3

1

The Bright Lightning Group of which Karyu had been a member; he had said they had taken requests from ninja villages. For the villages, this was a connection with darkness. When they had dirty work, they needed someone in the know.

Alone, Sasuke headed toward the base set up in a cave, away from the eyes of people. The village of Takeno had seemed relieved somehow after the fire. The members of Dark Thunder had tormented them, and now they were all dead. And it was the village headman who had achieved this. Perhaps everyone was a little glad Iou had succeeded in getting his revenge.

Just as Kakashi had sent a letter to Sasuke, he had also apparently sent one to Yugakure. He must have asked for support for Takeno, since Yugakure ninja had appeared to help with the rebuilding. Meanwhile, Chino and Nowaki said they were finally free; they returned to their travels, and Sasuke was here.

“Well, here’s some trouble.” A man suddenly stood blocking Sasuke’s way to the base. His face was familiar. “Sasuke, right? How about we call me ‘Yamato?’” This man had gone into Orochimaru’s base before with Naruto and the others. He had been assigned to be their team leader. And now he was here, which meant …

“So I guess Orochimaru is here, then.”

Orochimaru had many bases, but Sasuke wasn’t wrong.

“Damn it.” Yamato sighed. “So tell me what you want, then.”

“I need to talk to Orochimaru.”

“Well, I sort of guessed that.”

Sasuke stayed silent. Yamato crossed his arms, and did the same. He was likely committed to waiting it out. They wouldn’t get anywhere like this.

“It’s possible Orochimaru had information connected with the ringleader in the attack on Konoha,” Sasuke explained, briefly.

Yamato looked disappointed. He uncrossed his arms and scratched his head. “Did you contact the Sixth about this?”

“I plan to report to him if this pans out.”

“Hmm. Well, it’d actually be easier for us to coordinate if you sent incremental progress reports as you went, but …” Yamato stared at Sasuke. “But you are working for the sake of Konoha, right?”

Sasuke held his breath for a moment at Yamato’s question. He was working for the sake of Konoha; that was true. He was doing it so naturally it was almost mysterious, even to him. He might not have been in the village, but he was still connected with Konoha. Sasuke knew this feeling.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“That’s that, then,” Yamato said, and stepped aside.

“You sure?”

“I’ll report to the Sixth. We’re ‘comrades,’ after all. Kakashi taught you the importance of trust and teamwork, too, didn’t he?”

Team Kakashi. Team 7. The way they looked back then came back to life in Sasuke’s mind. He felt like he was starting from scratch, going around and collecting again all the important things he’d cast aside.

“Thanks,” he said, and stepped into Orochimaru’s base.

Walls made to resemble snakeskin; snake images decorating every surface. They probably also fulfilled the role of surveillance cameras. Orochimaru was probably watching him. Sasuke proceeded in silence before arriving at the deepest part of the base.

“It’s been a while, Sasuke.” Orochimaru appeared, a smile spreading across his lips. He was one of the legendary Sannin, alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade, and the depth of his knowledge of ninjutsu, along with his insatiable curiosity, were greater than those of any other ninja. This tenacity touched the abyss of darkness like a snake; there was a part of Orochimaru that surpassed the realm of the human.

“Do you know the Bright Lightning Group?” Sasuke asked, getting straight to the issue at hand without any preamble.

“Goodness,” Orochimaru murmured.

“Do you?”

“Yes, well, I have heard of them. But the last I heard, they had been ‘exterminated’ by Kirigakure.” Orochimaru chuckled. So, he apparently knew that Kirigakure had set up a trap for Bright Lightning in order to build its own connections with the officials.

“There’s a possibility that the leader of Bright Lightning is attacking ninja villages.”

“Ooh, the leader of Bright Lightning, hmm …”

Sasuke’s face grew stern at these meaningful words. “Tell me everything you know.”

“Heh heh. You never change, hm? I wonder if that’s the best attitude when you’re asking someone for something?” Orochimaru cocked his head to one side.

“Hurry up, already,” Sasuke urged him, and Orochimaru’s laughter grew even deeper.

“Fine,” Orochimaru said. “This seems like it’s turning into something interesting, hm? I’m quite certain that the leader of Bright Lightning is the owner of a kekkei genkai. He was originally in Oyashiro En’s bodyguard squad.”

“Oyashiro En?” Sasuke was unfamiliar with the name.

“A man who doesn’t belong anywhere. He is a ninja, but he’s also an arms dealer. As long as you have the money, he’ll sell you weapons, so he’s known as the Death Merchant. He’s quite skilled. He managed to build a vast fortune in a single generation.”

“And the leader of Bright Lightning was guarding this guy?”

“He was, but he also supplied weapons to battlegrounds, together with Oyashiro. These bodyguards were the elite; they also appeared on the very frontlines of a battle. Something similar to the Anbu.”

In which case, hearing what this Oyashiro had to say would bring him closer to the leader of Bright Lightning.

“Where is Oyashiro?”

“No idea. He has even more bases than I do. It might be quite a trick to find him.”

Sasuke glared at Orochimaru. “There’s no reason you’d go out of your way to tell me a story like this without anything to back it up.”

“I wonder if you trust me?” Orochimaru chuckled again. “That’s right. I don’t know where he is, but I can lure him out. But that … well, it’s a bit of a hassle. Did you still want to?”

