Konoha: The Absolute Justice of the Uchiha

Chapter 173 Orochimaru Falls into the Pure Land! An Endless Bone-Clinging Plague!
Consciousness is like sinking into a cold, dark, deep ocean, yet it is forcibly pulled out at some point of confusion.

This caused Orochimaru to open his eyes in a daze.

As far as the eye could see, there was an endless, deep, viscous gray landscape. There was no sky, no earth, no sense of direction, only a suffocating emptiness slowly flowing, completely devoid of any vitality.

The light, which seemed to come from nowhere, was so faint as a candle flickering in the wind that it barely managed to outline some blurry contours.

It carried an aura of deathly stillness, as if everything had come to an end.

"Where...is this place? Is there such a strange place in Ryuchi Cave? I have no recollection of it at all..."

Orochimaru subconsciously tried to take a step forward, but he couldn't feel any real support under his feet, a sensation that made him very uncomfortable.

Just then, a figure gradually became clear from the depths of the dark fog ahead.

That's a teenager.

He was not tall, wore a green vest typical of Konoha genin, and had a smile on his face that was full of vigor and hope, just like the one Orochimaru vaguely remembered.

The other person was standing there, waving vigorously at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's pupils contracted sharply the moment he saw the face clearly.

A complex mix of astonishment, realization, and some long-buried emotion overwhelmed him like a cold tide.

"...Rope Tree?"

He uttered the name dryly, his voice unusually weak in the deathly silence, with a barely perceptible tremor.

Nawaki! Tsunade's younger brother, one of the disciples she once placed great hopes on, the boy who forever fell in a pool of blood on the battlefield!
The moment Orochimaru saw Nawaki, all the confusion in his heart dissipated like mist blown away by the wind.

The memory of that extreme despair, of having my soul and body burned by the fire of divine retribution, surged up.

All the fragments of memory were suddenly pieced together.

"...I see." For the first time, a blank look of bewilderment appeared on Orochimaru's pale face, which was always filled with cold calculation, and was then replaced by a deep sense of desolation.

He looked down at his hands, which were intact and unstained by any blood, and let out a soft sigh.

His tone was filled with endless weariness and a kind of fatalistic mockery: "Is this... the price of pursuing immortality? There will always be self-righteous guys who jump out to stop me... but I've dodged them every time before. But this time, I couldn't."

"Orochimaru-sensei!" Nawaki's voice came through, carrying the clear tone unique to a young boy and a hint of urgency.

He seemed to want to run over, but was blocked by some invisible boundary, and could only stand on the edge of that gray area, waving his hands forcefully: "Teacher! This way! Here..."

However, just as Nawaki was calling out to Orochimaru, trying to say something more...

"Well--!!!"

Orochimaru's foot, which he had just lifted, suddenly stopped, and his illusory body trembled violently.

A familiar, unforgettable pain, originating from the deepest part of his soul and seemingly tearing his very existence apart, suddenly pierced his skin like a million red-hot steel needles without warning!
"Hiss!!!"

A piercing scream, loud enough to tear apart the deathly silence, erupted from deep within Orochimaru's throat.

He suddenly arched his back, his face contorted in unimaginable pain, his hands clutching his chest as if trying to tear something out of his soul.

The despair and pain contained in those screams were ten or even a hundred times greater than when he was at the bottom of the Ryūchi Cave!
This sacred land cannot possibly be free from that curse!
Nawaki was so frightened by this sudden turn of events that his face turned deathly pale. He took several steps back, his young face filled with terror: "Orochimaru-sensei?! What...what happened to you?!"

He dared not take another step forward, because just as Orochimaru was writhing in agony, a strange flame suddenly burst into flames on Orochimaru's body.

The flame had no heat, yet it exuded an aura that made even the soul of the rope tree tremble.

It clung to Orochimaru's illusory body, burning silently, making Orochimaru's screams even more shrill!

"No, it can't be... This is a sacred land, why... Hiss! Aaaaaaaah!!!"

In the midst of the endless, soul-tearing agony, Uchiha Izumi's cold words echoed clearly deep within his consciousness.

—"The pain you experience will haunt you like a maggot, forever. Whether you linger on or return to the Pure Land, you will not be able to escape it. Every minute and every second you will be plunged into an abyss of endless suffering."

Orochimaru understood; those words weren't just threats or intimidation, but reality!
He will suffer the same fate as Danzo!

"Uchiha Ikezumi!!!"

Orochimaru, filled with the utmost despair and an overwhelming hatred capable of burning everything, unleashed a heart-wrenching roar with the last ounce of his soul's strength.

“His ...

