"Tch…" Facing the onrushing flood of annihilation, Orochimaru's lips split into an extreme, twisted arc, that smile filled with admiration and greedy covetousness.
"As expected of the vessel I set my sights on… to have found me so quickly… Hehe… those wastes, sure enough, weren't even qualified to be cannon fodder for buying time!"
As his words fell, a gleam flashed in his eyes!
Orochimaru's palms, long since charged with chakra, suddenly interlocked his ten fingers, then slammed heavily down on the scorching floor, as though knocking on the gates of hell!
Even as the flesh of his palms sizzled and seared against the blazing hot ground—
Orochimaru's expression did not change in the slightest.
"Summoning Technique: Triple Rashōmon!"
[Bang!!!]
[Bang!!!]
[Bang!!!]
With earth-shaking roars and steel-reinforced concrete exploding apart, three massive gates bristling with savage fangs burst up from the ground!
With unstoppable force they thrust upward, even the heavy protective ceilings of the base above were instantly ground to dust the moment they touched the demonic relief faces of Rashōmon!
Sunlight and clouds of dust at once poured down from the ruptured opening overhead.
The First Rashōmon, its gate adorned with a giant ring clasped in a demon's jaws, exuded a chilling aura of Yomi.
But in just a single breath, the raging flood of magma slammed hard against it!
That black gate body, said to withstand even Tailed Beast Bombs, hissed like ice tossed into a smelting furnace.
The fiendish visage twisted and melted in the searing heat—
And in an instant was swallowed and dissolved by the crimson torrent!
The Second Rashōmon was somewhat more resilient, its metallic sheen and curse-mark lines flickering faintly, yet it too only lasted another breath.
A massive surge of magma was blocked and splashed against the walls on both sides, carving deep scars into the metal, while the Rashōmon itself, like an iron billet being forged in a furnace, rapidly turned red-hot and began to soften…
In the end it still could not withstand the terrifying impact of the magma, collapsing inward with a crash, then being completely covered and dissolved by the torrent that followed!
The Third Rashōmon!
This was the ultimate defense that Orochimaru's own chakra and summoning contract could sustain.
The crimson flood poured down on it without reservation, the giant gate letting out a piercing metallic groan as it bent backward into a heart-stopping arc, as though it might snap at any moment.
At the very center of the gate, directly struck by the core heat of the magma, the surface quickly glowed a dark red, beginning to corrode and soften like candle wax.
Blinding streams of molten iron in fiery gold cascaded down the gate's frame!
However, that roaring torrent of magma was at last forcibly diverted by this final barrier. Like a beast slightly tamed, it surged past along both sides of the massive gate, roaring as it flooded into the monitoring room, corridors, and laboratories behind Orochimaru—everything it passed was turned into a purgatory!
The superheated air distorted violently.
The remaining lights flickered erratically.
The blistering heat instantly pierced through the air, and beads of sticky sweat rose on Orochimaru's pale, sickly skin.
Yet in the very next second, the sweat was instantly vaporized.
His golden serpent pupils reflected the glow of magma all around, clearly watching as the Third Rashōmon twisted in agony within the flames before finally sinking slowly back into the ground and vanishing.
When the last Rashōmon descended into the Netherworld, Orochimaru's vision opened wide.
His gaze pierced through multiple metal walls that had been bored through and melted, their edges dripping with molten steel.
At the far end of the magma-filled corridor, a figure stood steadily atop the scarlet flow, white smoke billowing from his body as it scorched the very air.
Most terrifying of all were those eyes—the Mangekyō Sharingan, crimson as blood, their strange and unique pattern visible even amidst the surging molten current and thick smoke.
It made Orochimaru instinctively shift his gaze aside.
Avoiding direct contact with those soul-seizing eyes.
"Hehe…"
Orochimaru's lips curled upward, unhurried, utterly unconcerned by the magma creeping close to his feet.
He raised his voice slightly, addressing Uchiha Keizumi before him: "After so many years, you greet me with such a grand gift. Keizumi-kun, what price will you pay to appease my fury?"
"Don't act as though you're familiar with me." The cold voice, carrying the scorching stench of sulfur, cut through the explosive roar of rolling magma, stabbing clearly into Orochimaru's ears.
Keizumi stepped forward upon the flowing lava, each step making the molten rock beneath collapse and boil.
The standard-issue shinobi blade in his hand, long since nicked and broken from the slaughter along the way, had already been casually discarded into the magma behind, where it swiftly melted away.
Now, Uchiha Keizumi stood barehanded.
The smoke coiling around his body was like the breath of hell itself, twisting the air and making his figure flicker in the heat haze.
