First Exchange, the Troublesome Sage Kabuto

The darkness deep within the cave was so thick it seemed almost tangible, as though even light would be swallowed the moment it fell into it. Drops of water occasionally seeped from the stone walls, their dripping echoing again and again through the narrow passage like some tireless clock.

Sasuke walked ahead, the red glow of his Sharingan drawing two thin trails through the darkness. His footsteps were light, yet every step was utterly assured—his Eternal Mangekyou granted him more than Dojutsu Power; it also gave him an almost instinctive sense for the battlefield. He could feel Kabuto ahead of them, that aura mingling serpentine Chakra with natural energy, like miasma rising from a rotten swamp, nauseating to the core.

Itachi followed three steps behind him. His Impure World Reincarnation body made almost no sound as its grayish-white feet touched the rock like falling leaves. His Sharingan slowly turned in the darkness, observing every corner of the cave—the moss on the walls, the stalactites overhead, the rubble beneath their feet. Any one of them could conceal a trap Kabuto had laid.

"Too quiet," Sasuke's voice echoed through the passage.

Itachi did not reply, but his right hand had already lifted slightly, fingers curled and ready to form seals at any moment.

The cave passage ran deeper than they had expected. They descended for roughly five minutes, the slope growing steeper and the air more humid. A faint fishy stench began to permeate each breath—the smell of snakes, mingled with rotting prey and shed skins.

At the end of the passage, the space suddenly opened up.

A vast underground chamber appeared before the two brothers. Its ceiling rose dozens of meters overhead, stalactites hanging down like inverted swords, while stalagmites thrust up from the ground like a petrified forest. At the