The light of Flying Thunder God landed outside the mountain range.
Sasuke stepped onto the loose stones without pausing, and the faint rasp of scales rubbing together came from the distant mountainside.
Shikaku's records had already reached him: seven Sealing Nodes around the outskirts of Ryūchi Cave, three hidden in the Underground Waterway, two connected to the poison mist outlets, and the remaining two set against the rock walls.
He did not look at the map. He raised his hands and formed hand seals.
"Amaterasu."
Black flames spread across the ground. The first thing they burned through was not the poison mist, but the rock beneath his feet.
Snakes hissed underground. Dozens of white snakes emerged from the fissures, black talisman paper wrapped around their bodies. The paper had only just lit up when black flames spread along the snakes, reducing their white scales and seals alike to ash.
Kabuto's voice came from within the rock wall.
"Not even a greeting?"
Sasuke straightened his collar.
"You sent the reincarnated Kage to the coast. Wasn't that your way of calling me here?"
"There are over a hundred thousand Allied Forces troops there. If you really wanted to capture me, you should have brought your army."
"Bringing an army would let you escape."
"You think I would run?"
"You've been running for ten years."
Silence fell within the stone wall for a moment.
The next instant, white seals lit up across the surrounding mountains at once. The ground split open, and a sickly sweet, rank poison mist surged in from every direction.
Sasuke did not retreat.
Amaterasu spread into a ring beneath his feet, the black flames burning an opening through the poison mist. He passed through it, the Kusanagi Sword already in his hand.
White scales emerged from the rock wall