“Why do you think I came all the way here?”

Orochimaru laughed again, and murmured, “I feel a draft.”

Orochimaru informed him that the preparations would take a little time, so Sasuke was on standby in the base.

“Sasukeee!”

“What? You showing up here, this mean you’re planning something bad?”

“It’s been a while, huh?”

The members of Taka he had previously fought alongside came racing over to him.

“Karin noticed you pretty early on, and she’s been on edge ever since.”

“Wha—! I was just worried about trouble starting! Don’t just go blabbing every little thing! Come on!”

Suigetsu and Karin, bickering as always.

Jugo watched this little back and forth, and then asked, “Have you been traveling this whole time?”

“Yeah.”

Karin stopped yelling and gaped at him. “You haven’t been back to Konoha?” she asked, seeming worried.

“So you were worried about Sasuke,” Suigetsu interjected.

“Seriously—shut up, you!”

The commotion was about to start all over again, when Orochimaru appeared. “You all are being too loud. Sasuke, everything’s ready. Shall we go?”

“Lord Orochimaru, are you going out?” Karin asked.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. “Just to the ocean with Sasuke for a minute.”

Karin and the others were momentarily at a loss for words.

“Wh-whaaat?! Sasuke, to the ocean?!” Karin shrieked.

“Keep an eye on things while I’m out,” Orochimaru commanded, and Karin’s shoulders dropped.

“I can’t really imagine Lord Orochimaru at the beach.” Suigetsu was stiff.

“Wait, this is news to me.” Sasuke furrowed his brow as he followed Orochimaru.

“More precisely, to an island floating in the ocean. There’s an amusement spot for the rich there.”

“… And Oyashiro is there?”

“If we leave a little bait, hm?” A meaningful smile spread across Orochimaru’s face.

“I can’t believe Sasuke would move on someone else’s behalf,” Suigetsu murmured, with somehow deep emotion, after Sasuke and Orochimaru had left.

“He was originally a Konoha ninja,” Jugo said. “It’s not exactly for a stranger.”

“But, like,” Suigetsu insisted. “He hasn’t gone back to Konoha, right? Maybe it’s hard for him to be there?”

“I dunno,” Jugo said, and glared at Suigetsu. “The big wars might be over, but there’s still plenty of baddies out there. With those eyes, Sasuke’ll have people coming after him.”

Sasuke had the sharingan in his right eye, as a survivor of the Uchiha clan, and even the rinnegan in his left. His eyes were more appealing than anything else for someone hungry for power. Just like Orochimaru had once wanted Sasuke’s body.

“If he was in the village, ninja might show up to attack it, looking for him. So by showing everyone that Uchiha Sasuke is not in Konoha, but rather wandering around the world, the chance of the village being hurt drops,” Karin noted.

“And if he in serious contact with the village, some people might show up trying to get information from people connected with Sasuke,” Jugo added.

“Isn’t everyone connected with Sasuke, like, super strong?” Suigetsu asked, cocking his head to one side. “It wouldn’t be easy to get information from them or anything.”

“Not necessarily. If he was in the village, he’d be seeing little kids and things. There are some people who’d push those kids for info,” Jugo said. There were still some ninja in this world who would take whatever unjust means necessary in order to achieve their objective. You never knew what they would use.

“And Sasuke killed Uchiha Itachi out of his worry about Itachi being a subject of Lord Orochimaru’s research. Some people hate him for that,” Karin said. “Isn’t it like he’s making sure that he leaves as little information as possible with the village?”

“You think Sasuke’s thinking about all that?” Suigetsu seemed half-doubtful of the idea.

“I don’t know for sure, but if that’s the case, then Sasuke’ll always be traveling?” Suigetsu asked.

“He might end up doing that,” Jugo replied.

Hearing this, Karin dropped her eyes. In the back of her mind, an image came back to life: a woman, her eyes on Sasuke approaching the darkness, but unable to stop caring about him even still, tears spilling down her face.

Karin went back to her room and took a photo out of her desk. It had been taken back when they were still working as Taka, after Karin had begged and pestered everyone to do it. She had actually wanted a photo of just the two of them, but Suigetsu and Jugo were also in it. She stared at this picture.

“Whatcha looking at?” Suigetsu came up from behind her to sneak a peek.

“Quit it, you! Have you ever heard of a little thing called manners?!”

“Oof!”

Karin threw a backhand at his face, which turned into a liquid, and water scattered everywhere. Karin pushed her glasses up and hurriedly shouted, “It’s not like I was actually sitting here wondering if that kid had a picture of him or anything?!”

“Kid? What kid? Sasuke?”

“Sasuke? Oh, uh—Shut up!!” This time, she kicked at him as hard as she could. “Get out, you idiot!” Kicking and punching, Karin chased Suigetsu out of the room. Once his aura had receded, she looked at the photo once more.

“If I see you again, I can just ask, I guess. It’s an easy thing to copy a photo and all.” Although she had no idea if she’d see the woman with the cherry-pink hair again.

Karin put the photo back in her desk.

2

They got on a ship at the nearest port. This ship landed on an island, and they transferred to an even smaller boat. The path ahead was shrouded in fog, and visibility grew worse. The boatman, perhaps accustomed to these conditions, paddled the boat wordlessly.

