Chapter 172: Judging Orochimaru! The Sins Of Ryuchi Cave
After the giant wooden golem’s terrifying punch, which engulfed lava, killed Manda to death.
A terrifying shockwave far exceeding a hurricane, mixed with a heatwave that seemed capable of melting gold and iron, struck Orochimaru with the force of an invisible giant hammer!
Orochimaru only had time to cross his arms in front of his chest, his chakra instinctively gathering.
However, in front of that world-destroying power.
The human body was as if made of paper.
Orochimaru felt as if he had been directly hit by a high-speed moving molten mountain, his arm bones emitting a bone-chilling “crack” sound, and excruciating pain instantly spread throughout his body.
His entire being was like a broken kite with a snapped string, violently blasted away by this immense force!
Bang!!!
His body slammed heavily against a slippery, cold rock wall behind him like a cannonball. The immense impact force caused the hard rock wall to indent into a spiderweb-like pit, and a large amount of debris rained down.
The sweetness in Orochimaru’s throat could no longer be suppressed, and viscous fresh blood oozed from the corners of his mouth again, dripping down his pale, paper-like chin.
He endured the bone-jarring pain throughout his body and struggled to lift his head.
His golden vertical pupils intensely locked onto the churning lava area in front.
And…
Locked onto the motionless summoned beast, Manda.
Manda… that arrogant, foul-mouthed giant snake… was now only half a scorched, charred corpse immersed in a dark red lava lake, its body still emitting a nauseating burnt smell.
And the other half of Manda’s head was nowhere to be seen within Orochimaru’s line of sight.
“Manda…”
“Is dead?!”
Orochimaru’s voice was dry and hoarse, with a tremor that even he hadn’t noticed.
The composure and coldness belonging to the Konoha Sannin were completely crushed at this moment, leaving only shock and an unbelievable sense of absurdity.
His strongest summoned beast, under Uchiha Ikeizumi’s control, couldn’t even last ten moves?
Cold analysis flashed through his chaotic mind like an instinct.
— Although Manda was massive, it was as fragile as paper in the face of Lava Release’s ultimate high temperature that burned everything. And the larger its size, the more conspicuous a target it became.
— And its potent poison, capable of corroding rock, was completely countered by Wood Style.
— Furthermore, Manda’s movements, in front of the Sharingan’s super dynamic vision, were as clumsy as a slow-motion playback. No matter what attack, it couldn’t even touch the hem of Uchiha Ikeizumi’s clothes.
— In summary, Manda was countered to death by Uchiha Ikeizumi!
Of course, there was one more crucial factor that Orochimaru didn’t mention.
That was…
In his haste, he didn’t share some information about Uchiha Ikeizumi with Manda in time, effectively causing Manda’s death. Otherwise, Manda could have lasted for a while longer.
Whoosh—!!!
Suddenly, a piercing sound tore through the pervasive smoke and sulfurous odor. A lava torrent, even more condensed and rapid than before, rapidly enlarged in Orochimaru’s field of vision without any warning.
The scorching heatwave that rushed towards him from a distance made even his skin feel a needle-like sting.
“Damn it!”
Orochimaru’s internal alarm bells rang, and the shadow of death loomed close once again.
Gritting his teeth, enduring the bone-breaking pain, he propelled his body to the side in an extremely disheveled, almost crawling manner.
Sizzle—
The lava torrent brushed past his tattered robes. The rock wall behind him, which had just been struck to form a pit, melted and collapsed like a wax figure the moment it touched the lava, leaving behind a horrifyingly large lava cave.
But the lava torrent did not dissipate after missing its target; instead, as if it had a life of its own, it sharply turned.
It swept towards him again with even greater speed, like a giant python’s tail wag.
The vast area it covered sealed off almost all his escape routes!
“I can’t dodge it!”
Orochimaru’s golden snake pupils constricted into pinpricks due to the extreme danger.
He gritted his teeth and slammed his hands heavily onto the ground without hesitation!
“Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon!!”
Rumble!
A giant demonic face-like gate, even more tattered than before and covered with scorched and corroded marks, rose from the ground with a heavy roar.
