Looking at the blood-soaked figure crawling out of Orochimaru's body, Sasuke furrowed his brow. "Who are you?"
The blood-soaked figure froze.
"Huh?"
Shion let out a surprised little gasp.
Sasuke asked, "You know this guy?"
"I'm not entirely sure. He looks a little like..." She paused, then said, "The corpse in the morgue!"
Naruto was completely confused. "What morgue? What corpse?"
"The source of shinjutsu—the corpse of that mysterious Otsutsuki!"
Although Sasuke and Naruto had been assigned by Shinji to oversee the Research Institute, they spent most of their time training and had little interest in its research. They had never seen the corpse of Otsutsuki Shibai, the source of shinjutsu.
Shion was different. She had heard about the power of shinjutsu long ago, so as soon as she arrived at the Research Institute, she'd insisted on seeing Otsutsuki Shibai's corpse. Not long ago, Amado had taken her to the Research Institute's secret morgue to see it.
That was why she could vaguely recognize the figure crawling out of Orochimaru. His appearance bore some resemblance to Otsutsuki Shibai's.
After hearing Shion's explanation, Sasuke and Naruto understood. Their expressions changed at once.
The blood-soaked figure wiped the blood from his face, narrowed his eyes, and drew a deep breath. "I'm finally alive again!"
Sasuke was shocked. "Y-you're that Otsutsuki?"
The blood-soaked figure chuckled. "That's right. I am Otsutsuki Shibai!"
Clearly, the "Fuma Ichiro" who had been living inside Orochimaru wasn't the real Fuma Ichiro. It was Otsutsuki Shibai's consciousness in disguise.
He'd done this because only by pretending to be Fuma Ichiro could he lower Orochimaru's guard and trick him into gathering shinjutsu.
"Is it really him?"
Shion's expression darkened.
She'd heard Shinji say in conversation that Otsutsuki Shibai was very likely the strongest member of the Otsutsuki Clan—a mysterious Otsutsuki