“But it is strange that you can move so freely like this,” Sasuke said, staring in the direction of the boat’s progress through the fog.

The murder of the fourth Kazekage in the operation to destroy Konoha. And Orochimaru had committed many other grave crimes in addition to this.

“Goodness. You’re one to talk, Sasuke,” Orochimaru retorted, staring at the waves blown up by the wind. And it was true. Normally, Sasuke would also have been imprisoned. “And Kabuto, he’s a war criminal from the Fourth Great Ninja War, and he lives in the outside world too?”

Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru’s talented right-hand man, constantly accumulating all kinds of things in his body in order to learn what exactly he was. The forbidden jutsu he used—the Edotensei—had set the world of the ninja on a path of ruin. No one could say he had been forgiven for his actions, the lives he took, and all his evil deeds. There were certainly some who despised what Kabuto had done, and there were no doubt some who looked to his future uneasily, worrying he would make the same mistakes again if they let him live.

“Although compared with me, the probability that Kabuto will turn to evil again is likely low.”

“How can you say that for sure?”

“Heh heh. You don’t trust the power of Uchiha Itachi?”

Sasuke was forced into silence.

Having been brought back to life by the Edotensei, Itachi fought Kabuto to release the jutsu. At that time, he had used Izanami on him. As long as the subject did not take a hard look at themselves and accept who they were, the jutsu could not be released.

But it was hard for Sasuke to imagine exactly how Kabuto had made it out of the Izanami jutsu, having seen how fierce he had been.

“Look at it like this. Kabuto also had a connection to someone. That likely led him to understand how to release the jutsu.”

“A connection to someone?”

“Yes. There was the woman who saved Kabuto after he was orphaned in the war.”

Knowing nothing of Kabuto’s past, Sasuke was surprised at this.

“She was originally a Konoha shinobi and actually belonged to the Foundation, the elites of the intelligence division. She had an integrity that could almost be said to be abnormal for the Foundation. But she left that organization and went to work for an orphanage. And Kabuto was there.”

Sasuke waited for him to continue.

“Kabuto got pulled into war from the simple, pure desire to be of use to her and the orphanage. The fact that he came to my attention meant that his luck had run out, I suppose,” Orochimaru said, without a hint of malice.

“In the end, Kabuto was made to bear Konoha’s darkness, and he killed this woman he adored with his own hand. And then he was my faithful subordinate. No matter how dirty the task, he did it without issue. But when he gathered together and used all those famed ninja with the Edotensei jutsu, it was only she he did not attempt to reach out to. Even though there had to have been any number of ways in which he could have used her powers as a ninja. Perhaps all of his human emotion was concentrated in her.”

He reminds me of the old me.

In the back of his mind, the voice of Sasuke’s older brother came back to life. Those were his words after he used Izanami on Kabuto. Itachi had said that he and Kabuto had both been toyed with by the world of the ninja.

Unlike me, I want Kabuto to realize that before he dies.

Sasuke didn’t think Itachi and Kabuto were alike. Even now, he couldn’t believe they were like each other. But he could envision that Kabuto had his own pain that only he could understand.

“She couldn’t tell Kabuto this, but she had also been thinking of him that whole time. Perhaps in the middle of the Izanami, he had realized these thoughts of hers.”

What road exactly would Kabuto walk down from now on? Was it the path that this woman—so important to him—illuminated for him?

“Also … perhaps it’s insurance for those times when something nonsensical happens.”

“Insurance?”

“Every era has its dissenters. And when those dissenters show up, inhuman powers like ours are sometimes required. Because some things cannot be protected with justice alone. So taming us properly is for everyone’s sake.” Orochimaru let out a short laugh.

“What?”

“Your friend likely doesn’t have an inkling of all this in his head.” He meant Naruto.

“I guess so.”

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. “Well … I can see it now.” He lifted his face.

From under the cover of fog, an island started to come into view, its outer periphery circled by precipitous cliffs. The boatman pulled into a small cave in the cliffs, and they kept moving toward the interior of the island. Once the sky opened up above them, the dock appeared.

“Welcome! Welcome!” A man dressed in dazzling costume came to greet them. The island was lined with gorgeous buildings, and the people coming and going were dressed quite ostentatiously. It made the heavy atmosphere on the outside seem like a lie.

“This desert island does not appear on maps,” Orochimaru said, and they headed forward between the buildings. Soon, a remarkable dome-shaped building came into view.

“‘Arena?’”

“That’s read as ‘Coliseum.’”

They went up into the spectator seats, and Sasuke could tell at a glance that the people sitting there were wealthy. Furrowing his brow at the abnormal enthusiasm, he watched as someone who was apparently the promoter appeared in the center of the Coliseum.

“Thank you so much for coming today! Glory for the victor, despair for the loser! The rules are simple; just pit your hand against that of your opponent! And then the winner takes both! Survival of the fittest! The very simplest style!”

Things were getting fairly suspicious.

“What is this, Orochimaru?”

“Just as the man said. The people here make the ninja in their employ fight, and if you win, you get your opponent’s ninja.”

“This is your amusement park?!”

Just as he revealed his own disgust, the fight began. A cheer rose up from the excited millionaires.

