Chapter 170: The Lingering Absolute Justice! Orochimaru Panics
Several minutes prior, deep within the forest, branches and leaves sliced through the dim moonlight, combining with the glow of lava and flames from behind to cast flickering, distorted shadows across the ground.
Orochimaru’s figure, like a specter, zipped through the forest at high speed, his golden, slit pupils glinting with cold, urgent determination in the dimness.
“To be enemies with a mere Konoha junior, and ultimately to be forced to flee in disarray… Heh heh, truly a disgrace.” Orochimaru muttered to himself with a sinister, self-mocking tone, his voice possessing its characteristic hoarse depth.
To buy time, he unhesitatingly formed hand seals with rapid movements of his hands—Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang…
Dozens of white smoke puffs exploded, and dozens of identical Orochimarus with sinister eyes instantly appeared behind him. Like a splitting serpent swarm, without the slightest hesitation, they immediately scattered in all directions, even in the opposite direction of Orochimaru’s true body, fleeing madly.
Each clone’s movements were incessant as they sped along.
Some rapidly scattered poisoned senbon, laying down tripwires almost invisible to the naked eye.
Others quickly inscribed the formulas for explosive tags on tree trunks and rocks.
Some even directly tore open scrolls, summoning hissing venomous snakes that coiled in the paths ahead…
The entire forest seemed to transform into a giant, deadly bear trap, with cold killing intent lurking in every corner.
If an ordinary ninja were to step into this, they would likely meet their demise very quickly, but all the traps Orochimaru set were merely to delay Uchiha Ikeizumi’s pursuit.
Because he knew these traps could not kill the other party.
“Ten minutes… No, perhaps only eight minutes!”
Orochimaru licked his dry, cracked lips, feeling the burning pain in his lungs.
“As long as I can create enough distance, he’ll never be able to catch me again.”
As he spoke, a strong sense of annoyance and humiliation surged into his heart.
Orochimaru had initially thought his numerous preparations would be enough to suppress or even capture this “container” with astonishing potential.
However, the power Uchiha Ikeizumi displayed far exceeded Orochimaru’s worst-case estimations.
“Heh, I was careless… I completely misjudged his growth rate…”
This all-too-familiar sense of defeat involuntarily brought back memories of his crushing defeat years ago when he coveted those divine eyes.
The overwhelming power of the Rinnegan wielded by that Akatsuki leader was strikingly similar to this persistent, justice-driven brat.
They both possessed power that defied logic.
And their minds were also…
Obsessive and extreme.
“Heh… Perfect, those Akatsuki people are also planning to hunt Uchiha Ikeizumi… Let them fight amongst themselves. Regardless of who wins or loses, I will be sitting pretty.”
“Uchiha Ikeizumi’s corpse will ultimately fall into my hands, requiring only a small, insignificant price.”
“And if that brat somehow wins, the Akatsuki will be severely weakened, which would be a huge benefit for me in breaking free from their control.”
No matter what.
He wouldn’t lose out!
Although his current situation was somewhat disheveled, Orochimaru still felt he had won. He dared to assert that Uchiha Ikeizumi’s future predicament would undoubtedly be even more embarrassing than his own current state.
But just then.
Whoosh—!!!
A sharp piercing sound, capable of shattering eardrums, exploded from an extremely close point behind him without any warning!
A fatal premonition stabbed directly into Orochimaru’s spine like a cold ice pick!
His body, modified countless times, reacted with a softening far exceeding human limits in a thousandth of a second—his entire torso bent backward bizarrely as if boneless, and his head snapped back at an unbelievable angle.
In the next instant, a visible, semi-transparent wind blade, whistling with the sound of tearing air, grazed past his nose and flying black hair.
It plunged fiercely into the dense forest dozens of meters in front!
Sssshhhh!!!
Like a hot knife through butter, dozens of colossal ancient trees, requiring several people to embrace, were cleanly cut in half at the waist, their surfaces smooth as mirrors.
The upper halves of the trees crashed down with a teeth-grinding groan.
“This is… Wind Scythe Technique?”
Cold sweat poured down Orochimaru’s face.
However, the fatal sense of crisis had not vanished; instead, it attacked from behind again, like a maggot clinging to a bone.
The chilling, intense killing intent almost froze the surrounding air.
Without the slightest hesitation, Orochimaru flipped his wrist, and the Kusanagi Sword was back in his hand.
He didn’t even have time to fully turn. Relying solely on his beast-like intuition, he poured chakra into the blade, which instantly became covered in incomparably sharp Wind Release Chakra!
A cold arc of light flashed through the dim forest.
