Chapter 126: The Three Sacred Lands Have Offended Two People
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"It hurts!"
"It really hurts!"
Manda had also realized that his body had been severed at the waist. He writhed and thrashed with his two halves, sweeping through the surrounding houses and buildings like a giant broom, reducing everything in his path to ruins.
Gulp.
Cold sweat covered Orochimaru's forehead as he stared intently toward Asuka's position beyond the smoke and dust.
"Hey, Orochimaru. I'm dying. This is all your fault."
Listening to Manda's endless complaints, a vein bulged on Orochimaru's forehead. He clenched his fists and ground his teeth.
"Is this the power of the Uchiha clan, or is it his personal strength?"
When had he last fought Asuka?
At most, two months ago.
Two months!
In just two months, his strength had grown to such a terrifying level.
Or had he been pretending to be sick two months ago?
After a long silence, Orochimaru rubbed his stiff cheeks and suddenly smiled again.
"Asuka, I'm becoming more and more interested in you."
"Actually…"
At that moment, Shukaku lightly slapped its own belly, blowing away the smoke and dust around them and revealing Orochimaru's figure.
Glancing at the sweat-covered Orochimaru, Asuka shook his head.
"I'm more interested in Orochimaru's sister."
The instant he finished speaking, a sharp pain shot through his right eye.
Asuka closed his eyes.
The next moment, his Sharingan transformed into its three-tomoe form, and he charged toward Orochimaru once again.
The moment Ōkuninushi was released, Manda suddenly felt a sharp pain in its abdomen.
The agony forced it to roar again.
"It hurts!"
"This is driving me crazy!"
"This time, I'm really about to lose it!"
"Orochimaru, I'll remember this!"
White smoke suddenly began rising from Manda's two severed halves.
Poof!
When the smoke dissipated, Orochimaru glanced at the bloodstains on the ground and the vanished Manda. He licked his dry lips and said grimly,
"I noticed just now that Manda didn't bleed immediately after being cut apart. That's rather strange."
"Asuka, can you explain that to me?"
"Because my sword is very fast!"
The next second, Asuka appeared directly in front of Orochimaru and swung his sword down.
Clang!
Orochimaru's arm trembled.
He gripped a kunai in his right hand and blocked the gleaming blade.
Then he opened his mouth and spat out another Kusanagi Sword.
He clamped the hilt between his teeth as his neck stretched out, curving around behind Asuka before thrusting toward his back.
"Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!"
Shukaku, perched on Asuka's shoulder, slapped its belly hard.
A ball of wind containing an enormous amount of chakra shot from its mouth and struck Orochimaru's extended neck.
Hmm?
A tanuki?
Noticing that the tanuki's strength was also completely different from before, Orochimaru's expression darkened.
A sudden sense of unease welled up inside him.
Back then…
Had both of them been hiding their true strength?
Boom!
The Drilling Air Bullet that Asuka dodged slammed into the ground, instantly creating a crater several meters in diameter.
Seeing the smoking crater, Orochimaru realized his sneak attack had failed.
He immediately formed a hand seal with one hand, condensed wind around his right palm, and slapped it toward Asuka's face.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"Substitution Technique!"
Whoosh!
A cloud of smoke flashed before Orochimaru's eyes.
He stared at the wooden post that had been shattered by his attack, took a deep breath, and scanned the surrounding ruins.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Sensing a surge of chakra from above, Orochimaru suddenly looked up.
A fireball the size of a meteor had appeared high in the sky.
The immense force instantly evaporated the thin mist covering the rain-soaked ground and pushed it outward.
"Hey, hey… you're not joking, are you?"
Feeling the power of this combined ninjutsu—which was far greater than it had been two months ago—Orochimaru's expression became even darker.
A red glow rapidly spread from the rooftop to the ground, casting a crimson hue across Orochimaru's face.
Upon closer inspection, there was an almost imperceptible trace of deep black within the red.
The intense heat began scorching the earth.
The moisture covering the originally soaked ground evaporated instantly, leaving the soil dry and cracked.
Boom!
The meteor-sized fireball slammed into the ground.
A blazing sea of flames rapidly spread in every direction.
In the distance, Pakura and Nanaka simultaneously stopped fighting.
They turned toward the scene behind them, which looked like a volcano erupting, and instinctively took several steps backward.
Even from this distance, they could feel the scorching heat produced by the Fire Release explosion traveling through the air.
"Hey, Orochimaru isn't good at Fire Release, is he?"
Hearing Pakura's blunt question, Nanaka remained silent for a moment before shaking her head.
