Chapter 172: Death of the Kurosawa Brothers

Standing side by side, the two of them watched Orochimaru with a high degree of vigilance.

A single person wiping out an army of half a million puppet soldiers was an opponent they had to take seriously.

Kurosawa Shosho suddenly smiled, feeling in high spirits, and said, "Brother, if we drink his blood, we will definitely become even stronger. Then, the next time we encounter Uchiha Itachi, we will surely not let him escape again!"

Kurosawa Yusei nodded, a flash of bloody light crossing his eyes as he smiled, "Indeed, we have never hunted down such a powerful expert before."

There were far too few surviving lives in the universe, and beings of their own tier had nearly all perished. For the longest time, they had subsisted only on the blood of the weak.

Now, having the chance to taste the blood of an equal, they were extremely excited.

"Attack!"

The moment the words fell, the two of them charged toward Orochimaru.

Orochimaru’s expression remained calm; seeing Kurosawa Yusei and Kurosawa Shosho, he even felt a trace of familiarity.

After all, these two could be considered old acquaintances.

In the prime universe, Kurosawa Shosho had died at the hands of Uchiha Itachi, while Kurosawa Yusei had dragged an entire star system down with him in a self-detonation.

Both had left a certain impression on Orochimaru.

How did the Kurosawa Shosho and Kurosawa Yusei of this universe compare to those of the prime universe?

He intended to take this opportunity to test a few things.

Each of them possessed a pair of Blood Dragon Eyes, and both were masters of illusions. Yet, they initiated their assault with physical combat first.

The greatest lethality of an illusion lay in its silent and imperceptible onset. Especially against opponents of the same tier, plunging them into an illusion without a sound was of utmost importance.

Hand-to-hand combat was merely the prelude; the ultimate goal was to lull the opponent into an illusion seamlessly during the exchange of blows.

This was precisely the strategy they had in mind.

After a brief while, during an exchange of palms, Kurosawa Shosho was the first to deploy an illusion.

A little later, during an exchange of kicks with Orochimaru, Kurosawa Yusei also cast his illusion.

A dual-layer illusion enshrouded Orochimaru.

Victory seemed already secured.

In reality, however, Orochimaru had orchestrated this on purpose; he wanted to verify something.

In the prime universe, the brotherhood between Kurosawa Shosho and Kurosawa Yusei was deep, and either of them was willing to die for the other.

Therefore, he intended to see whether the Kurosawa brothers in this parallel universe shared such a profound bond.

This would provide a reference value for when he eventually met his own counterpart in this world.

Kurosawa Shosho made the first move. The illusion he and his brother had laid out was complete, and they prepared to unveil it.

With a flicker of his gaze, he activated the illusion to cloud Orochimaru’s senses. While it appeared as though he were trading blows with Orochimaru in reality, he was actually manipulating Orochimaru into attacking himself.

Orochimaru’s gaze flickered. Neither Kurosawa Shosho nor Kurosawa Yusei knew that their illusions had already been enveloped by an even more powerful illusion on the outside.

They were simply not on the same tier as Orochimaru.

Under Orochimaru’s illusion, Orochimaru fabricated the false impression that he had fallen into the dual-layer illusion and was subsequently tricked by Kurosawa Shosho into beating himself up.

"Now is the time!"

At that moment, Kurosawa Yusei joined in. While Kurosawa Shosho used illusions to blind Orochimaru and make him strike himself, Kurosawa Yusei also activated an illusion, enticing Orochimaru to execute a high-power technique.

That technique would ensure Orochimaru beat himself to death.

The "conclusion" unfolded just as the two brothers had imagined: Orochimaru had beaten himself to death.

Facing Orochimaru’s corpse, the two began dividing the spoils.

Originally, Kurosawa Shosho and Kurosawa Yusei intended to split Orochimaru’s body evenly, but they suddenly discovered that the hardness of Orochimaru’s physique was too immense to divide equally, leaving them with no choice but to swallow it whole.

Only one of them could receive the enhancement.

This was an illusion crafted by Orochimaru, testing whether the Kurosawa brothers would turn against each other in the face of immense benefit.