And Uchiha Keizumi's indifferent voice resounded, like the ghostly judgment of a Death King crawling out of the underworld: "A few years ago, under pursuit by the Anbu led by the Third Hokage, you barely managed to escape Konohagakure. But after escaping, you did not regret or reflect on the crimes you committed in Konoha. On the contrary—you only grew worse."
"You carried your crimes out of Konohagakure and spread them beyond, and in just a few short years they've reached across the entire shinobi world. The innocent who have fallen to your hand are beyond counting. Sometimes, just glancing at the endless list of victims makes me feel dizzy."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly as he said: "From the mouths of some worthless subordinates I heard an intelligence—that your Mangekyō Sharingan can see through the evils someone has committed."
"Heh…"
"If in my eyes, what I have done is not evil, then by what standard is my conduct judged? In the end, so-called Absolute Justice is nothing more than your personal justice."
"Such a self-righteous justice cannot save the shinobi world, nor can it ever gain the recognition of many. Keizumi, like most people, you have not truly grasped the essence of the shinobi world."
"The Will of Fire, Absolute Justice, the Blood Mist Policy, or ruling the entire world through absolute pain… every one of these ideals is so petty and narrow-minded that it is appalling."
He spread his arms wide as if to embrace the whole world, his words filled with enticement and arrogance: "Keizumi-kun, in this way you're no different from those mediocre fools, like a frog at the bottom of a well, seeing only the narrowest opening of the shinobi world."
Orochimaru's voice suddenly turned cold, carrying biting ridicule: "Brief lifespans frame in everyone's measure! They spend their whole lives struggling for hollow, incomplete ideals.
"Only eternity, only by grasping the river of life that transcends time, can one be free of shackles. To explore the deepest truths of the shinobi wor—"
Orochimaru's long, insidious monologue was cut off before it could finish.
What answered him was Uchiha Keizumi's right arm suddenly lifting without warning, a torrent of magma bursting and exploding forth from his palm!
This time it was a shockwave compressed at high speed, like a giant molten fist blasting straight forward.
The terrifying impact, comparable to a volcanic eruption, was displayed in full at this moment!
Orochimaru's smile froze instantly, though his body reacted with ghostly speed.
"Tch! Truly… such an ill-mannered brat, always interrupting people when they speak!"
Orochimaru's hands moved so quickly they almost left afterimages. A seemingly simple C-rank Wind Release, under the drive of his chakra, underwent a qualitative change.
Vast chakra gathered in an instant and roared out!
In the narrow corridor, a spiral gale of hurricane force erupted at once!
The violent winds formed walls like solid matter, forcibly rolling up, slicing apart, and grinding to pieces the searing magma rushing straight at him!
Scorching fragments of molten rock were swept up by the gale, like a dense shower of fiery meteors, crackling as they slammed into the corridor's walls, leaving behind countless charred pits and flowing drops of molten metal!
Taking advantage of the smoke and energy turbulence from the fierce clash of gale and magma—
Orochimaru's jaw suddenly unhinged forward in a grotesque, exaggerated arc!
"Gagghh——!"
After a retching sound, a long sword, its gleaming blade covered in slick mucus, shot lightning-fast out from deep in his throat!
Orochimaru clamped his jaws tight on the saliva-coated hilt of the Kusanagi Sword.
Fierce, unmatched Wind Release chakra instantly wrapped itself around the blade like a living thing.
[Buzz——!]
A shriek tore through the air! The Kusanagi Sword's blade extended forward with eerie swiftness, stretching madly into a lethal silver line that pierced through the hundred-meter corridor, all smoke and gale in its path instantly impaled.
Uchiha Keizumi's expression did not change as his head shifted ever so slightly to the left in the smallest of motions.
[Shhhhk!]
The gleam of the Kusanagi Sword shot past, grazing his right ear.
Though it did not strike his skull directly, the wind pressure condensed to its utmost—almost made tangible—still left a cut smooth as glass on the outer edge of his right ear!
But what was strange was—on the severed edge of the auricle, not a single trace of blood spurted out.
Instead, a dark red liquid like viscous magma slowly seeped forth, dripping downward like candle wax.
The part that had been cut open—
Was unmistakably molten rock, flowing slowly and radiating searing heat!
Keizumi cast a glance at the Kusanagi Sword's blade. Beyond Orochimaru's disgusting saliva coating that even made Keizumi reluctant to touch, the surface of the blade was clearly shrouded in a faint layer of visible Wind Release chakra.
No wonder it could wound from a distance.
Not far away, Orochimaru's eyes showed no surprise. His neck, flexible beyond human, snapped with a sudden whip! The hundred-meter-long Kusanagi Sword swept sideways like a silver wheel, aiming to cleave Keizumi in half!
Keizumi's body arched sharply back, the gleaming edge sweeping past his face, and the walls behind him split neatly apart like they'd been sliced by a laser.
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