The following contains spoilers for Chapter 1 of Naruto: Sasuke’s Story — The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust, by Masashi Kishimoto, Jun Esaka, Shingo Kimura, and Snir Aharon, now available in English from Viz Media.
In the Naruto lore, the devious Orochimaru was one of the nastiest tyrants around. The mad scientist almost destroyed Konoha after he became a rogue ninja, invading during Naruto and Sasuke’s exams. He even orchestrated the death of his former mentor, the Third Hokage (Sarutobi Hiruzen), and tried to work with the Akatsuki to bring about major destruction.
Thankfully he redeemed himself in the battle against Kaguya, and now in the Boruto era, Orochimaru uses his scientific skills to improve the free shinobi world. Still, Naruto has the likes of Shikamaru keeping a close eye on the snake ninja in addition to monitoring the likes of Eida and her devious little brother, Daemon. With Naruto: Sasuke’s Story — The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust sharing some much-needed backstory to Sasuke’s Ranger duties, it turns out he met another Orochimaru — but with a seedy Jurassic Park twist.
Zansūru Is an Orochimaru Who Loves Dinosaurs
Sasuke ends up in Redaku in this story, seeking a cure for a mysterious ailment Naruto has. He gets arrested and goes to the Tatar prison where he believes the cure is, only to run into Zansūru, the warden. He’s into science, stargazing and scientific research, and takes a keen interest in Sasuke after seeing the warrior batter tons of inmates with ease.
However, Zansūru has a Jurassic Park energy to him when it’s revealed he’s got an obedient pet dinosaur named Menō. Menō’s a raptor, nodding to the old movies where they hunted Alan and the heroes, and the new flicks where Owen controlled the likes of Blue. The beast eventually eats a prisoner who tries to escape over the wall after failing to convince Sasuke to join him. The other prisoners tell Sasuke the creature is quite unforgiving, which has the Uchiha Ranger wondering what other secrets are at this observatory.
Zansūru Dredges Up Old Memories of Orochimaru
It’s such a big coincidence because Orochimaru found Sasuke to be a perfect vessel back in the day. He tried to put a cursed seal and co-opt the boy’s body, wanting him after he couldn’t get Itachi (Sasuke’s brother) as the ultimate Uchiha specimen. Thankfully, Orochimaru’s creepy obsession ended, but Zansūru is repeating this arc years later. He may crave Sasuke’s DNA for some shady projects, but Sasuke could play along, wanting to inch closer to the cure for his heroic leader in the Hidden Leaf.
Sasuke has his Rinnegan and Sharingan and is more experienced this time, so he won’t be easy to manipulate or dissect. He’ll have to be careful though, because he doesn’t know what other weapons Zansūru has, if the dinosaur could somehow best him, and what other threats they’ll encounter as Zansūru has them digging — seemingly excavating — dino bones. Ultimately, the Heavenly Stardust spinoff is a wildcard of a trip, with Sasuke sensing this new Orochimaru could indeed be as dangerous as the old one.
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