Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

At that moment, they discovered that apart from their eyes being able to move, the rest of their bodies were completely immobile.

After doing all this, Sasuke's eyes swept over the three faces filled with fear, and a smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"What a pleasant surprise," he murmured to himself. "It looks like dinner will be quite sumptuous tonight."

Sasuke gripped the "Indra" in his hand and walked step by step toward the three immobilized prey.

"stop!"

Herribel's voice was urgent as she struggled to get up from the sand.

"Don't lay a hand on them!"

Sasuke stopped, turned his head, and his indifferent eyes fell on her again.

"Oh?"

“Your opponent is me!” Harribel gritted her teeth. “Come at me!”

"you?"

Sasuke scoffed, his laughter filled with undisguised contempt. "In your half-dead state, unable to even stand up, what makes you think you can be my opponent?"

He turned around and looked again at the woman who was still struggling.

"To me, your act of protecting them is nothing more than a self-indulgent game. Do you really think that by sacrificing yourself, they can survive?"

"Without your protection, in this dog-eat-dog desert, their only fate will still be to be devoured."

"..." Harribel's lips trembled, but she could not refute it, and a trace of despair gradually appeared in her eyes.

Sasuke took it all in, but the coldness in his eyes had quietly faded a bit.

He slowly sheathed "Indra" again, walked up to Heribel, knelt down, and looked her in the eye.

"The awareness of not wanting to cause sacrifices is commendable."

Sasuke's voice was calm, "But without the resolve to possess power, it's just the lament of the weak."

"In order to avoid sacrifice, the result is that you yourself will become a sacrifice, and even drag those you want to protect down with you."

"Don't you think this is ridiculous?"

These words made Halibel catch her breath again.

"To avoid causing sacrifices, one must possess the power to overturn everything."

Sasuke's voice rang out again, "Follow me, and I will grant you power."

Hribel was stunned.

Sasuke slowly stood up, looking down at her and the three bound figures in the distance.

"A power that allows you to protect what you cherish without requiring any further sacrifice."

"And what you need to do is..."

Sasuke raised his head, gazing up at the endless night sky, his voice becoming faint.

"It will become the cornerstone for me to reshape this world order, and then, witness it firsthand..."

He lowered his head, his eyes reflecting Harribel's shocked face. "There will never be another era of sacrifice."

"..."

The air fell into a deathly silence.

Heribel stared at him, gazing at the madness and determination in his eyes.

She didn't know who the boy in front of her was, nor what he wanted to do.

But she knew one thing.

The world he described, "without sacrifice"...

It was a dream she could never reach, no matter how hard she tried.

"...Why should I believe you?" After a long while, Heribel finally managed to squeeze out this hoarse question from her throat.

Sasuke didn't answer, but slowly raised his left hand.

"Om-"

The golden chains binding the three Apache members vanished silently after a series of ripples.

"..."

Harribel looked at the three figures who had regained their freedom, then at Sasuke, and finally knelt down on one knee in the sand with great difficulty, lowering her proud head.

“My name is Tia Heribel.”

Her voice was soft, yet carried an unprecedented weight: "From this day forward, I am willing to offer you my utmost loyalty."

Of course, Sasuke's real reason for letting her go wasn't because of that so-called protection; it was just that after being away for so long, it wouldn't be right if he didn't bring back some materials.

Furthermore, he also wanted to see how a Vasto Lorde-level Hollow would change in power.

..............

The cold moon cast a pale, ghastly light on the boundless sea of ​​sand.

Several figures traversed this desolate sea of ​​sand, leaving behind a trail of footprints of varying depths.

Sasuke walked at the very front, his steps steady.

Helibel followed quietly behind him, keeping a just-right distance.

Further behind them, Apache, Mila Rhodes, and Sunsun appeared preoccupied, their footsteps becoming increasingly disordered.

"Hey......"

Finally, Apache, the most impatient of them all, couldn't hold back any longer and complained to his companion in a low voice, "Are we really going to follow a Grim Reaper? Are you kidding me! We're Hollows!"

"Shut up, Apache!"

Mira Rhodes immediately turned around and glared at her warily. "Lady Harribel has made her decision, and we only need to obey!"

"But......"

"Have you forgotten who just saved Lady Harribel?" Sunsun, who had been silent all along, spoke softly, her voice not loud, but it left Apache speechless for a moment.

"And as you've seen, Lady Harribel willingly pledged her loyalty to him."

These words silenced both Apache and Mila Rhodes.

yes......

If it weren't for that Grim Reaper, Lady Harribel would be...

Apache's expression changed. Although he was still very uncomfortable, he reluctantly shut his mouth in the end.

Just then, the sound of conversation from ahead interrupted their whispers.

"You previously said that the compatriots you would be willing to sacrifice yourself to protect are what kind of beings they are?"

Sasuke's voice was flat, revealing no emotion.

Helibel paused for a moment, seemingly not expecting him to ask this, but still answered truthfully: "They are all female brethren who are ostracized and hunted by male Hollows. Because they are weak, they can only survive by supporting each other."

“Weak?” Sasuke scoffed. “But as Adjuchas, their power is by no means weak.”

Heribel was silent for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "In the face of a true powerhouse, they are still no match for them."

She looked up, a hint of lingering fear flashing in her emerald eyes. "Like that Hammerhead Facebreaker just now, he was very strong, and his power form was completely different from ours."

"I wonder how much you know about those Hollows called 'Arrancar'?"

"I don't know."

Sasuke shook his head. "It seems that Aizen has been conducting some kind of experiment with the Hogyoku, constantly creating stronger Arrancars."

"But I don't feel he's someone worth following."

This assessment made Halibel's eyes flicker, but she didn't continue the topic.

It was at this moment.

"Help me—!!!"

A sudden, panicked scream came from behind the sand dunes not far ahead.

Sasuke and Haribel stopped in their tracks at the same time.

On the sand dunes, a little girl with lake-green hair wearing a disproportionate bone mask was tumbling forward on her short legs, her face covered in anxious tears.

Behind her, three different-shaped phantoms were chasing after her, baring their fangs and uttering unintelligible roars.

One was shaped like a worm, another was as thin as a bamboo pole, and the last was a comical creature with a huge, round head.

Herribel's brows furrowed instantly, and without hesitation, her figure left an afterimage in the spot.

She arrived late but arrived early, instantly appearing in front of the chasing figures and steadily lifting the little girl up with one hand.

Immediately afterwards, that long, slender leg swept out cleanly and decisively with a whooshing sound.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

With three muffled thuds, the three comical figures were kicked dozens of meters away like rolling gourds, landing on the sand in a daze.

"Are you alright?" Heribel lowered her head, looking at the little one in her arms who was still sobbing, her voice unconsciously softening.

Then, her gaze fell on the complete skull mask on the little girl's head, and her emerald green eyes narrowed slightly.

Arrancar?

"Let me go! Let me go now!"

The little girl named "Nilu," after seeing that her danger had been averted, did not thank them. Instead, she fluttered her short legs and struggled desperately, pointing tearfully at the three figures in the distance.

"They are my teammates! Why did you hit them! We were just playing a game!"

These naive words caused Halibel to freeze slightly.

She glanced at the three figures groaning as they struggled to their feet in the distance, then looked at the tear-streaked little thing in her arms, and said coldly.

"They can't protect you."

Just then, Sasuke walked slowly to her side.