*Chomp!*
The dull sound of a blade cutting flesh could be heard. The Kusanagi Sword precisely severed the pursuing attacker’s neck, slicing off half of Uchiha Ikeizumi’s head.
However, the expected gushing of blood did not occur.
The severed “wound” section contained no bone or muscle, only a viscous, crimson substance, like molten lava, slowly flowing and dripping.
It emitted a scorching heat that instantly ignited the touched grass, and even the soil on the ground burst into flames out of nowhere.
Orochimaru’s pupils constricted.
Alarms blared in his mind.
In the next second, a terrifying fist, made of pure lava and larger than a human head, radiating heat capable of melting steel and whistling with furious wind, rapidly enlarged in his vision!
The air warped from the intense heat, and he could clearly see a few strands of hair at his forehead instantly curl and scorch!
“Hiss!”
Orochimaru let out an inhuman hiss from his throat, and his body violently lowered in an extremely clumsy posture, narrowly dodging that destructive lava punch.
Simultaneously, his neck retracted backward like a rubber band.
Then, at an angle that defied human anatomy, like a predatory viper, he maneuvered around Uchiha Ikeizumi’s lava-transformed arm.
His mouth, filled with sharp teeth, bit down fiercely at the other party’s seemingly fragile neck.
*Tsk—!!!*
There was no sensation of biting flesh, only a piercing sound like a red-hot iron branding ice.
An unimaginable heat, capable of instantly carbonizing flesh and blood, spread wildly through his teeth, mouth.
Orochimaru didn’t even have time to feel pain; the lower jaw he bit down with, the inner lining of his mouth, his tongue, and even the front of his throat lost all sensation the moment they touched the lava.
Nerves were instantly killed.
Tissues were directly carbonized!
All he could see was that the portion below his lips had turned into brittle, crumbling charcoal, sparsely breaking and peeling off!
But in this fleeting moment of contact, Orochimaru’s objective was achieved.
Dense, living-like writhing black curse marks, like ink dropped into clear water, erupted from Uchiha Ikeizumi’s bitten neck and began to spread rapidly along his lava-transformed body.
“Got it!” A trace of sinister triumph surfaced in Orochimaru’s mind.
He abruptly retracted his half-destroyed head and unhesitatingly swung the Kusanagi Sword backward!
*Chomp!*
The sharp blade cleanly sliced through his own throat.
Scarlet blood shot out like a fountain, dyeing the withered leaves at his feet red.
However, from the horrific gushing wound, a new head, covered in slime and blood, struggled to emerge!
Wet hair clung to his cheeks, and the newly formed skin was pale, devoid of any color. Orochimaru used his new mouth to take a deep breath of the scorching air, which carried a bloody scent mixed with a strong sulfur smell.
“Hoo… Hoo…”
He slowly straightened his body, his movements carrying a subtle hint of fatigue.
Behind him, the old husk, headless and like a tattered sack, silently slumped down.
“Twice shedding skin…”
“Quite the cost…”
He reached out and brushed his wet, blood-stained long hair away from his new golden snake pupils, his gaze locked onto Uchiha Ikeizumi in front, who seemed to be immobilized by the power of the curse mark.
“Heh heh… Truly astonishing speed and perception.”
Orochimaru’s voice was panting, yet still filled with chilling coldness: “I didn’t expect that the First and Second Hokage, reanimated by the Edo Tensei, would be so easily defeated by you… Not even my Shadow Clone deception tactics could delay you for even a moment; you instantly located my true body…”
“It seems my techniques are indeed far from perfected, failing to recreate even a tenth of the power of the two Hokage at their peak. Otherwise… delaying you for half an hour should have been easy.”
“In fact, it might not have been impossible to kill you.”
He licked his new lips: “However, you were still careless…”
Just then, Orochimaru’s words abruptly stopped, as if an invisible hand had choked him.
His golden slit pupils constricted into thin lines in extreme shock.
Before his eyes, Uchiha Ikeizumi, into whom he had injected the power of the curse mark, began to flow and scatter unnaturally downwards, like a melting candle!
A portion of the lava, wrapped in dense black curse marks, actively separated from the main body, like repelled filth.
It dripped onto the ground with a “pat” sound, forming a pool of lava constantly emitting black smoke.
And Uchiha Ikeizumi’s true body, which had re-condensed, its lava form was as pristine as new, with no trace of the curse mark anywhere!
Elemental stripping?
He controlled his Lava Release chakra and discarded the curse mark along with the lava substance that carried it?
“Damn it!”
A storm of shock surged through Orochimaru’s heart; this Uchiha brat’s development and application of his Bloodline Limit had reached an unthinkable level.
