Chapter 211: Orochimaru Panics
Minutes earlier, deep within the forest, the foliage sliced the pale moonlight, which, combined with the glow of the lava and flames behind, cast dancing, distorted shadows across the ground.
Orochimaru's figure zipped through the trees like a ghost, his golden vertical pupils flashing with cold urgency in the gloom.
"To be the enemy of a Konoha junior, only to end up fleeing for my life... Heh heh, what an utter disgrace," Orochimaru muttered to himself, his face grim with self-mockery, his voice carrying its characteristic low rasp.
To buy time, he didn't hesitate to weave hand signs—Shadow Clone Technique!
Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof...
Dozens of white smoke clouds burst open. Dozens of identical, grim-eyed Orochimarus instantly appeared behind him. Like a fracturing swarm of snakes, they immediately scattered and fled in all directions, some even taking paths opposite to the true Orochimaru.
Each clone worked without pause as it ran.
Some rapidly scattered poisoned senbon and laid down steel wire traps barely visible to the naked eye.
Some quickly etched Explosion Tag formulas onto tree trunks and rocks.
Some even ripped open scrolls and summoned hissing packs of poisonous snakes, letting them coil in the predicted path of the pursuer...
The entire forest seemed to transform into a huge, deadly hunting snare, with cold killing intent lurking in every corner.
If a normal ninja stepped into this, they'd likely meet a swift end. But all Orochimaru did was merely to delay Ikeizumi Uchiha's pursuit.
Because he knew these traps couldn't kill the boy.
"Ten minutes... No, maybe just eight minutes!"
Orochimaru licked his dry, cracked lips, feeling the fiery sting in his lungs.
"As long as I can create enough distance, he'll never be able to catch me again."
As he spoke, a strong sense of frustration and humiliation surged within him.
Orochimaru had thought his many preparations would be sufficient to suppress or even capture this "vessel" of astonishing potential.
However, the power Ikeizumi Uchiha displayed far exceeded Orochimaru's worst estimations.
"Heh, I was careless... I completely misjudged his growth rate..."
This familiar sense of defeat involuntarily reminded him of his crushing loss years ago when he coveted those legendary eyes.
The overwhelming power brought by the Rinnegan of the Akatsuki leader was strikingly similar to that of this relentless, pressuring brat of justice.
They both possessed power that defied all logic.
And their minds were equally...
Obsessive and extreme.
"Heh... perfect. The Akatsuki are also planning to hunt Ikeizumi Uchiha... Let them fight like dogs. No matter who wins or loses, I'll be sitting on the sidelines."
"Ikeizumi Uchiha's corpse will eventually fall into my hands, requiring only a negligible price."
"And if that brat somehow wins, the Akatsuki will be severely weakened, which is a great benefit for me to escape their control."
Regardless of the outcome.
He wouldn't lose!
Although his current situation was messy, Orochimaru still felt he had won. He dared to assert that Ikeizumi Uchiha's future predicament would certainly be far more desperate than his own was now.
But just at that moment.
WHOOSH—!!!
A sharp, ear-piercing scream of air displacement suddenly erupted right behind him!
A deadly warning, like an icy spike, stabbed straight into Orochimaru's spine!
In a fraction of a second, his body, modified countless times, performed a softening reaction beyond human limits—his entire torso bent backward unnaturally as if it had lost all bones, and his head snapped back at an impossible angle.
The next instant, a visible, translucent wind blade, carrying a screech that ripped the air, whistled past his nose and flying black hair.
It savagely sliced into the dense forest dozens of meters ahead!
Slice, slice, slice!!!
Like a hot knife cutting through butter, dozens of towering trees that required several men to hug were cleanly cut in half, the cross-sections smooth as glass.
The upper halves of the trunks crashed down with a grinding groan.
"That's... Wind Release: Wind Blade Jutsu?"
Cold sweat poured from Orochimaru.
However, the fatal sense of crisis didn't dissipate; instead, it clung to him like a venomous insect, attacking from behind again.
The intense, bone-chilling killing intent practically froze the surrounding air.
Without a second thought, Orochimaru flicked his wrist, and the Kusanagi Sword was back in his hand.
He didn't even have time to fully turn around. Relying only on his beast-like instincts, he frantically channeled chakra into the blade, which instantly coated itself with a layer of incomparably sharp Wind Release chakra!
A chilling arc of light flashed in the dim forest.
Schlick!
The muffled sound of a blade cutting through flesh echoed. The Kusanagi Sword precisely sliced across the pursuer's neck, lopping off half of Ikeizumi Uchiha's head.
However, the expected spray of blood didn't happen.
