Sasuke forced himself to stand straight despite his broken ribs, his eyes fierce as a lone wolf's.
He wiped the muddy water from his face, turned, and left without even bandaging his wounds. His figure soon vanished into the rainy night's forest.
Yuan watched the direction he had gone and gently curved the corner of his mouth. That was it. Only when watered with the utmost hatred and killing intent could those Mangekyō Sharingan bloom into the most brilliant flowers.
Two days later, at the border of the Land of Rice Fields, in the ruins of Otogakure.
Most of the buildings here had already collapsed, and the air was thick with a powerful stench of rot and chemicals. After Orochimaru died, Otogakure, having lost its leader, became a scattered mess.
But in this core stronghold buried deep underground, four high-level test subjects modified by Orochimaru were still clinging to life. They were all perfect fusion subjects of the second stage of the curse mark, and each possessed strength close to the edge of Kage level.
The underground corridor was dark and damp, the torches on the walls flickering.
Four monsters of different shapes were gathered before a massive cultivation tank, fighting over the chakra drugs left inside. One was a fat man covered in bone spikes, one was a woman with limbs as long and thin as a spider's, and the other two were conjoined monsters covered head to toe in scales.
"Lord Orochimaru is dead. These things belong to me!" the fat man roared.
"Bullshit! Whoever has the harder fists gets them!" the long-legged woman sneered.
Boom!
The stronghold's heavy alloy gate was suddenly kicked flying in from outside. The iron door, weighing over a hundred jin, slammed into the cultivation tank like a cannonball. Glass shattered, and the