After hesitating for only a moment, Kurosawa Shosho pushed Orochimaru’s corpse toward Kurosawa Yusei and said, "Brother, take the enhancement. Only when you grow stronger can you better protect me."

Kurosawa Yusei replied, "Brother."

With deep fraternal affection, they split Orochimaru’s corpse without any conflict.

Orochimaru nodded slightly; the performance of the Kurosawa brothers within the illusion met his expectations, matching quite closely with the prime universe.

There was still one more test to conduct.

Orochimaru’s gaze flickered.

Kurosawa Yusei, who was in the middle of swallowing Orochimaru’s corpse whole, suddenly froze, because the corpse he was consuming had turned into his brother!

He hurriedly spat it out, but the corpse reverted back to Orochimaru.

Terror gripped Kurosawa Yusei's eyes—he had fallen into an illusion!

Only an illusion could achieve such a feat!

Suddenly, the figures of Orochimaru and his brother appeared before him. Orochimaru was gripping his brother by the neck with one hand, looking at him as he asked indifferently, "Only one of you and your brother can survive. Who do you choose?"

Within Kurosawa Shosho's illusion, a similar scene was playing out: Orochimaru was gripping Kurosawa Yusei's neck, asking Kurosawa Shosho, "Only one of you and your brother can survive. Who do you choose?"

Although Kurosawa Yusei and Kurosawa Shosho knew they had fallen into an illusion and could not verify the truth of the scene before them, they also knew they were powerless to resist.

The opponent's illusion was vastly superior to theirs!

They were utterly incapable of breaking it.

As for the question posed to them—that only one could survive—they had no idea if it would be honored, yet there seemed to be a sliver of a possibility?

Without exception, both Kurosawa brothers were willing to let the other live.

Kurosawa Shosho wished for his own death so his brother could live.

Kurosawa Yusei wished for his own death so his brother could live.

Faced with the crisis of death, the two remained deeply bonded as brothers.

In the end, both of them died, and the test concluded.

Standing high in the sky, Orochimaru murmured softly, "Although this is a parallel universe, aside from the different experiences, the personalities of the characters remain nearly unchanged."

Orochimaru thought of himself. If it were him, regardless of which universe he belonged to, his goal would always be the "pursuit of truth." They were all the same.

Seeing the Kurosawa brothers perish, the white-haired old man fled in absolute terror, wetting himself in fright. He was scared out of his wits, never expecting Orochimaru to be so immensely powerful.

A possibility crossed his mind: perhaps this Orochimaru was not merely someone who happened to share a name with the savior, but might actually *be* the savior himself?

At the cost of burning his remaining lifespan, he initiated spatial teleportation, escaping the star system in a few successive leaps. Yet, he still died, perishing as his life force was completely exhausted.

He had long since fallen into an illusion without realizing it, ultimately dying of depleted vitality.

The crisis of the puppet army had completely come to an end.

The Aurora Base was saved, and Orochimaru did not conceal his name. Everyone knew that the person who saved the base was named Orochimaru.

Orochimaru returned to his laboratory to resume his research, paying no heed to anything else.

The Aurora Base entered a period of reconstruction; the rise of new forces was inevitably accompanied by bloodshed and darkness, but none of this concerned Orochimaru.

Yoshida Shoichi also returned to the base, though he was consumed by endless regret, never imagining that Orochimaru possessed such terrifying strength.

Had he known, he would never have abandoned Orochimaru to flee alone. He was filled with remorse and anxiety, wondering if he could ever earn forgiveness...

News of the events at the Aurora Base was broadcast by the base personnel across the illusion network. Orochimaru single-handedly wiping out an army of nearly half a million puppets, along with the Kurosawa brothers, was nothing short of a legendary event.

It instantly propelled the topic to the forefront of discussion, making it known across nearly the entire universe.

On a dim and desolate planet, the Orochimaru of this world also learned of the matter. Looking at the figure in the video, wasn't that none other than himself?

"Kabuto!" he summoned Kabuto, preparing to make a major move.