"He didn't come to help me."
Kabuto's hand remained pressed against the Array Disc, a hint of hesitation entering his voice. "These are counter-seals for Impure World Reincarnation. They can wrest the dead from the caster's control."
Sasuke ignored him and thrust the Kusanagi Sword forward, driving its tip into the black threads beneath Itachi's feet.
Chidori spread through the rock, slicing the black threads into several sections.
Itachi swayed backward, but the Impure World Reincarnation runes on his chest did not disappear. Instead, another surge of chakra bolstered them, sending them crawling along his shoulders toward his neck.
"This isn't a release technique." Itachi raised a hand and pressed his fingertips against his chest. "Someone is forcibly taking over the Impure World Reincarnation."
"Taking over whom?"
Sasuke finally looked toward the stone coffin.
The coffin was empty, with only a mass of black chakra suspended in midair. It had neither form nor sound, yet the black threads binding Itachi kept tightening.
Kabuto bit his finger, letting blood drip onto the Array Disc.
"Stop!"
The Array Disc gave a muffled boom. The seals around the stone chamber lit up simultaneously, and more black threads emerged from underground, winding toward Itachi's limbs.
Itachi raised his hands to form hand seals, but he had barely moved half a step forward before the black threads dragged him back in front of the stone coffin.
"Kabuto Yakushi!" Itachi stared at him. "This isn't your technique."
"I know!"
Kabuto's fingers kept shifting, and blood seeping from his temple slid down his glasses. "Someone severed my connection to the reanimated body. They want to turn you into a new container."
"Who?"
"Who else could it be?"
Kabuto looked toward the stone coffin. The moment he finished speaking, a heavy tremor came from the ground.
A hand