Pure physical attacks were ineffective, and even curse mark seals could be forcibly stripped away. What kind of joke was this?
Did he have any weaknesses?
Could he only be defeated by overwhelming power?
An intense sense of crisis made Orochimaru make an instant decision.
The tip of the Kusanagi Sword in his hand darted out like a viper’s tongue, pointing directly at Uchiha Ikeizumi!
*Chhh—!*
The blade instantly transformed into a silver-white streak of light that tore through the air, so fast it surpassed visual capture limits, piercing Uchiha Ikeizumi’s just-reformed chest without any obstruction.
It was still lava flowing, still no substantial damage.
But this was just a feint.
Orochimaru’s hands had long since completed a series of bewilderingly complex hand seals in front of his chest, his expression so grim it seemed water could drip from it.
“Ninjutsu—Snake Devouring Technique!!!”
The ground beneath Uchiha Ikeizumi’s feet violently trembled and bulged without warning!
Accompanied by deafening roars and splashing earth and stones, a terrifying snake mouth, bristling with savage fangs and large enough to swallow a house, burst from the ground!
A foul wind swept forward, and sticky saliva dripped onto the ground, emitting a “sizzling” corrosive sound.
The giant snake, with lightning speed, slammed its upper and lower jaws shut.
It swallowed Uchiha Ikeizumi whole, along with a large area of surrounding dirt and debris.
The giant snake’s belly visibly bulged, and a heart-stopping “gurgling” sound emanated from within—that was its highly corrosive stomach acid secreting wildly, attempting to dissolve this fearsome prey.
However, the digestion process lasted less than a second.
BOOM!!!
Violent lava power erupted from the center of the giant snake’s swollen belly, and red lava burst through the tough snake skin like a volcanic eruption.
Instantly blowing this giant summoned serpent into scattered, scorched fragments.
Amidst the scattering flames and thick smoke, Uchiha Ikeizumi’s figure stood intact once more.
His eyes, as cold as ten thousand years of ice, pierced through the lingering dust and flesh fragments, firmly locking onto Orochimaru.
The killing intent in that gaze.
Had already solidified into substance!
Orochimaru instinctively deflected his gaze, not daring to meet those eyes for even an instant.
He held the Kusanagi Sword.
The tip of the sword trembled slightly.
As Uchiha Ikeizumi’s heavy, oppressive footsteps, accompanied by the dripping sound of lava, approached step by step, Orochimaru could only retreat step by step.
Each step landed on the muddy ground mixed with the summoned beast’s blood.
“Tsk!”
Sensing the extremely unfavorable situation, Orochimaru abruptly pulled out several specially made scrolls from his chest and hurled them forward fiercely.
The scrolls automatically unfurled in mid-air with a rustle.
Orochimaru clapped his hands together forcefully again.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
After five large puffs of white smoke flashed by, five grotesque-looking missiles, shining with cold metallic light and spewing hot exhaust flames from their tails, appeared out of nowhere—these were Orochimaru’s casual creations, boasting top-tier technological content for the ninja world.
They adjusted their direction slightly in mid-air, emitting sharp locking-on sounds.
Then, with the howl of death, they shot towards Uchiha Ikeizumi like arrows from a bow.
RUMBLE!!!
Deafening consecutive explosions instantly engulfed that area, blinding flames shot skyward, and a violent shockwave swept outwards like a solid giant hammer, uprooting surrounding trees.
Scorching airwaves, mixed with shrapnel and dirt, swept out like a storm.
Even Orochimaru, standing at a distance, had to raise his arm to protect his head and face, his body pushed back several steps by the shockwave.
Smoke and flames obscured all vision.
“Heh heh… Uchiha Ikeizumi…”
Orochimaru panted, his long hair disheveled, his new clothes torn and tattered, looking more disheveled than ever before.
He stared at the core of the devastating explosion, his voice hoarse as he sinisterly laughed: “Did you think I was your only enemy? In the shadows of this ninja world… there are as many people coveting your life as there are carp in a river! Can you withstand the hunt of the dark world? The Akatsuki… they have their eyes on you!”
While spouting tough words to save face, he unhesitatingly bit his thumb fiercely with his teeth.
Blood instantly gushed out.
Orochimaru quickly took a summoning scroll from his chest, spread it open, and pressed his bloody thumb firmly onto the center of the scroll.
“Furthermore… you can’t keep me!”
Orochimaru tossed the scroll.
His hands clasped together.
“Ninjutsu: Reverse Summoning Technique!!!”
……
At the same time, deep within the distant Ryuchi Cave Sacred Land, a purple giant snake coiled on a massive stone throne, taking a nap, suddenly opened its cruel, ferocious, and icy vertical pupils.
