28.

Slaying the Immortal

Orochimaru had always known this day would come.

Not exactly like this—but close enough.

Every apprentice, every student, every disciple who came under his wing eventually turned on him. They all thought they were strong enough, smart enough, ruthless enough to challenge him.

And each time, they had failed.

But Lee was different.

Sasuke had been expected—Orochimaru had seen the hatred in him from the moment they met. Sasuke was a blade honed toward one single target. Orochimaru had been careful with him, patient. He had shaped him, directed him, knowing that the Uchiha would inevitably fall into his hands.

But Rock Lee?

Lee was something Orochimaru had not accounted for.

He had planned to use the boy, to twist his incredible body into something beyond human, to strip him down and rebuild him into a vessel.

Instead, Lee had become the blade that would cut him down.

Orochimaru smiled to himself.

How delightful.

He exhaled, golden eyes glinting in the dim candlelight of his throne room. The walls were lined with ancient scrolls, relics of forbidden jutsu that had shaped the shinobi world in ways most would never understand. The air was thick with chakra, a slow pulse of power radiating from the floor itself.

Because this was not just a throne room.

It was a battlefield.

And Orochimaru was waiting.

For them.

For his wayward students.

For the moment when the final game would begin.

The Gates of the Throne Room

Lee and Sasuke stood outside, their bodies poised, their minds sharp.

They had cut through Otogakure's defenses like a blade through paper. The Sound Four were dead. Kabuto was incapacitated. The failed experiments, the twisted monstrosities Orochimaru had hidden in the lower tunnels—nothing had stopped them.

And now, only one thing remained.

Sasuke exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "You ready?"

Lee didn't answer immediately.

Because the word 'ready' didn't fit.

This wasn't a mission.

This wasn't a simple battle.

This was a declaration.

A message to the world that Rock Lee and Sasuke Uchiha were no longer weapons to be wielded.

They were kings in the making.

Lee tilted his head slightly, cracking his knuckles. "I was born ready."

Sasuke snorted. "Liar."

Lee smirked. "Fine. I was made ready."

And with that—they kicked the doors down.

The Battle Begins

The moment they stepped inside, the entire room shifted.

Orochimaru's chakra was already filling the space, thick and oppressive.

The walls groaned, shifting like living things, the symbols carved into them glowing with a sickly golden light.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun violently, his muscles already tensed.

"He's already activated a jutsu," Sasuke muttered.

Lee felt it, too.

The weight in the air wasn't just from chakra—it was from history.

The space around them was warping, shifting between dimensions.

Orochimaru was rewriting the battlefield itself.

A slow chuckle echoed from the darkness.

"Ah… my dear students," Orochimaru purred. "You arrived sooner than I expected."

Lee's hands flexed. "Your mistake was expecting us at all."

A pause.

Then, Orochimaru stepped forward, completely unbothered.

His robes flowed like liquid, his pale skin illuminated by the flickering candlelight. His golden eyes gleamed, serpentine and unreadable.

His lips curled into something almost fond.

"You are both so very impressive," he mused, tilting his head. "I should be proud."

Lee didn't blink.

Sasuke did not move.

Because they both knew what was coming.

Orochimaru's voice dropped lower, silkier.

"But, my dear boys… have you considered that perhaps I wanted this?"

A flick of his wrist.

The air cracked.

The walls exploded outward, the glowing symbols twisting violently—and suddenly, the entire world was moving.

Lee reacted instinctively, his foot slamming into the ground just as gravity flipped.

The floor became the ceiling. The walls turned into bottomless pits.

And Orochimaru stood above them all, laughing.

"Welcome," he whispered, his fingers spreading wide.

"Welcome to my kingdom."

A Battle Across Dimensions

Lee didn't think.

He moved.

One step—and the entire battlefield shattered under his speed.

He launched himself toward Orochimaru before the man could react.

His fist collided.

And the entire room cracked open.

Orochimaru's body split apart instantly, the force of Lee's punch ripping through his physical form—but there was no blood.

No bones.

Just smoke.

A clone.

Lee's dōjutsu burned.

Behind you.

He twisted mid-air, foot lashing out—only for Orochimaru's body to fold like a serpent, avoiding the strike with unnatural ease.

A hiss of laughter.

"So fast," Orochimaru murmured, his voice filled with delight.

Lee's foot sliced through empty air.

Then—Orochimaru's hand was already moving.

Faster than it should have been.

Faster than even Lee had anticipated.

A single touch was all it would take.

A single moment for Orochimaru to activate his most powerful jutsu—the Curse Mark, the immortality seal, the forbidden techniques that had destroyed countless shinobi before him.

Lee's instincts screamed.

Move.

But he wasn't alone.

A crackling sound.

A pulse of lightning.

Then—

Chidori.

Sasuke's hand ripped through Orochimaru's chest, lightning exploding outward.

The Sannin's body jerked violently.

Sasuke's voice was cold. "Not this time."

And then—Orochimaru dissolved.

His form collapsed into hundreds of writhing snakes, all of them screaming.

Lee exhaled sharply, stepping back beside Sasuke, eyes scanning the battlefield.

"He's trying to drag us into his real body," Sasuke muttered, his Sharingan flickering violently. "He wants to consume us."

Lee tilted his head. "Then let's kill him before he has the chance."

Sasuke smirked. "Took the words right out of my mouth."

And then—they moved.

The Death of a Legend

Orochimaru had survived for decades.

He had cheated death more times than the world even knew.

He had manipulated the strongest, outlived the greatest, and built an empire that had withstood every attempt to destroy it.

But in the end—

He had underestimated two things.

Ambition.

And anger.

Lee moved with inhuman speed, each strike burning with the force of a meteor. Every impact shattered the battlefield further, forcing Orochimaru's body to regenerate faster than it could keep up.

Sasuke's lightning carved through the serpentine clones, cutting off every escape, leaving nowhere to run.

And then, finally—

Orochimaru staggered.

Just for a moment.

A split second.

But Lee saw it.

His final step.

His last strike.

His fist met Orochimaru's chest—and the world folded inward.

The force of it ripped through reality itself, a shockwave so powerful that even time seemed to hesitate.

And in the last moment, as Orochimaru's body collapsed, twisting into ash and chakra, unraveling into nothing—

Lee whispered, softly, finally.

"You should have never tried to own us."

And then—

Orochimaru was gone.

Erased.

For the first time in history—the Serpent King was dead.

And Rock Lee and Sasuke Uchiha—

Were the ones who had slain him.