As several poisonous snakes were about to bite him, injecting their poison deep into his body, they somehow blew up and their blood scattered like fireworks as if there was an explosive device inside them.
Orochimaru, who happened to meet Shinra's eyes, saw his future where his body would explode as his blood would scatter like fireworks!
Only—
"Ha!"
He took a deep breath as he realized that he was okay before his expression became gloomy. "Is that an illusion? As expected of a Uchiha." Due to his longevity jutsu, he was extremely weak towards illusion-based techniques or those that hit one's soul or mind, which made him have a strange obsession with those ninjas with a special bloodline.
After all, Orochimaru was just a normal person; no matter how smart and talented he was, he didn't have a special ability that came from his bloodline, which made him quickly above the majority due to his lineage alone.
Regardless, with his special technique, Orochimaru licked his lips as if wishing to take Shinra's body, but he didn't dare, as he could tell that Shinra wasn't a human but a beast in a human skin!
It was like... Shinra had become another being, which made him feel a sense of terror that Orochimaru felt for the first time in his life.
Fortunately, as Shinra needed him, Orochimaru knew that Shinra wouldn't kill him, especially since he also didn't feel any killing intent from him.
'It's quite frustrating, though.'
While Orochimaru knew that he wasn't Shinra's opponent, it didn't mean that he could let Shinra look down on him like this!
"No, it's not the ability that is related to the Uchiha."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yup." Shinra nodded. "I will tell you later."
"Well, I hope you will tell me everything."
As his tongue moved like a snake, Orochimaru's eyes became even sharper, showing his greed for knowledge.
Knowledge.
This is what he lived for, and he kept searching for it, hoping to gain eternal life.
"..."
Did Shinra search for the wrong person?
'Well, it isn't like he can do anything to me.'
Then again, could ninjutsu, a technique, win against innate ability?
Currently, Shinra didn't think that it was possible, yes, it was impossible since that's how the setting was, those ninja with the special bloodlines would be better than those who didn't, but if there was a technique that could allow people's body to evolve like those Chinese cultivation novels where the characters grew up from a mortal to heavenly being, then probably it was possible?
Then again, by then, the genre of the novel might have changed.
Still, during his moment of distraction, Orochimaru extended his neck as a sharp blade emerged from his mouth, ready to stab Shinra to death!
"....."
As expected, did he find the wrong person?
Orochimaru was good and all, but Shinra had to say, Orochimaru's techniques were quite hard to accept by normal people!
Also, was that blade covered in Orochimaru's saliva?!
Even if Orochimaru's sword was a legendary sword, the Sword of Kusanagi, it didn't change much!
When Shinra thought of that, he used his Gas Gas no Mi, erasing all of the oxygen in the area, causing Orochimaru to drop as his body shook violently, trying to grasp like he was about to die, before he took a greedy breath as the oxygen returned.
"Two times. You have died twice. Do you want to try more?"
"..." Orochimaru.
"I don't mind if you want to fight, but don't use a disgusting technique, okay? Just use the normal one."
"..." Orochimaru.
"...what is that?"
"I only erase the oxygen in the area."
"...oxygen?"
"It's something we breathe in. The air consists of a lot of things, and oxygen is one of them."
"...Is it something that we need to breathe?"
"Yes."
"...you can control the oxygen?"
"Not just oxygen, but all types of gas, or air in the world. I can control them, or even become one."
"..." Orochimaru.
"...can you become an air?"
Shinra looked at Orochimaru before his body morphed into gas as he softly vanished like he had become one with the air, yet this made Orochimaru all tense as if he was about to meet the most fearsome enemy that he had faced in his life!
Shinra could become a gas!
What did it mean?
It meant that if Shinra didn't wish to be found, no one could find him, and if he wished to, he could kill anyone undetected!
Or rather, even if Sarutobi was protected by thousands of Sarutobi clans of ninja, all of them were meaningless in front of this gas transformation, which could silently kill anyone!
Orochimaru thought so; Shinra slowly appeared once again, which calmed his tense nerves.
Yet, at this moment, he knew well that if Shinra wished to, Shinra could kill Sarutobi and his friends with ease, but as Shinra wished them to pay more for what they had done, Shinra came to find him.
'You have made the worst enemy, Sarutobi-sensei.'
Considering what had happened to the Uchiha Clan, Orochimaru didn't think that it was weird if Shinra wished to erase all of the members of the ninja on the Sarutobi, Shimura, Utatane, and Mitokado!
"...you seem to have a lot of knowledge about the human body?" Orochimaru became even more curious since it was his first time seeing this type of Uchiha, since he knew well that most of them were proud and obsessed with their eyes.
However, Shinra was different, or rather, this young man's body was too tall!
It was like Shinra was that brute-like man who came from Kumogakure.
"I know a lot more than you think, and as you are with me, I will share with you many things, so make me dance, okay? Don't make me disappointed by how weak you are."
"....." Orochimaru.
Shinra thought that he might have too many expectations on Orochimaru, but this was normal since he only knew him from the story, and had never seen him in real life. More importantly, his strength had grown so much that he had defeated Pain, one of the most powerful ninja in the world of Naruto, with ease, so for Orochimaru, who had been defeated by Itachi and Pain with ease, wouldn't it be easy for him to defeat Orochimaru, too?
Yet, it was impossible for Orochimaru to remain calm when he heard Shinra's words.
As he took a deep breath, his hands moved at lightning speed as he took out scrolls, then pressed his thumb as a puff of smoke emerged, and at the same time, a small white snake came forth.
"Hmm?"
Even with Shinra's confusion, Orochimaru didn't appear to slow down and shouted, "Eight Branches Technique!"
At that moment, the snake god was awoken!