Orochimaru's Revival, Impure World Reincarnation Hokage F4

By the time Sasuke left the cave, the eastern sky had already begun to pale. He did not look back. Kabuto's kneeling figure amid the rubble was swallowed by the receding darkness behind him until it vanished completely.

The night wind blew in from the far end of the wilderness, carrying a chill that did not belong to this season. The Kusanagi Sword rested quietly at his waist. Most of the dust on its sheath had been blown away, revealing the black lacquer beneath.

He stopped at the edge of a cliff and pulled a square-folded piece of paper from his clothes. Kabuto had handed it to him at the very end. Only one line was written on it: "Naka Shrine, behind the Stone Tablet." Sasuke's fingers rubbed the edge of the paper for a moment before he crumpled it up and tossed it into the wind.

Two days later, he stood in the underground chamber of Naka Shrine.

The Uchiha Clan's Stone Tablet still stood quietly in the darkness, its ancient text giving off a cold, ghostly glow beneath Sasuke's Sharingan. But this time, he had not come for the Stone Tablet.

Footsteps came from the passageway. Not one person—two.

Suigetsu walked in front, his long white hair especially conspicuous in the darkness. His steps were light and hurried, as though he had been holding in a bellyful of words and had finally found an outlet. Jugo followed behind him, his tall figure silent and steady, every step firm and certain.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Suigetsu raised the scroll in his hand and waved it from afar. "Guess what we found?"

Sasuke took the scroll and unfolded it. Orochimaru's handwriting densely covered the pages, recording all of his years of research into Impure World Reincarnation—the sequence of hand seals, the requirements