This was the last Rashomon that had survived when blocking the Lava Release earlier, but Rashomon no longer possessed its original might. It was now scarred and tottering.
Boom—!!!
The crimson lava torrent fiercely collided with Rashomon. The tattered gate body vibrated violently, emitting a screeching sound of twisting metal. Those stubborn scorched marks instantly turned into molten iron that flowed down.
Orochimaru actually didn’t expect it to completely block the lava.
All he needed was this momentary obstruction!
The instant the lava collided with Rashomon and the shockwave had not fully spread, Orochimaru’s body shot upwards like an arrow released from a bow.
Enduring the dizziness from his severe injuries, his left hand flashed towards his waist, and he forcefully pulled off a scroll.
Bang!
A cloud of thick white smoke exploded, and an extremely bizarre jet-powered aircraft suddenly appeared in mid-air—this was obviously another research product Orochimaru had tinkered with in his spare time from human experimentation.
Orochimaru unhesitatingly stepped onto the cold pedal of the aircraft and slammed his right hand onto the control panel.
Hum—
Whoosh!!!
A faint blue tail flame instantly erupted, emitting a piercing shriek. The powerful thrust carried Orochimaru, like a bird breaking free from its restraints, to flee madly towards the dark and deep distance of Ryuchi Cave!
Manda’s death completely extinguished his last shred of fighting spirit.
As for whether he felt any pity for Manda’s death? Ha, the relationship between him and Manda was merely one of mutual exploitation.
In his eyes, Manda was just a very powerful, but not very handy, tool.
However, just as he had flown several hundred meters and a sliver of relief from surviving a disaster welled up in his heart…
Thump!
Thump!
A rumbling sound, like a giant’s footsteps, accompanied by the trembling of the earth, clearly came from below and behind him. The sound was like rapidly paced death knells, constantly striking his heart.
A cold chill instantly spread from his spine throughout his entire body.
Orochimaru stiffly, bit by bit, twisted his neck and looked down with an ominous premonition.
He saw that the massive wooden golem was stepping on Manda’s still-cooling scorched remains, taking heavy strides and pursuing him in the direction he was fleeing.
And atop the giant head constructed of wood, Uchiha Ikeizumi stood proudly.
He raised his arms slightly upwards at an angle, aiming at Orochimaru in the sky.
What made Orochimaru’s soul tremble even more was that Uchiha Ikeizumi’s arms, now completely molten, were violently expanding and surging like two active volcanoes.
Crimson lava flowed and compressed wildly within his arms, emitting destructive fluctuations.
Orochimaru’s pupils contracted sharply!
The next second.
Boom boom boom boom boom—
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s arms violently shook, and countless fists made of pure lava, larger than a person, tore through the air like dense anti-aircraft fire, carrying destructive heat, pouring out diagonally upwards from above the wooden golem’s head!
In the blink of an eye, a lava net had formed, covering more than half the sky, making it impossible for Orochimaru to avoid.
The aircraft beneath Orochimaru appeared clumsy and ridiculous in front of such dense and rapid lava fists.
He gritted his teeth and performed extreme evasive maneuvers in the air, narrowly brushing past a few whistling lava fists.
The scorching airwaves scorched his hair tips, and the fear of death gripped his throat!
However, the moment he dodged three lava fists, an even larger and more solidified lava fist slammed into his unavoidable path.
Quantity always leads to a change in quality.
Boom!!!
The lava fist did not hit him directly but grazed the side of the aircraft. However, the extreme heat instantly melted through the aircraft’s alloy outer shell, and the parts of Orochimaru’s left leg below the ankle also melted away like ice and snow the moment they touched the high temperature.
The cross-section instantly carbonized, not even a drop of blood had time to flow out!
“Ugh ah—”
The piercing pain made Orochimaru almost black out.
The giant wooden golem had already caught up!
Its left arm, constructed of gnarled giant wood and carrying a terrifying power capable of crushing mountains, opened its fingers like swatting a fly. Its arm, accompanied by the actual wind pressure formed by compressing air, slammed down towards Orochimaru, who was falling uncontrollably in mid-air.