“It’s like some kind of spectacle …”

“I wonder if you remember the chunin exams, Sasuke?” Orochimaru chuckled. “That too is a microcosm of the battlefield, a place where the ninja villages make an appeal to show off how talented their ninja have grown up to be, how much battle power they have. This is like that.”

Orochimaru turned his gaze on the spectators.

“They’re letting everyone here know that they have the financial wherewithal to hire the best ninja. The rich here are people of the dark side. By boasting of their power and increasing their prestige, they try to make things happen to their advantage. Which reminds me. Apparently, Gato of Gato Transport was a regular here.”

That was the name of the man who had once had the Land of Waves under his thumb. Sasuke remembered his despicable nature. No doubt, a lot of the wealthy here were people like Gato. Sasuke’s disgust grew.

“But this is basically the only place you’ll ever catch Oyashiro En. And he won’t show up unless there’s a hand he wants.”

As they talked, the match had apparently been decided. The ninja who had fought stepped back, and the MC called out the next duel cards.

“Now then, next up we have Oyashiro En’s Futsu, and Orochimaru’s Sasukeeeee!”

Sasuke stiffened the instant he heard this. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“It seems he took the bait.”

“I asked you what the meaning of this is.”

Orochimaru’s smile did not change in the face of Sasuke’s annoyance. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself even more. “I told you. Oyashiro doesn’t show up unless there’s a hand he wants. You see, he collects kekkei genkai.”

“He collects kekkei genkai?”

“Exactly. He’s a man who likes rare things. And you, Sasuke, with the sharingan, well, he probably desperately wants you.”

Apparently, the bait had been Sasuke.

“Now that I know he’s here in the arena, all I have to do is find him, then?”

“Oyashiro is a deeply cautious man. I have no idea where he is. He’s a medical ninja, you see. Here especially, it helps if you imagine Kabuto. It’s not an issue for him to hide his form, naturally, or even his scent. But he absolutely must come out during the exchange of hands at the end of the tournament. That is the custom here.”

So in order to see him, Sasuke apparently had no choice but to fight. He clicked his tongue.

“Oh, my! Is this a default?” Perhaps waiting for their move, the ninja Oyashiro was playing did not immediately come forward.

Glaring at Orochimaru, Sasuke said, “I’ll make this quick,” and jumped down into the arena.

At Sasuke’s appearance, the electricity in the venue shot up. As if in response, steam appeared in the arena and took on the form of a person. A boy in his late teens, Oyashiro’s ninja, Futsu.

“Now, start!”

With the signal, Futsu at once closed the distance between them. His hands nimbly wove signs, and just as Sasuke wondered if Futsu’s cheeks were swelling up, something like fog shot out of Futsu’s mouth.

Sasuke jumped backward to keep whatever it was from touching him. He caught the faint scent of acid.

“I see, a kekkei genkai collector, huh?” After putting some distance between them, Sasuke looked at Futsu. “Vapor Style, Solid Fog, hm?”

“How do you—?!”

Because kekkei genkai were rare, knowledge of and experience with them tended to be scarce. Most of the time, if someone with a kekkei genkai struck first, they could come out on top, which was why Futsu had immediately attacked.

“I’ve run into this technique in the past.” But Sasuke knew this jutsu. It was a fog of acid that could melt a person. The Mizukage, Terumi Mei, had used it when they fought. She had gone so far as to melt Sasuke’s Susano’o with it.

However, this jutsu of Futsu’s was not as powerful as the Mizukage’s. In which case, he had no need to fear it.

This time, Sasuke closed the distance he had opened up between them. Futsu trembled, as if aware of the eyes of someone other than Sasuke on him, and went to release his Solid Fog once more.

I don’t need to show him the sharingan. More than anything, his pride would not allow him to bring out the sharingan in this vulgar space.

“Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!”

White-hot flames shot out of his mouth. Although the technique was simple, the flames overwhelmed his opponent’s fog, and swallowed Futsu.

“Aaaaah!” Futsu cried out at the combination of the fog bouncing back on him and Sasuke’s flames.

“Victory to Sasuke!”

Just as he said he would, Sasuke finished the match in the blink of an eye. The people in charge at the Coliseum dealt with Futsu. Apparently, there was also a medical team. They probably couldn’t allow any serious injuries.

“Very nice work, Sasuke. Please come this way,” a member of the staff urged him, and Sasuke headed into the depths of the arena. Along the way, Orochimaru joined up with him.

“Just like you.”

“Mm.”

They were shown to a room with every luxury, furnished with gorgeous, gaudy items. The staff member urged them to sit, but they remained standing.

A little later, a man came in. “Ooh, you’re terrible! I thought I’d at least be given a glimpse of the sharingan. That’s why I took part! I can’t believe you didn’t even use it!”

Their interlocutor was an arms dealer. Sasuke had thought he would be a rather shady man, given what he had seen in Gato, but contrary to his expectations, this man was quite cheerful. He was perhaps around forty. Although he was tall with neat features, he ruined that with sunglasses of a strange design.

“You’re just awful, Orochimaruuu! And here I was taking part after who knows how many years. Being done in that quickly, well, it makes me lose some real face, doesn’t it?” The man fluttered about, whining, before shifting his gaze to Sasuke and smiling. “Hello! I’m Oyashiro En. A pleasure.”

