"Hidden Shadow Snake Hand!"
Orochimaru's body took advantage of the situation to fly backward, but the corners of his mouth still held a smile, as if everything was under his control. He raised his hand and released a long snake: "Akihara Kagura, I remember you used to be most afraid of snakes back in the lab when you were little!"
"..."
Akihara Kagura frowned and instinctively avoided the long snake!
On the other side.
Jiraiya and the Red Sand Sasori were already engaged in a fierce battle!
Although the Red Sand Sasori was not easy to deal with, Jiraiya's heart was still on the battlefield of Akihara Kagura and Orochimaru. Suddenly, he heard that his disciple still had a psychological shadow of being afraid of snakes, and he was immediately anxious!
"Kagura, let me handle Orochimaru!"
Jiraiya quickly proposed switching battle opponents!
"Jiraiya-sensei..."
Akihara Kagura hesitated for a second, looked up at Orochimaru.
The corners of Orochimaru's mouth were still smiling, his eyes twitching slightly, as if he didn't care about Jiraiya's trouble at all: "Worried about your little disciple? Jiraiya, back when we trained together, you never won a single match, did you?"
"Training is different from real battle!"
Jiraiya's figure quickly landed beside Akihara Kagura.
Gama Bunta also landed behind Jiraiya in an instant, mumbling with a pipe in his mouth: "Orochimaru, how about letting Manda out for some exercise?"
"Hehehe... as you wish!"
Orochimaru quickly formed the summoning seal!
For the Sannin of Konoha, their summoned beasts are also quite powerful combat forces!
What's more, Orochimaru already knew how well-coordinated Jiraiya and Gama Bunta were, and he had to summon Manda to counter them!
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A massive purple giant snake lifted Orochimaru's body!
The moment the purple giant snake appeared, it began to mutter, "Hey, Orochimaru, if you want me to fight, prepare a hundred people for me first..."
The summoned beasts in this world all have different personalities.
Orochimaru's summoned beast Manda is somewhat sinister and not as obedient as the toads from Mount Myoboku.
Soon, the purple giant snake had no time to argue with Orochimaru about eating humans, as Gama Bunta drew his short sword and leaped onto it the moment Manda appeared, clearly not caring about the biological hierarchy!
"I'll go help Wen Tai."
Jiraiya glanced at Akihara Kagura, then looked at the distant Red Sand Sasori: "Kagura, you handle that Puppet Master, be careful, he poses no real threat to you..."
"Understood!"
Akihara Kagura went straight for the Red Sand Sasori.
Compared to dealing with Orochimaru, the Red Sand Sasori posed no real threat.
"Iron Sand Giant Needle!"
The Red Sand Sasori swiftly manipulated the Third Kazekage, launching black spears made of magnetic iron towards Akihara Kagura!
"Magnet Release: Sand Needle Rain!"
The Red Sand Sasori didn't stop, continuing to manipulate the Third Kazekage to release fine black needles!
A giant tree with vines sprouted in front of Akihara Kagura, blocking countless incoming magnetic needles and spears!
"Is this... Wood Release?"
The Red Sand Sasori's heart sank, sensing something strange.
If it were Dust Release, ninjas like them might have heard of it, or even witnessed its power...
Wood Release, though...
That was a Kekkeigenkai that existed only in legend, wasn't it?
How should one deal with Wood Release?
While the Red Sand Sasori was still pondering, thick vines had already shot up swiftly from the ground, reaching toward the Third Kazekage Puppet!
The Red Sand Sasori still didn't grasp the significance of Wood Release and continued to manipulate the puppet's arms, trying to cut through the thick vines!
However...
It was completely powerless!
The blades on the Third Kazekage Puppet's arms were caught by the vines, quickly entangled, and crushed into pieces, scattering parts all over the ground!
"You brat..."
The Red Sand Sasori quickly manipulated the Chakra Thread to collect the pieces of his precious artwork, planning to repair them later.
