Naruto: The Strongest Clan System, Madara's Just the Beginning — Chapter 465

Chapter 465: Orochimaru’s Greed: I Want Sasuke’s Body

The thought lingered for only a fraction of a second. High above the shattered earth, Itachi exerted his will over the ethereal crimson giant. His Susanoo shifted its massive weight. The Sword of Totsuka swept out in a violent, horizontal arc, cleaving the very air and forcing Sasuke to retreat in a desperate scramble.

“Is this all you have?” Itachi’s voice drifted down, cold and detached, laced with a heavy undercurrent of contempt. “If that is the extent of your hatred, you will not even be able to touch the hem of my cloak.”

“Shut up!” Sasuke roared, his vocal cords straining. His eyes spun with frantic crimson light as he braced his legs, preparing to launch himself forward once again.

But before the clash could resume, a sudden shift rippled through the unseen currents of the ninja world.

Far away, buried deep beneath the shadowed terrain of the Land of Rice Fields, a pair of slitted, serpentine eyes snapped open in the gloom of a secret underground base. Unconcealed greed and feverish fanaticism burned within those golden irises.

“Magnificent…”

Orochimaru extended his long, pale tongue, dragging it slowly across his dry lips. A low, bone-chilling laugh echoed against the damp stone walls. “I thought this was merely an ordinary revenge drama. Two brothers settling an old score. I did not expect to witness such a beautiful evolution.”

It was truly beautiful.

Through his surveillance, Orochimaru observed the raw, untamed power radiating from Sasuke’s youthful frame. That body was practically overflowing with potential. It was a vessel tailor-made for him, a flawless container for his soul.

“Uchiha Akira…” Orochimaru whispered, his tone darkening as a flash of resentment crossed his features. “Although I cannot take your body… this…”

His gaze locked onto the image of Sasuke, the hunger in his expression surging to a terrifying peak. “This brat is different. This is simply a gift from the heavens!”

Since he could not obtain Uchiha Akira’s absolute perfection, he would gladly settle for the next best thing. Sasuke’s young physique, brimming with infinite potential and a newly awakened Mangekyo Sharingan, stood at the absolute pinnacle of the ninja world.

As long as he possessed Sasuke, he, Orochimaru, would still hold the key to grasping the ultimate truths of this world.

“Hehehe…” The Sannin chuckled, his shoulders shaking in the dim light. “Itachi, your mission is over. Now, allow me to take over this little game.”

Orochimaru raised his pale hands, his fingers blurring as they rapidly formed a sequence of hand seals.

“Edo Tensei: Binding Curse Seal, full release!”

He slammed his palms together. A cruel, sharp arc curled at the corners of his mouth.

“Bring that brat back to me!”

Back on the devastated battlefield, the wind howled through the craters.

Itachi, who had been calmly preparing his next counterattack, suddenly went rigid. A violent tremor wracked his body. Deep within his mind, an overwhelmingly oppressive force erupted from the hidden talisman embedded in his brain.

It was the absolute control tag Orochimaru had planted during the reanimation process. Previously, the Sannin had only issued vague, overarching directives, allowing Itachi to retain his own consciousness and tactical autonomy.

But now, the parameters had changed.

That dark, invasive chakra was frantically eroding his will, tearing through his mental defenses in a brutal attempt to erase his personality entirely. Orochimaru intended to turn him into a mindless killing machine.

“Ugh…”

A low groan escaped Itachi’s lips. He clutched his head, his fingers digging into his scalp. His crimson Sharingan, usually so calm and calculating, began to tremble uncontrollably in their sockets. The edges of his vision blurred into a chaotic smear of colors.

Against his own volition, his arms rose. His fingers began to weave hand seals.

‘This chakra…’Itachi’s mind raced, fighting through the agonizing mental static.’Orochimaru!’In an instant, the truth became clear. The snake had set his sights on Sasuke.’Damn it…’ Itachi ground his teeth together, the sound loud in his own ears. He desperately mobilized every ounce of his mental fortitude, throwing up barriers of willpower to resist the encroaching control.

But he was a dead man. He was nothing more than a puppet bound by the absolute laws of the Edo Tensei. His resistance, no matter how fierce, was destined to fail.

His consciousness was dissipating like smoke in a gale. Control over his own limbs was being violently stripped away.

Across the ruined earth, Sasuke noticed none of this internal war.

Through his bloodshot eyes, Itachi’s sudden pause was nothing more than a fatal opening.

“An opportunity!”

Pure, unadulterated killing intent flared in Sasuke’s gaze. The ethereal black flame sword gripped by his own Susanoo cleaved downward, aiming directly for Itachi’s head with enough force to split the ground beneath them.

Watching the massive blade descend, Itachi made no move to defend himself.

Instead, a bitter, quiet smile of relief touched the corners of his mouth.

‘Like this… it is fine too.’

However, the universe had other plans.

In the very next second, Itachi’s hands shot upward, moving with a terrifying, mechanical precision that completely defied his own will. The towering crimson Susanoo mirrored the motion, suddenly raising the Yata Mirror.