Oyashiro extended a hand as if to shake Sasuke’s, but Sasuke did not respond. Even still, Oyashiro smiled like he was having a good time.

“Is this guy really Oyashiro En?” He was fairly different from what Sasuke had imagined.

But Orochimaru replied, “No mistake at all.”

“Ooh. And now I have to trade my precious Futsu with no compensation, hm? Well then, the contract—” Oyashiro began.

“There’s no need for that.” Sasuke stopped Oyashiro as he was about to press his seal against the contract that someone, apparently an intermediary, had brought.

“Oh? I wonder what that means?”

“There’s something I want to ask you,” Sasuke said.

Oyashiro snorted and settled deeply into a chair to one side. Then he urged Sasuke to continue. “Go ahead.”

“Do you know the Bright Lightning Group?”

Oyashiro’s eyes widened slightly behind his sunglasses. “I do. They came after my life any number of times.”

“Came after your life?”

“Yes. I mean, they just hate me.”

He had heard that Bright Lightning defeated crooked people, took their money, and distributed it to the poor. But did the reason they had ended up like that lie with Oyashiro?

“There’s a possibility their leader is kidnapping ninja, using genjutsu on them, and making them attack ninja villages. People have died.”

“Ooh! That really is just appalling behavior, even for Fushin.”

“Fushin?”

“That’s his name.”

So this was apparently the name of the leader of Bright Lightning.

“He was originally an outsider, that boy. I won him here, and he became part of my bodyguard detail. He was supposedly born in the Land of Water. That said, he’s not from the mainland where Kirigakure is, but rather one of the little islands around it, you see? The people of the island feared him, so he was sold and sent away when he was just a wee boy.”

“Sold and sent away?” Sasuke furrowed his brow.

“Isn’t that the way with kekkei genkai?” Oyashiro said. “For weak people, special powers are only something to be feared, you know? Just by being different, you’re suspect, people despise you, discriminate against you, and in the end, they try to get rid of you. It’s almost like you lose the fight the moment you’re born.”

Oyashiro’s eyes moved as if appraising Sasuke.

“I like them, though, kekkei genkai. I mean, after all, they’re strong, and that sense of rarity is nice, isn’t it? That’s why I bring all kinds together in my bodyguard detail. To increase the level of rarity, I’ve even had all but one person in a clan killed.”

He sounded like a child talking about his toys.

“Birth is birth, so many children push back against it. If I couldn’t use my medical ninjutsu, I would have starved, you see? Fushin was a relatively obedient boy, but one day, he suddenly took the other children and ran off. I do wonder why he ran away. I fed him every day; I even gave him pocket money. Well, when he ran off on me, that sort of spoiled the fun, and I stopped collecting kekkei genkai after that. They’re just hard to handle, you know? Kekkei genkai.”

Sasuke was chasing after a criminal who had attacked ninja villages, but he was starting to be uncertain about who was the bad one here.

“You’re a worthless human being.” The words came up out of him unconsciously.

Oyashiro narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses. “But Orochimaru helping you, you’ve got something rare here too. I wonder if you helped these people out?”

Now that he thought about it, Orochimaru had all kinds of rare experiment subjects. It wouldn’t be strange at all if he was taking advantage of this chance. When he killed Orochimaru that one time, he had freed the people imprisoned by him, but many had been sacrificed before that.

“Here’s what I think. If you look at it from the victim’s perspective, the perpetrator and a third party are the same. All the people who didn’t help them, they’re all lumped together. And you, now, are going to leave without stopping our little amusement. So? Are you not complicit, then? You can’t really say anything about anyone else.” Orochimaru’s words forced Sasuke into silence.

In the middle of the fight, Futsu had been concerned by someone’s gaze; he had probably been afraid of Orochimaru.

After thinking for a while, Sasuke made a decision.

“What kind of condition is your Futsu in?”

“Thanks to you, his life is in no danger.”

“So then, let me fight him again. I used my victory on information this time. I’ll win one more time, and liberate Futsu from your hands.”

Orochimaru had been sitting settled deep in his seat, but now he leaned forward. “Oh?”

“And the ones in the stands, too. I’ll take all comers. Anyone who wants the Uchiha eyes can just step up.” Sasuke swept out of the room.

“Oh my goodness! You’re all worked up, aren’t you?” Orochimaru said, teasing, as he followed after him.

“Shut up.”

“Are you really going to fight?”

Sasuke stopped and looked back at Orochimaru. “I’ll free them all.”

The discomfort he had felt in the stands. That had been from seeing the wealthy people gathered there, using the ninja not as people, but as mere tools. A tragedy brought about by this environment.

“I’ll end this soon enough.” So he would cut them loose.

The effect of the sharingan as bait was tremendous.

The rich patrons would do anything to get their hands on it; they inundated him, leaving him no chance to rest. However, he settled all the contests in a short period.

“What are you going to do with all these people?” Orochimaru asked, staring at the seals on the contracts.

Sasuke didn’t want to forcibly remove the ninja who actually adored their masters, but he did seek the freedom of most of them. “Yamato’s here somewhere, I assume. I’ll ask him to get Konoha to take them.”

