcastically.

"Only the useless have no reason to live; survival of the fittest is the fundamental law of this world!" Orochimaru, the biologist, shouted fervently.

"In that case, there is no need for a piece of trash like you to live."

"Now that I have also obtained the power of the Uchiha Clan, Itachi, do you still think you can defeat me as easily as last time!" Orochimaru roared as he controlled the Eight-Headed Serpent that had gained the power of the eye, all sixteen three- Sharingan staring at the enemy. "Itachi, give me your eyes too!"

Uchiha Itachi controlled the giant armored samurai, and the wine in the gourd at his waist transformed into a sharp longsword, piercing Orochimaru before he could react.

"Itachi, you don't actually think that an attack of this level can kill me, do you...?" Orochimaru's relaxed expression gradually turned serious as he finally sensed the power sealed within that longsword.

"This, this sword could be... the Totsuka Blade!" Orochimaru felt his body twisting and contorting, as if he were about to be sucked into the gourd world.

"That's right, the Vice Admiral Totsuka Blade, which is said to seal everything that was stabbed in the dreamlike world of illusion, exists within my Susanoo!" Itachi explained with a relieved smile as he saw that Sasuke's final crisis was over.

"Ah... Damn it, I didn't expect you to have been hiding a power specifically for dealing with me!" The Eight-Headed Serpent gradually disappeared from Sasuke's body, and Orochimaru's distorted face was also absorbed into the Wine Gourd as if by a vortex.

"It's over. This battle... In the end, Itachi still won?" White Zetsu murmured to himself.

However, just when White Zetsu thought everything was over, Manda, who was already on the verge of death, suddenly roared madly, but quickly regained his composure and stared at everyone with his vertical pupils that were completely devoid of emotion.

Slightly unnerved by those dark green vertical pupils, Itachi said in a deep voice, "With that look in your eyes, you can't be that stupid snake, can you? It's the spiritual will attached to it, Roy, the man who destroyed Ryuchi Cave!"

Sasuke, who had returned to his normal form after being exorcised by Orochimaru, looked up sharply after hearing Itachi's words. Seeing the indifferent gaze in Manda's eyes, he said with a hint of suppressed emotion, "That's right, it's him. That indifferent look, that powerful aura, there's no one else but him!"

"It wasn't that I attached myself to it beforehand. It was just that it kept calling my name, which made me sense it, so I just descended directly onto its body." Roy said casually, making even the weasel's expression change.

"A body that cannot be looked at directly, a name that cannot be spoken directly?" Itachi looked solemnly at "Manda" and asked in a deep voice, "Someone like you wouldn't appear here for no reason. Tell me your purpose!"

"I just want to make a deal with you!" Roy said in a low voice, controlling the body of the Manda.

"Trade?"

"Hand over Orochimaru to me, and in return, I can protect the person you most want to protect after your death!" Roy tempted.

These words struck Itachi's weak spot, making it difficult for him to maintain his composure. "Do you know who I want to protect?"

"Although I have not been in this era for long, I am not entirely ignorant of your past. I myself fell into hell, yet I sent that person to heaven. Do I need to continue?"

"Enough!" Itachi interrupted without hesitation, worried that Roy would reveal the whole truth.

"Tell me who that person is, Uchiha Madara?" Sasuke asked hoarsely as he looked at Roy with bloodshot eyes.

Roy looked at him with a sorrowful gaze, shaking his enormous snake head and saying, "When you're qualified to stand before me, then you can ask such questions!"

"Itachi, the deal I'm proposing is one you can't refuse, right?"

"You're right, I can't refuse. However, after Orochimaru was stabbed by the Totsuka Blade, he was sealed in the illusionary world of Drunken Dream, which is this Wine Gourd in my hand that doesn't exist in a physical form. Under these circumstances, do you still want to take it from me?"

"Of course, how to release Orochimaru is not something you need to worry about, Itachi."

Having received a positive response, Itachi didn't hesitate and threw the Wine Gourd containing the Totsuka Blade directly at Roy.

This Wine Gourd originally existed by relying on the Chakra of Susanoo. After separating from itself, it became thinner and thinner at a visible speed, as if it would dissipate like a dream bubble at any moment.

However, "Manda" ignored everything, opened its blood-red maw and swallowed the Wine Gourd. Then, the light in its eyes faded, and it collapsed limply to the ground.

"Damn it, explain yourself!" Sasuke his fist on the ground in anger, his eyes blazing with fury.

However, Itachi, having exhausted his last bit of strength, walked unsteadily to him, smiled, and flicked him on the forehead. "Forgive me, Sasuke, this is the last time..."