'What the f**k, I am pretty sure I have checked the surrounding, wait.'
"How long have you been following me?" Kaida asked, getting into a defensive posture while scanning his surroundings once again for any shadow clone.
"Interesting, you were able to figure that out. Most Uchiha would have been in shock, how they were not able to SEE me coming," Orochimaru chuckled to himself, obviously taking Kaida as a joke. A young teen ninja, even with three-tomoe Sharingan, was not enough to make him worry.
Though he had made sure there was no reinforcement coming for the boy, otherwise things may get a little out of hand.
"I know you have been following me from behind, in the perfect spot where I would not check since I had just taken that path. If I have to guess, for around 20 minutes. The time there was that bear emerged from the forest, that distraction must have been your cover," Kaida said, after finally scanning the surroundings and making sure there was only one foe in front of him. All he had to do now is focus on surviving.
But the sudden stopping of the chuckle and the disappearance of the casual behavior of Orochimaru was not a good step in that direction. He was just saying those things to keep the conversation going so that he could get time to look into the surroundings for any potential ambush.
Though maybe getting read by a young ninja not even half of your age was not very nice.
"It is sad that you met me. You had quite a nice head over your shoulder. Maybe you could have become a pretty good support for my former village, though that too will not be good for me. So let's finish this shall…" Orochimaru didn't even finish the sentence and vanished from his position, appearing behind Kaida with his kunai coated in wind chakra.
pang
"You didn't actually think you will be able to get me with that, did you? Because if you did, then I may have severely overestimated you," Kaida said as he raised his sword to block the strike at the last second. Or he could, as even though he saw Orochimaru moving easily, the time it took him to analyze his attack and move to counter it was enough for Orochimaru to bring the kunai just millimeters away from the back of his neck.
Though Kaida also noticed how the blow didn't mean to kill, rather to make him unconscious.
'So he wants to capture me alive. Well, that is at least some good news,' Kaida thought but still maintained the arrogant front outside, like he was not taking Orochimaru seriously at all.
As soon as he countered the attack, Kaida slashed his sword toward Orochimaru, coated in dense fire chakra. The attack would have been devastating if it had connected, IF.
Orochimaru didn't even wait for a second when his first attack failed. Leaving behind an explosion tag, he flickered behind. Kaida did too, and once again there was quite some distance between both of them.
None of them had committed to the attack before. It was just a probing attack to see the power level of their opponent, which just increased the danger level of Orochimaru in Kaida's head.
Not only was that man powerful, but he was way too cautious, even taking a child not even half of his age seriously in a fight, not becoming overconfident because of his strength.
'No wonder he was able to live this long,' Kaida thought.
"Hmm, I have not heard about you recently, but someone of your level should be famous for your strength?" Orochimaru said, trying to look directly into Kaida's soul with his snake-like eyes.
"I am rather shy," Kaida said, his Sharingan spinning continuously, looking for any chance that may arise during the conversation for a surprise attack. But there was not a single opening in Orochimaru's posture at all, like he was ready for any attack, even though he was just standing there without any defensive posture at all.
"Then you should be happy. From now on you will not have to interact with any strangers," Orochimaru said.
And then Kaida felt it, the small disturbance underground.
Somehow he had summoned his snakes, but Kaida was sure he didn't do it when the fight began.
'He had summoned his snakes before even attacking me, such a cautious bastard,' Kaida thought as he coated his sword in fire chakra, which also added a little amount of earth chakra.
A deed which required immense amount of chakra control, and a little mishap would blast his sword in his face, but it was important.
As soon as those tremors reached near his leg, Kaida lunged his sword in the ground, and soon the ground became red.
"The legendary Sannin using such tricks against a young boy like me. Are you really Orochimaru or some fraud impersonating him?" Kaida asked, taking out his sword as soon as the work was completed, not giving Orochimaru any opening to exploit at all.
"Who knows, maybe I am, maybe I am not," Orochimaru said.
"Well, the real Orochimaru is the worst kind of scum on earth, betraying the only person who had treated him like a son. If you are impersonating that trash, maybe you should find someone else as your idol."
"Hohoho, is that your attempt to make me angry? How cute," Orochimaru said. Kaida knew he was not very good with trash talk, but he was hoping for some reaction, not this complete disregard.
'Well, he did kill the same man I was trying to use to make him feel bad. I need to improve my trash-talking skills,' Kaida thought, ready to intercept any attack while also sensing the surroundings for any more sneak attacks.
"Huh," Orochimaru sighed as he dropped his kunai on the ground, which Kaida noticed was attached to an explosion tag. If not for the distance between them, he may have even tried to blow that up.
"This game is taking too long. I have other experiments to work on as well, you know. Let's get this over with," Orochimaru said. The casual air he was portraying till now went away, leaving behind a thick bloodlust.
Kaida could have sworn he felt like a giant snake emerged from the shadows of Orochimaru, ready to pounce on him. He even dispersed his chakra in case this was a genjutsu, but no, it was the sheer amount of bloodlust Kaida was experiencing that resulted in this.
Kaida took some deep breaths and cleared his mind of any effects of the bloodlust. Simply circulating the Yang chakra in the body also helped calm a lot.
Which he needed a lot, as he was going against a ninja who had dedicated all of his life to learning every jutsu in the world. And from the looks of it, he was going to show how much he had learned. Kaida also stored away his sword as it will do nothing against any wide-range jutsu at all.