Not far away, Rope Tree could only watch in terror and helplessness as its once revered teacher writhed and howled in eternal torment beyond death, forever plunged into the infernal hell.

……

"Jiraiya, what's wrong?" When Jiraiya walked out of the Uchiha Police Department, he suddenly seemed a little dazed, which made Fukasaku, who was standing on his shoulder, look at him with concern.

Jiraiya took a deep breath, then shook his head somewhat blankly.

"I'm not quite sure either." Jiraiya's voice carried a rare hint of confusion and heaviness: "It's just... I suddenly have a very strange feeling. It's not the kind of danger warning before a battle, but calling it an ominous premonition isn't quite accurate either."

"More like..."

He raised his hand and unconsciously pressed it against his chest, his brows furrowing even more: "It feels like some important part of my body has been forcibly ripped out. I feel completely empty, and my heart is racing."

Jiraiya paused, his expression growing even more serious, as if digging deep into his memory: "Speaking of which... this feeling seems... not to be the first time it has appeared."

Upon hearing this, Fukasaku and Shima, who was on the other shoulder, exchanged a glance, both seeing seriousness in each other's frog eyes.

"Last time..."

Jiraiya's voice lowered, with a barely perceptible sigh: "Not long after I last felt this emptiness and panic... I received news of Minato and Kushina's sacrifice."

Fukasaku's small body tensed instantly, his frog-like face more serious than ever before: "Little Jiraiya! This feeling is definitely not ordinary! Your intuition has always been very sharp, especially when it concerns important people! This is very likely... related to the Child of Prophecy, or someone whose fate is intertwined with yours! We must take this seriously!"

Just as the atmosphere became tense.

"Croak! Cuckoo croak croak!"
A small, jade-green toad suddenly leaped nimbly from the shadows of the nearby flowerbed and landed on the stone path in front of Jiraiya.

It jumped around anxiously, emitting rapid and distinctive croaking sounds.

“This is our liaison toad from Mount Myōboku.” Master Shima immediately recognized the origin of the little toad.

The hermit Fukasaku immediately jumped down, listening intently to the series of rapid frog croaks.

Master Shima listened intently as well, and the expressions of the two immortals grew increasingly solemn as the croaking of the frogs continued, their brows furrowed.

Seeing the two immortals' reactions, Jiraiya's strange feeling grew stronger, and he couldn't help but ask urgently, "What...what is it saying?"

Fukasaku raised his head, his frog-like eyes filled with complexity and worry. He spoke slowly, his voice heavy with unprecedented weight: "Little Jiraiya... This is a messenger specially sent from Mount Myōboku by the Great Lord. It brings the vision the Great Lord saw in his 'precognitive dream'..."

The sage Fukasaku took a deep breath and continued, "The master said—he had a dream. In the dream, he saw a huge, purple snake writhing and struggling. Then it was completely melted by scalding red magma!"

"At the end of his dream, the master suddenly felt that the melted snake... seemed not entirely a snake. Its aura carried a strong human scent."

"After waking up from his dream, the master had a strong premonition—this dream has some profound connection with you, little Jiraiya!"

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya's expression became extremely grave: "Lava, purple snakes, snakes with the aura of living beings, and they're related to me..."

These three pieces of information were enough for Jiraiya to guess what was going on.

"Uchiha Ikezumi!"

"Orochimaru!"

……

"Pfft!!!" One of the three great snake princesses, Tashin no Kamihime, was no stronger than Orochimaru. Even Orochimaru couldn't withstand the blows from the giant wooden doll, let alone Tashin no Kamihime.

The chilling sound of bones breaking echoed like popping beans.

Her slender waist, fragile ribs, delicate arm bones... couldn't withstand the absolute power of the wooden dummy for even a second, and began to break inch by inch, even shattering into pieces!
She was accompanied by a series of terrifying sounds of bones shattering and splattering blood.

It shot backwards into the distance at an astonishing speed.

The other two Snake Princesses—Ichikishima-hime and Tazu-hime—quickly transformed into two streaks of light and shot out the moment Takoshi-hime was knocked away, attempting to catch their seriously injured companion!

"Tianxin!"

Ji Jiao shouted and stretched out her hands.

However, they severely underestimated the terrifying power contained in the wooden figure's palm strike.

Just as their fingertips were about to touch the broken body of the Heavenly Goddess, an overwhelming force slammed into the two snake goddesses.

They felt as if they had been hit head-on by a charging tailed beast; they both groaned, and the color drained from their beautiful faces.

His body was also uncontrollably carried backward by the "remains cannonball" of the Heavenly Princess!

boom! boom! boom!
Three figures crashed heavily into a massive, solid cliff hundreds of meters away, the heavy impact echoing as gravel rained down.

