Before Orochimaru had even finished speaking, his arm twisted and erupted into a mass of writhing snake heads surging forward.
"What an impatient one he is. It seems Orochimaru truly has no patience for those who don't interest him."
The power gap between Mizuki and Orochimaru had long surpassed what numbers or tactics could compensate. Within just a few exchanges, Mizuki was already cornered. Genjutsu? Traps? These were nothing more than child's play to Orochimaru. The barrier Mizuki set up might seem deadly to ordinary ninja, but to someone at Orochimaru's level, it was outright ridiculous.
"Taijutsu, ninjutsu, reaction speed—everything's inferior. Such a hopeless disparity. If that's the case, I should retreat quickly before getting caught red-handed."
"Weren't you full of energy just now? Why so timid now? I thought you'd put up a real show with all that noise, but looks like you're nothing but bluff. If that's all you've got, then you're as good as dead." Moments ago, Mizuki had mocked Sasuke Uchiha coldly. Now he himself received this verbal slap—a fitting karmic retribution indeed.
"Well, I'm not defenseless," Mizuki muttered. Seizing the moment when Orochimaru closed in, he rapidly formed hand seals. "[Explode!]"
With a loud shout, Mizuki's shadow clone exploded, tags bursting forth. Orochimaru, unable to dodge, was swallowed by the explosion. Before surprise could register, countless kunai and shuriken burst from the smoke with the shockwave, impaling Orochimaru entirely.
After the smoke cleared, the heavily damaged Orochimaru body softened into mud and vanished, followed by the emergence of a new Orochimaru. The earth replacement technique rendered the shadow clone's attack almost ineffective.
"What the hell? So it was just a shadow clone? That's unexpected. Still, this isn't normal chunin exam candidate strength. Only through extensive experience could one set up such barriers."
Now somewhat intrigued, Orochimaru scanned the surrounding area. "Sasuke and his group clearly lack this ability. Those two unconscious Sound Ninjas and that pitiful girl aren't capable either. Then..." His eyes suddenly locked onto a direction. "Looks like it's you."
Elsewhere, Mizuki's clone was already retreating from the battlefield when an explosive surge reached him.
"The shadow clone has disappeared." A flood of memories surged into his mind. "Is everything going smoothly? Wait—how did Orochimaru track me down so fast? Not good..."
Before Mizuki could react, an overwhelming killing intent locked onto him. Oppressive pressure descended, making him feel as if he couldn't breathe. Sweat poured from his forehead uncontrollably.
"This killing intent is absolutely terrifying!" Mizuki bitterly smiled. "So he was just toying around before and is only now starting to get serious? Is the power gap between ninja really this immense? This is way beyond anything I can comprehend."
The higher the power level, the more absurdly vast the gap between individuals becomes!
Feeling the rapidly approaching murderous intent, Mizuki could no longer afford to think carefully.
"If resistance is impossible, then I have no choice but to take risks. Seems like conventional methods won't work here."
Determined, Mizuki struggled to pull out a kunai with his right hand and suddenly slashed downward, stabbing his own thigh. Using the pain as stimulation, he finally suppressed his fear, barely regaining his ability to move.
"Since you're so persistent, don't blame me for making you suffer then."
Gasping heavily, Mizuki took out a scroll, spread it flat on the ground, bit his finger, quickly formed hand seals, then slammed his palm into the air. The scroll emitted blinding red light, violently combusting until reduced to ashes. Then a crimson magical formation appeared out of nowhere, rising higher and expanding until becoming a strange array about ten meters wide floating nearly a hundred meters high in the sky.
Meanwhile, inside Mizuki's apartment in Konoha village, the original Mizuki, who had been studying sealing techniques gifted by The Third, suddenly felt a tremor. Without hesitation, he immediately put aside what he was holding and grabbed a vibrating scroll sitting atop the pile.
"Has it gotten this critical?" Not bothering with further thoughts, Mizuki activated the formation as well. A crimson magical formation unfurled across the floor, seemingly connected to some unknown location, rhythmically vibrating and rotating.
Then, Mizuki took out an enormous sealing scroll, activated the barrier already set up within the room, and finally released its seal.
"No matter who you are—even if you are Orochimaru—witness pure power."
Instantly, a massive surge of chakra poured down from the center of the sealing scroll, shooting straight into the crimson array below, vanishing without trace.
High above the Forest of Death, the airborne magical formation simultaneously opened a black void, unleashing a tremendous amount of chakra across space directly toward Orochimaru. The colossal impact exploded the ground beneath into a crater, sending shockwaves rolling outward, snapping surrounding trees like twigs.
