"Such speed... I didn't even notice him."
Orochimaru swayed as he stood, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. Those golden slit pupils stared intently at Luo Chen, a look of astonishment deep within them. It had been far too long since he had encountered such an opponent. The speed was so great that he hadn't even had time to form hand signs.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, old and frail, struggled to climb to his feet, gasping heavily for breath. Orochimaru glanced over and said with a mocking half-smile, "By the look of things, Konoha truly is destined to submit to this man. For the dignified Hokage to be unable to protect his village... it's truly laughable."
The cold mockery and laughter of his former disciple felt like a sting in Hiruzen Sarutobi's ears. He took a deep breath and formed hand signs, manifesting four Shadow Clones. The clones sprinted to the four corners of the rooftop, surrounding Luo Chen in the center.
"Use whatever ultimate move you have. Do you really think you can defeat him alone?" Hiruzen said coldly, continuing his hand signs. "Five Style: Great Combo Jutsu!"
"You've actually used your strongest technique," Orochimaru chuckled lowly. This teacher of his was proficient in all five elemental natures. The Five Style: Great Combo Jutsu was the pinnacle of that mastery, where the main body and four Shadow Clones simultaneously launched the most powerful attacks of different elements.
Orochimaru's hands formed signs, his expression bordering on madness. "Forbidden Art: Eight Branches Technique!"
Massive clouds of white smoke erupted around him, his body rapidly expanding and bestializing within the shroud. Ultimately, he transformed into a collective entity of eight giant white serpents. The Eight-Headed Serpent was covered in white scales; each neck reached over a hundred meters high, thick as a house. Large swaths of nearby buildings were crushed beneath the weight of the Eight-Headed Serpent.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was forced to create five earth pillars to provide a standing point for his main body and clones.
Luo Chen stood in mid-air, his arm around Kalifa's slender waist. He laughed, "Comparing sizes? None of you should be bigger than me."
Kalifa pursed her lips and smiled, a hint of anticipation in her beautiful eyes. Luo Chen's Wood Style Guanyin Statue and Martial God Giant were legendary. She had never had the chance to experience what it felt like to pilot such a gargantuan creature. Today, it seemed she would finally get her wish.
"Wood Style: Little Wooden Man Technique!" Luo Chen shouted intentionally.
The moment the name of the technique left his lips, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the eight serpent heads visibly froze. They knew Wood Style. But what was this "Little Wooden Man Technique"? Furthermore, wasn't Wood Style a unique bloodline limit only the First Hokage could perform?
Their gazes were fixed on Luo Chen. In the next instant, they felt the earth tremble, the vibrations growing more intense. Throughout Konoha, shinobi and civilians cried out in alarm, thinking a sudden earthquake had struck.
The Eight-Headed Serpent and Hiruzen Sarutobi turned their gaze to the ground. The earth within a radius of several hundred meters split open, revealing massive amounts of soil and plant roots. An incomparably colossal Thousand-Hand Guanyin Statue emerged into everyone's view.
The wooden Guanyin statue stood over a thousand meters tall and hundreds of meters wide. The thousand wooden arms positioned behind the statue's head reached into the clouds, looking like a world-spanning disc that blotted out the midday sun. More than half of Konoha was shrouded in shadow. The warm sunlight was blocked, and the temperature dropped, causing anyone who saw the statue to shudder involuntarily.
The Eight-Headed Serpent's massive heads looked up at the wooden Guanyin statue and the two figures atop its head, falling completely silent. It was as cowed as a cat that had just seen a tiger.
Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands, mid-sign, froze at his chest. His aged eyes widened as he looked up at the statue, his lips trembling, pale and bloodless.
"This is... Wood Style?!" Hiruzen Sarutobi muttered in a daze, his expression vacant.
Having only heard of Wood Style, he hadn't believed it until he saw it. Now, seeing the Thousand-Hand Guanyin Statue—identical in form to the one summoned by the First Hokage—standing before his eyes, he still found it impossible to believe. The statue was too towering, too majestic. At over a thousand meters tall, it was almost twice the size of the one summoned by the First Hokage.
The Eight-Headed Serpent remained silent. In the next second, the eight silver-white serpent bodies began burrowing into the ground, intending to flee.
Luo Chen's laughter echoed from high above, "I haven't let you leave yet."
Instantly, a thousand arms rose, turning the entire sky dark. Several arms tore through the air with the sound of sonic booms, reaching toward the ground. Before the Eight-Headed Serpent could fully submerge, its body was seized by the giant wooden hands. The hundred-meter-long serpent body looked like a miniature pet in the palm of the Guanyin statue.
A roar of terror erupted from the serpent's mouths. Orochimaru clearly wanted to escape, but it was purely a fool's dream. Several arms of the Guanyin statue lifted the Eight-Headed Serpent, tearing it apart in mid-air.
Screams of agony from the serpent echoed across Konoha's sky. Severed serpent heads and bodies slammed heavily into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. Crimson blood stained several streets, drenching the ruins of buildings in a gory red.
This terrifying scene left the veteran Third Hokage stiff with shock, his composite ninjutsu stalled in his throat. In the distant stands, Kakashi, Kurenai Yuhi, and the other Konoha Jonin felt their limbs go cold, their eyes filled with horror. There was no doubt that if the thousand arms of the Guanyin statue swung down, the entire village would be reduced to rubble. At that point, the number of casualties would be unthinkable.
Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, and the other young children were even more stunned. They had never imagined that ninjutsu could possess such overwhelming power.
"Even Kakashi-sensei's Chidori could probably only take out one finger, right?" Naruto exclaimed in awe.
Kakashi's forehead broke out in a cold sweat, but he said nothing. His mind was filled with worry about the conflict between the Third Hokage and this newcomer. If it wasn't handled correctly, Konoha would surely face total destruction. The young man named Luo Chen was far more terrifying and powerful than Orochimaru. Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, was in an entirely different dimension of power compared to Luo Chen.
The Eight Branches Technique was like paper in the hands of the Guanyin statue, now torn to pieces and utterly useless.
"Do you still wish to fight?" Luo Chen's ethereal voice drifted down from the heavens.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression struggled before he finally sighed, his hands falling helplessly to his sides. His four Shadow Clones vanished as well. There was no longer any point in fighting. Today's Konoha simply lacked the strength to resist this wooden Guanyin statue. If they enraged Luo Chen, Konoha would be completely destroyed. Hiruzen would rather humble himself to sue for peace than gamble with the lives of the entire village.
Orochimaru slowly crawled out from one of the severed serpent mouths. He was covered in slime, and his expression looked exceptionally exhausted. His eyes, staring at the Guanyin statue, were filled with unwilling resentment.
Suddenly, a heaven-shaking beastly roar erupted in the distance, filled with violent bloodlust. Orochimaru's pupils constricted as he remembered something and looked toward the northern sky. Since the surrounding buildings had been reduced to ruins, there was nothing to block his view.
In the sky to the north of Konoha, the head of a sand-brown giant beast appeared. It looked somewhat like a tanuki. On its sand-brown skin were mysterious violet markings. Massive gusts of wind and sand swirled around the beast.
"Has the One-Tail inside Gaara come out?" Orochimaru thought to himself. He sized up the Guanyin statue, weighing the strength of the two sides. "Regardless, I must escape. Find Sasuke and take him."
Orochimaru had absolutely no desire to fall into Luo Chen's hands. Unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi, he was alone; he could come and go as he pleased.
"If the One-Tail isn't enough, then I'll release the Nine-Tails. I'll make sure this man has no time to deal with me." Orochimaru turned his head, his gaze landing on the distant spectator stands. "Naruto Uzumaki..."
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