Poof!
A massive cloud of white smoke exploded.
Then, a terrifying snake monster with a head as massive as a mountain and a body over one hundred meters long was summoned by Orochimaru.
That was Orochimaru's strongest summoning creature, Manda!!!
The moment Manda appeared, the very earth seemed to tremble in shock. Even the Root's members scrambled to evade, afraid of being crushed to pieces by the massive snake body.
'Manda?'
Looking at the terrifying giant snake that had been summoned, Sora's expression showed little change.
He didn't suffer from megalophobia himself. Facing such a summon was just like seeing a slightly larger animal.
"Blut Arterie!"
Sora whispered softly, and immediately golden patterns spread across the back of his right hand.
Facing a summon of this level, he couldn't be bothered to use Bankai. Engaging the enemy in his normal state was enough.
Just then, the Manda summoned by Orochimaru opened its bloody maw and bit down fiercely towards Sora.
Now,
In another area of the battlefield,
Danzo, dressed in a black and white contrasting kimono, stood behind a dozen subordinates, coldly observing everything happening in the field.
"Danzo-sama, Aburame Tatsuma has been killed. Orochimaru has been forced to use Manda. Should we intervene now?"
A Root's member knelt on one knee, respectfully requesting instructions.
Although these Root's members were cold-blooded, emotionless killing machines with little humanity, their loyalty to Konoha, or rather to Danzo, was quite absolute. This was the effect of long-term brainwashing and the application of cursed seals.
"No need to rush..."
Danzo's voice was cold: "It seems the intelligence is accurate. Previously, this Yuki Sora encountered Uchiha Fugaku who awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan. Both sustained heavy injuries after a fierce battle. Now it appears Yuki Sora's condition is also poor. We just need Orochimaru to wear him down a bit more, and we can easily capture him."
"Yes, Danzo-sama."
With new orders, those Root's members fell silent, also observing the battle from a corner with Danzo, waiting for the optimal moment to intervene.
As for those Root's members currently fighting Sora alongside Orochimaru, they had become pawns sacrificed by Danzo.
Their lives were meant to probe Sora's true state and drain his stamina. Beyond that, they held no significance.
'All of this...'
'Is a necessary sacrifice to complete the decapitation mission.'
Danzo watched expressionlessly as the over forty Root's members on the distant battlefield died in vain, as if such cruelty couldn't leave the slightest ripple in his gaze.
Achieving the goal by any means necessary, even at the cost of his subordinates' lives, was the Ninja Way Shimura Danzo had always adhered to.
Sacrifice!
Sacrificing others' lives for his own gain!
'Use these lives to drain Yuki Sora of everything! When he truly feels weary, that will be the moment I reveal my final trump card!'
Danzo's sinister gaze swept over the dozen or so Root's members around him. This was his final hidden trump card, the true sure-kill strike.
…
Boom!!!
A deafening roar sounded.
In the battlefield, Sora acted calmly. He didn't even use his Zanpakuto, just lightly struck Manda's head with his right fist, amplified by Blut Arterie.
In mid-air, the human figure seemed as insignificant as dust compared to Manda's mountain-like bulk.
But the force behind that punch shattered the scales on Manda's head, scales harder than metal.
Bang, bang, bang!
Scales shattered, blood gushed out like streams, forming a crimson and terrifying blood rain in the air.
"Raaaaaargh!!!"
Manda, who had been opening its bloody maw to swallow Sora whole, let out an extremely agonized roar.
A bloody hole over ten meters in diameter had been blasted into its hill-like head by Sora's strike, crushing most of its snake face into a bloody, mangled mess that looked particularly horrifying.
Then,
Another sharp Kenatsu swept down from the sky, carrying a howling wind. It carved a fifty-meter-long flesh and blood trench into Manda's body. The Kenatsu directly vaporized Manda's flesh, creating a wound over ten meters deep, almost splitting Manda in two.
"Orochimaru!!!"
"Have you gone mad!? What kind of enemy have you provoked this time? Damn it all, a Tailed Beast? Is this guy a humanoid Nine-Tails!??"
Manda, who is nearly bisected by Sora's single slash, roared in both pain and fury as it hastily fled into the distance.
It spewed out a haze-like purple poison mist from its mouth, hoping to force Sora, standing firm in the sky, to retreat, allowing it to escape far away.
Terrifying!
It was just too terrifying!
Manda was screaming internally. Its strength was such that even in the Ryuchi Cave filled with powerful beings, it was absolutely a top-tier presence. Even Orochimaru, a Kage-level Sannin of Konoha, had to pay a considerable price to summon it for battle.
Without hundreds of live human sacrifices, there was no hope of it taking action.
That was Manda's prestige!
Even looking across the entire Ninja World, Manda believed it had few opponents. At most, the Nine Tailed Beasts were a bit troublesome.
As for human Ninjas...
It had never truly regarded them seriously.
Therefore, when the habitually arrogant Manda encountered Sora, it finally realized its own disaster had descended.
One punch to the face, stars in its eyes. Then another slash, nearly severing its body. How can this guy be human!!!
He's simply a Tailed Beast in human skin!
A monster!!!
Just as Manda was roaring madly, Orochimaru on the side was also dumbfounded. He had intended to use Manda's power to directly suppress Sora, never expecting the summon to be critically wounded, almost instantly defeated, within three seconds of appearing.
'One slash?'
'Such power?'
Orochimaru looked at the horrific wound on Manda's body, his face full of disbelief.
