Orochimaru watched Sasuke's strange stance, excitement at the novelty flashing in his golden, slit-pupiled eyes.
His tongue slid over his lips, and a low chuckle rumbled in his throat.
"Heh... You're absolutely sure you can beat me?"
Orochimaru let his arms hang at his sides, his wide sleeves flapping in the wind.
"So confident, Sasuke-kun? Then I'll just have to see what you can do to make sure I can't win."
Sasuke ignored his taunts.
He melded the Cursed Energy in his body with his chakra, then drove it down through his meridians and slammed it into the shadow beneath his feet.
Sasuke stared intently at Orochimaru, his lips moving.
"Furube Yurayura."
"Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General."
The shadow beneath his feet instantly churned.
A massive white figure slowly rose from the black mire.
It stood nearly three meters tall, its body a mass of bulging muscles. Armor resembling an exoskeleton covered its pale skin.
A gigantic Sword of Extermination extended from its right arm, and a golden wheel with eight handles hovered above its head.
Mahoraga.
Sasuke released his Hand Seals and swayed as exhaustion washed over him.
Without even glancing at Mahoraga, he turned straight to Orochimaru.
"I'm leaving first," Sasuke said, his voice weak. "Enjoy yourself."
Orochimaru tilted his head back, his gaze sweeping over the towering white monster.
He narrowed his eyes and sensed the energy radiating from it.
"Is this your trump card?" Orochimaru shook his head, undisguised disappointment in his voice.
"It's certainly big, but the quality of its chakra... seems pretty average."
Mahoraga's bowed head snapped up.
At the corners of the face hidden beneath a mask formed by four wings, its mouth stretched into a bizarre, terribly vicious grin.
It turned its enormous head, its eyeless mask pointed straight at Orochimaru.
"You think I'm average?"
A rough, violent voice exploded through the air, shaking leaves from the surrounding trees.
Orochimaru froze for a moment.
He had seen plenty of summoning beasts with independent minds, but monsters that came out raging like this were rare.
Mahoraga didn't attack Orochimaru right away. Instead, it whipped its head around and fixed its gaze on Sasuke, who was preparing to retreat.
"And you!"
Mahoraga raised its thick right leg, kicking up a fierce gust of wind.
"I've never liked Fushiguro Megumi! He's useless!"
"I'll kill you first!"
Its massive foot, carrying terrifying physical force, came stomping down toward Sasuke's head.
"Clang!"
A piercing collision rang out above Sasuke's head.
A figure in a black cloak patterned with red clouds suddenly dropped from the canopy overhead and landed right in front of Sasuke.
Itachi Uchiha crossed his arms above his head. Dense chakra covered his forearms as he forcibly braced against Mahoraga's descending foot.
The immense force instantly collapsed the ground beneath Itachi, blasting the soil outward and leaving a deep crater.
Itachi clenched his teeth, a flicker of shock in his scarlet Sharingan.
What incredible physical strength.
Orochimaru watched Itachi's sudden appearance, his eyes narrowing.
"So you were up there watching the show all along, Itachi-san." Orochimaru quickly formed Hand Seals. "Then let me see what Sasuke-kun's summon can do."
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A violent gale burst from Orochimaru's mouth, turning into countless blades of wind that tore straight toward Mahoraga's massive body.
The wind blades struck Mahoraga, slicing several deep gashes through its pale flesh. It roared and turned to glare at Orochimaru.
Itachi seized the chance to grab Sasuke by the shoulder and leap backward out of the crater.
"Go." Sasuke grabbed Itachi's wrist in return, speaking rapidly.
"Once the Taming Ritual begins, it attacks every living thing in range indiscriminately. It can't be defeated. We need to get out of here!"
Itachi glanced at the monster charging toward Orochimaru. Though he was full of questions, there was nothing joking in Sasuke's voice.
Without hesitation, he carried Sasuke as he repeatedly kicked off the tree trunks, quickly retreating several hundred meters. They stopped on a thick oak branch and watched from afar.
In the clearing, the battle had already begun.
Orochimaru clapped his hands, and the ground broke apart with a roar.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"
A mudslide of earth surged toward Mahoraga, driving its massive body back several steps.
Orochimaru immediately spat the Kusanagi Sword from his mouth and gripped it. His body blurred as he closed in, thrusting the sword through Mahoraga's thigh.
Mahoraga let out a pained roar and swept its Sword of Extermination across with its right hand. Orochimaru ducked beneath it, and the Kusanagi Sword carved a long gash across Mahoraga's abdomen.
Orochimaru landed steadily and looked at Mahoraga, which was bleeding profusely. He gave a cold laugh.
"You're too slow. Is that all you've got?"