"Cough cough cough..."

Princess Ichikishima coughed up several mouthfuls of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, feeling as if all the bones in her body had fallen apart.

Despite the excruciating pain, she struggled to turn around and search for the most severely injured Goddess Tianxin. However, the sight that met her eyes sent a chill down her spine, even for this thousand-year-old snake goddess!
In a deep crater in the cliff face, the body of Princess Tianxin was embedded deep into the rock in a posture that completely defied human anatomy and was chilling.

His limbs were twisted at bizarre angles, his spine seemed to be broken into several pieces, and his gorgeous ancient kimono was stained with blood and pebbles. His once clear and beautiful face was now a bloody mess, half of his cheekbone was sunken, and his breath was as weak as a candle in the wind.

Only the body was still twitching slightly and unconsciously.

The magical energy, like a faint firefly, was struggling to seep out from her shattered body, attempting to repair the horrific wounds.

"hiss……"

Princess Ichikishima gasped, a chill running down her spine.

She never imagined that Tianxin Shenji, a fellow high-ranking member of Ryuchi Cave and possessing powerful celestial magic, would be injured to such an extent by a human.

Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The deadly footsteps, like the drums of war, approached from afar, carrying a power that made the earth tremble.

The enormous wooden figure was seen trudging heavily towards the cliff from which they had fallen.

Each step left a charred footprint, still burning with lava.

Above the giant's head, Uchiha Ikezumi's figure stood like a cold sculpture.

Those crimson Sharingan eyes pierced through the smoke and dust, locking onto them firmly!

Even when they were still hundreds of meters apart, Uchiha Ikezumi had already made his move!
He bent his right arm, and the crimson magma flowing on his arm instantly expanded and surged violently like a boiling volcano. The viscous lava rolled and roared, and in the blink of an eye, it condensed into a giant lava fist with a diameter of nearly ten meters, which was constantly emitting destructive high temperature!

The entire arm was completely elementalized, transforming into a crimson bridge connecting the giant fist.

boom--! ! !
With a powerful punch, the giant lava fist, like a lava dragon breaking free from its restraints, hurtled towards the three snake queens embedded in the cliff face, accompanied by a shrill cry that tore through the air and an intense heat that could incinerate everything.

The enormous fist shadow almost completely enveloped all three of them!
Princess Ichikishima and Princess Takitsu's pupils suddenly contracted!

The intense threat of death forced them to make a decision instantly.

Two sharp, piercing hisses echoed through the cave. The two snake princesses could no longer maintain their human forms. The enormous sage chakra accumulated within their bodies suddenly erupted, and their bodies rapidly expanded, twisted, and deformed like inflating balloons!
Bang!
Bang!
Two enormous serpents, no less massive than the previous Thousand Serpents, instantly replaced the graceful human figure, coiling themselves before the cliff face.

Under the red light of the lava fist, their scales reflected a cold, hard, metallic sheen. The enormous serpentine bodies stood like two mountains, fiercely protecting the heavily injured Princess Tianxin.

But it is clear that during their long and relatively "peaceful" years in Ryongchi-dong, they had forgotten how to fight against truly formidable enemies.

They also failed to learn any lessons from the man-eating snake's mutilated body.

"madness."

Above the wooden figure's head, Uchiha Ikezumi coldly uttered a comment.

Orochimaru repeatedly dared not confront his magma head-on, while the two snake princesses of Ryuchi Cave attempted to block the magma with their own flesh and blood.

boom--! ! !
The giant lava fist, with overwhelming force, slammed into the massive serpentine body of Princess Ichikishima, which was the first to be hit, and its scales were covered with a metallic sheen.

It's sizzling!

puff!

A chilling sound suddenly rang out, and the snake scales, which seemed strong enough to withstand a direct hit from a ninjutsu, melted with a piercing sound the moment they touched the giant lava fist, like a hot knife cutting into solidified lard.

There was not the slightest obstruction.

The giant lava fist, carrying terrifying heat and impact, pierced through Princess Ichikishima's serpentine body without any hindrance!
A terrifying, charred giant hole with dark red lava flowing along its edges exploded on Princess Ichikishima's serpentine body.

The internal organs, bones, and flesh that were directly hit were instantly carbonized by the extreme heat of the magma in a very short moment.

A strong, burnt smell and the stench of burning protein filled the air instantly.

This is simply because the diameter of the magma fist is smaller than the thickness of the snake's body.

That's why they didn't manage to cut her in half at the waist on the spot!
"Hissing and hooting—!!!"