A shadow instantly enveloped Orochimaru’s tiny body.
Unavoidable!
Unblockable!
“Ninjutsu: Corpse Ponderosa!!”
Orochimaru’s eyes split open with rage. At the last moment, he unleashed almost all his chakra and formed a hand seal in front of his chest.
The wooden golem’s giant palm firmly struck Orochimaru’s body.
Crack!
Squish!
Crunch!
Horrifying sounds of shattering bones, crushing flesh, and ruptured internal organs mixed together, like a symphony from hell.
Orochimaru’s facial skin and muscles disintegrated like rotten mud, his hard skull caved in and shattered in an instant; more than a dozen ribs instantly broke and pulverized, sharp bone spurs deeply pierced his fragile internal organs; the bones of his limbs were twisted and broken at various grotesque angles, with white bone ends piercing his flesh and exposing themselves to the air.
Orochimaru’s mouth, nose, ears, and eyes… the seven orifices gushed out like ruptured water bags, and crimson fresh blood mixed with fragments of tissue sprayed out wildly.
“Pfft!!!”
A large mouthful of filth, mixed with organ fragments, broken teeth, and viscous fresh blood, spewed out like a fountain from Orochimaru’s broken mouth.
His body was violently flung away by this irresistible force.
The speed was so fast that it even produced a series of piercing sonic booms in the air.
Like a flesh and blood cannonball fired with all its might.
Boom—!!!
Orochimaru’s mangled body crashed onto the ground like a meteor. The terrifying impact caused the ground to explode, forming a huge pit over ten meters in diameter, and dust mixed with blood mist rose into the sky.
In the center of the pit, Orochimaru’s almost unrecognizable corpse lay quietly amidst the blood and rubble.
Only a slight, unnatural twitching proved that a trace of life still remained in this pile of rotten flesh.
Fresh blood flowed gurglingly from the various parts of his shattered body like a small stream.
Quickly dyeing the ground beneath him red.
“Uh… huff…”
A weak, bellows-like gasp came from his shattered chest.
A blood-stained hand with broken and twisted finger bones twitched feebly, repeatedly, in the pool of blood.
Each twitch pulled at the broken bones piercing his internal organs, causing more intense pain.
But in his only remaining golden vertical pupil, a nearly obsessive flame of survival burned.
He mustered his last ounce of willpower, driving his broken fingers to attempt a simple yet incredibly difficult hand seal…
One attempt… failure…
Second attempt…
Third attempt…
Under extreme pain and the burning of his will, the twisted fingers finally managed to successfully form the hand seal.
Squish!
After a bone-chilling tearing sound, a brand new arm, covered in slime and fresh blood, with skin pale and devoid of color, forcefully emerged from the facial opening of the broken body.
Immediately following, came the equally pale new shoulder, neck…
A brand new Orochimaru, like a poisonous snake breaking out of its cocoon, was very slowly crawling out of the “old shell.”
“Huff… huff… huff…”
Having only crawled out a third of his body, Orochimaru was already panting like a dying beast, each breath carrying a heavy scent of blood and the pain of ruptured internal organs.
The excessive consumption of chakra and the immense burden of consecutively using such forbidden jutsu left him feeling completely hollowed out.
An unprecedented sense of weakness washed over him like a tide.
Just as he struggled, trying to use his new arm to support his upper body and pull his waist out of the old shell…
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Two cold glints descended from the sky without any warning.
Squish!
The first pitch-black kunai, with a mournful whistling sound, accurately pierced his hand that was supporting him on the ground, pinning his palm and the rock beneath it with powerful force.
“Hiss—!”
The piercing pain made Orochimaru gasp in air!
Just as Orochimaru gritted his teeth, attempting to pull out the kunai, another cold light flashed past. The ninja sword descending from the sky heavily pinned his newly extended hand to the ground.
“Ugh ah!”
Orochimaru let out an uncontrollable groan of pain, his golden vertical pupils trembling violently from the excruciating pain and despair.
Moreover, he recognized the ninja sword—it was his Kusanagi Sword!
It was likely that the Kusanagi Sword had flown out of his hand when he was previously flung away, and Uchiha Ikeizumi had caught it.
