Dance of the Death God

The entrance to the underground base of Hidden Sound Village. As Sasuke led the battered and bruised Taka into this forgotten land, the pale moonlight shone on the broken walls and ruins.

"Is this the place?" Suigetsu leaned on his Kubikiribōchō, cautiously looking around. The Kubikiribōchō still bore the cracks from his battle with Sai, and his own wounds were only hastily bandaged.

Karin adjusted her broken glasses, sensing Chakra: "There's a huge life force underground... and more than one. Also, that Chakra sensation..."

Before she could finish speaking, a figure appeared at the edge of the entrance.

Pale as wax, golden snake eyes, and his signature purple eyeshadow. Orochimaru leaned against the well's edge, a chilling smile playing on his lips.

"Sasuke-kun, it's been a long time."

The air froze.

Suigetsu's sword clattered to the ground. Jugo instinctively entered Cursed Seal Stage One, his skin turning an unnatural grayish-black. Karin staggered back three steps, her eyes widening behind her glasses. Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan activated instantly, his Grass Cone Sword emerging half an inch from its sheath.

"Impossible..." Suigetsu's voice trembled, "You clearly already..."

"Already dead?" Orochimaru chuckled, his voice as slippery as a snake. "To me, death is nothing more than an unsuccessful experiment."

Sasuke's hand rested on the sword hilt, his knuckles turning white. His Sharingan spun wildly, analyzing the person before him—the fluctuations of Chakra, the composition of his body, the texture of his soul. Without a doubt, this was the real Orochimaru, not Genjutsu, not Transformation Technique.

"You summoned me," Sasuke's voice was as cold as ice. "What is your purpose?"

Orochimaru's smile deepened, "No, it's not me. It's another old friend who wants to see you. Please, Sasuke-kun, the stage is ready."

He turned and went into the room. Sasuke hesitated for a moment—this was clearly a trap, but also the answer. He needed to know who could "revive" Orochimaru, and who was manipulating everything behind the scenes.

"Follow up," he ordered the Taka, leading the way into the darkness.

The underground base was even more sinister than Sasuke remembered. Candlelight flickered on the walls, casting distorted shadows. Various specimens preserved in formalin were displayed on both sides of the passageway— Sharingan, Byakugan, fragments of Tailed Beast tissue, and even a complete corpse of a Half-Tailed-Beast Transformation Jinchuriki.

"He's still the same as ever," Suigetsu said softly, gripping the knife she had picked up again.

At the end of the corridor was a huge circular laboratory. Several bodies lay on the operating table in the center, and the instruments around them flickered with eerie light. Orochimaru stood in the center of the room, with Kabuto Yakushi in his half-human, half-snake form beside him—no, that was no longer Kabuto. His snake form was far more advanced than before, and his eyes held only pure bestiality and obedience to Orochimaru.

Just then, the air rippled slightly.

A figure appeared without warning in the corner of the laboratory, draped in the Akatsuki's red cloud black robe.

"Sake." Orochimaru's golden snake eyes narrowed. "You've come."

The Akatsuki's "sake"—no one present except Orochimaru knew that the person behind the mask was Neji Hyuga —said in a manipulated voice, "Time waits for no one, Lord Orochimaru. Shouldn't we first retrieve your hands from the Death God?"

The temperature in the room seemed to have dropped a few degrees.

Death God: Reaper Death Seal - A forbidden technique that seals Orochimaru's hands.

Sasuke's Sharingan was fixed on the word "sake." Why did this person, this member of Akatsuki, know so much about Orochimaru? Why could he speak so calmly about forbidden techniques?

Orochimaru chuckled softly. "Very well. Since you insist." He turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, would you like to come along? This will be... an interesting ceremony."

Sasuke didn't answer, but his eyes said it all—he would go. Not because of trust, but because he needed to know what these people were plotting.

In the abandoned shrine of the Uzumaki Clan, ancient Sealing Jutsu are carved on the stone walls, and on the mask wall in the center, dozens of masks with different expressions stare blankly at the visitors.

"The Death God's Mask." Orochimaru walked to the wall, his pale fingers tracing the masks. "The caster of the Reaper Death Seal, after the seal is complete, will have their own soul devoured by the Death God. But these masks... are the keys that connect to the Death God's stomach."

He took off a mask with a pained expression and slowly put it on his face.

The ceremony began.

That wasn't a human dance—it was a sacrificial dance, a ritual offered to the Death God. Orochimaru's body twisted and spun at angles that defied ergonomics, each movement carrying an ancient and sinister rhythm. The candlelight flickered wildly, and shadows lashed out on the walls.

The air became heavy. Breathing became difficult.