A deafening crash shattered the air as the ethereal shield effortlessly blocked Sasuke’s lethal strike, sending shockwaves rippling across the wasteland.

Immediately after, the Sword of Totsuka thrust forward at an impossibly tricky angle. There was no hesitation in this counterattack, no holding back. The legendary blade pierced straight through the defensive ribs of Sasuke’s Susanoo, stabbing brutally into the purple giant’s shoulder.

Sasuke’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. The sheer ruthlessness of the strike caught him off guard. This was not Itachi’s previous fighting style. The measured restraint was gone.

“Sasuke…”

Inside the crimson Susanoo, Itachi suddenly threw his head back. Using the absolute last shred of his fading reason, he tore a heart-wrenching roar from his throat.

“Run!”

The desperate warning struck Sasuke’s ears, but his mind, utterly blinded by years of festering hatred, twisted the words into something else entirely.

Sasuke froze for a fraction of a second. Then, his face contorted. An extremely distorted, frenzied smile stretched across his features, pulling at his cheeks.

“Haha… Hahahaha!”

Laughter spilled from his lips, harsh and grating. “Uchiha Itachi, are you afraid? Are you finally feeling terror?”

Sasuke stared fixedly at the man he believed had ruined his life, the killing intent in his eyes burning hotter than ever before. “You are actually telling me to run? Do not look down on me!”

He bared his teeth like a cornered beast. “I am a genius of the Uchiha Clan!”

The dark chakra surrounding Sasuke surged, feeding the purple giant around him. “The current me is no longer that crybaby who only followed behind you! I am going to kill you! No matter who comes, they will not be able to stop me!”

Completely ignoring the genuine terror in his brother’s final warning, Sasuke commanded his Susanoo to advance instead of retreating. He closed the distance, stepping directly into the danger zone.

With a sickening crunch of ethereal armor, Sasuke’s Susanoo raised its massive palm and firmly grabbed the burning blade of the Sword of Totsuka still lodged in its shoulder.

“Got you!” Sasuke roared, blood leaking from his spinning eyes. “Amaterasu!”

Pitch-black flames erupted from the point of contact. The inextinguishable fire spread frantically along the length of the Sword of Totsuka, racing straight toward Itachi’s crimson Susanoo like a swarm of ravenous locusts.

Watching the black fire approach, the last glimmer of human light in Itachi’s eyes finally went out.

‘My foolish… little brother…’

A faint, sorrowful sigh dissipated into the howling wind.

The next moment, Itachi’s eyes snapped open wide. All the internal struggle, all the complex emotion, vanished completely.

Replacing them was absolute coldness. Pure, unadulterated killing instinct.

“Hehehe…”

A raspy, chilling laugh spilled from Itachi’s mouth. Although the vocal cords belonged to the Uchiha prodigy, the cadence, the drawn-out syllables, and the sinister tone were unmistakably Orochimaru’s.

“What a… lively prey.”

Looking at the Amaterasu flames rapidly climbing the Sword of Totsuka, Orochimaru felt no panic. Through the absolute connection of the curse seal, he issued a direct, overriding command.

Immediately, the crimson Susanoo erupted with a blinding, terrifying light.

Previously, Itachi had maintained it in its second stage, a skeletal structure wrapped in glowing meridians and muscle fibers. But in this single instant, it rapidly forced its way through a complete transformation.

Susanoo: Third Stage.

Thick, impenetrable crimson armor materialized over the ethereal muscles, locking into place with the sound of grinding mountains. Before this absolute, overwhelming power, the black flames released by Sasuke were violently snuffed out, extinguished as easily as a candle in a hurricane.

“How is this possible!” Sasuke gasped, his frenzied smile shattering.

Before he could even attempt to react, a colossal palm covered in heavy crimson armor broke through the dust-filled air. It slammed into Sasuke’s purple Susanoo, gripping it by the throat and forcibly lifting the entire massive construct off the ground.

“This… This is…”

Sasuke struggled desperately. His eyes bled as he frantically pushed his Visual Prowess to its absolute limits, trying to command his giant to break free from the crushing grip.

But dangling in front of the fully armored Third Stage Susanoo, his newly awakened power seemed pitifully immature.

“To possess the Mangekyo, yet only know how to bite wildly like a cornered beast.” Orochimaru spoke through Itachi’s lips, letting out a long sigh of mock admiration. “What a… waste of a heavenly gift.”

Without warning, the controlled Itachi suddenly exerted his strength. His free hand tightened its grip on the hilt of the Sword of Totsuka.

This time, the tip of the legendary sealing blade was no longer aimed at a non-lethal shoulder.

It was aimed directly at the center of Sasuke’s chest.

“Since you refuse to listen,” Orochimaru hissed, his voice dripping with malice, “then I will crush you first, take you back, and train you slowly.”

As the chilling words fell, the Sword of Totsuka thrust downward, carrying a merciless, cold light.

The suffocating shadow of death instantly enveloped Sasuke.

‘Move!’Sasuke screamed frantically in his own mind, his heart hammering against his ribs.’Move for me!’

But suspended in the air, facing an absolute, impossible difference in strength, all his struggles were entirely in vain.