Chapter 555: 520. Kabuto’s True Power
Shiing...
Kabuto infuses a large amount of nature energy in his hands and creates a chakra blade in both hands.
"I have revealed several secrets to you. So, now you can both join my Edo Tensei army."
Whoosh...
Kabuto flickers behind Sasuke and attacks him with his chakra blades.
Clang...
Sasuke blocks his attack with katana.
Chirp... Chii...
He channels Chidori through his katana and slices through Kabuto's chakra blades.
Fwish... Slash...
Kabuto tilts his head and narrowly avoids his neck. Sasuke's blade grazes along his cheeks and slices one of his horns.
Whoosh...
Kabuto swiftly retreats and touches the snout of his missing horn.
Smoke rises from his cheek, and the sword cut heals rapidly. He claps his hands and makes a dragon hand seal.
"Sage Art..."
"Be careful, Sasuke! I can sense the disturbance in chakra in the surrounding terrain." Itachi warns Sasuke.
"... Inorganic Animation,"
Rumble... rumble...
The walls and the ceiling of the cavern shake and distort. Kabuto manipulates their molecular structure with nature energy. The stalactite and stalagmite turn harder and pointier and the floor and the ceiling close like a clamp with Sasuke and Itachi in between.
RUMBLE...
Tremor spreads across the entire hideout. Gojo and the other anbus who just escaped from the hideout stare at it in trepidation.
"Vice-captain, captain Itachi... will he be..." One of the anbu stares at the building.
"Captain and his little brother will be fine. You should trust their abilities a bit more." Gojo shakes his head.
"Man-nn... those two sure turned this place upside down." Suigetsu glances at the fortress in shock.
"What... are you disappointed?" Another anbu asks him.
"Tch... of course not. If given an opportunity, I will be the first person to demolish this place and escape. Also, just to let you know, I was captured by that snake bastard against my will. Both my elder brother and cousin died in the civil war, fighting against each other.
I barely made it out alive of that massacre. After my brother's death, I made an oath to collect all 'Seven Mist Blades' to recreate the legend of the 'Seven Mist Swordsman' and become their leader. But that damn snake, he caught me and other refugees for his experiments. I have to suffer his torture for almost a year. Fortunately, that bastard met his end at someone's hands.
I thought I was free until that double-eye bastard took his place. His experiments were even more brutal, and he violated my body in all sorts of ways." Suigetsu shivers at the thoughts.
"Well..." The anbu glance at each other.
"It was actually our captain who dealt with Orochimaru." One of the anbu reveals.
"What, really?" Suigetsu's eyes widen in surprise.
"Then, I am a big fan of him."
Argh... ugh...
The group hears a groaning noise and notices Jugo slowly open his eyes.
They quickly enter into full alert; afraid he will transform into that hulking monster again.
"Hehe...This Jugo is a different breed. Out of us all, he is the only one who joined Orochimaru willingly because he wanted to die." Suigetsu grins at Jugo.
Jugo ignores his sarcastic remark and inspects everyone around him. Finally, he closes his eyes and ignores everything in his surroundings.
--------
Bang...
Back in the underground cavern,
Two giant purple and orange hand tears down the rock formation to reveal Itachi and Sasuke huddled within their Susanoo.
Shiing...
The pattern in both of their Mangekyo Sharingan spins rapidly.
"Sage Art: Inferno Release: Great Pheonix Decimation Wave,"
"Sage Art: Raikan Hengoku,"
A bright phoenix-shaped beam of red chakra and two giant purple lightning cross blade flies out of the debris.
Kabuto quickly claps his hands and takes a deep breath.
A figure of a giant white dragon appears behind him.
"Sage Art: Rage Dragon Destruction Beam,"
Kabuto opens his mouth and spews out a gigantic scarlet dragon of energy.
ROOAR...
The white dragon above his head roars and the scarlet dragon of nature energy charges towards Itachi and Sasuke's attack.
BOOM...
The collision of the three attacks generates a blinding explosion. Itachi and Sasuke quickly shield themselves with their Susanoo, while Kabuto's body splits into several small white snakes and splits.
-----
BOOM...
A pillar of energy rises from the center of the hideout. Numerous cracks spread across the ground and the entire forest trembles due to an earthquake.'
"What intense chakra fluctuations!" Yuri and the Uzu clan members gasp in surprise.
"Fall back!"
Gojo swiftly warns everyone, and the group quickly distances themselves from the location of the hideout.
Rumble... Rumble...
The cracks spread across the surface of the entire hideout and it slowly falls apart.
