Sasuke crossed the streets at dusk and headed straight for the training ground in the Uchiha Compound.
"Come out."
The shadow on the ground spread outward, and Black Dog, White Dog, and Escaping Rabbit emerged from it.
Black Dog landed and sat down, hind legs bent. He raised a paw to scratch the Cursed Seal on his neck, letting out an uncomfortable whine.
White Dog came over and sniffed around Black Dog's neck, then immediately sneezed in disgust.
"That stinking snake's scent is revolting." White Dog shook his head. "How are you feeling, Black Charcoal?"
"Kind of hot," Black Dog replied tersely. "Cursed Energy is leaking out."
Escaping Rabbit slowly hopped over to Black Dog. His long ears drooped, resting against Black Dog's back.
Sasuke watched them and raised his hands, crossing them in front of his chest.
"Back up a little. I'm going to prepare the Taming Ritual."
White Dog froze, ears perking up.
"Now? You're taming a new Shikigami?" White Dog turned to look at Sasuke.
"We're perfectly safe right now, and that snake guy's already been driven off. If you're going to tame something, shouldn't you pick someone who can fight?"
"Wouldn't it be better to get stronger first?"
Escaping Rabbit lifted his head, red eyes fixed on Sasuke. "...Yeah, why are you taming one now?"
"I'm going to tame Round Deer." Sasuke kept his hands poised to form Hand Seals.
"Round Deer?" White Dog tilted his head. "That guy's completely useless in a fight. What are you thinking?"
Sasuke lowered his hands and looked at Black Dog, who was sitting on the ground.
"I let Orochimaru bite Black earlier because I knew what Round Deer could do." Sasuke glanced at the three Shikigami.
"Round Deer can use Reverse Cursed Technique. That positive energy can heal injuries, and it should also dispel the negative effects of the Cursed Seal Orochimaru left on Black."
White Dog opened his mouth, apparently not expecting Sasuke to be doing this for that reason.
Escaping Rabbit's soft voice carried a note of discomfort. "There's something very cold on Black."
Sasuke crouched and parted the fur on Black Dog's neck, taking a careful look at the Cursed Seal.
The seal seemed to have spread, growing slightly larger.
"Can you hold out?" Sasuke asked, meeting Black Dog's golden eyes.
Black Dog gave a low rumble in his throat and nodded.
"I won't die. The flow of Cursed Energy is just chaotic. Some entirely new energy has entered my body."
Sasuke stood and stepped back a couple of paces, raising his hands to his chest.
"Get ready to tame Round Deer."
White Dog had been trying to comfort Black Dog by licking the fur around his neck. At that, he whipped his head around.
Black Dog stayed where he was, raising a hind leg to scratch behind his ear.
"It doesn't matter." Black Dog's voice was calm, without a hint of emotion.
"This thing hurts, but it's giving me a lot of chakra in return. And even if I really do die from the corruption, the rules of Ten Shadows will pass my power and Cursed Technique on to White."
Black Dog turned to look at White Dog.
"Then you'll be stronger and better able to help him."
White Dog's fur bristled. He lunged forward and bit Black Dog's ear, yanking it to the side.
"Shut your mouth! Who wants your lousy power?"
White Dog let go and bared his teeth at Black Dog, a furious growl rumbling in his throat.
"I'll get stronger on my own! I don't need you to die just to add to my strength!"
Black Dog's head was pulled to one side, but he sat straight again without arguing.
Sasuke stood nearby, frowning deeply at Black Dog's matter-of-fact willingness to sacrifice himself.
"I have no idea who taught you all to think of throwing your lives away and sacrificing yourselves at the drop of a hat."
Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets, his voice dripping with undisguised disdain.
"At the first sign of trouble, you think about using your lives to deal with it. You don't value your own existence at all."
As soon as he finished speaking,
White Dog stopped arguing.
Black Dog, the one being scolded, looked up.
Escaping Rabbit, who had been lying on Sasuke's shoe, lifted his head too.
Two dogs and a rabbit turned their three pairs of eyes toward Sasuke in perfect unison, staring straight at him.
The training ground suddenly fell silent, save for the rustling of leaves in the wind.
Under their gaze, Sasuke felt a chill creeping up his back.
A few images suddenly flashed through his mind.
When he had encountered Sukuna, he'd crossed his hands, ready to summon Mahoraga.
When he'd encountered the Special Grade Cursed Spirit, he'd crossed his hands, ready to summon Mahoraga.
And a few days earlier, in front of Orochimaru, he'd summoned Mahoraga without hesitation too.
Shikigami were their master's shadow. Their personalities and subconscious were reflections of their master's state of mind.