The exposed surface of the "wound" had no bone or muscle, only thick, viscous crimson substance, like volcanic magma, slowly flowing and dripping.
It gave off scorching heat, instantly igniting the grass and leaves it touched. Even the dirt on the ground spontaneously caught fire.
Orochimaru's pupils contracted sharply.
His inner alarm blared violently.
The next second, a terrifying, man-sized fist made of pure magma, carrying the heat to melt steel and a whistling gust of wind, rapidly expanded in his vision!
The air was warped by the heat. He could clearly see several strands of hair near his forehead instantly curling and blackening!
"Hiss!"
Orochimaru let out an inhuman hiss from his throat. His body dropped into an extremely awkward crouch, narrowly avoiding the destructive Magma Punch.
Simultaneously, his neck retracted unnaturally, like a rubber band.
Then, at a tricky angle that defied human anatomy, it shot out like a striking viper, bypassing Ikeizumi Uchiha's magma-formed arm.
His large, fanged mouth snapped fiercely at the boy's seemingly vulnerable neck.
Sssss—!!!
He hit no solid mass, only the grating sound of a scorching hot brand pressed onto ice.
An unimaginable, terrifying heat, enough to instantly carbonize flesh and blood, frantically spread from his teeth and mouth.
Orochimaru couldn't even register the pain. His clamping jaw, the inner lining of his mouth, his tongue, and the front of his throat instantly lost all sensation upon contact with the magma.
The nerves were instantly killed.
The tissue was directly carbonized!
All he could see was the part of his face below his lips shattering and flaking off like burnt charcoal!
But in that split-second contact, Orochimaru's objective was achieved.
Dense, squirming black Curse Marks, like ink dripping into clear water, frantically erupted from the portion of Ikeizumi Uchiha's neck he bit, rapidly spreading along his magma-formed body.
"I did it!" A sliver of sinister triumph flashed in Orochimaru's mind.
He violently retracted his half-destroyed head and, without hesitation, swung the Kusanagi Sword back!
Thwack!
The sharp blade cleanly sliced through his own throat.
Scarlet blood sprayed out like a fountain, staining the dead leaves beneath his feet.
However, from the horrific, gushing wound, a new head, covered in mucus and blood, struggled out!
Wet hair clung to his cheeks. His newly regenerated skin was deathly pale. With his new mouth, Orochimaru took a deep, desperate breath of the blood-tinged, sulfur-heavy, hot air.
"Hah... Haaah..."
He slowly straightened his body, his movements carrying a subtle hint of fatigue.
Behind him, the old corpse, headless and limp like a ragdoll, collapsed silently.
"Two body sheds..."
"A significant toll..."
He reached up, sweeping the wet, bloody strands of hair away from his newly formed golden snake eyes, his gaze locked on Ikeizumi Uchiha, who seemed momentarily frozen by the power of the curse mark.
"Heh heh... Truly astounding speed and perception."
Orochimaru's voice was breathless but still held a spine-chilling coldness: "I never imagined that the Edo Tensei First and Second Hokage-sama would be so utterly powerless against you... And even my Kage Bunshin distraction tactic failed to slow you down for a moment; you instantly pinpointed my true body..."
"It seems my technique is still far from complete. I couldn't even reproduce one-tenth of the power of the two Hokage-sama in their prime. Otherwise... holding you off for half an hour should have been easy."
"Perhaps, even killing you wouldn't have been impossible."
He licked his newly formed lips: "However, you were still careless..."
Just then, Orochimaru's words choked to a stop, as if an invisible hand had grasped his throat.
His golden vertical pupils suddenly narrowed into thin slits from sheer shock.
Right before his eyes, Ikeizumi Uchiha's magma body, infused with his Curse Mark power, began to unnaturally flow and scatter like melting wax!
A section of the magma, heavily wrapped in the dense black curse marks, actively separated from the main body, as if being rejected as filth.
It dripped to the ground with a "splat," forming a steaming, black patch of hot magma.
And Ikeizumi Uchiha's re-condensed body was pristine, his magma form clean and new. Where was the slightest trace of the curse mark?!
Elemental Dissociation?
He was manipulating his Yōton chakra to forcefully discard the curse mark along with the magma substance that carried it?!
"Damn it!"
A storm of shock raged in Orochimaru's heart. This Uchiha brat's development and application of his Kekkei Genkai had reached an unbelievable level.
Pure physical attacks were ineffective, and even a Curse Mark seal could be forcibly shed? Are you kidding me?
Does he even have a weakness?
Is the only way to defeat him through truly overwhelming power?