"Even if he's highly skilled, he shouldn't be capable of releasing Fire Release on such a massive scale."
As a member of the Sarutobi clan, which was renowned for its mastery of Fire Release, she understood the power of such techniques very well.
As far as she knew, aside from certain combined techniques, only Ashura from the ancient era of the shinobi world could unleash Fire Release on such a scale.
"Is that so?"
Pakura nodded slightly, partly relieved.
She didn't care whether Orochimaru lived or died.
Thinking of that young man whose smile was as bright as the sun—the young man who had once saved her from death like a god—Pakura couldn't help but smile proudly.
His strength has become this powerful.
He's even surpassed me.
Hmm.
I'm happy.
"I'm not fighting anymore."
As her longing grew stronger, Pakura waved at Nanaka and turned away.
"You can play by yourself."
???
Nanaka froze for a moment.
She watched Pakura hop away, her brows slowly knitting together.
For some reason, she suddenly smelled a sour odor lingering in the air.
It was strangely similar to the smell of food she'd noticed the first time she had entered the Uchiha compound.
Thump!
Asuka's feet landed on the scorching ground.
Watching the air distort from the intense heat, he began searching for Orochimaru's whereabouts.
That guy has countless ways to save his life.
He wouldn't die that easily.
Whoosh!
At that moment, a sound came from within the ruins.
Asuka watched a trembling figure crawl out from beneath the ground and took a deep breath of the surrounding hot air.
Orochimaru's Substitution Technique!
Orochimaru pried open the mouth of the substitute and crawled out.
He shook the moisture from his hair before looking up at Asuka.
His voice was cold and sinister.
"I didn't expect you to harbor such deep hatred toward me, Asuka. I almost lost my life."
"Tsk."
Asuka moved his fingers and sighed.
"Orochimaru, you were the one who attacked first."
"Everything was fine. Why did you have to stab me in the middle of the night?"
"You almost succeeded that night."
Orochimaru shook his head and sighed as well.
"What a pity."
"Indeed."
Asuka nodded.
Then he raised his right arm high.
Chakra instantly condensed into a spherical mass of neutral energy in his palm.
As the energy rapidly spun, it gradually turned dark red.
Ptooey!
Watching the fireball grow larger and larger, Shukaku spat a Drilling Air Bullet into it.
Plop!
The red sphere expanded into a complete circle, pulsing like a beating heart.
Ptooey!
After spitting another Drilling Air Bullet into it, Shukaku watched the fireball swell again without much concern.
It had discovered that its technique could combine perfectly with Fire Release.
The opponent's ninjutsu could be transformed into a combined technique.
Thump!
Thump!
As more and more Drilling Air Bullets were added, a sun-like fireball with a diameter of one hundred meters appeared in Asuka's hand within a very short period.
The heat was being completely contained.
Although no heat could be felt from outside—even with the naked eye—one could clearly see the enormous energy contained within the deep-red sphere.
Asuka leaped high into the air and hurled the sphere directly toward Orochimaru's fleeing back.
An S-rank unsealed ninjutsu.
"Wind Release: Scorching Sun!"
The fireball slowly descended, its shadow gradually enveloping Orochimaru's body.
Boom!
The next moment, Asuka stared at the empty sky where the fireball had disappeared.
Several question marks appeared above his head.
"Shukaku, where did my giant fireball go?"
Shukaku rubbed its eyes vigorously.
It looked around.
There was no one nearby.
There was no Fire Release.
No Wind Release chakra.
After a moment of silence, its voice suddenly became shrill.
"We might have fallen under a genjutsu."
"Just wait. I'll make you pay for this!"
At that moment.
Mount Myōboku.
A group of toads of various sizes all raised their heads toward the sky.
They stared at the sun that had suddenly appeared overhead.
Confusion gradually turned into fear in their eyes.
Then, from the highest peak of Mount Myōboku, a sharp female voice rang out.
"Ahhh~!"
"Jiraiya, I swear I'll boil you together with that bug!"
Boom!
The fireball exploded high in the sky.
Terrifying heat swept across the surroundings, dispersing the white clouds and dyeing nearly half the sky above Mount Myōboku the color of flames.
This sacred land rarely saw sunsets.
Yet today, it witnessed its first one.
Meanwhile, the Toad Sage's lips twitched slightly in his sleep.
His tightly closed eyes trembled twice.
But he still didn't open them.
The Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique that had exploded high above Mount Myōboku caused no substantial damage to the sacred land.
It merely frightened the toads a little.
Little Jiraiya… he really doesn't treat toads like people, does he?