True immortality, and the true essence of art.
With Orochimaru’s presence; the room seemed to blur around the two of them. Sasori sighed. The stone floor, ceiling, and walls of the room seemed further away. The dim light seemed to darken. It was as though the room itself began to swirl around Orochimaru, his white face and hands swirling their colors into the darkness.
Sasori sighed. For the first time in his life, he was seeing Orochimaru as others had seen him, and yet, Sasori alone was not afraid.
And Orochimaru sneered as he detected this resignation.
“You and I have always been human, Orochimaru,” Sasori breathed. “After my ‘death’ I realized I had been too content with my partial immortality. I could not become what I wanted to become. I take it you are here for a similar reason.”
“Not quite” Orochimaru replied. “The discovery of this new world was an accident, however, just like the Juugo clan’s curse mark, Kibutsuji Muzan’s curse is something interesting that I intend to take back with me. What else is there to discover? This world has opened so many new avenues for my ambitions.”
Sasori chuckled. “Why did you just ignore me earlier when you had a chance to kill me? As arrogant as you are, you still know how dangerous I can be. If anyone here can threaten you’re ambitions…”
“Yes, you were quite a troublesome enemy in the past Sasori-kun, but I do believe you have lost some of your edge recently.”
Sasori gave a derisive laugh. “if you're thinking that my relationship with that girl has made me soft, then I can't wait to see the look on your face when you realize what I've come to understand”
“Hoh?” Orochimaru mused, flicking his tongue. “And what is that?”
“Kocho Shinobu is a genius.” Sasori replied. “In just a few short years as my student, her understanding of how to use poisons has surpassed what took me decades to master. She may not know it yet, but she's already capable of killing even the strongest demon.”
Orochimaru’s smirk sharpened maliciously. “Ufufufufu, I never thought I'd see the day when the puppet master I respected so much would be blinded by sentimentality. That girl is nothing more than a plaything for me. Certainly she is intelligent, but she is physically weak, and mentally incapable of taking revenge against me. Even when I left her with one of my weaker but more sadistic subordinates, she hesitated to fight back because her opponent was human.”
Sasori closed his eyes, and seemed to be chuckling at himself. “Hmph, well there you have a point. The way the people here so highly overvalue human life is a bit comical, but ya’know Orochimaru, Shinobu is still young, and you may just live to regret not killing her when you had the chance. At that girl’s core, is a rage that may burn even hotter than mine or yours, Orochimaru, and when it matures, your blade may melt against it.”
Orochimaru laughed in a cruel rasping tone. “Rage? What is rage compared to that which stands above all human emotions? You once sought that status too Sasori, and now you have lost it. I no longer consider you a worthy adversary.”
“Hmph… neither one of us has to be ‘worthy’, It’s a fight to the death.” Sasori pulled apart a scroll, and summoned the two-headed puppet… the chimera of the demons Yahaba, and Enmu. “Won’t you at least humor me? Orochimaru?”
“As always,” Orochimaru began. “Weakened state or not, I will confess, I have been looking forward to the Nostalgia of fighting you, my old friend.” Orochimaru began to crouch into a combative stance as he swiftly and fluently weaved his hand-signs, and the air trembled with his malicious Chakra.
Mandara no Jin!
Tens of thousands of snakes erupted into existence forming a rising wall in front of Orochimaru! They moved like a rushing waterfall, swiftly converging onto the puppet master!
The twelve arm’s of the Enmu-Yahaba puppet spread out. Their segment’s opened up, and built up powerful receivers of explosive energy before firing in all directions!
Orochimaru watched as the thousands of serpents he had summoned were blasted into nothingness. The puppet floated in the exact spot where it had been before, but Sasori was nowhere to be scene.
“Hoh,” Orochimaru mused. “Not only did you easily disperse what is supposed to be an unlockable attack, but you hid yourself while my sight of you was blocked by my own attack. Perhaps I have underestimated you just because you are in a human body.”
Sasori remained silent, as the puppet fired a volley of senbon needles at his opponent.
Orochimaru effortlessly dodged while remaining in place, and not pausing to interrupt his own monologue. “A puppet master should indeed fight while hidden. During that war, puppet masters would often be killed immediately upon that discovery. You were one of the first to overcome that weakness, weren’t you? Sasori-kun.”
