"Black Snake, keep Manda busy. If you can kill that bastard, do it. Then no one will ever fight you for territory again."
Kiyosuke patted the thick scales along Black Snake's body as he spoke.
"Tch, you don't need to tell me that. I'll crush him myself. I've had enough of him for a long time."
Black Snake let out a snort, coiling his massive body tightly, every muscle drawn taut like an arrow nocked on a bowstring, ready to launch.
"What a big mouth you've got,. Getting cocky lately? Did you eat something rotten? You've never once beaten me. Hmph! Are you looking to die?!"
Manda sneered like a thug, his voice dripping arrogance. He even clicked his tongue—how the hell does a snake even click its tongue like that?
"You're the one looking to die, Manda!"
Black Snake shot forward in a blur, the two serpents crashing together, biting and constricting. Their primal savagery burst forth, and the battle instantly turned brutal and ferocious.
Meanwhile, Kiyosuke and Orochimaru leapt onto the writhing bodies of the giant snakes, engaging each other amidst the chaos.
Kiyosuke wielded the Kusanagi Sword, its blade wreathed in flame. Each slash promised more than a simple cut—it promised searing destruction.
Orochimaru was forced to avoid its edge, parrying with his own sword in one hand. With the other, he pressed his index and middle finger together, spitting out egg-sized fireballs from his fingertips. Each impact against the ground blasted small craters into the stone.
Unable to close the distance with Kiyosuke, Orochimaru opened his mouth and spewed forth a horde of black vipers. A suffocating tide of snakes poured out, enough to make anyone with a fear of swarms faint on the spot.
The vipers snapped their jaws, spitting blades as they slithered rapidly toward Kiyosuke.
He inhaled deeply and spewed a torrent of fire, roasting the snakes into charred husks. But before he could relax, a hand suddenly shot up from beneath the earth, grabbing his ankle. More vipers lunged, coiling around him, binding his body.
Kiyosuke strained, muscles surging, and ripped apart the serpentine binds. But the distraction was enough—Orochimaru's elongated neck shot forward, fangs sinking into Kiyosuke's throat.
The venomous bite pierced deep. Orochimaru was just about to brand him with a cursed seal when a chill ran down his spine. Kiyosuke's hand clamped onto his head, and with terrifying force, he flung him aside.
Orochimaru's body collapsed—head severed from torso.
But a moment later, he slithered free from the shed skin, reborn through molting.
Kiyosuke clutched at his neck. Being bitten by that snake freak was not pleasant. Orochimaru hadn't implanted the curse mark, but his fangs themselves carried venom.
Careless. He had actually let this snake-shedder land a hit.
"Kiyosuke-kun, it seems you've grown overconfident in your own strength. The poison isn't lethal, but it causes severe paralysis and hallucinations. You may resist it better than most, but it will still affect you."
Orochimaru's lips curled into a cold smile.
Of course he knew Kiyosuke's constitution. Under his guidance, the boy had developed a natural resistance to many toxins. Ordinary poisons wouldn't touch him, and his unique body only reinforced that immunity. But precisely because of that, Kiyosuke tended to underestimate poisons—leaving the perfect opening for Orochimaru.
"How does it feel? Unpleasant, isn't it?"
"Not too bad."
Kiyosuke's left arm had already gone numb, hanging uselessly at his side. His vision swam with faint hallucinations, like he'd eaten poisonous mushrooms.
He pulled out a sealing scroll, releasing a glass tube inside. Floating within was Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at the sight.
"Well, well. I didn't expect you to indulge in the Sharingan's power as well. Looks like we're more alike than I thought."
"No. I'm nothing like you."
Kiyosuke shook his head.
"I'm only borrowing its strength temporarily. When I'm done, it will be returned to its rightful owner."
"Is that so? Somehow, I doubt it." Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with hunger as they lingered on the eye. "Any Sharingan worth storing must be extraordinary. A Mangekyō, perhaps?"
"Something like that."
Kiyosuke's eyes shifted, the three tomoe spinning as they adjusted to their new vision.
With Shisui's eye aiding him, his control over hallucinations improved greatly. His body accelerated its metabolism, pushing the poison out faster.
This venom couldn't kill him. All he needed was time to purge it.
Dragging his limp arm, Kiyosuke lunged forward again.
The Kusanagi blazed as it struck. Orochimaru twisted and dodged desperately, but under the gaze of the Sharingan, his movements were already laid bare. Kiyosuke read his trajectory, pressing the assault, each strike aimed at a vital point. Orochimaru was driven back, battered and flustered.
A thrust slipped past his guard, stabbing under his arm and flicking upward—slicing his arm clean off.
Blood sprayed in torrents.
Orochimaru clutched the wound, preparing to molt again. But Kiyosuke gave him no chance. His strikes fell like a torrential downpour, unrelenting and merciless, his speed so blinding that Orochimaru could hardly follow his form.
At last, Orochimaru had no choice but to take a brutal kick to gain distance. Only then did he complete another molting.
But this time, what emerged was not a human form.
It was a massive white-scaled serpent with strands of hair, its entire body composed of countless smaller white snakes. Each could detach, moving freely, or merge back into the great serpent's body.
Kiyosuke narrowed his eyes.
"So you've already abandoned humanity."
Indeed, Orochimaru could no longer be called human. He had reshaped his body into the White Phosphorus Snake in pursuit of immortality. This form was a grotesque vessel created solely for that purpose.
Kakashi and Yamato had once barely survived an encounter with such a monstrosity when they were younger.
"Why cling to humanity, Kiyosuke-kun? You're too shortsighted. Obsessed with human bonds, with human shape. But the body is only a vessel for the soul. Souls are eternal. As long as my soul endures, what does it matter what form I take? If it lets me continue my pursuit of the world's truth, I'll embrace any transformation."
Orochimaru's words carried no shame, only cold conviction.
"Then we have nothing more to talk about."
Kiyosuke had no intention of wasting words on this creature that had long forsaken being human. Only blood could end this.
His left arm twitched back to life, regaining some strength.
"Let's end this. Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
The earth erupted, stone pillars shooting up and pinning Orochimaru in place. The smaller snakes writhed, preparing to scatter but Kiyosuke was faster. He flashed forward, near-instantaneous, and in the next heartbeat, his blade carved through flesh.
Three swift strokes, then two, then three more Orochimaru's body fell in eight bloody pieces.
Chunks of meat and serpentine flesh splattered across the ground, the cold blood of snakes pooling thick. The air filled with a foul, uncanny stench.
"This smell…"