Chapter 93: Itachi’s Kotoamatsukami

When the fight between Orochimaru and the Akatsuki broke out, the remaining shinobi alliance of the Four Nations watched from outside the war castle. They could not evade the Byakugan’s inspection, so they had been unable to slip inside.

“What’s happening in there? It sounds like they’re fighting.” Ait, the Raikage, said from atop a tree.

“This is our chance,” Mei Terumi, the Mizukage, replied.

She too stood in a tree, peering into the castle and trying to catch sight of what was happening within.

Onoki, the Tsuchikage, hovered high in the air. Suddenly, he said, “Someone’s coming out!”

Everyone looked sharply. One after another, members of the Akatsuki were seen fleeing from within the war castle, with pursuers hot on their heels.

“Hold your ground. We’ll wait for the best moment to strike,” said the Raikage.

In truth, the Raikage’s judgment was not wrong, but it only applied when the three sides were evenly matched. The difference in strength between Orochimaru’s side and the Akatsuki was far too great.

For Orochimaru, it made no difference when the remaining Four Nations alliance moved; it would be no different from delivering them on a platter.

...

Orochimaru and the Uchiha brothers battled into another dimension. Though the fighting looked fierce, there was an eerie calm to it.

Orochimaru laughed. “Itachi, you’ve become very strong.”

With a forceful repulsion, he threw off both Itachi and Sasuke’s attacks.

“Descend, Susanoo!”

At his cry, a colossal three-faced Susanoo fell from the heavens like a divine weapon, brandishing three sacred treasures as if to cleave Orochimaru apart.

Sasuke also unleashed Susanoo, though only in its earliest form, and that Susanoo drew a bow and fired arrows at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru’s expression did not change. He smiled. “A three-faced Susanoo... your achievements can already rival what Uchiha Madara once reached.”

He continued to drive them back with repulsion.

Itachi’s brow furrowed. Even his three-faced Susanoo could be so easily deflected. This was troublesome.

Then his gaze sharpened, and blood dripped from his eyes. In an instant, three more three-faced Susanoo descended from the sky. Together with the first, they surrounded Orochimaru on four sides.

Orochimaru looked around and said, “Four three-faced Susanoo? You’ve already surpassed Uchiha Madara.”

At that moment, Sasuke also clenched his teeth. His eyes narrowed, and as blood streamed down, another Susanoo descended. In all, he summoned two.

The two Susanoo, together with Itachi’s four, encircled Orochimaru in a coordinated assault.

“Sasuke, use that technique,” Itachi said.

Sasuke nodded.

The two of them joined their palms, then formed seals with each other’s hands. Chakra surged through both their bodies; their shared bloodline caused the quality of their chakra to intensify.

“Amaterasu!”

At the focus of their gaze, pitch-black flames suddenly appeared. They flickered gently, yet their power was earthshaking.

“Hm...” Orochimaru stood within the black fire without moving a muscle. Then the phantom image of an eight-headed serpent appeared, blocking the flames outside.

The black fire burned away Orochimaru’s serpent phantom, and both vanished at once.

“Itachi, you’ve walked a different path,” Orochimaru said. “As expected of someone I once favored. Come and follow me.”

Itachi was panting hard. That maneuver had taken a heavy toll on his body. He shook his head. “Impossible.”

Once more he used the power of his eyes. The four three-faced Susanoo suddenly split into two, then four, then eight... until they could not be counted.

All of them surged forward.

Orochimaru again repelled them with force, but after driving away so many Susanoo, the repulsion was no longer sufficient. He summoned the phantom of the eight-headed serpent once more to withstand the remaining ones.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The remaining Susanoo and Orochimaru’s serpent phantom canceled each other out. At that very moment, Sasuke’s two Susanoo, with precise timing and at an exquisitely tricky angle, loosed two Susanoo arrows.

Orochimaru stepped back half a pace and avoided both arrows.

“He has no defensive means left. Now!”

“Amaterasu!”

The Uchiha brothers had just consumed Orochimaru’s defensive methods with Susanoo and tested whether he had any other means of defense using the Susanoo arrows. Seeing him choose to dodge, they immediately unleashed Amaterasu.

This time, the black flames struck Orochimaru squarely.

“Did it work?”

“It should have...”

The two brothers watched as Orochimaru was engulfed in black flames. But suddenly, Orochimaru actually smiled.

He made no move at all, allowing the black fire to burn over his body. “Itachi, I’m becoming more and more satisfied with you. Is the only reason you won’t follow me because I destroyed the Hidden Leaf Village?”

The flames burned away one of Orochimaru’s arms and blasted a hole through his chest, yet he remained utterly unmoved.

“If that is the case, then have you not considered the people still left in the Hidden Leaf? Think of the Third Hokage, think of Jiraiya, and then think of Tsunade. It seems they’ve all been doing quite well under my care.

“And think of your little brother. He cannot remain under your protection forever. I intend to build a nation united under one world; is that not the peace you yourself long for?”

Sasuke sneered. “Orochimaru, you’re practically dead. Worry about yourself!”

By then, Orochimaru’s chest had been burned through, exposing a gaping hole, and the black flames were still spreading, beginning to devour his lower body and spine.

Black fire was already seeping from his mouth.

Yet Orochimaru remained indifferent. He turned his head toward Sasuke and said, “Itachi, the hidden illness within your body is nearly beyond suppression too, isn’t it? Follow me, and I can cure you.”

Though he was looking at Sasuke, it sounded as if he were speaking to Itachi. By then, the flames had burned through Orochimaru’s spine and leg bones, and with a sudden crash they scattered to the ground.

The black flames continued to blaze, and Orochimaru’s head had been burned down to half a skull, the other half still clinging to flesh. It was a ghastly sight.

“I need talent...” Orochimaru said at last. After those words, even his head was reduced entirely to a skull, and then the skull, too, was burned away.

By rights, things should have ended there. But all at once, the surrounding scenery changed drastically, and every alteration the battle had wrought upon the terrain was restored to how it had been before.

Orochimaru now stood completely unscathed. Opposite him, Itachi clutched his eyes, from which blood was pouring, while Sasuke supported him.

“Brother, what’s wrong?” Sasuke’s face was full of anxiety and confusion.

Just now, his brother had taken him through another dimension, and Orochimaru had followed them there. The two had met each other’s gaze, and then his brother’s eyes had suddenly begun to bleed and his body had staggered. Sasuke had hurriedly steadied him.

“What happened just now?” Sasuke truly did not know.

Orochimaru smiled. “Itachi, you’ve pushed Shisui’s Kotoamatsukami to an even higher level.”

To be able to drag him into a genjutsu space, it was quite commendable.

Itachi lifted his head to look at Orochimaru, letting the blood flow from his eyes and enduring the searing pain. Still, he persisted. “And yet I still lost.”

Only then did Sasuke realize that his brother had tried to draw Orochimaru into the Kotoamatsukami space, intending to use it to influence or obliterate Orochimaru’s mind.

But it had all failed.