"Wait!" Orochimaru's voice suddenly rose, carrying a hint of imperceptible urgency.
The gloom on his face was thick enough to drip, and his heart was engaged in a fierce internal struggle.
The allure of Jugo's cells was too great!
As Takuno said, this sole key was currently in the opponent's hands. Miss this chance, and it might be lost forever.
More critically, Takuno wasn't bluffing. He possessed research samples far superior to Orochimaru's, giving him a massive head start in Cursed Seal research!
The opponent truly had the capability to uncover the secrets of the Cursed Seal independently, perhaps even faster than him!
Takuno looked at him, his tone carrying the playful sarcasm of a victor: "Oh? Have you changed your mind?"
"In this transaction, you gain more valuable research material, and I save a significant amount of time. Why wouldn't you agree?" Takuno persuaded him again. "Besides, don't tell me you haven't mastered clone technology."
Orochimaru's long, narrow golden snake eyes slightly narrowed, and a meaningful curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He stared at Takuno and suddenly launched an attack!
His arm twisted bizarrely, instantly splitting into dozens of fierce pythons, fangs bared and tongues hissing, rushing toward Takuno with a foul stench.
"Hidden Shadow Multi Snake Hands!"
Takuno's eyes sharpened, his reaction instantaneous, and his hands finished forming the seals.
"Kujaku Myōhō: Dragon Snake!"
In an instant, purple Chakra erupted like a tangible substance from behind him!
The pure Chakra quickly condensed and shaped itself, transforming into several even mightier energy pythons, glowing purple, surging with fierce momentum, and striking back at Orochimaru.
This sudden Ninjutsu made Orochimaru's pupils contract sharply, and a look of surprise and doubt appeared on his face.
"Hoshigakure's Kujaku Myōhō?! It seems you also took Hoshigakure's meteorite." His voice held a rare trace of astonishment.
"So, you insist on fighting?" Takuno snorted coldly, ignoring Orochimaru's nonsense, his gaze sharp. "Orochimaru, if you want to trade again, mere research data won't be enough."
"Tsk," Orochimaru licked his lips, his eyes glinting with dangerous excitement. "You'll have to defeat me first!"
Just as Takuno finished speaking.
Bang! The ground beneath his feet exploded!
A monstrous giant python, several times thicker than the previous Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, burst from the earth. It opened its cavernous, blood-red mouth, reeking of decay, and savagely lunged upward, intending to swallow him whole!
Amidst the flying dust, Orochimaru revealed a cold smile.
As far as he knew, Kujaku Myōhō required intense concentration to control the materialized Chakra, severely restricting the user's movement—this was the technique's fatal flaw!
However, facing the ferocious gaping maw beneath his feet, Takuno showed no surprise.
He stood rooted to the spot, simply twisting his waist, sinking his shoulder, and swinging his arm, smashing a punch fiercely toward the massive snake head!
"Monster Strength!"
Boom!!!
The terrifying roar sounded like a meteorite striking the earth!
The instant the fist connected with the snake's head, savage power was unleashed without reservation!
The ground collapsed and shattered layer by layer like fragile glass, and a massive shockwave spread out in a ring, causing the distant jungle to tremble and fall!
Orochimaru, standing nearby, who hadn't anticipated the punch being so powerful, nearly stumbled, but he managed to stabilize himself using his experience.
Orochimaru's pupils contracted violently in shock.
This mountain-shattering, rock-breaking power—it was exactly like that woman's! No! This pure destructive force might not even be inferior to Tsunade's!
His heart pounded, and he looked back at the giant python.
Its head had completely burst open like a watermelon struck by a heavy hammer, splattering crimson flesh and bone fragments everywhere.
Its enormous body was embedded deep into the broken, sunken earth like a ripped sack, completely silent.
Takuno calmly shook the snake blood off his fist, his tone carrying a hint of sarcasm: "It seems you knew the flaw of Kujaku Myōhō, but unfortunately, so did I."
Orochimaru fell into a brief silence. He rapidly calculated: the opponent not only mastered a flawless Kujaku Myōhō but also possessed Monster Strength comparable to Tsunade's, making him excellent in both offense and defense, with no obvious weakness—
This fellow was definitely a difficult opponent!
"Well then, it's my turn now." Takuno sneered, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
Before he finished speaking, a highly compressed, violently rotating sphere of Chakra suddenly condensed in his right palm!
The density of this Chakra sphere was so extreme that the surrounding space slightly warped, and the energy fluctuations it emitted were heart-stopping.
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!" He violently swung his arm, accurately throwing the Rasenshuriken, which could easily slice through steel, toward Orochimaru!
"What?!" Orochimaru's snake eyes instantly shrank to pinpricks!
How could a materialized Chakra construct of such terrifying density fly at high speed after leaving the body?
Instinctively, his arms transformed into a defensive net composed of countless long, thin venomous snakes, intended to entangle and intercept the attack.
However, the moment those resilient snake bodies touched the rapidly spinning edge of the Rasenshuriken, they were instantly shredded!
It was like a hot knife through butter, failing to cause even the slightest resistance! Thick blood mist and shattered scales scattered in the air currents.
"This power—" Orochimaru was horrified, realizing that conventional defense was useless.
