A New Sun and Moon, the Netherworld of the Nine Abysses!

Whoosh!

In a dim, lightless dimension, Yomotsu Hirasaka opened. Yu and Orochimaru stepped out one after the other, and the portal vanished behind them.

Orochimaru looked around. Black mist shrouded everything, with only a faint, hazy glow where they stood. He frowned. "So this is the Netherworld of the Nine Abysses. I can feel a dark presence reaching straight into my soul."

"This is Ōtsutsuki Clan territory," Yu warned. "We might run into one of them. Stay alert."

"..." Orochimaru quietly heightened his guard.

Neither knew where the Soul-Sealing Tower was, so they felt their way through the black mist. The hazy glow moved with them.

"What's causing this? Could it be..." Orochimaru studied the light accompanying them. After a moment's thought, he tried releasing chakra outside his body. The glow intensified, and visibility improved markedly.

"Just as I thought. This black mist is a unique barrier. Only chakra released outside the body can produce light... Hm!?" Orochimaru's expression changed sharply. As he increased the rate at which he released chakra, the chakra inside him began draining away at the same rate. "I—I can't stop my chakra from flowing out!"

Light flashed in Yu's left eye.

Causal Severance!

Whoosh!

The light went out, and Orochimaru's chakra stopped draining. The experience still left him shaken. "If you hadn't acted in time, Yu, all my chakra would have been sucked dry in seconds..."

And Orochimaru's current body was nearly a Hashirama Body, though his strength was still nowhere near Hashirama's.

"I understand what this barrier is for," Yu said. "Shinobi unconsciously release tiny amounts of chakra outside their bodies, so little they don't even notice. The barrier absorbs chakra at that same rate. It's like boiling a frog slowly—by the time you notice, it's too late."

Orochimaru realized something even more chilling.