The indescribable pain caused Princess Ichikishima to let out a piercing scream; the pain was as if her soul was being torn apart alive.

The enormous snake's body twisted and thrashed wildly, and blood mixed with charred bits of flesh gushed out of the horrifying wound like a waterfall.

Her vertical pupils were bloodshot from the excruciating pain and looked as if they were about to burst.

The momentum of the lava fist was reduced by less than 30% by this massive flesh and blood body. With Ichikishima-hime's screams and a rain of blood, it continued its momentum and crashed hard into Tsuratsu-hime behind it.

boom--

Zhila! ! !

This time, although it failed to pierce through completely, the terrifying power and still intense heat still blasted a huge dent several meters deep into the snake's body.

The hard scales shattered inch by inch, like fragile glass.

The intense burning pain and the agony of internal organ damage caused Princess Tsuratsu to let out a painful scream.

"Hiss!!!"

Two enormous serpents writhed and convulsed in agony before the cliff face, their blood and lava staining the scorched ground red. Their mournful cries echoed endlessly within the cave.

For a moment, Tsuratsuhime endured the burning pain in her body and the churning internal injuries. The enormous snake head suddenly rose, its bloodshot vertical pupils locking onto Uchiha Ikezumi above the wooden doll's head.

Her voice was hoarse and distorted with pain and extreme anger: "Human! I remember that Ryuchi Cave has never had any enmity or entanglement with you or the Uchiha clan behind you!"

"On the contrary, it is you! You trespassed into the sacred land uninvited! You slaughtered ten thousand snakes, killed Orochimaru! You severely injured Tashin!"

"Now they're even turning on us and killing us mercilessly, why is that?!"

"What exactly are you trying to do?!"

Uchiha Ikezumi stood silently atop the wooden dummy, its towering height allowing him to look directly at the two giant snakes writhing in agony. He remained silent in the face of Takitsuhime's question, a question brimming with anger and bewilderment.

He slowly turned the gaze of his crimson, eerie Mangekyou Sharingan to the enormous snake eyes of Tsuratsuhime.

The instant their eyes met!
Princess Tsuratsu's enormous serpentine body suddenly stiffened! She felt the surrounding space instantly distort and change.

"This is……?!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Tsuratsuhime's huge vertical pupils.

What lay before them was no longer a battlefield scarred by devastation and flowing lava, but a desolate moonlit night.

She suddenly noticed a familiar figure in front of her, who had slipped into a human village under the cover of night.

Take a closer look.

Isn't this herself?
and many more!

Long-forgotten memories suddenly flooded her mind, and Tsuratsuhime immediately realized something: "This is a Sharingan genjutsu!"

In fantasy.

She watched helplessly as "herself" slipped into the farmhouses... Then, horrifying screams that pierced the night sky, helpless cries of children, desperate roars of men, and dying moans of women erupted from all corners of the village like a tidal wave.

The pungent, nauseating stench of blood instantly filled the entire illusion.

Princess Tsurugi broke out in a cold sweat. Why was she seeing scenes from her memories? Was this illusion meant to trigger long-forgotten memories? Or had the other person seen her memories?

The next second, the scene before my eyes suddenly changed.

This time, the scene has changed to a dark, secluded cave deep within Ryuchi-dong, filled with the molted skins of giant snakes.

She saw "herself" deliberately torture and kill a trial participant who was about to pass the Dragon Cave test, just for fun, in order to see just how desperate humans could be, and what they would do in their most desperate moments.
Then, the scene shifts again.

Countless memories flashed through the illusion like a revolving lantern.

The only pattern that Princess Tsurugi noticed was that in every illusion, she was the one committing murder!
But what puzzled her was...

The opponent's Sharingan genjutsu only made him recall many memories he couldn't remember, but these memories couldn't cause any mental torment, nor could they instantly render him unable to fight.

So what exactly is the purpose of the other party using illusion magic?
Sudden.

The illusion receded like the tide, and the pungent smell of sulfur, the excruciating pain of wounds, and the screams of companions instantly returned.

The shock and bewilderment still lingered in Princess Tsuratsu's enormous serpentine eyes.

She saw that towering wooden figure again.

I saw the figure above the wooden figure's head.

At that moment, Uchiha Ikezumi's cold voice echoed: "These are the evil deeds you committed in the ninja world. There is no personal grudge between us. I attacked you simply because you are a villain. Your continued existence will prevent countless innocent victims from resting in peace. I am merely seeking justice for them that is a thousand years overdue."

Princess Tsuratsu looked utterly bewildered.

This guy……

Crazy!
Such a lame excuse...

Is he serious?

……

……

(End of this chapter)