Chapter 132: Battle with a Kage (Part II)
The entire Amegakure (Hidden Rain Village), which covered several hundred acres, was filled with moving figures, all becoming anxious and chaotic due to the terrifying, sky-high killing aura unleashed by Orochimaru.
Orochimaru ignored the Rain Ninja gathering below. His eyes, sharp as knives, were fixed solely on the center of the village.
After only ten-odd breaths, a swift black shadow suddenly streaked across the distance.
As the shadow moved, it actually compressed into a single black line.
The powerful body tore through the air, emitting a sharp, long, flute-like shriek. Before the person even arrived, a fierce gust of wind had already surged forth. The surging aura belonging exclusively to a Kage-level powerhouse, like a jade pillar piercing the heavens, rapidly moved closer.
After a few leaps, the black shadow stopped on the treetop of a towering tree about fifty to sixty meters across from Orochimaru.
Dressed in a ninja uniform resembling a deep-sea diver's suit, and generating an overwhelming Kage-level aura that violently disrupted the surging air currents, the person was none other than Hanzō of the Salamander.
Orochimaru felt Hanzō's Kage-level aura, which was like facing a vast, boundless ocean—surging, endless, like a tide.
Though it was a notch weaker than the aura of the Land of Water's Kage, Hōzuki Gengetsu, that Orochimaru had sensed during the Chūnin Exams, it was still a presence that Orochimaru currently had to look up to.
Orochimaru's palpable killing intent met Hanzō's immense, oceanic Kage-level aura head-on, refusing to back down.
Boom! An intense, circular gust of wind, like a Category 5 typhoon, swept outward from the point of their colliding auras. Along its path, it snapped several towering trees and scraped a thin layer of turf from the ground.
Orochimaru's dark-golden eyes were filled with maniacal fighting spirit and killing intent. Unlike his first attack on Amegakure, where his chakra was mostly depleted from killing the eastern patrol squad, he was now at full strength and determined to have a genuine fight with Hanzō of the Salamander.
He extended his crimson tongue to lick his lips. The sheer excitement and killing intent made the wicked smile plastered on his pale, handsome face even more sinister and chilling.
The two auras clashed fiercely. Being a Kage-level powerhouse, Hanzō's immense aura, like waves crashing against the shore, was continuous. In barely one breath after the initial collision, it had already suppressed Orochimaru's killing intent.
Orochimaru was not surprised. A decisive look flashed in his demonic, snake-like eyes. His hands became a blur of afterimages, rapidly weaving hand signs to strike first!
Wind Release: Wind Flow Severance!
A low buzzing sound suddenly arose.
Hanzō was abruptly aware that the space around Orochimaru was distorting his vision in several places.
These were five meters-long, crescent-shaped, invisible wind blades.
The five extremely sharp, rapidly vibrating wind blades were instantly launched by Orochimaru toward Hanzō.
Three of the long, narrow, sharp blades tore through the air, creating a shrill, ch-ch-ch screech from the friction. The other two, intentionally muffled by Orochimaru, were as silent and natural as a gentle breeze, their sound of slicing through the air barely perceptible.
The five wind blades were a mix of illusion and reality, working together, carving their way toward Hanzō from all directions with tricky angles.
Hanzō was surprised by the initiative but showed no panic. His hands danced through hand signs, and a master-level Water Release jutsu was deployed in the blink of an eye.
Water Release: Water Formation Wall!
Five deep-blue walls of water completely enveloped Hanzō, protecting him like an impregnable tortoise shell.
As a Kage-level master of ultimate Water Release, Hanzō's Ninjutsu contained dense, heavy water pressure, making their defense astonishingly strong.
Snap, snap, snap! Five crisp sounds rang out. The five sharp wind blades instantly vanished upon impact, having failed to accomplish anything except causing ripples to spread across the deep-blue water walls.
Hanzō let out a cold laugh upon seeing Orochimaru's attack. The five deep-blue water walls suddenly underwent a significant transformation.
Splash! They converged about half a meter to Hanzō's right, solidifying into a deep-blue fist about the size of an ordinary television set.
Driven by Hanzō, the fist instantly shot out toward Orochimaru.
Orochimaru frowned slightly. He knew that while the incoming deep-blue fist looked unremarkable, the terrifying, immense water pressure contained within it could instantly crush him into a bloody pulp the moment he made physical contact.
It was already too late to activate a Ninjutsu defense. The deep-blue fist, seemingly slow, was moving at an astonishing speed, reaching Orochimaru in one or two breaths.
Pure chakra was infused into the soles of his feet, causing the base of his shoes to glow faintly.
His powerful soul-sensing ability preemptively predicted the trajectory of the giant fist.
He used both feet to push off forcefully. Boom! The ground beneath the towering tree he was standing on sank several centimeters deep.
Orochimaru shot out like a bolt of lightning to the side, narrowly grazing the side of the giant fist as he dodged it.
Rumble! A deafening roar followed. The deep-blue fist continued, smashing through seven or eight towering trees before finally dissipating.
The rapid exchange of offense and defense had left Orochimaru airborne, unable to draw strength from the ground.
Hanzō keenly seized this perfect opportunity. He transformed into a black shadow and suddenly lunged, flashing above Orochimaru. He clasped his hands together and formed a fist, aiming to smash down fiercely onto Orochimaru's chest.
Thud! A dull, heavy sound reverberated in Orochimaru's ears. Unable to react in time, his entire body was sent plummeting toward the ground like a cannonball.
Boom! With a huge crash, the massive force generated by the Kage-level powerhouse's powerful taijutsu drove Orochimaru about ten centimeters deep into the earth. Web-like cracks in the ground spread out for over ten meters. Shards of rock flew, and smoke billowed everywhere.
As the smoke and dust gradually cleared, Cough, cough, cough! Orochimaru coughed as he climbed out from the shattered rocks. He looked up at Hanzō, who was standing on the branch of another tree.
Crack, crack, crack. Faint sounds of breakage grew into a continuous, intense noise, like a delicate porcelain vase slowly shattering.
Orochimaru's skin suddenly began to crack all over. In the blink of an eye, it turned into flakes of earthen-yellow mud and dust, falling to the ground and scattering in the wind, revealing his completely unharmed, slender body once again.
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