The volley of attacks from the puppet increased, and Orochimaru began to walk around the room, dodging whenever they came his way. “To hide in plain sight by hiding inside of an impregnable puppet, and then discarding your own mortal body to turn yourself into a puppet! I truly admired you Sasori-kun, and it pains me that you took it so personally when you left our organization, however-”
Orochimaru vanished from his spot, and re-appeared right behind Sasori! “Your time here has cost you that edge…”
“What the-!?” By the time Sasori had even managed to turn around, it was too late! Orochimaru’s hand cut clean through him like a scalpel.
However, as Sasori’s body fell to the ground, and as his blood spilled onto the stone floor, Orochimaru did not let his guard down. “Even if you make it a pleasant Genjutsu, did you really think that I would not recognize it? Sasori-kun, are you perhaps trying to insult me with a weak illusion?”
From where he hid in the shadows, Sasori grit his teeth. Enmu’s sleeping spell, combined with Yahaba’s invisible arrows should have made for an extremely illusive combination. Sasori had ensured that an arrow would silently strike Orochimaru, and lull him under such a spell, and yet, as he had thought; Orochimaru’s sense of self was far too strong.
Orochimaru exited the Genjutsu, but Sasori still remained hidden in the vastness of the dark chamber.
Even though most of his puppets had been destroyed, he knew he should be able to at least remain hidden, and evade Orochimaru long enough for those two to escape.
In the meantime, the puppet could continue to attack from the darkness… Sasori had already released several of the invisible arrows to float around Orochimaru, and remain in reserve for when the right time to attack presented itself…
Snake Mouth Bind
The stone floor of the room suddenly became covered in smooth flesh and muscle as Orochimaru’s Jutsu took effect. Sasori’s eyes widened as the walls narrowed, and the black tiles that enclosed and darkened the room became pink and red… and then it hit him!
Despite this being his first time seeing it in action, he had known of a similar Jutsu by one of Orochimaru’s fellow Sannin’ that nearly killed Itachi and Kisame…
The walls began to narrow, and now resembled a corridor with walls, floor, and ceiling of pink flesh… Sasori was now inside the serpent’s stomach, and he was out in the open.
Orochimaru stood across from him, between himself and the Yahaba puppet, chuckling, before breaking into a triumphant laugh. “For what its worth Sasori-kun, this is not how I would have liked our fight to go either. If only you still had your Hiruko puppet, using this Jutsu would have been pointless of me to use against you.”
A subtle flick of Sasori’s finger set the Enmu-Yahaba puppet into full attack mode from Orochimaru’s blindside!
Rather than turn around, a snake clone of Orochimaru stepped out of his Shadow, and opened it’s palm in which a blue flame flickered.
Wind Release; Great Breach!
The flame caught onto the wind-based attack that Orochimaru blew from his lips, engulfing the entire side of his corridor, and incinerating the Yahaba puppet completely!
Wasting no time on sentimentality, Sasori threw open a scroll and held it’s contents facing Orochimaru!
Puppet Master’s Hidden technique: Uzumaki!
A maelstrom of weaker demons who had been turned into puppets shot forward! Their blood demon arts were weaker, but in the hundreds! They combined into a massive all-encompassing attack, obscuring Sasori’s vision of Orochimaru on the narrow battlefield, but only Orochimaru’s laughter could be heard on the other side.
Sasori knew that it wouldn’t hold off Orochimaru for long, but it would give him just enough time to do what he had to do. He retrieved the spiritual core, placed it on the ground, and began to swiftly prepare the ritual…
His hands were not shaking this time…
***
In a nearby room, the Kocho sisters fought desperately against theior own opponent, though they seemed hopelessly outmatched by waxing moon 2. “You skills have improved so much young girl!” Doma praised as he effortlessly evaded Kanae’s attacks.
“You talk too much!” Kanae seethed, her voice trembling with both burning fury and the strain of her injuries.
From behind Kanae, Shinobu lunged, her figure blurring into motion!
Dance of the Dragonfly: Compound Eye Hexagon!
She was as quick as quicksilver! Her Nichirin sword pierced Doma’s body in rapid succession, each strike targeting precise points across his frame—his hip, his rotator cuff, abdomen, and spine!
Doma weaved backwards and laughed as though he were a child at play. “Your dance is absolutely beautiful, but you already know that it’s pointless since my body can break down poison so easily. It’s practically second nature at this point!”
Shinobu darted back, her lungs burning with each breath as Doma’s frozen ice particles filled the air. Her vision blurred slightly, but she forced herself to focus. She ignored the sting in her eyes and the frost biting her skin.