Given that his role was to watch over Orochimaru, Yamato was probably hiding somewhere on the island.

Orochimaru laughed, delightedly. “He probably watched holding his head in his hands at the troublesome thing this has become.”

In order to consult with Yamato, Sasuke would have to leave Orochimaru temporarily.

“That was really something! And you didn’t let us see the sharingan in the end, either.” Oyashiro appeared behind him, but Sasuke kept his mouth shut. “Oh! Ha! Ignoring me! Surely we can talk just a little? As a thank you for you showing us something interesting, I am now in the mood to chat a little. … Perhaps about Fushin?”

Feeling some disgust at this apparently deliberate suggestive trick, Sasuke turned to look at Oyashiro.

“After Fushin left my mansion, all the residents of the island he was from were killed. After that, people avoided it; they said it was cursed. Finally, it ran wild, gradually disappearing from people’s memories.” Oyashiro smirked. “Doesn’t that sound like just the place for the missing Kirigakure ship?”

Sasuke gasped. “How much do you know?”

“It’s just imagination, just speculation. If you’ll indulge me in a little talk of my dreams, I’ll tell you where the island is.” Oyashiro called his attendant over and began to draw a map on a scroll.

“Does this mean it’s convenient for you if I take care of him?” Sasuke raised one eyebrow.

“Fushin’s killed all his owners before me. Well, even so, he did become a chivalrous thief, so it does seem that he wanted to be involved with people.” Oyashiro closed the scroll and handed it to Sasuke. “There was a time in the past when I seriously wanted to collect an Uchiha. It’s been an honor to meet you.”

Sasuke snatched the scroll out of his hand. “Once I take care of this, you’re next.”

The expression on his face unchanging, Oyashiro pushed his sunglasses up. “Sasuke, you should be careful of eyes.”

He probably meant the sharingan. Without replying, Sasuke turned his back on the man.

3

“Leave it to me,” Yamato said, stiffening up when Sasuke entrusted him with the freed shinobi. “I’m no stranger to this either, after all.”

In these words, uttered so nonchalantly, Sasuke felt like he had caught a glimpse of the other man’s strange constitution and checkered destiny.

When you make these kinds of connections, you learn about the other person, and the world inside you gets just a little bit bigger. He keenly felt this link, and Naruto naturally came to mind.

Naruto had grown up as a ninja, supported by all kinds of people. Just how big exactly was his “world?” What would happen in the future Naruto was aiming for?

Sasuke thought of himself. About exactly what he wanted to see happen there. But it was hard to look into the future with these eyes that had stared only into the darkness for so long. And as he traveled the world like this, those eyes only picked up on the darkness in people. But he couldn’t just stand still, either.

Sasuke left Orochimaru and headed to the forgotten island by himself. He himself honestly didn’t know for whose sake, or what purpose. He just had the feeling deep in his heart that he had to resolve this matter.

He checked Oyashiro’s map and strained his eyes. “Is that it?”

A small island came into view in the middle of the ocean. There was a mountain in the center of it, surrounded by forest. Rotting houses lined the coast; there was no sign of human life.

But Sasuke’s eyes caught it. A boat anchored at the island’s port. Big enough for a hundred people, probably. He looked at the ship with his sharingan, and discovered the mark of Kirigakure carved into it.

“So that’s the missing ship.” He looked at the island once again with the sharingan. “There.”

Beyond the rotting village, in the woods, there was a human aura.

Kneading his chakra, Sasuke got out of the boat and stood on the waves. The aura disappeared, and he quietly approached the island.

First, the Kirigakure ship. He kicked at the waves, and leapt onto the ship’s deck. There was no sign of any struggle. Not a drop of blood had been spilled there. He jumped down from the ship, and landed on the port. There were several other boats tied up there. But unlike the Kirigakure ship, they were basically all small boats.

“The Kirigakure ship stands out. Did they anchor it here and move around in the smaller boats?”

He went through the port and walked around the desolate village. Perhaps the houses had been hit by a storm; all the roofs had been blown off, and the windows and doors had also been destroyed. He passed through the village, and was faced with the woods spreading out before him. The forest was hot and humid, making his skin sticky. The trees were twisted, and enormous flowers grew in abundance; the place was difficult to move through.

But he felt the presence of another person up ahead. He brushed aside the vines, and stared ahead intently.

He saw someone lying in his path of progress in the center of the woods. And not just one person; there were several. Right beside them were two people apparently keeping watch.

His eyes were already sharingan. Sasuke took a short breath, and approached them, preparing those eyes.

“Who’s there?!” One of the guards looked around to try and spot Sasuke.

But this was actually good for Sasuke. He caught his opponent in a genjutsu with the sharingan. The man fell easily, and Sasuke leapt over his body to close the distance to the other man, who was weaving signs.

“Ngah!” The man brandished a fist. Sasuke couldn’t let it touch him. He intuited this instantly, stepped on a root popping out of the ground, and leapt in the exact opposite direction from the one he had been proceeding in.

The man’s fist cut through the air in vain, and punched the ground.

Boom! A huge explosion echoed through the woods, and the fist gouged out a hole in the ground. The technique resembled the Explosive Style Deidara of Akatsuki had used when they fought in the past.

“… In which case …”

Sasuke pulled out a kunai, infused it with chakra, and flung it at his opponent.

