When Kabuto pushed open the stone door to the secret chamber, his hand paused on the door panel.
Something was wrong with the smell. The stench of blood was too thick, mixed with the peculiar fishy odor of shattered snake scales and the scorched smell of burning.
He stepped over the threshold, his foot landing in a patch of half-dried snake blood. The strange sensation traveled through the sole of his shoe, freezing him in place.
Sasuke stood in the center of the chamber.
The Kusanagi Sword had already been sheathed. Dark red blood stained his cuffs and hem, but it was not his. With his back to the entrance, he was taking down and examining a scroll hanging on the wall.
"You're back." Sasuke did not turn around.
Behind his glasses, Kabuto's gaze shifted from Sasuke to the shattered white snake scales scattered across the floor, then to the shriveled humanoid husk in the corner.
Orochimaru's human shell was still frozen in the posture of being burst apart, its skin collapsed on the ground like an old discarded garment.
"Lord Orochimaru..."
"I already took him out."
Sasuke rolled up the scroll, tucked it into the ninja tool pouch at his waist, and turned around.
His pupils were still their usual black. The Sharingan had been deactivated.
Kabuto stared into Sasuke's eyes—there was nothing unusual in them. His breathing was steady, his stance stable, and there was no sign that he had been eroded by the Reincarnation Jutsu.
"You killed him—"
"I said I killed him." Sasuke walked past Kabuto without slowing down. "If you want to follow, I won't stop you. But in your current state, you can't stop me."
Kabuto remained where he was. He neither turned around nor spoke.
He lowered his head to look at the