A phantom slowly coalesced in the center of the shrine—a gigantic figure with long, pale hair, a short knife clenched in its mouth, and sealing patterns on its abdomen. The phantom of Death God opened its eyes; those eyes had no pupils, only endless nothingness.

"Now." Orochimaru's voice came through the mask, exceptionally clear.

He bit his finger and drew a blood-red spell in the air. The Death God's abdomen suddenly split open, and several translucent souls were forcibly pulled out—the first being Orochimaru's own arm souls, followed by four more solidified souls.

The First Hokage Hashirama Senju, the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze.

The souls of the four Hokage were forcibly dragged out of the Death God's belly and suspended in mid-air. Hashirama's soul had a furrowed brow, Tobirama's eyes were sharp, Hiruzen's expression was complicated, and Minato had his usual gentle demeanor—but at this moment, deep worry was hidden within that gentleness.

"Why..." Sasuke murmured. Why did they have to pull out the souls of all four Hokage?

He didn't ask, because another unexpected event occurred.

Jugo placed his hand on Sasuke's back, Senjutsu Chakra uncontrollably flowed into Sasuke's body—no, into something else within Sasuke's body.

"Spore Technique!" Karin exclaimed.

Six White Zetsu Clone split off from Sasuke and landed on the ground. Each one was a perfect copy, brimming with Chakra and full of life. But Jugo's body was rapidly shrinking, changing from a burly man back to the size of a boy, and it was even continuing to shrink.

"Suigetsu!" Neji —still posing as "sake"—slurped.

Suigetsu instantly understood, sweeping his Kubikiribōchō and stunning four White Zetsu. Neji simultaneously threw out four sealing scrolls, which unfurled in the air, firmly binding and sealing the White Zetsu's bodies.

"Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto, half-snake in his form, hissed, tightly coiling his snake tail around the fifth White Zetsu body.

Orochimaru removed his mask, revealing a terrifyingly pale face. He Hand Seals —though his soul and hands had returned, his body remained incomplete.

"Living Corpse Reincarnation!"

His body collapsed to the ground, and a semi-transparent soul rushed out and entered the White Zetsu body controlled by Kabuto. The White Zetsu's body began to change, his skin turned pale, and his face was reshaped—a few seconds later, standing there was the complete Orochimaru, with both arms intact, Chakra as unfathomable as an abyss.

"As expected..." The newly reborn Orochimaru flexed his fingers, his eyes gleaming with wild joy. "This body can hold all my power."

On the other side, Suigetsu had already dragged the last White Zetsu body to Jugo's side. Jugo laboriously reached out and placed his hand on the White Zetsu. The White Zetsu's body rapidly withered, all its life force being absorbed by Jugo. The boy returned to his original size and stood up, panting.

The whole process took no more than a minute.

Sasuke stood still, his Grass Cone Sword drawn, but he didn't swing it. His Sharingan recorded everything—every movement, every detail, every possible weakness. He had countless questions in his mind, but he knew that asking them now would only make him seem weak.

Neji —still wearing the human skin mask and special lenses—quickly set up a barrier inside the shrine, capable of blocking sound and imperceptibility.

Then, he removed the human skin mask and the special lenses.

A conspicuous Caged Bird Seal its forehead, pure Byakugan, and a face as calm as a lake.

"Long time no see, Sasuke."

Sasuke's pupils contracted slightly. Images flashed through his memory—the Branch House genius bound by fate during the Chunin Ninja Exams, who later joined Orochimaru with him, and then disappeared without a trace... He actually became the Akatsuki's "Sake".

"Neji Hyuga." Sasuke's voice was soft, but every word carried weight.

Orochimaru let out a low laugh, "Neji, is your plan going smoothly?"

"Lord Orochimaru, we still have him under control," Neji replied, his gaze never leaving Sasuke.

Sasuke finally pieced the fragments together. It wasn't Orochimaru who wanted to see him, but Neji. Orochimaru's "resurrection," the Death God ritual, the release of the four Hokage's souls, the preparation of the White Zetsu's body—all of this was part of the plan.

The mastermind behind this plan was Neji Hyuga.

The tip of the Grass Cone Sword was slightly raised, pointing at Neji.

"Neji Hyuga," Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan slowly spun, "What is the purpose of your summoning me here?"

His voice was calm, but the air in the shrine was tense. The members of the Taka looked troubled, Orochimaru watched with interest, and the souls of the four Hokage watched silently in mid-air.

Neji met Sasuke's gaze, his Byakugan showing no sign of flinching.

"I'm giving you a choice, Sasuke," he said. "Whether you continue to wallow in the darkness of revenge, or... see the truth of this world for yourself, and then decide what kind of person you want to become."