A contractual link spanning across space was instantly established, and it could sense Orochimaru calling for it.
But it wasn’t a request for help in battle.
It was Orochimaru asking for rescue!
“Hiss… Orochimaru?”
Manda’s low voice, filled with greed, pierced through the void of time and space, echoing like muffled thunder in Orochimaru’s mind: “You want this great self to save your life? One hundred sacrifices aren’t enough! If you want me to pull you over… five hundred! And they must be living sacrifices! And their age cannot exceed thirty. Miss even one… and I’ll swallow you whole!”
“…He’s truly… insatiably greedy!”
Orochimaru’s eyelids twitched violently.
Five hundred strong, living sacrifices would require him to work for a considerable period.
After all, his subordinates had just been slaughtered by Uchiha Ikeizumi, so he would have to do it himself.
“…Deal!”
Orochimaru gritted his teeth.
He replied in his mind.
……
In Ryuchi Cave, Manda let out a satisfied hiss. Its massive snake mouth opened, and it bit down on the tip of its own thick tongue!
Snake blood poured out like raindrops, precisely landing on the ground.
It swiftly outlined a massive, reverse summoning circle!
The Ryuchi Cave summoning circle and the summoning scroll in Orochimaru’s hands, far away, instantly connected.
However, at this moment.
*Whoosh——*
A golden chain, with a sharp whistle that tore through the air, shot precisely towards Orochimaru.
Orochimaru’s internal alarm instantly soared to its maximum!
But it was too late to dodge.
*Splat!*
The golden chain pierced through the giant snake’s left shoulder without resistance, like a red-hot steel needle through tofu, causing him to grunt in pain.
“This is…”
Orochimaru felt a sense of dread.
“Uzumaki Clan Sealing Technique?!”
Orochimaru tried to sever his left shoulder with the Kusanagi Sword, but time was no longer sufficient. He only managed to raise his hand before, the next moment, he was enveloped in a puff of white smoke.
When the white smoke dispersed, the area was empty.
Orochimaru was gone; the golden chain that had pierced his shoulder was also gone.
However, what Orochimaru didn’t know was… Uchiha Ikeizumi, at the other end of the golden chain, had vanished without a trace along with him!
……
Ryuchi Cave was extremely humid and viscous, filled with the musty smell of shed snake skins accumulated over millennia, and a faint, natural miasma.
“Huff… huff…”
The cold air, mixed with a strong, foul odor and miasma, surged into Orochimaru’s rapidly heaving chest like icy water.
He knelt on one knee on the cold stone platform where Manda coiled, one hand covering his still profusely bleeding left shoulder, the other propping himself up on the slippery ground, gasping for air in a disheveled state.
Cold sweat mixed with blood dripped from his pale, paper-like cheeks onto the slime-covered rock surface.
“Hee hee… finally escaped that righteous lunatic…”
In Orochimaru’s mouth, Uchiha Ikeizumi had gone from a “righteous brat” to a “righteous lunatic.”
A feeling of exhaustion from surviving a near-death experience washed over his entire body, and the nerves that had been stretched to their limit could finally relax slightly. He breathed in greedily; although the air was filthy, it now represented safety.
“Hee…” He managed a tired and twisted smile, and muttered in a hoarse voice, “I revealed too many trump cards in front of him today… If I see him again next time, it won’t be this ‘easy.’ That is, if he can survive the Akatsuki’s endless pursuit.”
What Orochimaru called “easy” came at the cost of two molts, a massive amount of chakra, countless clones, elaborate traps, and the penetrating wound on his shoulder.
Anyone else would have likely died already!
“Orochimaru.”
A voice like rumbling thunder, carrying undisguised mockery and greed, boomed down from above Orochimaru’s head: “Tsk, I never thought you’d have such a pathetic day, like a stray dog that’s run back to its den.”
Manda’s enormous purple head slowly lowered, its icy vertical pupils focusing on the small Orochimaru like searchlights.
“Remember, not one of the five hundred living sacrifices you promised can be missing. And, you must…”
But at this moment, Manda’s words abruptly stopped!
Its massive head stiffened, and its icy vertical pupils instantly narrowed into dangerous slits.
Because an extremely unfamiliar and destructively scorching presence, like a branding iron dropped into ice water, rudely intruded upon Manda’s perception of this familiar area!
Its gaze instantly passed over Orochimaru, fixating firmly on a certain spot.
“Orochimaru!”
Manda’s voice suddenly rose, filled with agitation and caution: “Who did you bring in? Who is this brat? How is he in Ryuchi Cave?!”
This thunderous roar pierced Orochimaru’s relaxed nerves like needles.
