Crack... crack... crack...
Before Uchiha Jinsuke's shocked eyes, cracks appeared in the red barrier formed by the Uchiha Fire Formation. The cracks spread from where the snake tail had struck, and the whole barrier shattered piece by piece.
Fugaku quickly retreated, while the Yamata no Orochi broke free from the barrier's hold and roared at the sky. Its cries shook the air, sending waves like ripples you could almost feel.
The remaining Uchiha elites all felt their hearts skip a beat. For a moment, none of them had the courage to fight.
They looked up to see the Yamata no Orochi stretching its heads toward the sky, taking up almost half of the view above them.
"How can we beat a monster like this?"
Just as they were asking themselves that, the giant beast suddenly vanished with a loud pop.
When the smoke cleared, standing in the ruins was a pale-faced man. He looked weak, his aura nothing like before, but now, no one dared underestimate him.
The Uchiha Police Force had always known the Sannin were strong, but they never had a clear idea of how strong.
Now they understood—one Sannin could take on the entire Uchiha clan alone.
A clan that had carried its eye techniques for a thousand years was nothing before such overwhelming power.
The Uchiha elites felt a mix of emotions—shame, excitement, they couldn't even tell which.
Unlike their shaken feelings, Orochimaru wasn't very moved. Everything he saw was about what he expected. There were few surprises in this fight.
He jumped lightly and landed in front of Uchiha Fugaku, a playful smile on his face.
"Clan Leader Fugaku, your barrier wasn't bad. Why did you pull it back halfway?"
Fugaku shook his head. "I only learned the Uchiha Fire Formation recently. I'm still not very skilled, and my chakra control slipped."
Unlike most Uchiha, after the Nine-Tails' night, as head of the police force, Fugaku started studying ways to restrict a tailed beast's movements inside the village.
Barriers were what he found. After all, if you fought a tailed beast too fiercely inside the village, even if you won, all that would be left was rubble.
The nearby Uchiha felt a little less upset after hearing their clan leader say that.
"The Uchiha Fire Formation is a good barrier technique."
Orochimaru, being a ninjutsu master, also knew a thing or two about barriers, which were a type of sealing technique.
The village's standard barrier is the Four Purple Flame Formation. It needs four jonin working together to cast and is strong enough to hold back even a Kage-level ninja. But against a tailed beast, it's barely enough.
Fugaku's Uchiha Fire Formation, however, was different.
Orochimaru had sharp eyes. At a glance, he could tell this was a secret technique made for the Uchiha clan. Compared to the Four Purple Flame Formation, it had bloodline restrictions, but its effect was indeed stronger.
And the way it blended two chakra natures on the surface was quite interesting.
Orochimaru glanced at Fugaku and smiled. "If you don't mind, Clan Leader Fugaku, why not let me study it?"
"This..." Fugaku looked troubled.
The Uchiha Fire Formation was a clan secret. There was no way to easily let an outsider learn it, even if that outsider had just shown such terrifying power.
"I won't take advantage of Uchiha for nothing. This barrier technique is good, but its flaws are obvious..."
Orochimaru went straight to the point. "If one person can maintain a barrier strong enough to hold a tailed beast, that person might as well fight the beast directly."
Fugaku stayed silent. He had already expected that. Even if he could pull off the Uchiha Fire Formation, with his amount of chakra, he couldn't last long under the Yamata no Orochi's nonstop attacks.
"For me, improving this barrier and turning it into a group-cast formation like the Four Purple Flame Formation is not hard."
Orochimaru smiled with pride.
After hearing that, Fugaku hesitated no more. "Then I'll leave it to you, Orochimaru-sama."
"We'll talk about it after this matter is over."
Orochimaru smiled and looked ahead.
While he was talking with Fugaku, the Uchiha police force had gathered again, but compared to ten minutes ago, their mood and presence were completely different.
They all looked like beaten roosters, and many of them were still injured.
With a "kind" smile on his face, Orochimaru said, "Line up however you like, I'll treat your injuries."
"Treat us?"
The members of the police force looked at each other. Letting the guy who just beat them up treat their wounds felt way too weird.
But soon they realized, if they didn't let Orochimaru treat them here, they would have to go to the Konoha hospital together.
Just thinking about the entire Uchiha police force, all banged up, walking to the hospital and getting stared at by villagers with curious, suspicious looks made them feel extremely uncomfortable.
That discomfort was worse than the weirdness they just felt.
In fact, the elite Uchiha knew this fight couldn't stay secret for long. The news that Orochimaru single-handedly fought the Uchiha clan was just too big.
But hearing about it and seeing it with your own eyes are two different things.
And with the Sharingan, Uchiha could see more than others, and sense that difference even deeper.
Their peace of mind depended on others knowing as little as possible.
Seeing the Uchiha police force hesitating, Fugaku gave a direct order: "Split up by squads right now, the seriously injured go to the front…"
The group started moving, causing a small commotion. At the same time, Orochimaru created twelve shadow clones and took out three sets of medical equipment from a scroll.
The Uchiha elites noticed this and their faces grew even darker.
Their first thought wasn't about the beating they just got, or that Orochimaru had planned this all along, but the fact that he still had enough chakra to make shadow clones now.
Just how much had he been holding back during the tailed beast drill?
Soon, the injured were lined up in three rows. The ones hurt the most were helped onto beds to receive Orochimaru's treatment.
And as they watched Orochimaru treat wounds while also making one of his clones take notes in a notebook, Uchiha Jinsuke couldn't help but ask:
"Orochimaru-sama, what are you doing? This doesn't look like just treatment."
Under the stares of the Uchiha, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and asked back, "Are you a medical ninja?"
"I'm not, but other medical ninjas don't usually…"
Jinsuke opened his mouth but couldn't find the right words. Still, his meaning was clear.
—I've never butchered a pig, but I've seen them run. What you're doing clearly isn't normal.
"Other medical ninjas? Just a bunch of fools."
Orochimaru gave a small snort of disdain. "Collecting body data is for more accurate and suitable treatment in the future."
It sounded a bit far-fetched, but it fit the image Orochimaru had just shown.
After all, someone this powerful doing things differently from ordinary medics seemed reasonable.
"Is that really necessary?" Jinsuke still had doubts.
"Of course."
A strange smile spread across Orochimaru's face.
"Did you think there would only be one tailed beast drill?"
"You'll have plenty more injuries in the future."
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