Pinning his own arm with his own Kusanagi Sword…
Was this the cruel sense of humor of that justice-obsessed lunatic?
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
The heavy footsteps approaching from afar struck Orochimaru’s heart.
The colossal Wooden Golem’s sky-piercing figure obscured the dim light of Ryuchi Cave, stopping at the edge of the deep pit, its shadow like a curtain of death, completely enveloping Orochimaru at the bottom.
Orochimaru gritted his teeth and slowly, bit by bit, raised his head, stained with blood and slime.
His gaze moved upwards along the Wooden Golem’s legs, as thick as mountain ranges.
Finally, it settled on the head of the giant Wooden Golem, upon the figure that coldly looked down upon him like a judge from hell.
Their gazes finally met in mid-air at this moment.
Orochimaru then realized how crimson and eerie the Mangekyo Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan was…
And the instant Orochimaru saw those eyes, he suddenly felt the entire world lose its color; those Mangekyo Sharingan appeared exceptionally clear in his blurred vision.
It was as if only those two points of eerie crimson remained before his eyes.
Making Orochimaru feel as if his entire soul was being sucked into that abyssal sea of blood!
“This is bad…”
Deep within Orochimaru’s golden vertical pupils, the pattern of the Mangekyo instantly magnified infinitely. An indescribable, irresistible power, like billions of red-hot steel needles, pierced every corner of his soul, spirit, will, and consciousness!
“Ughhhhhhhh!!!!”
Orochimaru’s thoughts were completely torn and shattered, his brain like a boiling furnace forcibly crammed into it. The faces of countless “specimens” he himself had sent to the experimentation table, dying with despair and pain, flashed madly in his mind like a revolving lantern.
The twisted limbs, vacant eyes, and shrill screams of countless test subjects… all the pain, fear, despair, and resentment endured by those “sacrifices” he had deliberately forgotten and taken for granted… were now infinitely magnified and superimposed by those eyes.
And they returned like a tsunami, amplified thousands of times over, bombarding his so-called cold and ruthless mental world.
That was not an Illusion Technique, that was the judgment of Absolute Justice!
“Screeeechhhhhhhh!!!”
A shrill wail, not human, as if his soul were being torn alive, erupted from the depths of Orochimaru’s throat.
That voice was filled with unprecedented pain and despair.
His newly formed body convulsed violently as if struck by high-voltage electricity; tears, snot, and saliva gushed out uncontrollably; a foul odor permeated the air, and he completely lost control of his lower body!
Orochimaru, the “Konoha Sannin” who once toyed with life at his fingertips, was now like a worm peeled alive and thrown onto a scalding iron plate.
In the deep pit, Orochimaru’s heart-wrenching, inhuman screams echoed in the air above Ryuchi Cave, which was filled with the stench of sulfur, scorching, and blood.
His new body writhed and convulsed in the blood and filth.
Each spasm pulled at his arms, nailed to the ground, bringing even more intense pain.
Uchiha Ikeizumi stood atop the head of the giant Wooden Golem, like a cold judge of hell, looking down at Orochimaru below.
His icy voice cut through the screams, clearly sounding, each word like an ice pick chiseling into the depths of Orochimaru’s soul.
“For the source of all evil in the Ninja World like you, to let you die painlessly… would be a desecration of the word ‘Justice,’ and an indulgence and dereliction of duty regarding the heinous sins you have committed.”
“The pain you are experiencing now… will follow you like maggots on a bone, for eternity. Whether you linger on, or your soul returns to the Pure Land; whether you possess countless bodies, or your soul becomes twisted…”
“You will be like that Shimura Danzo… every minute, every second, until the end of time. You will sink and wail in the abyss of extreme agony! This is the final judgment of Absolute Justice upon you.”
The moment his voice fell, Uchiha Ikeizumi’s other Mangekyo Sharingan activated abruptly!
A blinding blood-red line, like a tear of blood, slid down from the corner of his eye.
His Eye Power instantly surged to its peak, the complex and cold pattern in his pupils spun wildly, as if opening a passage to Purgatory.
Boom!
