In an instant, Orochimaru had been pulled to such a close distance, and his neck had been seized. Although he had not figured out exactly what kind of technique the other party had used, he did not panic… Being calm to this extent could already be called a kind of "talent."
The attitude he displayed in such a dangerous moment was not born from Orochimaru's rich combat experience. The reason was far more horrifying: it was born from Orochimaru's rich experience with death.
It was just someone choking his neck. Orochimaru's neck was not much different from Luffy's. Forget choking him to death—even if he really was choked to death, so what?
But Uncle Snake was still Uncle Snake. That special, irresistible pulling force immediately allowed him to make the most likely judgment: the other party had used a dōjutsu.
Was this another power of the Sharingan?
While making this judgment, Orochimaru directly looked into the other party's eyes despite the enormous risk.
This was not recklessness on Orochimaru's part. On the contrary, it was a reasonable judgment based on his long-term research into the Sharingan. Through the attack just now, he could roughly understand that the other party should possess a pair of physically oriented Sharingan.
If the Sharingan were divided into physical type, genjutsu type, and balanced type, then what category would eyes capable of constantly using such large-scale, tangible offensive ninjutsu belong to?
This was not difficult to judge. And if they were physical-type eyes, then there was more than an eighty percent chance that the other party was not skilled in genjutsu—at least compared with someone on Uchiha Itachi's level.
However, Orochimaru had judged some things correctly and guessed other things wrong. It was incorrect to regard every special ability as coming from the Sharingan.
At this distance, Orochimaru could clearly see the pair of eyes beneath the two eyeholes of Obito's mask.
One was a Mangekyō Sharingan. The other was… a Rinnegan. After obtaining the Rinnegan, Obito had naturally transplanted one of them. There was no possibility that he would refuse a choice that could increase his own power.
And from the moment the other party called himself Uchiha Madara, Orochimaru had already connected this person with the culprit behind the Nine-Tails incident from more than a decade ago.
After all, although Orochimaru had not played any leading role at the time, he could still be considered someone who had personally experienced the incident. He naturally remembered every piece of half-true, half-false intelligence Hagoromo had given him. Now, after seeing the obviously distinctive Rinnegan, he could basically confirm that the other party had been involved back then.
Only, this eye probably had not originally belonged to him, right? After all, Orochimaru had once been a member of Akatsuki… He had not expected that even such powerful eyes would one day change owners. The shinobi world was truly fascinating.
For the moment, Orochimaru had not yet thought that Dear Hagoromo had actually contributed to the Rinnegan changing hands, because being able to think this much in a flash was already quite impressive.
Next, he was about to be absorbed by this space-time ninjutsu.
Banshō Ten'in plus Kamui. Rinnegan plus Mangekyō Sharingan. This kind of combo seemed to be something Orochimaru could no longer resist.
However, matters were not so simple. After all, Orochimaru was a slippery, wet eel—cough, snake.
The gap in strength between the two was beyond doubt. But Uncle Snake at this moment had, after all, gone through many more years of learning and possessed Yumi's body curves, so trying to one-shot him again had become very difficult.
Although the spatial distortion caused by Kamui brought an extremely painful feeling of extraction, Uncle Snake actually felt a bit pleased.
The corners of Orochimaru's mouth pulled to both sides, and then a smile without the slightest trace of mirth appeared on that pale, cold face.
Then he…
exploded on the spot!
Orochimaru's body looked as if it had been torn apart whole, changing from a single block of color into lines of all colors and varying lengths.
But those were not lines. They were a huge mass of living snakes.
Countless snakes burst apart before Obito's eyes and then twisted wildly. Unfortunately, after sensing Orochimaru's intention, Obito also changed moves.
Those snakes passed through his "phased" body, unable to cause any damage.
"Substitution Technique, Transformation Technique, Summoning Technique? As expected, 'inviting' you is not so simple." Obito's voice was hoarse and calm, his tone showing no change. As a shinobi, he clearly did not suffer from mental conditions such as trypophobia.
"As expected, you're unharmed as well."
