Amid the flying dust, Sasuke felt as though several of her ribs had broken, and couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.
A sharp cold light fell from above, carrying a murderous intent that aimed straight at her brow, forcing her to grit her teeth and endure the agonizing pain of her broken ribs. She quickly rolled to the side.
The sword tip stabbed into the ground, and Orochimaru's toes barely touched the earth before he swiftly rushed at Sasuke like the wind.
"Whoosh."
Air rushed into Sasuke's lungs, and with her strong will, she gathered herself, throwing a shuriken to create a distraction, quickly pulling back to gain distance.
Clang, clang, clang.
The swords easily sliced through the shuriken. Orochimaru watched Sasuke flee, a sinister smile curling at the corner of his lips.
Upon seeing that smile, a surge of unease flooded Sasuke's heart. But in the blink of an eye, he had vanished from her sight.
"Where?!"
Sasuke's heart jolted, engulfed by immense fear.
Her narrowed pupils scanned the area — up, down, left, right — yet there was no sign of him, as if he had completely vanished into thin air.
But the real question was, could he truly have just left so easily?
The answer, of course, was no!
The air around her thickened with an unsettling chill, as if the temperature had suddenly dropped.
Leaves, grass, tree trunks, and even the ground around her had gathered a thin layer of frost. The unmistakable sound of footsteps echoed near her.
Yet… she couldn't see any figure!
The overwhelming terror gnawed at Sasuke's remaining sanity like a starving beast.
"Where is it? Where the hell is it?!"
Sasuke threw a shuriken toward the direction of the footsteps.
But the shuriken didn't hit its target; instead, it flew straight into the depths of the jungle and disappeared.
Rustle, rustle, rustle...
The eerie footsteps were getting closer and closer to Sasuke.
Finally, Sasuke couldn't take it any longer, the invisible fear that was closing in on her. It was as if a thread in her mind snapped, and her blood-red eyes were filled with terror.
"Ahhh! Come out! Get out here!"
She screamed in every direction, but strangely, there was no response, only the ever-approaching footsteps.
A chilling, strange aura spread from her feet and quickly engulfed her entire body. Soon, Sasuke was horrified to realize she had lost control of her own body.
Her consciousness seemed to have left her body, and all she could do was watch helplessly.
Another cold, vengeful presence began to occupy her body, gradually eroding her will.
At that moment, Orochimaru appeared, wearing a mysterious and enigmatic smile. He slowly walked up to the terrified Sasuke and then bent down to her ear, whispering softly, "Uchiha Sasuke, someone specifically asked me to come and look after you. That person has eyes just like yours."
Sasuke's pupils suddenly contracted, and a name immediately appeared in her mind.
Uchiha... Itachi!
Before her anger could even show on her face, Sasuke took a punch to the face.
The punch hit her so hard that stars exploded in her vision, and she saw multiple afterimages swirling around.
When she finally regained full consciousness, she realized she had been sent flying, crashing into a tree trunk. The violent impact made her feel as if her internal organs had shifted.
Pain. It really hurt.
But the cold, vengeful presence still firmly controlled her body.
"Come here."
Orochimaru's calm command echoed.
And Sasuke, unable to control herself, stood up autonomously, her body swaying like a puppet, walking towards Orochimaru.
No. Don't!
Sasuke's face was filled with fear, but no matter how hard she tried to resist, she couldn't regain control of her body.
"Strange, isn't it?" Orochimaru said, watching the girl approach. A sinister smile spread across his pale face as he reached out to touch her cheek.
"You're fully conscious, but you can't control your own body. Watching your own body be controlled by someone else... that feeling is quite fascinating, isn't it?"
Sasuke opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound.
"This technique is called 'Soul Steal,'" Orochimaru said slowly.
"In terms you can understand, it's summoning a soul under my control and then letting it take over your body."
With a smirk, Orochimaru gently lifted the girl's chin, his smile both teasing and sinister.
"Of course, the true purpose of Soul Steal isn't just some simple trick to control a person. You should be able to feel it, right? There's a cold, vengeful consciousness inside you?"
Sasuke couldn't speak, only conveying his thoughts with his eyes.
"It will slowly, piece by piece, devour your consciousness, until it completely replaces you."
Orochimaru grinned wider.
"Once the vengeful spirit takes over, it will quietly infiltrate using your memories. So, what do you think will happen then? What fun things will unfold?"
The pale face and the eerie snake-like eyes were, in Sasuke's mind, utterly cruel.
Whoosh!
Just then, a kunai flew through the air.
Orochimaru stepped back a few paces to dodge the kunai, narrowing his eyes as he looked upward.
A figure with arms crossed, standing proudly as if a hero entering the scene, spoke with a voice that suddenly dropped several tones.
"What's this? Not running away? Planning to come back and die?"
Sasuke shifted her gaze towards the branch, and upon recognizing the person, she immediately felt a wave of despair.
"You idiot!"
It was Naruto, who had fled earlier but returned.
At this moment, veins bulged on Naruto's forehead, and his once blue eyes had turned a blood-red flame-like color. He growled in a vicious tone.
"Let Sasuke go!"
Idiot… idiot!
Sasuke wanted to curse Naruto. After fleeing, why the hell would he come back?!
He wasn't even a match for Orochimaru—was he just asking to die?!
But then, looking at Naruto's trembling body, clearly terrified but still summoning the courage to act, Sasuke felt an unfamiliar emotion stir in her heart.
"I'm not interested in you, Nine-Tails Jinchuriki," Orochimaru said indifferently. "My target has always been Sasuke, as for you..."
Before he finished speaking, Orochimaru leapt suddenly, like a raging beast, moving with incredible speed.
Bang!
Naruto didn't even see what happened before he was kicked and sent flying.
Several thick trees, surrounded by others, were forcefully broken by him and collapsed into the nearby ruins, looking lifeless.
"Naruto!"
Sasuke, emotionally stirred, managed to break free from the vengeful spirit's control and screamed out loud.
"Heh, solved a little problem."
Orochimaru shifted his gaze back to Sasuke, unable to hide the admiration in his eyes:
"Not bad, resisting the vengeful spirit with your will alone. I truly admire you more and more. However, it's a shame. In the past, I might have craved your Sharingan, but now, you will obediently become my puppet and be devoured by the vengeful spirit."
A surge of powerful spiritual energy erupted, and Sasuke's vision went black as she fainted.
"Mmm, test over."
Orochimaru leapt down from the tree and looked at the unconscious Sasuke, speaking indifferently: "No signs of being 'hypnotized,' looks like you're not that guy's person. Time to find the next group."
However, just as he took two steps forward, a sudden sensation caused his hair to stand on end, as if something wasn't right.
He quickly turned around and, whether it was his imagination or not, felt a terrifying and oppressive force approaching from the direction where Naruto had vanished.
At that moment, Orochimaru's pupils constricted, and he saw Naruto staggering out of the collapsed tree stump wreckage.
But his eyes… they had turned pure golden, as if flowing with lava—fiery and hot, radiating an unmatched sense of pressure.
********
Support me on my patreon and read upto 30 early chapters.