Chapter 8: The Third Raikage Is Shocked
"Looks like I have to end this quickly."
Hearing the Hidden Cloud ANBU outside, a ruthless glint flashed in Orochimaru's slit pupils.
At first, his plan was to capture Ziyun alive and imprison him in the Hidden Leaf to force him to research techniques.
But now, Yotsuki Ziyun was clearly too dangerous. If Orochimaru didn't kill him here, it would be unacceptable.
"I feel the same. Let's finish this fast."
Ziyun also needed to defeat Orochimaru quickly. If he only beat Orochimaru with ANBU help, what if the system didn't count it as completing the task?
So Ziyun had to try relying on his own ability to defeat Orochimaru.
In actual combat, Ziyun felt that both his Observation Haki and Rumble-Rumble Fruit proficiency were improving noticeably.
"Ninja Art: Ten Thousand Serpents Formation!"
"Divine Judgment!"
Both sides released their moves at the same time, but Ziyun was clearly faster, because using fruit abilities required no hand seals.
His forearm turned into blazing lightning. Ziyun swung his arm, and thunderclouds roiled in the sky. A thick bolt of lightning, as wide as a circle of ten men holding hands, crashed down from above.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit move Divine Judgment required precise detection through Observation Haki to land accurately.
Ziyun used this hard-won real battle to raise his experience and proficiency, and to see if he could fuse Observation Haki with the fruit ability.
At that moment, Orochimaru had only just finished his hand seals and crouched down.
"A massive lightning strike from the sky… is that an S-rank technique?"
Feeling the thunder roar above, a powerful sense of danger surged in Orochimaru's heart.
His elite jonin instincts told him that if he took that bolt head-on, he would likely die here.
With a shift of thought, Orochimaru decisively canceled the Ten Thousand Serpents Formation. He formed new hand seals at high speed and used a Reverse Summoning Technique he had prepared in advance to escape.
"Don't run!"
Ziyun's Observation detected Orochimaru's movement. With a thought, the lightning slammed down faster!
Boom!
Divine Judgment poured down in the blink of an eye, like a nuclear blast, instantly blowing a massive crater into the ground where Orochimaru had been.
"Ziyun! Are you okay?"
"Quick… get in there and support!"
After the thunderstrike, the Hidden Cloud ANBU rushed to the scene, only to find a huge crater and Yotsuki Ziyun standing there alone.
"Ziyun, where's the intruder?"
The ANBU captain stepped forward and asked with concern.
Not finding the intruder meant failure on their part, but seeing that Ziyun wasn't injured, only looking somewhat exhausted, they finally let out the breath they had been holding.
If Ziyun had been hurt, the captain would have been finished.
"He got away."
Ziyun could no longer sense Orochimaru's presence. He had escaped.
But Orochimaru was definitely badly injured. Right before he disappeared, Ziyun's Observation sensed Orochimaru's chakra abruptly drop by a large amount.
"Where is he? Where is he? This time we must catch him!"
At that moment, the Third Raikage also arrived with a team of Hidden Cloud sensory shinobi after hearing the news.
"Uncle Raikage, the intruder ran. There's no need to search anymore," Ziyun said to the Third Raikage.
"Damn it! Those bastards got away again. If I ever find out who's behind this, I'll make them pay!"
The Third Raikage's violent temper flared. He smashed a wall with one punch to vent his anger.
This kind of sneak attack wasn't the first time, but every time they lacked solid evidence, so they had no way to demand justice from the mastermind.
It left the Third Raikage with nowhere to release his fury, suffocatingly frustrated.
"I'm sorry, Lord Raikage. This was my failure. I didn't detect the intruder in advance and almost caused irreversible loss. I am willing to accept punishment."
The ANBU captain stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and pleaded guilty.
"Good that you know. Two months of pay docked. Demoted to vice-captain," the Third Raikage said, looking down at him.
"Yes!"
The ANBU captain had no objections. In fact, he felt relief.
Originally, the Third Raikage planned to strip him of the captain position entirely, but since Ziyun was unharmed, the Third Raikage changed his mind.
"Uncle Raikage, it's not really his fault. This intruder wasn't an ordinary person," Ziyun stepped forward to explain.
"Hm? Ziyun, do you know who it was?" the Third Raikage asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. I saw his face. It was the Hidden Leaf's genius shinobi, Orochimaru."
"Orochimaru?!"
The Third Raikage narrowed his eyes. Orochimaru's reputation was huge.
As the direct disciple of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, he had long carried the title of the Hidden Leaf's number one genius.
And now, Orochimaru was also widely considered, both within the Hidden Leaf and across the shinobi world, to be the likely successor as the Fourth Hokage.
The Hidden Cloud ANBU also froze in place.
So it was Orochimaru.
No wonder they couldn't detect him.
For the Hidden Leaf to send Orochimaru to assassinate Ziyun, a genin who had only just graduated, was shameless.
"Are you sure it was Orochimaru, Ziyun?" the Third Raikage asked, unable to believe it.
Orochimaru was already elite jonin level, but Ziyun looked completely unharmed.
To face Orochimaru and remain unscathed made the Third Raikage struggle to believe it.
Ziyun was only a newly graduated genin.
Orochimaru should already be elite jonin.
"Yes. I saw him clearly. I absolutely won't mistake him," Ziyun said firmly.
After getting Ziyun's confirmed answer, the Third Raikage nodded, and he understood how Ziyun could be unharmed.
It had to be Ziyun's newly researched Thunder God technique, letting him survive Orochimaru's assassination attempt.
"Alright. Then did you fight him?" the Third Raikage asked a key question.
That strange technique would make anyone who lacked intelligence on it suffer badly. If there had been a clash, then the Hidden Leaf would have learned Ziyun's capabilities.
For shinobi, intelligence was life. That was no exaggeration.
Ziyun surviving this assassination attempt also depended on the Hidden Leaf not knowing his newest information.
If they did know, the outcome would be different.
"Of course we fought. He should have learned my information," Ziyun nodded.
"Understood. Keep strengthening Ziyun's protection. Twenty-four hours a day, no slack at all!"
The Third Raikage barked an order to the ANBU.
Ziyun's information had leaked. If the Hidden Leaf learned about that strange technique, they would become even more wary.
And it might mean several more assassination attempts were coming.