*“Sasuke’s going to survive this. He always does. It’s just a matter of time before Naruto gets involved against, and then we’ll see that stupid rivalry py out. They’ll fight. Sasuke will get stronger. And Sakura? Well, she’ll just be there to make noise,”* Kuro mused, a slight smirk pying on his lips. *“I know how this goes.”*

  His attention snapped back to Sasuke as the Uchiha let out a strangled scream, the curse mark beginning to take full effect. Orochimaru’s cold, serpentine gaze never left Sasuke’s form as he whispered something unintelligible, the words lost in the cacophony of battle around them. Kuro watched it all unfold, noting every detail, every motion. This was what he’d e to expect. There was nothing new here.

  *“I’ll be ho, watg this again is kind of b. I should’ve brought a snack or something,”* Kuro thought, tapping his foot lightly as he leaned back against the tree. *“o get too ied. This is just another episode in the long, drawn-out drama that is their lives. Hell, I probably won’t even be around when it all s up. Let’s see how it pys out.”*

  Orochimaru had vanished. "So, the first part's over, I guess. Time to leave," he said, though he remained where he was.

  Kuro had alrided himself on being an observer, someone who watched the chaos unfold without getting caught up in it. He had no allegiao anyone here, no reason to rush in and save anyone. But as he stood there, a flicker of doubt crossed his mind.

  “This is getting old. If I help them in this situation it won’t be a problem right?” he thought, gng in the dire of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.

  But even as he thought that, something g the back of his mind. His senses prickled, and an unfamiliar, ominous energy began to swirl in the air around him. Before he could a his instincts, a figure emerged from the shadoresehat, in an instant, pulled Kuro’s focus away from his thoughts.

  Orochimaru.

  Kuro’s heart tightehe man’s twisted, serpentiures barely visible in the dim light, stood tall in the clearing, a sinister smile tugging at his lips. Kuro’s pulse quied, but he remaiill. It was hard not to notice how the very air seemed to ge with Orochimaru’s presence—heavy, dangerous, full of malevolent energy. His eyes gleamed with that uling predatory light, hypnotid cold.

  “Ah, the wonder boy. The ohat peculiar Xaker is so fond of,” Orochimaru’s voice slithered through the air, mog and dripping with disdain. Kuro stiffened. Xaker. The him like a bolt from the past—anure from his life, his old world, ohat he would rather not think about. The mention of that name sent a chill through his spine, and for a split sed, his mind wandered. “As I thought you are w with him, huh?”

  The fact that Orochimaru knew about Xaker, an enemy from his previous life, was uling but not ued for him.

  “Tell me, wonder boy,” Orochimaru tinued, his voice like a whisper of a venomous wind, “do you really think you meddle in affairs beyond your uanding?” He stepped closer, his eyes never leaving Kuro’s. “You have no idea what you’re up against.”

  Kuro stood unmoving, his mind rag as he calcuted the move. He wasn’t about to rush in recklessly, not with someone like Orochimaru standing in front of him. He had dealt with powerful enemies before, but this? This was different. Orochimaru had a way of bending people to his will, a way of making them question their every move. That snake-like smile, that cold, unblinking stare—it made everything feel like a game, and Kuro wasn’t in the mood to py.

  Still, Kuro wasn’t stupid. He khe danger in uimating someone like Orochimaru, especially with his seemingly endless supply of tricks. He’d seen how the man maniputed people, how he could twist situations in his favor. But Kuro had no iion of giving Orochimaru the satisfa of watg him panic. His hands were still, his staeady, his breathing slow and trolled. He was a warrior, not some helpless pawn to be toyed with.

  “You talk a lot,” Kuro said, his voice calm, almost bored. He wasn’t going to give Orochimaru the satisfa of seeing any hint of fear. “You seem to have fotten that I’m not your problem. But I’m sure we’ll get to that soon enough.”

  Orochimaru’s smile faltered for a moment, just a fra of a sed, but it was enough to show Kuro that the man was slightly thrown off by his nonce. Orochimaru wasn’t used to having people challenge him so casually. He raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued.

  “Hmm,” Orochimaru hummed, tapping his finger against his . “You certainly are different from the others. But that doesn’t mean you just stand there and expect things to go your way.”

  “Well, I suppose we’ll find out who has the upper hand,” Kuro said, his eyes narrowing as he sized up the situation. The air around them crackled with tension, but Kuro wasn’t about to be swept into the tide of Orochimaru’s theatrics. The man was trying to provoke him, trying to get him to react. And Kuro wasn’t about to give him that satisfa.

  Orochimaru’s lips twisted into another smile, sharper this time, more dangerous. “You’re an iing one,” he mused. “But don’t mistake that for survival. You’re still just another pawn in this game.”

  “I’m not a pawn,” Kuro thought. He didn’t o prove anything to Orochimaru. The man was a joke, and Kuro wasn’t in the mood to indulge him. He wasn’t here to py hero, and he certainly wasn’t here to fight some long-drawn-out battle with a snake-faced vilin.

  As the moments stretched on, Kuro’s mind worked. He didn’t o fight Orochimaru head-on. There was always another way to win a game like this. Kuro wasn’t here for the drama, and he wasn’t here to py the hero. He was simply here to watch. Let Orochimaru make his move. Let the situation unfold as it would. It was always the same—just another battle in an endless series of them.