Orochimaru also followed with an "as expected." His figure reappeared from the place where he had just been standing.
Although when Orochimaru first discovered Akatsuki's invasion, he thought their objective was to eliminate him, looking at it now, that did not seem to be the case.
"Let me ask for the moment. What is your purpose in seeking me out? If it is interesting enough, perhaps I will accept your invitation again… If possible, I would prefer to avoid fighting each other," Orochimaru said.
He knew he would have difficulty matching two great dōjutsu, and he had also anticipated that since the other party had come for him without the goal of killing him, they must have some scheme.
The problem was, it was not easy to guess exactly what Akatsuki wanted from him.
As one of the top researchers in the shinobi world, Uncle Snake possessed far too many core technologies.
"Given the current situation Akatsuki is facing, do you need additional military forces? For example… Edo Tensei?" Orochimaru tested.
"Stop making pointless probes. Your power is indeed necessary, but as for what exactly you need to do, that is something you may only learn after you come with me."
Obito was not an idiot. Of course he would not directly reveal his objective.
"In that case, the matter makes no sense…" Although Orochimaru loved research, he did not accept coercion. "Let me ask one final question. Uchiha Sasuke… have you already gotten your hands on him?"
"Yes, so…"
Obito still wanted to say something, but Orochimaru interrupted him. "Then that is truly regrettable."
Orochimaru had indeed once been obsessed with the Uchiha, but by now, that obsession had already quietly changed. After all, there were far too many things in this world more magnificent than the Sharingan.
"Do not try to escape. You cannot do it. Although this is your lair, I have already set up a barrier outside this room."
"Escape? Hehe." Orochimaru felt that he was being underestimated far too much.
He suddenly leaned forward, then dropped to all fours. Next, he began to vomit—and then…
greatly vomit.
Ninja Art: Summoning: Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes.
By directly connecting the alternate space inside his body to Ryūchi Cave, he summoned and then vomited out a massive number of venomous snakes. These living vomit-projectiles were deadly.
The snakes that surged out were like a tidal wave. This entire move was basically a venomous-snake version of Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique. Obito was instantly drowned beneath countless snakes.
It had both scale and power. It was just somewhat offensive to the senses. In an instant, this entire room should have been censored with mosaic blur.
"Such petty tricks… cannot even buy you time."
Yet Obito's voice still came from within the swarm of snakes.
After all, whether he continued absorbing with Kamui while phasing, used Shinra Tensei, raised a barrier, or violently cleared the field, he truly would not be harmed by a technique like this.
However, his words were inaccurate, because Orochimaru had already succeeded in buying time.
"This was originally a small gift prepared for a certain 'friend,' but unfortunately, I now have to give it to someone else." Orochimaru spoke while vomiting and vomited while speaking, all while his hands were busy forming hand seals.
Obito's barrier naturally could not trap him. The reasoning was exactly as the other party had said: this was Orochimaru's lair.
Uncle Snake's base itself hid far too many "secrets." Considering the possibility that this place might be exposed and invaded, under such unavoidable circumstances, Orochimaru would definitely have to flee. At that time, the "secrets" that could not be transferred would naturally have to be destroyed. Therefore… this base, as a matter of course, came with a self-destruct mechanism.
He had even planned to use this destruction against a certain white-haired man at some suitable time in the future. With that as the premise, he had increased the scale of the self-destruction.
After all, he had personally seen that person violently beat up the Nine-Tails. The white-haired man was electricity, he was light, he was the one and only legend. Without using something truly heavy-duty, it would have no effect at all.
Orochimaru's plan was not some bizarre idea. Or perhaps it should be said that by now, it had become quite a common phenomenon…
self-destruction and the like.
As he finished forming the hand seals, countless complex technique formulas spread from the place where he stood as the origin point, extending toward every corner of the entire base…
Orochimaru was still Orochimaru. Was someone who had spent so many years as an internationally wanted criminal really an opponent that could be easily dealt with? Someone who could be evenly matched by Kakashi-equivalent combat power had no right to look down on him.
Uncle Snake said, "Let there be light."
And so…
there was boundless radiance.
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