With another tremble, the entire hideout is demolished to the ground. The debris of the hideout collapses underground and a massive pit appears at its location.
"Captain, and his brother!"
The shinobi gulp their saliva as they stare at the destruction from a distance.
Rumble... Rumble...
Suddenly, two gigantic humanoid chakra constructs leap out of the ground. Both of them flap their wings and lands on the ground.
Sasuke and Itachi dispel their Susanoo and glance at the debris. They inspect their surroundings to search for Kabuto's traces.
Hiss...
Soon, several white snakes crawl out of the debris. All these snakes squirm and melt into liquid. The liquid then reforms into Kabuto.
Itachi and Sasuke enter into a battle stance. After his reformation, Kabuto opens his eyes and glances at Sasuke.
"So, I am not the only one to learn the Snake Senjutsu from the Ryuchi cave. And from the looks of it, you are a perfect sage close to the Second Sage Transformation. However, it seems like that old coot didn't teach you any Sage techniques of the Ryuchi cave."
Kabuto notices the purple pigmentation around Sasuke's eyes and his snake-like iris.
Haha... Muhaha...
Kabuto adjusts his spectacles and laughs like a maniac.
"Your transformation is just the starting point, a beginner's step. While I reached new heights."
Kabuto infuses chakra in his hand to create a chakra scalpel.
Slash...
He stabs the chakra scalpel in his chest and slashes a chunk of flesh. There is a 'Goyuba Mitsudomoe' seal on his chest.
"This curse seal is the combination of Orochimaru-sama's heaven and earth seal. I merged both seals to achieve perfect harmony. With this seal, I am one with nature."
Shua...
The seal on his chest glows with an orange hue and several curse marks spreads all across Kabuto's body. Thick black-striped lines run along his chest. A Mitsudomoe mark with single, double, and triple tomoes appears on his shoulders and back.
The curse lines extend from the Mitsudomoe mark and stretch all the way up to his feet and wrists where they end in a circle with a black bead in center.
Shoom...
Kabuto's aura suddenly skyrockets by several folds. A cyan glow covers his entire body due to the thick concentration of nature energy around him.
Kabuto stares at the transformation in his body and clenches his fists.
"With this transformation, I have surpassed the limits of mortals. Now, I have become the closest being to the Sage of Six Paths. I have touched the realm of gods. Haha... Muhaha..."
Sasuke's and Itachi's expression turns ugly at Kabuto's new transformation. The sheer amount of his chakra, his energy, sends a shiver down their spine.
"This power, this pressure... I have only felt something like it from Izuna Nii-san!" Sasuke gulps his saliva.
"Sasuke, we can't hold back any longer."
Both of them activate the 'Senjutsu Seal' on their wrist. Sasuke enters into the second transformation stage of the Sage mode while Itachi enters into the First transformation stage of Senjutsu.
Swish... swish...
Four snake heads appear around Kabuto. He makes a series of rapid hand signs and takes a deep breath.
"Sage Art: Heaven Earth Decapitation Breath,"
The snake fire a beam of black and white beam.
Bang...
The ground beneath Kabuto's feet crumbles. The four beams shoot toward the Uchiha brother at an incredible speed.
"Yata No Kagami,"
Sasuke drops a colossal tower shield in front of his Susanoo.
Vrmm...
A powerful hum echo through the battlefield as the eyes of Yaksha face on the shield glows with a bright green hue. Numerous kanji inscriptions for Fire, water, wind, Earth, and lightning shine brightly around the Yakasha face.
Sasuke's Susanoo grabs the shield. Another diamond mark on Sasuke's wrist disappears as he infuses a large amount of nature energy into the shield. A multi-layer elemental barrier forms around the shield.
Both Sasuke and Itachi take shelter behind the seal.
"That's... that's Izuna Nii-san's shield," Itachi exclaims in surprise.
"Nii-san gave it to me." Sasuke focuses his attention on defending.
BOOM...
The four powerful beams of chakra explode on top of the tower shield.
A mushroom cloud of fire, smoke, dust, debris, and cyan energy rises in the sky. The impact and shockwave of the explosions engulf the giant Susanoo.
Rumble... rumble...
Another earthquake spreads through the entire forest. Birds, insects, and wild animals quickly flee from the forest.
Yuri quickly stands in front of the Anbu group and makes a series of hand signs.
"Adamantine Barrier,"
She creates a yellow barrier to protect the group from the powerful shockwaves of the explosion. Ripples flash across the barrier due to the continuous damage.
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