Orochimaru knew of Ebizō primarily through Shimura Danzō.
As two men whose roles revolved around village intelligence, they had naturally crossed paths before.
According to Danzō, Ebizō was a man no less formidable than himself.
"Lord Orochimaru, would you kindly turn back?"
Ebizō wore loose-fitting robes, his head wrapped in bandages, hands tucked into wide sleeves.
Orochimaru didn't respond immediately. His eyes swept over the enemy's numbers—barely a dozen, though how many more lurked in the forest remained unknown.
On their side, they numbered in the hundreds.
While they held the advantage in sheer numbers, those who had made it here from Sunagakure were undoubtedly elites.
Even in terms of elite forces, Orochimaru's side still outnumbered them.
But if the enemy targeted the weaker shinobi, their numbers could easily be reduced by at least thirty percent.
That would significantly impact the war effort in the Land of Rain.
However.
"What if I refuse?"
Orochimaru drew a shuriken, ready to strike at any moment.
"Then I'll have to ensure only a portion of your forces leave here alive."
Ebizō extended his hands, unsealing two scrolls. Smoke billowed as they opened.
Ten black puppets materialized around him.
The Kuro Matsu Jūninshū—the Black Pine Ten.
A replication modeled after the legendary puppeteer Bunzaemon's creations.
Their intent was clear: to weaken Konoha's active combat strength in the Land of Rain.
Konoha was already losing ground there.
No further words were needed.
Orochimaru hurled the shuriken in his hand without hesitation.
His hands flew through seals.
"Multiple Shuriken Technique!"
A storm of shuriken blotted out the sky, raining down upon the Suna shinobi.
Some summoned puppets to block, while others took cover behind trees or used ninjutsu to deflect the onslaught.
A battle cry erupted from the Konoha ranks.
"Kill them!"
The battle began in an instant.
Ebizō didn't immediately join the fray. His sunken eyes flicked downward.
Orochimaru burst from the ground, the Kusanagi Sword shooting from his mouth.
An ox-head puppet swiftly interposed itself, crossing its arms to deflect the blade's trajectory.
Orochimaru's neck twisted unnaturally as his arm stretched outward.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
His limb dissolved into a swarm of serpents, slithering past the ox-head puppet toward Ebizō.
Ebizō leaped to another tree, putting distance between them and evading the snakes.
With deft movements of his chakra strings, the ten puppets launched a relentless assault, striking like a sudden storm.
Orochimaru weaved through them like a specter, his body fluid as a snake's shadow, dodging and darting between the puppets.
Every time he closed in, Ebizō retreated further.
As time passed, however—
Ebizō soon realized something was amiss.
His gaze snapped toward the battlefield.
A figure clad in green was overwhelming Suna's forces with sheer taijutsu.
Puppets shattered on contact.
Other shinobi were sent flying before they could even form hand seals.
And there, amidst the chaos, was another Orochimaru, attacking Suna shinobi.
"A clone?"
He whirled back to the Orochimaru before him.
"Guess."
Orochimaru's lips curled into an enigmatic smile as he lunged again—only for Ebizō to retreat once more.
A puppet unleashed a barrage of shuriken, piercing Orochimaru's body and revealing writhing snakes beneath his clothes.
Yet this confirmed to Ebizō that the Orochimaru before him was no clone.
But when he looked back at the battlefield, another Orochimaru had summoned the colossal purple serpent Manda, wreaking havoc among Suna's ranks.
That one was also real!
He couldn't discern which was the original.
Realizing the dire situation, one of his puppets emitted a piercing, resonant sound.
"Genjutsu: Mirage Phantom Sound!"
Instantly, the Konoha shinobi fell under the illusion, attacking trees as if they were enemies. Only a handful of elites remained unaffected.
Orochimaru and Might Dai were among them.
The Suna forces seized the moment to retreat into the forest, vanishing swiftly.
Might Dai made no move to pursue. The others already knew who the real threat was.
In moments, he and Orochimaru had Ebizō surrounded in a circular formation.
The other Orochimaru and Manda dissolved into smoke, revealing their true nature.
Now Ebizō understood—the one before him was the original.
"A new clone technique..."
His expression darkened. To think it could wield the full power of the original.
Such a technique was troublesome beyond measure.
"Now it's just you."
Orochimaru smiled, offering no explanation.
Internally, he marveled at the ingenuity of Uchiha Kin's jutsu.
By converting chakra into Yin and Yang attributes, then cycling them through sealing and unsealing formulas, the technique absorbed stray chakra from enemy ninjutsu.
When used by a clone, it could maintain a steady supply of chakra by syncing with the enemy's jutsu frequency.
If the original wielded it, the user would never run out of chakra—a effect that grew stronger with the number of enemies.
It was a devastating technique for large-scale battles.
And that wasn't all—it also granted sensory perception and genjutsu interference.
Three abilities in one.
Something Orochimaru would never have imagined.
I'd love to crack open Kin's skull and see what's inside.
Ebizō sighed deeply, his gaze lingering on Orochimaru.
A glance at the Konoha forces confirmed their numbers had barely dwindled.
The mission had failed.
He hadn't anticipated Orochimaru possessing such a clone technique.
Nor had he expected—
His eyes shifted to the bushy-browed man in the green jumpsuit.
—this man to be equally formidable.
Still, it wasn't a complete loss. At the very least, he'd obtained two critical pieces of intelligence.
With that, he spoke calmly to Orochimaru.
"We'll meet again."
Poof.
White smoke erupted as Ebizō vanished.
"Lord Orochimaru."
The others awaited his orders. The Suna shinobi hadn't fled far yet.
"We head to the Land of Rain battlefield now."
Orochimaru's expression darkened.
The situation there was primarily defensive, focused on tracking enemy movements.
Though many enemy shinobi had been spotted, Root had eliminated them all.
The perimeter was guarded by Root operatives—no elite forces should have slipped through.
The only areas without solid intel were Hatake Sakumo's position in the Land of Rivers and Jiraiya's front.
These Suna elites must have come from the Land of Rivers.
Now, Orochimaru couldn't help but worry about what had happened there.
Hatake Sakumo was strong, yes.
But Orochimaru doubted his aptitude as a field commander.
The defensive line couldn't have collapsed—he would have heard by now.
Yet something pivotal must have occurred to shift the tide.
...
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(End of Chapter)