As the immense pillar of chakra continued descending, air pressure fluctuated violently, generating massive whirlwinds lifting dust and debris skyward. Intense friction created vast clouds of charged dust, with brilliant white lightning streaks multiplying rapidly until eventually forming an expansive region of destructive plasma rolling across the land, reducing a hundred-meter-wide area to scorched wasteland. Still not finished, as the aerial chakra dissipated completely and the lower region remained hellish beyond imagination, the formation abruptly shrank. The previously restrained energy, combined with residual spatial distortions, finally coalesced into an ominous black lightning sphere flying straight toward Orochimaru—a terrifying ball of lightning, seemingly slow but deceptively fast, plunging downward with annihilating force.
[Summoning: Rashomon!]
A huge, grotesque gate blocked the lightning sphere, and the collision's deafening roar echoed throughout the entire Forest of Death.
The Lightning Ball's immense impact crushed the Rashomon gate, arcs of electricity rapidly entangled around it, shredding it into pieces within moments. After only a brief delay, the Lightning Ball surged forward once again.
[Spherical Lightning Strike]
A bright flash erupted, followed by thick smoke and a powerful explosion rising skyward, forming a mushroom-shaped cloud.
Mizuki's clone had already leaped into the air, performing hand seals before dashing through the chakra-depleted magical formation's black hole-like vortex. The formation then shrank and vanished completely.
Meanwhile, in Mizuki's home in Konoha village, the original Mizuki promptly activated the Summoning technique. A severely wounded figure—its bones seemingly shattered throughout the body—emerged from the black hole created by chakra blasts on the floor's formation and abruptly appeared inside Mizuki's house.
"First things first—don't exchange memories yet. We need to treat your injuries. If you pass out from the pain, I'll be as good as dead," the clone immediately ordered upon returning to safety.
The original Mizuki didn't say a word either. He quickly injected the clone with a life-saving pill and anesthetic, then manually reset multiple fractures across its body. Finally, he placed it within a chakra-enriching formation and healing formation.
"As long as we secure your life, conservative treatment should be enough for now—we can accelerate recovery through chakra overuse. I'm afraid you won't last until I find a solution for the life force issue."
"Fine by me. You probably won't have any big missions in the next month anyway. You should be able to manage without revealing too many cards."
"Understood. Rest well then. Now, let's exchange memories. Let's see exactly how you ended up in such a pitiful state."
In the Forest of Death, the spherical lightning strike's resulting mushroom cloud gradually dissipated, leaving behind a once-lush forest that had completely vanished. At the blast center lay a massive crater dozens of meters wide and more than ten meters deep. Due to the intense heat, parts of the crater floor glistened like vitrified glass. Water from a nearby small river flowed down into the depression, destined to form a small lake in no time.
At the crater's base, a patch of relatively intact earth suddenly swelled upward, gradually shaping into Orochimaru's form. The current Orochimaru was covered in wounds. He had shed his Sound ninja disguise, his clothing ragged, his skin charred and smoldering, clearly suffering a heavy defeat.
"No choice then. Never thought I'd end up using this move in a place like this."
Orochimaru suddenly opened his mouth wide, his head splitting open from the corners of his lips outward. A human figure crawled slowly out from the split. Although slightly fatigued, this new Orochimaru's body was unscathed. The previous battered shell was simply discarded like a shedded skin.
After stabilizing himself, Orochimaru quickly scanned the surroundings but found no further enemies. Shrugging, he muttered, "So he escaped? Not even knowing who hurt me like this—it's a first in my life. Haha." Suddenly grinning, he continued, "This world is precisely what I seek—always offering unexpected discoveries to keep things interesting. Hopefully our paths cross again soon so I can return the favor today. But causing such a disturbance, the village surely won't ignore it. Best get my treasures secured as soon as possible. Hehe."
Back in Mizuki's room, the moment Mizuki absorbed the clone's memories, excruciating pain overwhelmed him instantly.
Relying on the massive chakra accumulated over several months by Mizuki and Chiharu Tsubaki, who was his fiancée, Mizuki first sealed it before employing [Kuchiyose no Jutsu] to establish a coordinate link. Then, he directly tore through spatial barriers using this immense amount of chakra, creating a temporary passage to deploy its energy from afar and unleash unparalleled devastation. Finally, using the temporary passage, they would retreat instantly, whether the mission succeeded or failed. This well-conceived strategy blending attack and defense had finally found its moment to be executed.
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