“Shinobu get back!” Kanae cried as she launched another desperate attack at Doma.
Flower Breathing, Fourth Form: Crimson Hanagoromo!
Though Kanae had begun this fight marked, and with greater strength than she had ever wielded before, that strength was waning as her wounds and fatigue took their toll. Doma casually waved his fan, and Kanae’s sword glanced harmlessly off the edge of it, as though her sword swings carried no more strength than a falling flower pedal, which Doma waved away with his fan like he would on a pleasant day in a flower orchard.
“Please let it work” Shinobu thought desperately. Her blade trembled in her hand as she adjusted her grip. Her attacks against Doma were not without purpose, she had trained with Sasori for a situation just like this… Deep within her mind, her memory took her back to that day.... that long and stressful day training under Sasori.
“...let's say you happen to meet a stronger demon with the same immunity?”
Shinobu blinked, as she stood in front of her teacher, unsure of whether or not she was prepared to answer the question; What would she, who was reliant on poison to fight; do in a situation where the demon was able to break down her poison in its bloodstream.
“I would have to make a new mix of poison,” Shinobu answered, hoping against hope that Sasori would not find fault with it, and rebuke her again.
“Idiot,” Sasori chided, as he held up the petri dish of demon blood he had just used to demonstrate. “It's not that simple. This blood reacts the same way to all poisons. So what do you do?”
Shinobu hesitated.
“I’ll make this easier for you,” Sasori said. “What does it do?”
“The blood!” Shinobu cried as it suddenly clicked in her mind. “On this particular demon, it forms a clot around the poison, preventing it from spreading, so… so in a case like this, there is more than one option.” Shinobu took a pencil from the desk, and pretended it was her blade for a moment. “If I were to stab the demon here, like this….” Sasori continued to quiz her until his inquisition came to it's predestined conclusion. They were going to train in the yard, to make sure that Shinobu developed the muscle memory to administer poison to a part of the body that could least easily defend against it... or die trying it seemed.
She had spent hours later that afternoon, tirelessly training against Sasori’s Yahaba puppet until the sun went down…it was some of the most grueling training she had ever been put through, but eventually, she had gotten close enough to the Yahaba puppet to stab it in the center of its torso, only for her blade to not even make a dent in the dense material.
Her arms felt like noodles… her legs like jelly barely supporting her… She had gotten so close, and yet… her blade did not make it through…
The realization, that after all her hard work, she had failed at this exercise, due to a lack of physical strength, which she couldn't not even control, began to dawn on her like acceptance of the most devastating news… by this point, she had trained under Sasori for years. All this time, no matter how cruel he was, no matter how many times he had hurt her with his words, with his impossible demands, and no matter how many stings and bruises her ego had suffered under his criticism, and no matter how many layers of her pride and dignity had been peeled away by his hands- she had never once lost the battle against her own tears.
She had never given him the satisfaction, of letting him see that he had made her cry… and now, as she fell to the wariza position, Shinobu watched her own vision blur with tears… she began to wail as the floodgates opened, having lost that last vestige of her honor.
She was now helpless to so the tears that fell freely, and the infantile bawling that made her disgusted with herself. The feeling of small,ess, the feeling of being trapped in the cold shadow of the others who towered over her... “I failed!” she cried, “I- I- I- tried so hard, and I still- I-... ”
“You didn’t fail,” Sasori corrected.
Shonobu looked at him in bewilderment, as Sasori brushed his hand along the Yahaba puppet. “I make my puppets from strong materials. This one in particular, since it is my favorite since having come to this world.” He looked at Shinobu, who was still hiccupping as tears streamed down her face.
“If this were a normal demon, your blade would have pierced through his chest cavity, and into his upper spine, where you could have injected poison into his bone marrow. In other words, you pass this exercise.”
There was zero sympathy in Sasori’s voice when he said this. He had reacted to her tears the way he reacted to everything… with cold indifference. There was no pity in his expression or his voice. What he said, was simply a matter-of-fact.
And for Shinobu… that made all the difference… No coddling, no platitudes, only the most objective acknowledgement of her skills... That day of training with Sasori, had resulted in one of the proudest moments of her life.
Back in the present, Shinobu remembered that lesson, and all those that had come after. She had taken his words to heart, honing her skill to target vulnerabilities with surgical precision, because the one man who never coddled her, who never praised her unless she had unequivocally earned every word of that praise, had done so!
