Under the night sky, thick with the smell of gunpowder and illuminated by the light of fires.
Pure white wings gently flapped, scattering faint points of light.
Hyūga Kawa looked down at Orochimaru's face, twisted and hideous with hatred.
"Lord Orochimaru," he smiled, his voice lowered so only they could hear. "It really has been a long time."
"A long time?"
From inside the chest of the rock giant, Orochimaru's hoarse, venomous voice rang out: "Hyūga Kawa! I have wanted to kill you every waking moment!"
Hyūga Kawa's gaze drifted, sweeping past Uchiha Obito who was struggling in combat with the Fourth Raikage and Kitsuchi in the distance.
"You've actually allied with Konoha's enemies to attack your former comrades..."
He looked back at Orochimaru, a flash of regret in his eyes, and raised his voice: "It seems you have completely abandoned everything in your past. Your actions are even more despicable than before, and cannot be forgiven."
Hearing this, Orochimaru's face twitched uncontrollably. Veins on his forehead bulged and twisted like earthworms.
Despicable?!
It was this shameless and hypocritical man who had secretly tipped off the old man (Hiruzen), leading to the discovery of his forbidden human experiments and forcing him to flee in a panic!
And now, this man was standing here, putting on a compassionate act and accusing him of being too despicable to forgive?!
"Hyūga Kawa!"
Orochimaru gritted his teeth, making a loud, grating sound. His voice was forced out, one syllable at a time, as if squeezed through his teeth.
Boom!
A far more powerful aura erupted from the rock giant's chest cavity. The entire ground violently trembled and shook again!
The rock giant, which had lost both arms and was half-merged with the ground, suddenly spewed forth countless masses of writhing, nerve-like blue material from the stumps of its arms!
These sticky blue nerve fibers spread out and grabbed frantically like tentacles!
They crawled toward the numerous rock fragments scattered on the ground—not just the rock arms shattered by Ōhime (大蛇姫, Orochimaru's summon) and Hyūga Kawa, but also the fragments of the statue shattered during the fight between the Fourth Raikage, Kitsuchi, and Obito!
Crack! Crack!
Under the powerful pull and adhesion of the blue nerve fibers, countless rock fragments rapidly converged and pieced themselves together at the broken arms!
Accompanied by the deafening sound of grinding stone, two new, even thicker and more monstrous rock arms, pieced together from countless fragments, rapidly reformed and solidified!
Immediately after, the half-body giant, now with arms, slammed its two newly formed gigantic palms onto the ground beside its body.
BOOM!!
The earth violently bulged and shattered. The giant slowly tore its buried lower body out, like a titan escaping a mire, with an intimidating, heart-stopping majesty!
When this complete rock giant—made of countless pieced-together fragments, with luminous blue nerve lines flowing in the gaps—stood fully on the earth, a terrifying, mountainous pressure descended.
Orochimaru, who had been exposed in the giant's chest, was now completely concealed within the giant's body!
In the hollow eye sockets of the giant's rock head, two burning scarlet glows ignited!
Its gaze locked onto Hyūga Kawa, who was hovering at the same height as its head. It slowly opened its mouth like a living creature, and a clear, hoarse, and twisted voice emerged:
"I! Will kill you!!"
As the words fell, the giant's rocky fist, covered in the sharp edges of fragments, clenched tightly. Countless tiny stones furiously converged in the center of its palm!
Earth Release: Rock Bullet Technique!
The giant fist suddenly opened like a cannon barrel. Countless stones, originally the size of fingernails, grew upon being ejected!
In the blink of an eye, they swelled into grinding-wheel-sized solid rock cannonballs, catalyzed by the Earth Release chakra. They rained down on Hyūga Kawa in the air like a devastating meteor shower!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Piercing sounds of air being sliced merged into one continuous shriek. The air was violently frictionized, sending out waves of scorching heat!
Facing this world-covering, destructive attack, Hyūga Kawa's expression remained calm as water. The pure white wings on his back gently fluttered!
Shwa!
His figure, like a white swan, instantly vanished from its spot!
In the rock eyes of Orochimaru, which were burning with scarlet flame, only a blurred white streak of light could be caught!
The streak of light zipped through the rock cannonballs, which were dense as rain. Every turn and direction change was incredibly sharp and uncanny, like a ghost dancing on the blade's edge.
He narrowly avoided the deadly, whistling attacks, weaving and dodging through the tight, life-and-death gaps, constantly closing in on Orochimaru!
"Damn it!"
Orochimaru's rage intensified. Controlling the giant, he violently raised one of its pillar-like gigantic feet and slammed it down onto the ground!
Earth Release: Rock Pillar Prison!
Rumble!!
The earth violently shook. Countless gigantic rock pillars, thick and sharp as spears, burst out of the ground like bamboo shoots after a rain.
They formed a massive, dense rock cage around the space Hyūga Kawa was dodging in, sealing off all his possible escape routes!
Seeing Hyūga Kawa's movement space drastically compressed, Orochimaru commanded the giant to raise its arms again!
"Earth Release: Rock Piercing Rod!"
Woom!
Earth Release chakra surged like a torrent over the giant's arms. The hard rock was quickly extracted and shaped by the chakra.
In the blink of an eye, several gigantic rock rods, their tips sharp and cold, were condensed.
"Die!" Orochimaru screamed, throwing them out.
The huge rock rods, like siege crossbow bolts launched from a catapult, tore through the air with a piercing shriek and terrifying force, shooting fiercely toward the target!
Hovering at the center of the narrow Rock Pillar Prison, Hyūga Kawa's eyes narrowed. A blue light shone beneath his robes at his chest.
[Bloodline: Ōtsutsuki Clan (21% → 31.2%)]
Seeing the significant breakthrough in the Ōtsutsuki bloodline on the display panel, his lowered gaze instantly grew deeper.
The first-stage Hōgyoku created based on the Miko's heritage, consuming another 20,000 points...
Feasible.
"If that's the case," Hyūga Kawa murmured, "let me try out this power."
With that, he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled the formed mist, which dissolved into the smoky air.
Boom!!
Chakra surged from within him. The air around him flowed towards him.
A wild and sharp Wind Release chakra erupted from Hyūga Kawa, furiously rushing into the sheathed sword at his waist!
His left hand gripped the sheath, and his right hand tightly grasped the hilt.
The next moment, facing the sharp rock rods shooting toward him, the white wings on Hyūga Kawa's back violently flapped!
Clap!
The air was compressed into an explosion, generating astonishing thrust. A white conical cloud of mist appeared behind him. He became a streak of white light, charging forward ferociously!
Clang!
A clear sword-cry resonated as the blade at his waist finally left its sheath.
Azure Wind Release chakra converged and compressed on the blade of the Kanmuri-gata (ring-hilt) sword, forming a thin, cicada-wing-like green wind blade that radiated a terrifying sharpness.
The chakra patterns from the Wind Release convergence were clearly visible on the blade. The air around the edge distorted, letting out a sharp whirring sound!
Target acquired! Breathing! Cutting the opening! Drawing the sword! Cutting down!
Wind Release: Crescent Wind Wheel!
Facing the thrown rock rods, he drew the sword in a diagonal slash from right to left.
Hyūga Kawa's ring-hilt sword was only three feet long, yet the slash extended a blade light several meters in length, moving too fast to see anything but a hazy blur, like a white crescent moon.
Zzzt!!
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