But what the Red Sand Sasori failed to notice was that among the art pieces he collected, a piece bore the Flying Thunder God Mark of a leaf.
The next moment!
Akihara Kagura's figure suddenly appeared next to Red Sand Sasori!
A Rasengan struck Sasori's chest, instantly sending the Puppet Master flying, and a Flying Thunder God Mark was left on Sasori's chest!
"How can it be this fast!"
Sasori never anticipated Akihara Kagura's speed to be this swift.
Without hesitation, Sasori quickly pulled out a scroll and raised his hand to release a swarm of puppets!
"Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!"
Over a hundred puppets wrapped in red cloaks gathered around Sasori!
"That fool! He can't even defeat Akihara Kagura!"
Orochimaru and Jiraiya's battle continued effortlessly. Seeing this scene, Orochimaru cursed Sasori and loudly reminded, "That's the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, hurry and check your chest, you've already been marked by Akihara Kagura. Once you're marked, no number of puppets can protect you!"
"..."
Sasori noticed the leaf mark that appeared on his chest, recalling the legend of the golden flash of the Ninja World!
This kid... actually knows the Flying Thunder God Jutsu?
Without hesitation, Sasori grabbed his own heart and threw it to the ground!
Born from The Hidden Sand Village, this Puppet Master has long gone mad for his puppetry art, transforming himself completely into a human puppet, his heart now a bizarre cylindrical shape, with strange blood vessel-like appendages!
As long as the heart is fine...
The entire body can be discarded!
Sasori directly abandoned the body marked by the Flying Thunder God, and the bizarre cylindrical heart quickly attached to a new puppet!
This couldn't prevent Sasori's defeat!
Vines quickly sprouted from the ground, binding the puppets, and instantly crushed them into fragments!
"Ninpo: Array of Ten Thousand Snakes!"
Orochimaru could only go to save his teammate.
Since Konan was already suspicious of him, he had to bring Sasori back now.
In addition, this time Orochimaru had already achieved his goal, letting Akihara Kagura chase after the Akatsuki Organization with Jiraiya, causing trouble for them, and conveniently shifting the exposed trouble to the greedy Sasori.
Numerous long snakes emerged!
These snakes, like a sea of serpents, quickly submerged the vines, causing Akihara Kagura to repeatedly step back in shock!
Orochimaru took the opportunity to stealthily approach Sasori, thinking he had grabbed Sasori's body, and quickly slipped into a snake's stomach, disappearing from view under the cover of the snake swarm!
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bomb!"
Jiraiya landed in front of Akihara Kagura, spitting a blaze toward the snake swarm!
Numerous long snakes were incinerated into ashes by the flames, yet neither Orochimaru nor Sasori was to be seen.
Manda, who had been battling alongside Gama Bunta, muttered curses when he saw Orochimaru escape and dispelled the Summoning with a puff of smoke.
"..."
Akihara Kagura stood there, seemingly paralyzed with fear by the snake swarm.
"Kagura, are you okay?"
Jiraiya squatted in front of his disciple, gently reassuring, "Alright, don't be afraid, the battle is over, nothing to fear about Orochimaru..."
"I'm fine."
Akihara Kagura furrowed his brows and shook his head, "Let's go back and rest first, Jiraiya-sensei..."
"Sure, how about I take you for a cup of pear juice?"
Jiraiya suggested his disciple's favorite drink.
"Okay."
Akihara Kagura slowly nodded.
As Jiraiya and Akihara Kagura left, Akihara Kagura's fingers moved slightly, signaling a hand gesture.
The battlefield fell silent.
A cylindrical heart with veins was crawling around, as if searching for something.
Just at this moment, White Zetsu Ah Wei slowly emerged from the ground, reaching out to grab the cylindrical heart with veins.
Indeed.
Orochimaru saved the wrong person.
Orochimaru had only taken a puppet, not Sasori's true body.