“Ngh! Lighting Style?” The kunai plunged into the man’s arm, and the chakra contained in his fist disappeared like it was fleeing. The man tried to pull the blade out, but before he could, Sasuke closed in on him and launched a roundhouse kick at his head.

“Hnrk!” The man bounced back against the earth. Sasuke looked down on him, and caught him with the sharingan. And with that, both of the guards were unable to move.

Sasuke ran over to the ninja lying on the ground, clad in the uniforms of Kiri and Kumo. They were breathing, but they were sleeping like the dead, not so much as twitching. According to Kakashi’s letter, the people who attacked Konoha had had foreign chakra flowing through their bodies. Sasuke used his sharingan to check inside these ninja.

“None … hm.” He couldn’t seem to find any of the foreign chakra Kakashi wrote about. Sasuke tried a counter-genjutsu on the Kirigakure ninja before him.

“Mm … Unh.” The Kirigakure ninja regained consciousness. “Wh-where …”

“Can you do a counter-genjutsu?” Sasuke asked.

The man, dazed, pressed a hand to his forehead. “Counter-genjutsu?”

“You were captured and placed in a genjutsu.”

“Oh, ohh. … Right. I was on watch on deck … and then this small boat approached us …” the man said, seemingly remembering as he spoke.

“Tell me later. Our priority right now is to get away from here,” Sasuke said.

The man looked at his surroundings. He caught sight of his comrades lying next to him and finally seemed to understand the situation. “C-counter-genjutsu, right? I can do that.” He moved to undo the genjutsu cast on his comrades.

“Aaah!” the Kiri ninja suddenly cried out as a small chakra sword pierced his body, sending blood scattering. “O-ow!” He pressed a hand to the left side of his chest and squatted down like he was going to fall on top of his comrades. Someone had thrown the blade at him from behind.

Sasuke felt a gentle breeze from that chakra sword. He had encountered this before.

“I never thought I’d see you again in a place like this.” A man emerged from the woods. He had a relaxed demeanor and a familiar voice.

“… It can’t have actually been you …” Standing before Sasuke was the ninja he had met in the village of Takeno, Nowaki. And behind him, with an indecipherable expression on her face, was Chino.

“What do you mean, ‘It can’t have actually been you?’” Nowaki asked.

“You’re the former leader of Bright Lightning, and now the one making the ninja under genjutsu attack shinobi villages, Fushin,” Sasuke said.

Nowaki pulled another chakra sword out of his bag, putting Sasuke immediately on guard, but he simply cut his own wrist with the tip of the sword. Ignoring the blood spilling out, he cut the opposite wrist as well.

Sasuke gasped.

Nowaki began to grow lumpy and transform. Once muscular, his body now became slender, and he shrank slightly as well, becoming a slender youth, about the same height as Sasuke.

Sasuke stared at the blood that had spilled out. He sensed a strange chakra in that blood. Perhaps the young man had released a special chakra into his blood and transformed his body. So, had he applied this technique to create human beings who exploded when they received an external injury?

“I thought this might turn into a hassle when we met you in Takeno. Even though I managed to kill Karyu, who had a real possibility of being linked with me.” Nowaki cracked his neck.

“You’re going to spill everything—right here, right now.”

“Am I, though?”

Sasuke knew the moment he saw the look on Nowaki’s face that the other man was not planning to play nice and tell him what he wanted to know. So Sasuke would have to try to catch him with the sharingan.

Meanwhile, Nowaki brought his hands together and wove signs. A wind danced up around him, and his body was hidden by tree leaves and dirt and dust.

“Wind Style? … No.”

Nowaki also had a kekkei genkai. And the wind grew steadily stronger, with no sign of stopping; it appeared to be surpassing the realm of Wind Style. Nowaki was still weaving signs in the center of it. The wind began to expand outward and grow stronger. And then, finished with his signs, Nowaki shouted, “Typhoon Style! Gale Destruction!”

“Ngh!”

The wind roared. The bodies of the kidnapped ninja were swept up by it, the trees around them bent, and Sasuke’s own body threatened to rise up. It really was a typhoon.

“Now, then …”

Nowaki spread out his jacket. Tucked away in the center of it was a chakra sword about the size of a hand. Nowaki took this, concentrated chakra in it, and then casually tossed it. The chakra sword rode the wind to attack Sasuke.

“Tch!” Sasuke clicked his tongue and jumped. When he did, he was caught by the wind and carried upward.

It wasn’t just the chakra sword in the wind; there were felled trees as well. And these large trees also became weapons attacking Sasuke. But, using them as footholds, he somehow managed to land on the ground again, while dodging the flying chakra sword.

But the wind was too strong; he couldn’t get close to Nowaki. The gale was gradually becoming large enough to assault the entire island. Nowaki was a level of magnitude stronger than Dark Thunder’s Karyu, or Futsu from the Coliseum.

Now that he was thinking about it, the leader of Bright Lightning was the one who helped his comrades escape from Kirigakure’s elite.

Nowaki wove even more complicated signs, and then released them. “The final blow … Tornado Destruction!”

The rotating winds began to spin in the other direction. Moving slowly at first as if to build up a vast amount of energy, the wind gradually began to accelerate.