Only at this point.
Did Orochimaru belatedly realize…
The pungent sulfur smell that should have dissipated with the Reverse Summoning Technique hadn’t weakened at all; instead, it clung to his nostrils like a persistent parasite, lingering for a long time!
An icy chill shot straight from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. He abruptly lowered his head to look at his agonizing left shoulder.
The golden chain that had pierced his shoulder was still there!
The other end of the chain seemed to extend towards…
He looked towards a spot in disbelief.
Within the shadows, a figure stood still, like a demon god emerged from the molten lava of hell. Red lava flowed and dripped slowly over his body, and the intense heat continuously vaporized the surrounding moisture, causing the air to make “sizzling” sounds.
The icy eyes of the lava figure pierced through the thin smoke.
They were firmly fixed on Orochimaru!
“…Uchiha Ikeizumi!”
Orochimaru’s voice distorted and changed due to extreme shock and absurdity.
The next second, Orochimaru instantly understood Uchiha Ikeizumi’s method.
The relieved, cold smile on his face also retracted.
The expression in his eyes flickered with uncertainty.
“You used some kind of Uzumaki Clan sealing technique to forcibly ‘bind’ your body with mine, thus deceiving the Reverse Summoning Technique’s judgment. In other words, you used my jutsu to make me bring you into Ryuchi Cave?!”
“Correct.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi finally spoke, his voice as cold as ice, devoid of any emotion. Each word struck Orochimaru’s soul: “I’ll reward you with a quicker death.”
The golden chain instantly dissolved, and Uchiha Ikeizumi raised his lava-dripping arm, killing intent surging out like a tangible tide.
Orochimaru’s face became extremely grim.
Being targeted by this righteous lunatic, who was as persistent as a madman, was more disgusting than being bitten by the world’s most venomous snake.
Orochimaru was now somewhat perplexed: why did the Third Hokage keep such a lunatic in Konoha?
Didn’t Teacher Sarutobi fear being backstabbed by Uchiha Ikeizumi?
This guy didn’t seem like someone who would put the Hokage in his eyes.
Suddenly, alarm bells rang wildly in Orochimaru’s mind.
Orochimaru’s body erupted with speed beyond his limits, his feet powerfully pushing off the ground.
Ignoring the tearing pain in his left shoulder, he retreated backward in a disheveled manner.
At the same time, Orochimaru immediately shouted to Manda: “Manda! This is the enemy I encountered! You and I will kill this brat together, and I can immediately fulfill the promise of five hundred sacrifices. No! Not just five hundred sacrifices, but a thousand living sacrifices!”
Manda’s eyes narrowed, its ferocity instantly ignited.
Its massive snake tail, like a purple steel whip that had appeared from nowhere, let out a sharp hiss that tore through the air, and swung with speed beyond visual capture towards… Orochimaru!
*Crack!*
The snake tail precisely coiled around Orochimaru’s waist as he flew backward. The immense force made Orochimaru grunt, but at the same time, it pulled him away from his original position by a narrow margin!
The moment Orochimaru was coiled away—
*Rumble!!!*
The ground where Uchiha Ikeizumi stood suddenly erupted like a volcano!
A torrent of lava, containing destructive energy, carrying terrifying heat that could incinerate all things and a shockwave, roared and surged forward.
Wherever the terrifying lava passed, the slippery rocks were instantly melted into dark red glass, and the giant snake sheds turned to ash.
Even the millennia-old miasma permeating the air was instantly ignited.
A stone forest area, originally covered in moss and strange fungi, was instantly transformed into a fiery purgatory of bubbling lava and black smoke!
On the other side, Manda steadily placed Orochimaru on its massive head with its tail.
Its icy vertical pupils stared intently at the newly formed lava inferno, and at the figure bathed in the center of the magma.
Manda slowly raised its massive upper body high, its huge shadow almost covering half the platform, looking down from above at the tiny intruder.
Its low voice rumbled like muffled thunder, carrying the hissing tail sounds characteristic of snakes and icy killing intent: “Hiss… Brat who doesn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth! How dare you defile the Ryuchi Cave Sacred Land with ninjutsu!”
Manda’s tongue flicked dangerously, and its fangs dripped with dark green venom.
Even without Orochimaru’s “sacrifice” instigation.
Manda became unusually agitated and angry.
“For causing such destructive damage to Ryuchi Cave, even if I swallow you whole and digest every last bone today… the White Snake Sage will never blame me!”
Uchiha Ikeizumi slightly raised his head.
He looked at the colossal Manda.
“You… are also a Red Name villain.”
“It seems I’ve come to the right place.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi said indifferently.
……
……
