 343
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CHAPTER
344 - The Snake and...
Sasuke’s attack
caught Orochimaru at a
time when he is most vulnerable. His Chidori blade has
skewered through both of Orochimaru’s arms at the
wrists. Sasuke increases the chakra input into his Chidori,
causing the blade to continue to extend through Orochimaru’s
arms and sink into the wall behind him.
Sasuke looks down on his former master and tells
Orochimaru that he is weaker than himself, so there is no need for him
to give Orochimaru his body. Orochimaru tells Sasuke that he
is talking pretty big for someone so young and inexperienced. Sasuke
replies that since Orochimaru couldn’t get Itachi, he settled
for the younger Uchiha instead. Sasuke  continues
to mock Orochimaru and
tells him he was only considered a genius in his time because he was
above the norm of society. But against those of the Uchiha, he was
nothing more than another ordinary person. To Sasuke,
Orochimaru is no different from his brother Itachi. Both, for
selfish reasons, play with the people around them like toys and have
little regard for people’s lives. Orochimaru has
killed countless people in his experiments and takes over the bodies of
others just to achieve immortality for himself. Itachi
murdered the entire Uchiha clan, save his brother, just to, in his own
words, “measure one’s worth.”
 Sasuke tells Orochimaru
that he makes him sick
and charges onto the bed and drives the Chidori blade deeper. In one
quick motion, he readies his Kusanagi Sword to finish Orochimaru
off. But Orochimaru suddenly widens his mouth, ejecting a
white blur which rushes past Sasuke. Towering over Sasuke is the shape
of a white snake; Orochimaru’s true form achieved through
years of dark experiments. The morphed head of Orochimaru
screams for Sasuke to surrender over his body and strikes at
him. Sasuke leaps out of the way, but two of the scales from
Orochimaru’s snake body morph into individual white snakes
and attack Sasuke while he is in mid-air. But they are no
threat to Sasuke as he does  a quick spinning maneuver and severs both
snakes’ heads with his sword. Orochimaru becomes
angrier and launches a dozen more snakes at Sasuke.
 In a surprising move,
Sasuke sheaths his sword
and instead frees his arms from his shirt.
Orchimaru’s snake wrap around Sasuke, hoping to trap him in
the cocoon. Sasuke begins to transform into his second level
Cursed Seal state. As the white snakes engulf him, he calmly
tells Orochimaru it is ridiculous for a snake that crawls on the ground
to dream of flying. So instead, Orchimaru targeted a young
chick inside a nest; but the hunter  has now
become the prey.
 In an explosion of blood
and shredded snake body
parts, Orochimaru’s snakes are torn into pieces.
Sasuke emerges in his complete transformed state with both of his grey
wings fully spread. Sasuke tells Orochimaru that he will be
the one to soar high into the sky.
In a flashback sequence, a very young Orochimaru
is paying his respects at the grave of his parents while his sensei,
Sarutobi, watches over. In the grass, he finds the skin shed
by a white snake and shows it to his sensei. Sarutobi says it
is a rare find and that it symbolizes good fortune and
rebirth. He also tells Orochimaru it could mean his parents
have been reincarnated somewhere and that they will meet him
someday. The thought seems to make Orochimaru happy as he
studies the white snake skin with a smile.
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