In the Forest of Death, Konoha.
Renji started walking towards Orochimaru. Behind him, Minato, Kakashi, and Asuma slowly moved backwards, leaving Renji the space to attack Orochimaru and deal with him however he saw fit.
With each step Renji took, he released more and more of his spiritual pressure. It directly hit Orochimaru and suppressed him heavily. The air itself seemed to grow heavier, and even the ground beneath Renji's feet looked as if it was sinking under the invisible weight.
This spiritual pressure directly suppressed the soul, and Orochimaru, who generally used the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique to change his body from time to time, had an incomplete soul because of it. Due to that, the effect of Renji's spiritual pressure on Orochimaru was far greater than it would have been on most people.
Even with his powerful chakra and immense strength, Orochimaru felt extremely uncomfortable under this pressure, but he still maintained his stance. His golden snake-like eyes narrowed slightly, and cold sweat slowly appeared on his forehead.
He first looked towards the sky, where Antares was flying while directly looking down at him like a predator watching its prey. Then, he finally shifted his gaze towards Renji, who was steadily walking towards him without any hurry.
Orochimaru knew that he had to take the initiative and attack first. He could not continue defending passively because if he did that, then the chances of him winning—or especially escaping from here—would become extremely low.
This pressure... if this continues, even moving properly will become difficult.
So, without hesitation, Orochimaru preemptively attacked Renji.
Orochimaru's neck suddenly started elongating and stretching forward at an unnatural speed. At the same time, from his mouth came his sword, the Kusanagi Sword. The blade gleamed coldly under the dim forest light as Orochimaru's face shot forward with terrifying speed, carrying the sword directly towards Renji.
Renji unsheathed his Zanpakuto, and both swords collided with each other, creating a burst of sparks in the air. The impact was so heavy that the ground beneath Renji's feet cracked and shattered, spreading spiderweb-like fractures around him.
Yet Renji himself remained completely stable, not even taking a single step back. His expression did not change at all, as if Orochimaru's attack had carried no weight behind it.
Seeing that his preemptive attack on Renji had failed, Orochimaru immediately retracted his head at very high speed. His elongated neck rapidly shrank back, and within a moment, his body returned to normal.
But just as Orochimaru's head returned to his body and he regained his normal posture, Renji suddenly used Shunpo and disappeared from where he was.
In the next instant, he directly appeared beside Orochimaru.
Orochimaru's pupils shrank. He immediately sidestepped, and the sword from his mouth dropped neatly into his right hand. Without wasting even a second, he swung it towards Renji again.
Clang!
Both swords collided once more, and this time Orochimaru was directly sent dragging backwards across the ground for several meters. Dirt, dead leaves, and broken roots were thrown into the air as two deep lines formed beneath Orochimaru's feet.
Just at that moment, Renji suddenly felt an attack coming towards him from behind.
He did not even bother to turn back.
Instead, with his left hand, he casually pointed backwards and said, "Bakudo number 39, Arc Shield."
As soon as Renji's voice fell, a pale yellow spinning disc-like barrier instantly appeared behind him from the point where his index finger was pointing.
A very powerful punch directly hit the shield.
Boom!
The impact created a loud noise that echoed through the forest, and a violent gust of air spread in every direction. Nearby branches cracked, leaves were blown away, and dust rose from the ground.
Yet the shield did not even budge.
It remained absolutely fine, spinning calmly as if nothing had happened.
The person who had attacked Renji from behind was Jirobo, one of the Sound Five under Orochimaru.
Jirobo was currently using his full strength. Not only was he using his naturally powerful taijutsu, but he was also using the curse mark given to him by Orochimaru. Dark markings had spread across his body, his muscles had expanded, and his already monstrous strength had increased even further due to the presence of Hashirama cells inside him.
At this moment, Jirobo's full-powered punch would have been enough to seriously injure or even knock out a Jonin.
Yet even with all of that strength, he was unable to do anything to the shield Renji had created with just a point of his finger, without even turning around or properly focusing on him.
But as Jirobo's attack had completely failed, the shield that had appeared after Renji used Bakudo number thirty-nine, Arc Shield, also disappeared as Jirobo quickly retreated backwards.
Jirobo jumped back several times in a row, trying to create distance between himself and Renji. His heavy footsteps crushed the ground beneath him, and his face was filled with anger and frustration.