The intense sense of danger forced Orochimaru to make an immediate decision.
The tip of the Kusanagi Sword in his hand snapped out like a serpent's tongue, aimed directly at Ikeizumi Uchiha!
Swoosh—!
The blade instantly turned into a silver-white streak that tore through the air, surpassing the limits of visual perception, effortlessly piercing through Ikeizumi Uchiha's newly condensed chest.
Again, only magma flowed. Again, no substantial damage was inflicted.
But this was only a feint.
Orochimaru's hands had already completed a series of dazzlingly complex seals across his chest, his face so dark it looked like it could drip water.
"Ninpō: Ja'ei Sōjin (Ninja Art: Serpent's Gluttony)!!!"
The ground beneath Ikeizumi Uchiha's feet violently trembled and bulged without warning!
Accompanied by a deafening roar and flying earth and stone, a horrifying snake maw, lined with monstrous fangs and large enough to swallow a small house, burst from the ground!
Foul breath rushed out, and viscous saliva dripped onto the ground, making a corrosive "sizzling" sound.
The giant snake snapped its jaws shut with lightning speed.
It swallowed Ikeizumi Uchiha whole, along with a large area of surrounding dirt and rubble.
The snake's belly visibly bulged, and a chilling "gurgle" came from inside—highly corrosive stomach acid was frantically secreting, attempting to dissolve its terrible prey.
However, the digestion process lasted less than a second.
BOOM!!!
A torrent of violent magma power exploded from the center of the snake's swollen belly. Crimson lava burst through the tough snakeskin like a volcanic eruption.
The enormous summoned snake was instantly blasted into countless pieces of charred fragments scattered across the air.
In the spreading flames and smoke, Ikeizumi Uchiha's figure stood once more, completely unharmed.
His eyes, cold as ten thousand years of ice, pierced through the swirling dust and flesh fragments, firmly locked onto Orochimaru.
The killing intent in that gaze.
Had already solidified into substance!
Orochimaru almost instinctively snapped his gaze away, daring not to meet those eyes, not even for a moment.
He held the Kusanagi Sword.
The tip of the blade trembled slightly.
As Ikeizumi Uchiha's heavy, oppressive footsteps—accompanied by the sound of dripping magma—closed in step by step, Orochimaru could only retreat backward, step by step.
Each step landed in the muddy soil mixed with the blood of his summoned beast.
"Tch!"
Realizing the situation was dire, Orochimaru violently pulled several specialized scrolls from his robes and hurled them forward.
The scrolls automatically unfurled mid-air with a "whoosh."
Orochimaru clapped his hands together again with force.
Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!
Five massive white smoke clouds flashed and disappeared, revealing five menacing-looking missiles, their metal glinting coldly, their tails ejecting scorching flames—these were Orochimaru's leisure-time creations, representing the cutting edge of ninja world technology.
They briefly adjusted their trajectory mid-air, emitting a sharp lock-on sound.
Then, carrying the scream of death, they shot toward Ikeizumi Uchiha like arrows from a bowstring.
Rumble, Rumble, Roar!!!
A deafening chain of explosions instantly engulfed the area. Blinding fire shot into the sky. The violent shockwave, like a physical giant hammer, swept in all directions, uprooting surrounding trees.
The scorching air mixed with shrapnel and dirt, spreading out like a storm.
Even the distant Orochimaru had to raise his arm to shield his face, his body stumbling backward several steps from the force of the blast.
Smoke and fire obscured all vision.
"Heh heh... Ikeizumi Uchiha..."
Orochimaru gasped, his long hair a mess, his new clothes torn and damaged, looking more desperate than ever before.
He stared at the core of the devastating explosion, his voice hoarse and sinisterly chuckling: "Did you think I was your only enemy? In the shadows of this ninja world... those coveting your life are countless! Can you withstand the onslaught of the dark world? The Akatsuki... they've set their sights on you!"
While delivering these defiant threats, he unhesitatingly bit hard into his own thumb with his teeth.
Blood instantly gushed out.
Orochimaru quickly pulled out a summoning scroll, spread it open, and pressed his bloody thumb firmly onto the center of the scroll.
"What's more... you can't keep me here!"
Orochimaru tossed the scroll.
Clapped his hands.
"Ninpō: Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Reverse Summoning Technique)!!!"
......................
I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to those who support me on this journey. Your contribution make a real difference!
As a patron, you unlock:
Exclusive Access: Get advanced +70 chapters ahead of everyone else.
👉 Join now: P-a-treon/Chaos_God
(Just remove the- hyphen to access normally)
Thank You so much For your Support and for Reading!