This was Manda! Truly with skin of bronze and bones of iron. Even an S-Rank Ninjutsu hitting it might not cause much damage.
But now,
Just one encounter, and it was half-dead from Sora's attack.
"No wonder even that fool Jiraiya couldn't handle you. It seems your strength far surpasses what was imagined, Yuki Sora..."
"You truly are a Ninja who has surpassed the limits of a Kekkei Genkai. Your body must hide the secret of the First Hokage's invincibility!!!"
After a brief moment of terror, a crazed and perverted smile suddenly appeared on Orochimaru's face. He ignored Manda's fate, suddenly crouched on the ground, and opened his mouth like an alien.
"Ninja Art: Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!"
Swoosh~
Swoosh swoosh~ Swoosh swoosh~
The next instant, a tide of snakes poured out from Orochimaru's mouth, forming a hair-raising ocean of venomous snakes, madly surging towards Sora's location.
One hundred, one thousand, ten thousand...
More and more snakes piled together, causing this tide of venomous snakes to grow higher and flow more fiercely, ultimately forming a sky-obscuring wave of snakes that struck towards Sora, standing firm in the sky.
Snake wave!
A giant wave made of a sea of venomous snakes!
It was a hundred thousand, or even more, snakes sweeping forth, carrying an overwhelming power, terrifyingly surging from the ground towards the sky.
"Holy crap!"
"What the hell!"
"I'm gonna puke!"
"Is this Orochimaru-sama's ultimate move?"
"So bizarre!"
The bizarre and terrifying wave of snakes directly caused even the emotionless Root's members present to turn pale with horror, their faces paling, corners of their mouths twitching incessantly, as if about to vomit from disgust.
One word slowly rose in everyone's hearts: 'Absurd'!!!
Because even these well-traveled Root's members had never witnessed such a disgusting, such a hair-raising horrifying Ninjutsu.
Even the usually calm and composed Sora was thoroughly disgusted by this bizarre Ninjutsu, fearing to be touched even slightly by the oncoming snake wave.
"Ice Dragon Tail!!!"
The slash descended from the sky.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
In an instant, freezing air and Kenatsu superimposed, forming an earth-shaking cold wave that fell from the sky, crashing heavily onto the bizarre snake wave.
The freezing Reiatsu ran rampant.
The descending frosty tide also, in an instant, froze the surging snake tide into ice, transforming it into a massive and bizarre ice sculpture.
Then, Sora gently clenched his left hand, and the standing ice sculpture completely shattered, then turned into large chunks of broken snake ice that scattered down beautifully.
Countless shattered snake corpses, yet not a single drop of blood was seen, because everything was frozen into ice, shattered and lifeless.
'Orochimaru...'
'Truly a Ninja who defies evaluation.'
Sora stood firm in the sky, looking down upon this scene, his gaze becoming inexplicably complex.
Although the toads of Mount Myoboku weren't much to look at either, they at least had some presence and aura. As for Katsuyu of Shikkotsu Forest, it had a certain doll-like cuteness. But Orochimaru's Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes from Ryuchi Cave could really only be evaluated with the word 'disgusting'.
Simply put, its lethality wasn't strong, but its insulting nature was extreme, even making Sora feel a bit creeped out.
'As expected...'
'To defeat this Kirigakure's monster, I alone am not enough. So, Danzo-sama, how long do you intend to keep that trump card of yours hidden?'
Orochimaru looked at Sora slowly descending back to the ground, his expression growing more grave. His sinister gaze occasionally swept over Danzo's position.
One person really was not enough!
If they hadn't planned ahead, he might have fallen here this time!
Orochimaru slowly retreated a few steps, hiding behind a group of Root's members. He shook two pills from his sleeve and tossed them into his mouth.
The next part was the fight to the death. He couldn't afford any Chakra problems!
As for the Manda summoned by Orochimaru, it wasn't so lucky. When Sora used Ice Dragon Tail to freeze the snake tide, he incidentally enveloped Manda as well.
The already critically wounded Manda couldn't withstand the piercing cold of the freezing air. In an instant, the vitality within its body vanished, and its life completely ended.
'Although somewhat disheveled, well done. Now it's my turn to act.'
At this moment, Danzo seemed to feel the timing was quite ripe. He strode into the battlefield, tapping the ground with his wooden cane as he walked.
With Danzo's appearance, the Root's members also flickered into the field.
Over fifty Jonin. This was Root's strongest and most elite force.
This time, to decapitate Sora, Root had essentially gone all out.
Now, the well-trained Root's members spread out into an attack formation, surrounding Sora's position impenetrably.
"Shimura Danzo?"
Looking at the Root's members closing in for the kill, Sora's tone was somewhat subtle: "Just over fifty Jonin dare to surround me? Your nerve is quite something, Danzo!"
"The greater the storm, the more valuable the fish!"
Danzo shouted sternly: "You arrogant Kirigakure brat, how could you understand the will we Konoha's Ninjas believe in..."
Before his words faded, a thick killing intent pressed down upon Sora.
It was the aura Danzo had accumulated over decades dominating the Ninja World, the bearing befitting a king of the dark night.
But such pressure was utterly meaningless to Sora.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
Seeing this, Danzo didn't dwell on it. He just rapidly formed hand seals and spat out a blast of wind pressure.
Using that formless wind pressure, over twenty Root's members madly charged towards Sora.
Just then, looking at those charging Jonin subordinates, a bizarre smile suddenly appeared on Danzo's face.