He made a decisive choice, abandoning the useless snake mass, retreating while forming hand seals with lightning speed.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" Boom! A solid stone wall, several meters thick and incredibly sturdy, rose from the ground, barring the path of the Rasenshuriken.
However, this defense, which would be an iron wall in ordinary combat, was now as fragile as paper!
The Wind Release shuriken easily pierced the earth wall like cutting tofu; its terrifying rotational force even managed to "drill" a passage through the rock!
At this point, it was too late for Orochimaru to completely dodge!
The last image Orochimaru saw was the deadly Rasenshuriken rapidly growing larger in his vision.
Instantly, an invisible storm of countless wind-natured fine needles exploded!
This was not just physical tearing; it was destructive cutting that reached the cellular level! The entire area was swallowed by blinding white light!
"Uwaaahhhh!!!" Orochimaru's inhuman, agonizing scream was heart-rending, completely drowning out the roar of the violent Chakra.
When the smoke and Chakra turbulence slowly dissipated, all that remained on the ground was a huge, radial crater several feet deep.
In the center of the crater was the mangled, bloody, and lacerated remnant of "Orochimaru's" body, looking as if it had been put through a meat grinder.
He lay there, barely breathing, seemingly having completely lost the ability to fight.
Takuno watched the gruesome scene with cold eyes, his tone calm but laced with mockery: "Get up."
He had seen through the opponent's trick long ago.
Sure enough, the moment he finished speaking.
Crackle—crackle—
A grinding sound that set teeth on edge came from the mouth of the dying body!
Two hands covered in thick saliva suddenly stretched out from the wide-open mouth of the "corpse"!
Immediately afterward, the hands violently tore open the corners of the mouth, and a figure covered entirely in slippery mucus struggled out of "Orochimaru's" oral cavity, like a snake shedding its skin!
Aside from damaged clothes and residual filth on his face, the regenerated body was completely unharmed.
It was the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique!
Orochimaru stuck out his long tongue, licking the mucus from his cheek. His golden vertical pupils stared intensely at Takuno, displaying deep apprehension and confusion for the first time. "It seems your sensory abilities are truly impressive," he hissed.
The opponent had not been fooled at all by the feigned death created by the substitution technique.
More importantly, the damage caused by that Wind Release Ninjutsu was so severe that even his proud, tough regeneration ability could barely heal it completely!
The pain that penetrated to the cellular level was still faintly present.
This technique seemed tailor-made to counter beings like him with powerful vitality!
Takuno looked at the reborn Orochimaru without any change in expression.
Even without a sensory divine skill like Mind's Eye of Kagura, he would never easily approach Orochimaru's "corpse."
That would be equivalent to stepping into a fatal trap.
"Do we continue fighting now, or?" Takuno subtly adjusted his stance, his gaze locking onto his opponent like a hawk.
"Let's trade." Orochimaru's hoarse voice sounded, his golden snake eyes flickering with calculated light.
He decisively restrained his aura and stopped testing the waters. The opponent before him was not someone he could easily manipulate.
More importantly, this forest was too close to Konoha!
Casually using those earth-shattering forbidden Ninjutsu would inevitably attract unwanted attention, which was the trouble he least wanted right now.
Therefore, what seemed like a perilous, life-or-death struggle was merely a restrained contest of strength for both of them. Both sides tacitly kept their trump cards hidden, unwilling to fight to the death in such an inconvenient location.
"What else do you want from me?" Orochimaru licked the corner of his mouth with interest.
Originally, the research data alone would have been enough payment, but after the failed sneak attack, the situation rapidly changed.
Since he couldn't "get it for free," he accepted defeat and was naturally prepared to pay a higher price.
Takuno's lips curved into a meaningful arc: "A small piece of the Eight-Tails' horn."
Before the words fully landed, Orochimaru's golden snake eyes suddenly contracted, and a trace of unconcealable shock flashed across his pale face!
How did he know? Unlike the Cursed Seal, this secret should have been known only to him!
In an instant, a chill climbed Orochimaru's spine. The identity of this mysterious person became unprecedentedly confusing.
The source of this information, did it transcend conventional intelligence networks? Or did he possess the ability of "Precognition"?
...
This terrifying thought burrowed into Orochimaru's mind, filling his heart with deep suspicion.
Otherwise, there was simply no way to explain how the opponent knew he possessed a piece of the Eight-Tails' horn.
But Orochimaru was, after all, one of the Sannin who had weathered countless storms; the shock lasted only an instant.
He quickly weighed the pros and cons. The opponent wasn't asking for the complete horn he had cultivated, just a small piece. He didn't actually need that much himself, and its marginal value wasn't high.
He could completely afford this price.
"Fine," he agreed hoarsely, sharp and decisive.
The air was filled with a silent contest.
Almost simultaneously, both of them formed the same hand seal.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Two perfect clones instantly appeared beside each of their respective bodies.
Seeing the other party's movements almost perfectly synchronized with their own, both Takuno and Orochimaru's main bodies flashed with understanding.
This unspoken mutual defense only proved how troublesome the opponent was.
It would be misfortune for anyone to be targeted by such a character, anticipating "compensation" or a "return gift."
At this moment, both of them mentally labeled the other as dangerous—not to be provoked easily!