“This …”

The wind roared eerily, and transformed into an enormous blade that shot at Sasuke. The blade mowed down the massive trees of the forest, a scythe cutting down rice.

Susano’o!

His Mangekyo sharingan was activated, and an enormous winged armored warrior appeared to shield Sasuke.

“Hngh!” Sasuke caught the massive blade with Susano’o’s sword. The squeal of the wind blade and the sword pushing against each other rang out, and sweat popped up on the foreheads of the fighters.

“Aaaaaah!” Sasuke concentrated his power in his eyes. Susano’o heaved one foot forward and started to push against the wind blade, leaning his weight into it.

“Ngh.” Nowaki bit his lip and pulled apart the hands weaving signs. When he did, the blade turned back into wind, and disappeared—but Nowaki immediately rewove the signs. “I won’t let you end this!” The wind’s rotation returned, and a fierce, turbulent column of air once again enveloped the area, pushing at Susano’o; he staggered a few steps.

Sasuke wasn’t going to get anywhere until he defeated Nowaki himself. He turned his eyes on the place where he assumed Nowaki was. Then he realized that his opponent had basically not moved at all from before. The center of the winds; the eye of the typhoon. That was where he had to aim.

Careful to keep Nowaki from noticing, Sasuke slipped out from inside Susano’o. He stepped away, leaving Susano’o to keep fighting, bit hard into his thumb, and then, as blood oozed out, he placed his hand on the ground. Summoning jutsu!

Appearing with a poof! was the enormous snake, Aoda. Sasuke’s loyal snake.

“Lord Sasuke, what is your request?”

“Stretch up!”

“Understood.” As instructed, the giant snake threw his head up toward the heavens. His massive body slipped through Now-aki’s wind, and brought Sasuke up beneath a blue sky.

“Nice work!” From there, Sasuke leapt up higher. The center of the wind. He charged in, and cloaked his hand in lightning.

Chidori!

Noticing the whine of Chidori, Nowaki looked up in surprise and tried to launch his wind toward Sasuke, but it was too late.

“Aaaaaah!” Shining with the brilliance of lightning, Sasuke used the force of his descent to slam into Nowaki.

“Ngaaaaah!” An electric shock jolted Nowaki’s body, and he was knocked to the ground. The signs he had woven were released, and the roaring wind immediately disappeared. All that was left then was blue sky.

“Hah … Haah …” Sasuke panted from the effects of using his visual powers. However, he had to catch the ringleader, Nowaki, and get information from him.

“Dammit.” Nowaki tried to stand up to escape from Sasuke’s eyes—but, unable to muster the strength, he fell back down.

Sasuke stood beside him, and caught his eyes with the sharingan. In an instant, he saw a vast trove of information.

His life flowed past like a revolving lantern.

Nowaki was always alone. The great storm that visited the island was blamed on him, and he was sold to a wealthy man interested in his powers. To make him obedient, the man tortured him, sapping the will to fight back. He was forced into unwanted battles, and made to fight for his life simply for the entertainment of his master. Nowaki’s power was great, and people kept their distance from him, fearing that power; he was isolated and made hard-hearted by those around him.

He had never once lost. That alone was his secret pride.

And then he had been knocked on his back, limbs splayed in the center of that Coliseum.

“Did I … lose?”

The wealthy man who was his master turned toward the dumbfounded Nowaki and hurled abuse at him. However, none of this entered Nowaki’s ears.

“That’s right. You lost.” A voice came down at him. A hand appeared before his eyes, reaching out toward him. His eyes slowly moved from the palm of that hand up to the face. And standing there was—

It was red.

His field of view abruptly turned red. He was simply being sucked into a world of red.

“Genjutsu?!” Sasuke concentrated his power in his eyes and forced the red back.

“It really is disagreeable, the Uchiha sharingan.”

He pulled himself out of Nowaki’s mind and returned to the real world.

Chino was there carrying Nowaki on her shoulders. Her eyes were dyed red. And not just the pupils. Her entire eyeball was red. It was unlike the sharingan, an eye he’d never seen before.

“Those eyes,” Sasuke said.

The look on Chino’s face became grim. “The violence of forgetting. It’s said, though, that it was the Uchiha clan who drove our Chinoike clan to the brink.”

“What?”

Chino’s eyes locked onto Sasuke. The ground beneath his feet turned into a red sea, and his body began to sink.

“Ngh!”

“Sassy.” She looked down at him from above the red waves of the sea. “The ringleader’s not Nowaki. It’s me. I turned the ninja into human bombs, and sent them to the villages.”

“Why would you do that?” Sasuke asked.

Chino slowly cocked her head to one side. “Sassy, you barely listen to anything a person says, and you also don’t answer any questions. But now, you’re feeling chatty, huh?” She snorted with laughter and closed her eyes. A drop of blood flowed out of one.

The drop fell into the red ocean.

Stimulated by Chino’s tear, the sea suddenly produced an enormous wave, which came crashing down on Sasuke.

He was pulled into the ocean, and churned and mixed with it until he had no idea which way was up. He couldn’t breathe.

“Dammit!” He concentrated his power in his eyes once more. “Haah!” Finally breaking free of the genjutsu, he took a deep breath.

As he filled his lungs with oxygen, he lifted his face, but Chino was already gone.