Without any warning, a ball of strange, condensed flame was born directly from the void, instantly igniting and bursting forth on Orochimaru’s chest.
This flame had no temperature, yet it brought a dual pain to the body and soul that was billions of times more terrifying than being burned by lava.
It not only burned the flesh but also, like billions of red-hot brands, seared directly onto the core of his soul.
Orochimaru’s screams suddenly rose to a non-human frequency.
His body arched violently, as if pierced to the ground by an invisible giant nail.
The flame seemed alive, greedily absorbing his life force and spirit, intending to utterly incinerate his existence from its very root.
“—Stop!!!”
Just as this Heavenly Punishment Fire was raging and about to completely devour Orochimaru’s remaining consciousness, a furious and shocked shout rang out.
Three graceful figures radiating powerful, chilling auras instantly appeared on the rocky edge of the battlefield like specters.
They were the three Snake Princesses of Ryuchi Cave—Tashin-no-Hime, Ichikishima-hime, and Tatsuta-hime!
When their gazes fell upon the scene before them.
Even the three Snake Princesses, who had lived for a long time and seen countless battles, couldn’t help but have their pupils constrict and gasp in shock.
Before them, it was no longer the familiar corner of Ryuchi Cave they knew?
It was clearly a realm of Purgatory!
As far as the eye could see, the ground was cracked, and slow-moving lava rivers, like the blood veins of the earth, flowed from the fissures, emitting a destructive heat that distorted and warped the air.
Scorched giant pits, collapsed mountainsides, rocks corroded into a thousand holes…
Constituting a scene of desolation, devoid of life, a deathly scorched earth.
Further in the distance, Manda’s massive, mountain-like corpse lay miserably submerged in lava; its once arrogant head, along with a large section of its neck, had been completely vaporized.
And at the center of this purgatorial landscape, a Wooden Golem, formed from tangled giant trees, stood tall.
Beneath the Wooden Golem, in the deep pit, Orochimaru was nailed to the ground by kunai and the Kusanagi Sword.
The eerie flame burning on Orochimaru’s chest made him writhe and convulse like a worm thrown onto a scalding iron plate.
He was still letting out inhuman screams that even they found chilling!
He showed none of the demeanor of a Konoha Sannin.
And the perpetrator of all this, Uchiha Ikeizumi, stood atop the Wooden Golem. He seemed to have just heard their angry shouts and turned his head without a trace of emotion.
…
The moment Uchiha Ikeizumi’s cold gaze swept over the three Snake Princesses.
A whisper came from his mouth: “Three Red Name villains.”
“Brat!”
Tashin-no-Hime suppressed her momentary unease; she was unaware she had already been targeted.
The devastation of the surrounding area and Manda’s tragic state ignited Tashin-no-Hime’s fury.
Her body erupted with powerful Sage Chakra, an invisible force lifting her into the air. Her magnificent kimono fluttered without wind, and a suffocating, chilling pressure emanated from her.
Tashin-no-Hime’s voice was sharp and piercing, like a viper’s hiss: “You, who trespassed into the Ryuchi Cave Sacred Land, not only destroyed Ryuchi Cave to this extent but also killed Manda, and even disturbed the White Snake Sage’s quiet cultivation…”
Her vertical pupils locked onto Ikeizumi atop the Wooden Golem: “Since the Ninja World’s structure stabilized a thousand years ago… no one has dared to show such disregard for Ryuchi Cave!”
“Brat, you…”
However, her threatening and angry words were not yet fully spoken.
Whoosh!!!
Without any warning, the giant Wooden Golem at the center of the battlefield, its left arm formed from countless tangled giant trees, brought a terrifying wind pressure as it slammed fiercely down towards Tashin-no-Hime, who was suspended in mid-air.
A massive shadow enveloped Tashin-no-Hime’s small figure!
“What?!”
Tashin-no-Hime’s beautiful face showed genuine terror for the first time.
She absolutely did not expect this human brat to be so unreasonable, attacking before she could even finish speaking.
That strike, carrying power sufficient to shatter a mountain peak…
Made her feel an unprecedented threat of death!
…
…
