The Sound Five quickly understand that Zoro isn't a normal opponent after seeing him unaffected by Jirobo's punch. After all, while Jirobo is considered the weakest in overall abilities, he is the strongest physically among them, so that punch was very powerful.
Yet Zoro is unaffected, showing that Zoro is very strong. They are arrogant, but they can acknowledge strong people when they see one. Though they are still confident they can defeat Zoro if they fight him together.
Seeing that Zoro must be physically strong, they smartly decide to use non-physical attack. Sakon glances at Tayuya who nods and quickly takes out her flute. Then she plays it without waiting for anything.
The non-physical attack that they use is obviously Genjutsu. Tayuya is the most proficient in it and her Genjutsu is very hard to avoid because it uses sound. So as long as the targets aren't deaf, they will be affected, or at least that's how it should be.
"Ah, Genjutsu, not a bad strategy to start the battle."
Of course, with his great immunity toward Genjutsu, thanks to his Conqueror Haki that always protects his mind, Zoro is unaffected by Tayuya's Genjutsu. Even Orochimaru's Genjutsu couldn't affect him, not to mention this kid's.
The young ninjas are surprised and they back off immediately. They didn't expect Zoro to not be affected at all by Tayuya's Genjutsu. It would be different if he could release himself from it quickly, but he wasn't affected.
"Come on, try again." Zoro smirks while taunting them.
Right when he says it, Kidomaru suddenly spits out a large and thick spider-like web from his mouth. The web spreads like a fishnet being thrown to catch a fish, and that fish is Zoro who doesn't even try to get away.
Zoro is caught by the very sticky web. He grabs it and tries to break it with some strength, but it doesn't break even when he uses the strength at the level of an adult shinobi.
"This is impressive. I heard there are people who use spiderwebs as threads and use them to make clothes because spiderwebs are very strong and durable while being very smooth. If they use these webs, they could make strong armor instead of just expensive but normal clothes. But I prefer if you make them stronger though."
Zoro says the last part while ripping the very tough and durable web. He can rip them apart after using more strength and he isn't even serious yet, obviously. He doesn't even need to use chakra to cut them like Neji because he is simply that strong.
Seeing how Zoro rips Kidomaru's webs without any serious effort makes the young ninjas start questioning how strong he actually is. After all, it is very difficult to destroy Kidomaru's web with only physical power.
"All of you, let's take this seriously from the start. We don't know if he really has defeated Master Orochimaru, but he sure is much stronger than we thought. Let's not waste time by trying to gauge his power and treat him as a real threat right from the start."
Kimimaro gives an instruction and they obey him even though he isn't really in their group anymore now. But he is still stronger than all of them, so he is still the one who can be the leader here.
They obey his order and all of them immediately activate their Cursed Seals. Black marks appear all over their bodies when they activate the 1st Level of their Cursed Seal. But they don't stop and quickly activate Level 2 that changes their whole appearances.
"So this is how Orochimaru's Cursed Seals work. I see, I certainly can sense a different kind of energy in your bodies that is similar but also different from Chakra. So that's Senjutsu."
Zoro knows the Senjutsu in Orochimaru's Cursed Seals originated from Jugo. But he doesn't know if all Senjutsu is the same or there are differences depending on their sources. After all, the marks of the Senjutsu users are different.
Like the ones who use Senjutsu that originates from Jugo have those black marks at first, then they can transform into a kind of monstrous being.
The ones who learn it from the Toads in Mount Myoboku have toad-like characteristics with Jiraiya almost becomes human-frog while Naruto and Minato who succeeded have Toad-like eyes.
Those who learn it from the Snakes look like Snakes, while someone like Hashirama who learned it from God-knows-where has a different mark too.
So Zoro who doesn't understand much about Senjutsu is confused whether all Senjutsu are the same or they are different from each other, like Chakra's Nature Transformations or elements.
But, no matter what the case is, he somehow feels that the Senjutsu he senses from them is quite familiar. Though he doesn't know where or when he senses this kind of power because he is sure he never fought a Senjutsu user before.
"Well, let's think about that later. Let's just enjoy the fight with these kids." Zoro grins while stretching his neck.
The fight starts and suddenly, the ground under Zoro's feet moves up like snakes to bind his legs. Jirobo uses his Earth-Style jutsu to hold Zoro in his spot and Zoro actually doesn't dodge it. He lets the earth snakes bind his legs.
Kimimaro and the twins that share the same body now attack Zoro from 2 sides. Bones are coming out of Kimimaro's body which actually scares Zoro a little because it looks like Kimimaro has just had a nasty accident that caused his bones to break and come out of his body even though it's not the case.
Kimimaro attacks from Zoro's left while Sakon and Ukon attack from his right. They attack him with Taijutsu while Zoro can't dodge because he is bound. So Zoro "can only" block their attacks with his hands.
Need less to say, Zoro can block all of their attacks even the sneaky ones thanks to his Observation Haki. Sakon and Ukon would often sneak another attack with a 3rd arm or leg using their unique Kekkei Genkai, but Zoro sees them all and blocks them with ease.
Kimimaro's attacks are also blocked without much problem. He simply needs to use basic invisible Armament Haki to defend against the hard bones and it's also used to defend against the twins' attacks.
But Zoro is really impressed with Kimimaro's skills because his attacks are much more effective and efficient compared to the others. It's much harder to defend against Kimimaro's attacks compared to Sakon and Ukon.
Using his bones that are protruding from many spots, Kimimaro can hit different spots at the same time. He is also very observant of Zoro's movements and will change his aims when necessary.
Zoro nerfed himself to match their levels, but Kimimaro's skills are beyond his expectation. Now he knows why Orochimaru wanted this kid's body before Kimimaro fell terminally ill, forcing Orochimaru to change his target to Sasuke.
"Ah, so that's why he took his chance and tried to take my body. He didn't have much time with his current host. My body must be too tempting for him to make such a rash decision."
Zoro says it while catching Kimimaro's left hand and Sakon's left leg before throwing them away. He throws them to stop a giant boulder thrown at him by Jirobo. Zoro blocks it easily and throws the giant boulder to the back before breaking himself free from the earth snake bindings effortlessly.
"Well, why don't I give you some nice fights so you can enjoy this more too?" Zoro smirks while unsheathing Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu.
He just unsheathes 2 swords because they should be enough to fight these kids. But when he unsheathes those swords, the young ninjas suddenly feel chills down their spines. Zoro's entire aura just changes the moment he pulls out the swords from their scabbards.
They don't see any changes to Zoro's appearance and he also just stands there relaxedly. Yet they sense danger from him. He feels more dangerous than even Orochimaru, someone they fear the most even though Zoro doesn't look as creepy as Orochimaru.
"Now give me your best shot, kids!"
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Chapter: 182. Quick Strategy
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