Sasuke shifted his gaze aside, avoiding the Shikigami's eyes.
He raised a fist to his mouth and awkwardly cleared his throat.
"Uh... never mind."
Sasuke raised his hands in front of his chest again, interlacing his fingers to form the hand sign for a deer.
The shadow beneath his feet instantly churned.
Black sludge rolled outward, rapidly forming a huge black disc in the middle of the clearing.
A massive deer slowly rose from the shadow.
Its fur was light brown, its antlers enormous, and four eyes glared fixedly at Sasuke.
Round Deer landed on all fours, its hooves striking the gravel with a heavy thud.
It gave off none of Mahoraga's savage bloodlust, but as soon as it appeared, the flow of chakra in the surrounding air became strangely sluggish.
"White, left side. Black, right side." Sasuke immediately gave his orders.
"Escaping Rabbit, distract it."
Escaping Rabbit's body instantly split apart, dozens of white rabbits surging toward Round Deer's face like water from a fountain.
Round Deer raised its forelegs and stomped heavily on the ground.
"Vwoom—"
A visible pale blue ripple spread out from beneath its hooves.
The energy of Reverse Cursed Technique swept directly through the swarm of rabbits.
The Escaping Rabbit clones, made of Cursed Energy, dissolved into black sludge the instant they touched the positive energy, like ice dropped into boiling water. They didn't even have time to cry out.
"Its energy counters Cursed Energy!" Sasuke shouted. "Use physical attacks!"
White Dog had already closed in from the left. He pushed off with all four legs, leaped into the air, and lunged at Round Deer's neck, fangs bared.
Round Deer whipped its massive head around, and its antlers slammed directly into White Dog's chest.
White Dog spun through the air twice before crashing to the ground more than ten meters away, skidding out a long furrow in the dirt.
Black Dog seized the chance to cut in from the right, biting down on Round Deer's hind leg joint.
Round Deer let out a low bellow and kicked its trapped leg backward with tremendous force.
Black Dog clung on and refused to let go, but the force sent him flying. He slammed into a stone pillar nearby, cracking it in several places.
White smoke rose from the wound on Round Deer's leg. The energy of Reverse Cursed Technique quickly gathered, and the bite wound, deep enough to expose bone, healed completely within two seconds.
"This is a pain." Sasuke clenched his teeth.
Unless he could deal a fatal blow, ordinary attacks were useless against it.
Sasuke formed Hand Seals rapidly, his chest swelling as he drew in a deep breath.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive fireball burst from his mouth, blazing with scorching heat as it hurtled toward Round Deer.
Round Deer didn't dodge. Its circular antlers radiated an intense light.
The energy of Reverse Cursed Technique formed an invisible barrier in front of it.
The Great Fireball struck the barrier. Its flames were forcibly neutralized and dispelled, scattering to the ground as a rain of sparks.
"It can neutralize ninjutsu too?" White Dog got to his feet and shook the dirt from his fur. "How are we supposed to fight this thing?!"
"When it heals itself, its defenses drop for a moment!" Sasuke watched Round Deer closely.
"Black, White! Hold it down!"
The two dogs charged again.
White Dog had learned his lesson. Instead of going for a vital spot, he launched himself at Round Deer's front leg, using his body weight to pin down its knee joint.
Black Dog pounced from behind and bit down on Round Deer's other hind leg.
Round Deer struggled with all its might, dragging the two dogs across the ground with its tremendous strength, but the black-and-white pair refused to let go.
Escaping Rabbit split into more than a dozen clones again. They leaped straight onto Round Deer's face, their soft bodies covering its eyes.
With its vision blocked and its foreleg pinned, Round Deer lost its balance for a brief moment.
Now.
Sasuke gathered every last bit of chakra in his body, concentrating it in his right hand.
He didn't use any ninjutsu. Instead, he shaped his chakra to the utmost degree, forming a high-density chakra blade around his palm.
Sasuke drove off with both legs, hurtling toward Round Deer like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Round Deer sensed the threat. Its antlers lit up again as it prepared to release Reverse Cursed Technique.
"Not a chance!"
Sasuke leaped high into the air from three meters away.
Using the force of his fall, he drove the chakra blade in his right hand precisely into the unprotected blind spot on Round Deer's neck.
"Shk!"
The chakra blade sliced through Round Deer's flesh without resistance and severed its cervical spine.
Round Deer's body went rigid.
The light in its antlers flickered twice, then went out completely.
Its massive body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Then Round Deer's body began to melt rapidly, turning into a pool of black sludge that slowly seeped into the shadow beneath Sasuke's feet.
Taming successful.
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