Blood Luo's Sacrifice and the Prelude to Impure World Reincarnation

Hokage's Office.

Baishi lightly tapped the warm teacup with his fingertip. The emerald tea leaves slowly unfurled within, while a faint fragrance mingled with the elusive scent of blood drifting in through the window and lingered at the tip of his nose.

At the center of the Chakra Water Mirror's image, the small mushroom cloud woven from Explosive Tags and black lightning was slowly dissipating. Everything in the heart of the blast had been flattened, leaving the charred earth exposed like an ugly scar gnawed by some enormous beast.

And the monster known as Blood Luo now lay in the center of that scorched ground.

Its massive body, stitched together from countless corpses, was already in ruins. More than seventy percent of its flesh had been carbonized and blasted away in the violent explosion. Half of its twisted tentacles had been severed, while the rest lay limp on the ground, twitching from time to time and kicking up handfuls of foul-smelling dust.

The shrill scream that had pierced the battlefield had weakened into a wheezing, "Heh... heh..." like air leaking from a battered bellows.

But Baishi's attention was not fixed on these superficial injuries.

Through the Water Mirror, his gaze locked precisely onto the one area on the monster's chest that had escaped the blast and had instead grown clearer.

There, an irregular Cursed Seal radiating an eerie purple-black light throbbed violently like a living thing. Each pulse resembled a heartbeat, crazily extracting the last trace of life essence from Blood Luo's remaining body.

So that's how it is... Is this your true purpose, Orochimaru?

The corner of Baishi's mouth curled into a cold smile devoid of surprise.

The so-called "Dark Thunder" and the so-called "Meat Grinder" trap had never been intended to kill this monster. They were meant to