“I know this will work!” she cried in her mind. “I know it will!!”
Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag!!!!!!
The strain on her lungs caused her to cough up blood, as every muscle in her body begged her to stop, but she was just as merciless as her teacher had taught her to be!
Shinobu’s blade went over Doma’s guard, stabbing him in the spine again through his neck!
“What is the purpose of poison?” Sasori had quizzed her.
“To kill” she had answered.
“Too simplistic,” Sasori scoffed, completely unimpressed. “Poison is something that different organisms develop for different purposes. Some to paralyze prey, others to stun potential predators, others to break down their food since their bodies are insufficient to digest without it. Killing is what we do, and each poison will be layered into our weapons. Your textbook understanding of Toxicology will not be enough. You who view poison only as a tool, will learn to appreciate just how hateful it truly is, and how determined it is to kill for you.”
Shinobu breathed through her gritted teeth as she attacked with greater and greater ferocity! Stabbing Doma, and injecting her poison again and again!
Wisterin to destroy the demon’s regenerative abilities– Bungarotoxins to bind irreversibly to acetylcholine receptors, paralyzing nerve transmission without causing pain or inflammation that would alert the demon– Arsenic Trioxide to induce oxidative stress and destroy white blood cells– Amanitin to bind to proteins– Iodoacetate to inhibit enzymatic breakdown– Dimethyl Sulfoxide to insure that the poison penetrates deep into the cells– and Tetrodotoxins to slow down defensive metabolism reactions, ensuring that the other toxins remain silent until the critical threshold is reached.
The blade went in and out of the demon’s body in quick succession, injecting more and more of the concoction, until Shinobu felt the blades of his fan swipe cleanly across her collar.
She heard Kanae scream her name, as everything went black.
***
Sasori sat on his knees, with his head hanging as Orochimaru approached. Orochimaru did not hear him chanting the mantra for the ritual under his breath, as he swaggered over to him.
“I must admit, Sasori-kun,” Orochimaru began, “I was not expecting such a fortunate turn of events. With Kibutsuji Muzan’s Juinjutsu, I shall return to our world with truly great regenerative capabilities. The seal I had placed upon you on a whim has truly born miraculous fruit. To think that traveling to such a world was even possible in the first place. Nfufufufu.”
He withdrew his sacred sword, and held it over Sasori’s neck. “Even though you were brought here in a weakened state, you still put up quite a fight. Out of respect for that, and the nostalgia that you allowed me to experience as I remembered our partnership whilst fighting you, I shall use the Kusanagi blade to end your life.”
“You honor me,” Sasori replied with a sarcastic smirk. “I too have left you a parting gift, my old friend.”
“Hoh? And what is that?” Orochimaru asked curiously, lowering his sword. And then he felt it… the paralysis… “What is this?” He slowly shifted his head, until he saw, he was standing in the middle of the diagram Sasori had drawn on the ground.
“This is my parting gift to you,” Sasori said as he held up the spiritual core which he had built for himself. “It is made with thickly compressed soulstone ore, even harder than Nichirin metal. Your consciousness will be stored inside of something which is absolutely, indestructible.” Sasori chuckled. “I am green with envy as I begrudgingly gift this to you. You, Orochimaru, shall reach our shared goal, of attaining true immortality before I have.”
Orochimaru’s pupils shrank in fear as he realized what this meant. “Sasori! Wait! Without me, you’ll be trapped in this world forever! What about the Akatsuki!? What about your revenge against the Sunagakure!? What of your ambitions!!!?”
“Don’t care.” Sasori replied, as Orochimaru’s form began to be absorbed into the spiritual core.
“You pathetic little man!” he cried. “Are you’re ambitions truly that meaningless! You cannot trap me in there forever! I am the immortal Orochimaru! I will be back for-”
The Kanji began to carve itself in red on the spiritual core, signifying that the seal was complete, and Sasori exhaled… He bent down to pick up the Kusanagi sword. Orochimaru’s legendary blade, now left in his hands as the Sannin’s snake mouth trap jutsu began to dissipate around him.
“Its finally done… forgive me, Deidara. I won’t even be able to tell you the good news… I hope that you manage to not get yourself killed, and realize what art truly is…” He looked down at the spiritual core he now held in his hands. Something that truly would last for eternity. “Deidara… about art, I’ve come to realize, that we were both wrong.”