"Click."
The golden wheel above Mahoraga's head suddenly turned one notch.
In the distance, Black Dog, White Dog, and Escaping Rabbit had been about to follow Sasuke's scent. They had just reached the edge of the clearing when Mahoraga turned its head and reached out with its left hand.
Three small golden wheels appeared out of thin air, settling above the heads of the two dogs and Escaping Rabbit.
"Come on. Adapt with me." Mahoraga bared its teeth.
The weight on Escaping Rabbit's head pressed it flat against the ground, its long ears drooping. "...So heavy."
Watching the comical scene, Orochimaru pointed the Kusanagi Sword at Mahoraga.
"Adapt to what? You're all going to die with this bunch of cannon fodder."
Mahoraga pulled the Kusanagi Sword from its thigh and casually tossed it aside. White smoke began rising from the wound in its abdomen.
"You'll see soon enough."
White Dog and Black Dog were forced into the battle. With the wheels on their heads, they pounced on Orochimaru from both sides.
Escaping Rabbit split into dozens of clones, which swarmed toward Orochimaru's feet.
Orochimaru snorted and swept his right leg across, kicking away Black Dog and White Dog as they charged at him.
The Kusanagi Sword traced a semicircle in front of him, cutting down the Escaping Rabbit clones rushing toward him and turning them into black sludge.
"Pathetic," Orochimaru said.
Orochimaru quickly formed Hand Seals.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"I'll adapt." Mahoraga strode forward into the gale.
Black Dog, White Dog, and Escaping Rabbit couldn't escape such a wide-range jutsu. They took the full force of the attack, their bodies covered in countless lacerations.
Of course, Mahoraga was no different.
"Click."
The three small wheels and the large wheel turned at the same time.
Orochimaru noticed that Mahoraga's wounds were slowly healing.
No matter. It just had a strong regenerative ability, and so did he.
He only had to kill it before it recovered!
On a distant tree branch, Sasuke watched the battle below, his brows tightly furrowed.
After chakra had been infused into Mahoraga, it hadn't just developed an independent consciousness. It could even distribute its adaptation wheels to other Shikigami on its own, letting them share the burden of the analysis.
Sukuna had been the one to pull off moves like that before.
Now Mahoraga could do it by itself.
This was an overwhelming boost in battle, but for Sasuke, it meant that subduing this temperamental monster in the future would be exponentially more difficult.
In the clearing, Orochimaru quickly realized something was wrong.
The two dogs he'd kicked away had gotten back up, the wheels above their heads spinning rapidly.
The wounds on Mahoraga's abdomen and thigh had already healed completely.
Orochimaru formed Hand Seals again. Dozens of poisonous snakes poured from his sleeves and tightly coiled around Mahoraga's limbs and torso, trying to crush it.
Mahoraga didn't struggle.
A layer of mucus suddenly secreted across its skin, and its once-hard muscles grew supple as snakeskin.
"Slither—"
Mahoraga's enormous body slid free of the snakes' deadly coils as if it had no bones.
Orochimaru's golden pupils abruptly widened.
"What?"
"Click."
The wheel above Mahoraga's head turned again.
It strode forward, moving more than twice as fast as before.
The Sword of Extermination in its right hand brought a shrill sonic boom as it came down toward Orochimaru's head.
Orochimaru raised the Kusanagi Sword to block.
"Clang!"
The immense force crashed down along the blade. The ground beneath Orochimaru instantly caved in, and the bones in his arms crackled under the strain.
Mahoraga clenched its left hand into a fist and slammed it into Orochimaru's chest.
Orochimaru's chest caved in. His body flew backward like a cannonball, snapping three trees before finally coming to a stop.
He had only just started to rise when Mahoraga was already in front of him.
Having fully adapted to physical attacks and Wind and Earth Release chakra, every one of Mahoraga's attacks now carried devastating force.
The Sword of Extermination swung again and again, slicing Orochimaru apart and smashing his body to pieces.
He tried to buy time with the Substitution Technique and shedding his skin, but Mahoraga's attacks came faster and faster, each strike growing more powerful.
The Kusanagi Sword was knocked away by sheer force. The Sword of Extermination plunged into Orochimaru's left shoulder without resistance and cleaved downward, slicing his body diagonally in half.
Blood and entrails spattered across the fallen leaves. Orochimaru lay dead on the spot.
Mahoraga turned its enormous head toward Sasuke in the distance.
It let out a low, contemptuous snort through its nostrils.
Then its massive body dissolved into black sludge and vanished completely.
Itachi closed his eyes and stayed silent for a while, his thoughts unreadable. Then he turned to Sasuke. "Is that what you wanted to summon that night?"
Before you continue