However, almost as if out of nowhere, Renji's index finger still remained pointed backwards—more precisely, towards Jirobo's direction.
Jirobo was directly running backwards and, in his anger, unknowingly ignored that Renji's finger was still pointed towards him.
Then Renji calmly said, "Hado number four, Pale Lightning."
As soon as Renji's voice fell, a white flash of lightning burst from his fingertip. It moved with incredible speed, crossing the distance in an instant before directly hitting Jirobo.
A hole immediately appeared on the right side of Jirobo's chest.
Jirobo's eyes widened, and blood spilled from his mouth as his body staggered backwards. The smell of burnt flesh spread faintly into the air.
For a normal ninja, that kind of injury would have been fatal.
But because Jirobo had been injected with Hashirama cells, the injury was not deadly for him. The flesh around the wound slowly started healing on its own, and the bleeding also began to stop.
As the injury gradually healed, Jirobo became even angrier.
Not only had his attack failed to do any damage to Renji, but Renji had not even properly looked at him. With just a casual point of his finger and a casual attack, Renji had injured him to this degree.
Jirobo gritted his teeth hard, veins bulging on his forehead.
Without hesitation, he immediately used the Earth Release technique, Earth Mausoleum Dumpling.
As soon as Jirobo used this Earth Release technique, he forcefully lifted a massive chunk of earth from the ground in front of him. The ground rumbled loudly, trees shook violently, and a gigantic section of earth rose into the air.
That chunk of earth was extremely huge, like a small hill.
Then, with all his strength, Jirobo threw that giant mass of earth directly towards Renji.
The enormous stone crashed down towards him with terrifying force, creating a loud whistling sound in the air.
But in the very next moment, the giant earth chunk was cleanly cut into two halves.
The two halves fell on both sides of Renji with a thunderous crash, shaking the ground heavily and sending clouds of dust and debris into the air.
And Renji had also disappeared.
Jirobo realized that Renji had vanished from in front of him, and suddenly, he sensed an intense killing intent coming from behind him.
His eyes widened.
But before he could even react, a sharp flash passed by him.
The next moment, Jirobo's head was already flying in the sky.
For a brief second, the last thing his eyes saw was his own decapitated body still standing there before it collapsed heavily onto the ground. Then his head rolled across the dirt, leaving a trail of blood behind.
The forest became silent for a moment.
Orochimaru watched this scene carefully.
When Renji had attacked Jirobo, Orochimaru could have escaped or at least tried to escape, but he did not do so.
Because even though Renji was dealing with Jirobo, that did not mean Renji's focus was not on him.
His focus was clearly always on him.
Orochimaru could feel it very clearly.
If he dared to retreat, Renji would attack him instantly, and at this point in the battle, if he tried to retreat carelessly, then Renji would heavily injure him.
He is not giving me even a single opening to escape...
Then Renji used Shunpo once again and disappeared from his location.
In the next instant, he appeared in front of Orochimaru and attacked with his Zanpakuto.
Orochimaru immediately replied with his Kusanagi Sword.
Clang!
Both swords collided, and sparks appeared in the air.
Then both of them continued attacking each other without pause.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of metal colliding continuously echoed through the Forest of Death. Sparks flew in every direction, trees nearby were cut apart by stray sword winds, and the ground beneath them cracked from the force of their clashes.
Orochimaru and Renji were fighting equally.
Neither of them was able to do anything decisive to the other.
Even though Renji's speed was faster, Orochimaru, with his extremely fast reaction speed, was able to cope with Renji's movements. And with his snake-like body, he was able to absorb and disperse much of the force behind Renji's powerful sword attacks.
Renji's sword slashed towards Orochimaru's neck, but Orochimaru bent his body at an impossible angle and dodged it.
Orochimaru's Kusanagi Sword thrust towards Renji's chest, but Renji tilted his body slightly and blocked it with his Zanpakuto.
Again and again, they collided.
Again and again, neither side gained an advantage.
So the battle entered a stalemate.
Finally, both of them moved backwards and created some distance between each other.
They stood facing one another from afar.
The wind blew between them, carrying dust, broken leaves, and the smell of blood through the forest.
Both of them were silently thinking about what to do next.
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