"Hey, Orochimaru, think of something quick!"
Watching the cold current, now focused into a white line, piercing towards them, Manda screamed.
After a long cold war with Orochimaru, it had rushed to the battlefield without a second thought upon sensing the familiar summoning call, just to earn a few measly sacrifices to show off to its snake descendants back at Ryuchi Cave.
But it never expected that what it would face this time was simply not human!
'Mere humans, just daily desserts at Ryuchi Cave.'
"Konoha's Ninja? Overrated tri-colored dango.'
'Even while bearing this cold current, and holding up my useless contractor with one hand, I, Manda, remain invincible in this world.'
'Orochimaru, save me!'
"Stop shouting, I'm working on it!"
Orochimaru directly jumped off Manda's body, bit both thumbs, and pressed his palms to the ground.
"Summoning Technique: Triple Rashomon!"
The Rashomon gates, defensive walls meant to absorb all attacks, were summoned one after another as Orochimaru poured Chakra into them.
The storm-like assault followed immediately, frost running rampant across the earth.
Boom!
The sound of continuous shattering rang out as the Rashomon gates were pierced through one by one.
But the iron-wall defense of the summoned gates of hell ultimately deflected the impact's force.
After the ice mist dissipated,
The ground was left with three giant gate slots and two impact tracks torn through the middle, covered in ice spikes.
"It seems you're quite capable!"
Sakura's figure darted rapidly through the wind and snow.
After one strike ended, the next blow, wrapped in Armament Haki, was already swinging towards Orochimaru.
"Again?!"
Orochimaru's eyes widened. Vast Natural Energy poured into the Cursed Seal on his arm.
He then flung out a large number of venomous snakes, interweaving and layering, entangling Sakura, attempting to bind all her movements.
Unfortunately, even with the Cursed Seal enhancing the technique, as the snakes climbed onto Sakura…
They couldn't avoid being frozen by the extreme low temperatures, shattering into ice fragments and scattering everywhere with her casual struggles.
"Hahahaha, that's not enough, Uncle Orochimaru!"
Amidst hysterical, unrestrained laughter, Sakura leaped high into the air again.
As her fists swung, they shed the ultimate cold light which faded to pure white.
Orochimaru sensed danger, spread his hands, and released a flood of venomous snakes, with hidden blades in their mouths.
As Sakura's pink fists descended, the blades suddenly elongated, thrusting upward.
A wave of sharp blades tore through the wind created by the fist. The wildly growing blade thicket interlaced, seeking to cover the girl in the sky.
Sakura took out a kunai and threw it with force at Orochimaru, who was far away on Manda's head. The kunai whistled, cutting through the air.
Orochimaru's golden snake eyes caught the cherry blossom-shaped mark on the kunai's handle. His eyes narrowed.
"The Flying Thunder God... What a nostalgic technique!"
Recalling the Yellow Flash who was active during the Third Great Ninja War, Orochimaru didn't dare relax in the slightest.
The head of a venomous snake in his hand lifted upward, a sword slashing at the kunai in mid-air, precisely cutting the cherry blossom mark on the handle in two, destroying the hidden Space-Time Anchor.
"Tch."
Sakura clicked her tongue upon seeing this.
The Flying Thunder God, as a Space-Time Ninjutsu, was indeed peerless in speed. But strong figures within the Ninja World who understood this technique basically all had their own methods to counter it by destroying the Space-Time Anchors.
Whether it was previously not letting Sakura have any chance to get close, or now cutting the mark on the kunai, Orochimaru had made ample preparations to avoid an assault from Flying Thunder God Technique.
"Manda, bite her!"
Orochimaru, who had jumped from Manda's head to the ground, issued an order to the summoned creature behind him, while he himself raised his hands and began forming hand seals.
Manda: "Huh? Me?"
The moment it thought to shake its head, its vertical pupils were already filled with dazzling, blazing light. The girl's tender pink fist, mixed with invincible Haki and frost, came smashing down towards.
"Orochimaru, I'll f*ck your...."
Boom!!!
The mountain-like beast was struck by unparalleled force directly into its brain. Storms and frost continuously suppressed its body. The collision of wills at the soul level expanded violently.
Under this blow, Manda was knocked unconscious. Blood sprayed from its eyes, mouth, and nose, its aura becoming weak.
The summoning threshold was instantly maxed out. Manda exploded into a large cloud of smoke, providing Orochimaru with his final cover.
In the distance, Orochimaru finished his hand seals. His body swelled. The outermost human skin tore, revealing the dense, small white snakes that composed his body. When he prostrated himself on the ground again, his entire being had molted into a giant serpent of enormous size.
Ninja Art? Great Serpent Servant Technique!
"Brat, a Ninja's struggle never seeks spectacle! A one-hit kill is our style!"
Innumerable serpent bodies wriggled alternately. The streamlined Orochimaru rapidly wriggled, attacking Sakura like a flying arrow.
"Is that so? But I think youngsters nowadays prefer my style more!"
Adopting a stance, Sakura's Observation Haki spread out in a net through the forest.
Although she could sense Orochimaru's attack direction, with Natural Energy involved, the caster's speed climbed to an extremely terrifying level.
Just like in the battle between Pain and Jiraiya, it wasn't that they didn't want to instantly kill Jiraiya, but that with all the abilities of all his bodies, they always lost to Jiraiya by a step in terms of speed.
Unable to predict accurately, Sakura could only stretch out her palm towards the white-scaled serpent and clench it. A large amount of cold air was manipulated by her to condense into ice spears, raining down from the sky.
Unexpectedly, the white-scaled serpent moving on the ground seemed to have eyes on its back, twisting and avoiding in an S-shape, climbing through the gaps in the ice spear rain, its speed undiminished.
As it approached Sakura, numerous mouths on the white-phosphorus serpent's body opened. Clusters of Kusanagi Swords extended, instantly turning the entire snake into a hedgehog, spinning at high speed as it slashed towards Sakura.
"The Kusanagi Sword can be used like this too?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow, reaching out to collide head-on with the meat grinder that was Orochimaru.
"There's plenty you don't know! Youngster!"
The white-scaled snake laughed ferociously, with all the blades on its body standing erect.
Sakura's slender hands were cut with numerous wounds, her body was also pierced by the blades.
But with her five fingers clenched tight, Armament Haki had firmly grasped Orochimaru's main body.
"Slippery fellow. This time, you have nowhere to run!"
Amidst the blade thicket, Sakura raised her right fist bursting with dark lightning. The Chakra boiling over on her body erupted with steam capable of dissolving everything.
[Armament Haki Boil Release: Unrivaled Strength!]
"Not good!"
Orochimaru's pupils contracted to pinpoints. His body struggled violently.
But even Logia users can't escape Armament Haki's restraint, let alone the current Orochimaru.
"Haaah-!"
Amid the girl's roar, the fist carrying Chakra and Haki was swung.
It smashed through the Kusanagi Sword Armor woven around Orochimaru's body, solidly smashing into the opponent's chest, punching straight through him!
Bang!!
Haki roared and a huge force surged out.
Orochimaru was almost knocked unconscious by this punch, his entire body sent flying backward, smashing into the ground, plowing a long, narrow trench.
The earth and giant trees behind him for hundreds of meters were shattered to pieces by the aftershock of this blow.
Sakura pulled out several clusters of Kusanagi swords that had pierced her body. Her pure white skirt was stained crimson.
However, the wounds were quickly healed under the dual effects of Yang Attribute Chakra and Life Return.
"Cough cough cough!"
Orochimaru climbed out of the rubble, clutching his chest, bleeding from all seven orifices from the blow, looking extremely disheveled.
Sensing the scant Chakra left within him, he knew he couldn't continue like this. Otherwise, the trump card reserved for his teacher would have to be used prematurely on this genius.
Orochimaru's sinister gaze swept over Sakura.
Looking at this pink-haired girl who couldn't be killed and had ridiculously high output, a thought flashed through his mind.
"It seems we can only call it a day for now? Before I leave, as your Senpai, let me give you a piece of advice!"
"Don't even think about running!"
Sakura activated the Flying Thunder God's mark she had left on the opponent's head during their earlier contact.
But unexpectedly, Orochimaru was even more decisive. A small snake spat a sword, piercing through its own head along with the Flying Thunder God's mark.
Sakura's technique failed to activate. The Space-Time recoil made her step back slightly.
And Orochimaru had already used the Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique, incidentally inserting his body into the soil.
"Konoha has already rotted into a man-eating monster! Sooner or later, the people you cherish will also be chewed up and swallowed by it!"
"When that time comes, how will you face this village you dedicated everything to, fought for your whole life? Heh heh heh heh heh!"
With meaningful laughter, Orochimaru turned into a pool of mud and flowed down through a crevice in the ground, escaping at high speed using Earth Release.
'This level of Earth Release...'
Sakura, giving chase, threw a punch. Under the heat plunder, she froze hundreds of meters of earth.
But as her Observation Haki penetrated deep underground, she failed to detect any life aura.
"Got away, huh, that damn snake."
'How can a renowned strong figure put all their skill points into escaping and survival?'
Shaking her head, the girl's gaze turned towards the approaching Jonin and Anbu in the distance.
A line of golden text appeared in the depths of her eyes… a system notification for achievement points.
[Notice: Achievement [This Snake is Super Tenacious~] unlocked. Dispensing one-time achievement points: 110 points.]
'Hey, you stingy thing, trying to block even my method of repeatedly farming points?'
After complaining about the system, Sakura, feeling a little tired, simply leaned under a tree and closed her eyes.
Orochimaru's words before leaving still echoed in her ears, finally turning into a soft sigh.
"Sigh, that guy... I'll just report it. It's not my headache anyway in the end."