Snakes?
Akashō watched as the long snake that shot out from Orochimaru's sleeve was torn into pieces, and the blade wind he had casually unleashed dissipated along with it.
"Kokushibo, I have no intention of fighting you!"
No matter how intense his killing intent was, Orochimaru still understood that on the battlefield, acting on impulse was forbidden.
This was a powerful Kage-level opponent—he would much rather recruit him than push him into becoming an enemy.
"You may not, but I do."
Akashō smiled faintly and moved again, charging toward Orochimaru.
This strike—perhaps due to failing to react in time—Orochimaru didn't dodge, and was cleanly split into two from the chest.
Yet Akashō didn't relax in the slightest. After the lesson with Kitsuchi, he had learned that ninja had countless deceptive methods—let alone Orochimaru, who was even stronger.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Sure enough, just as Akashō used the Transparent World to realize that the "Orochimaru" in front of him was nothing but a pile of mud, Orochimaru's cold voice came from behind.
A massive shadow engulfed Akashō. Two pythons as thick as trucks descended from above, swallowing him into their gaping maws.
The next second, purple blade winds burst out, instantly slicing the giant snakes into chunks from the head down, turning the forest into a rain of blood.
"The legendary Sannin… is this really all you've got?"
Akashō looked at Orochimaru standing on a tree branch in the distance and mocked him.
"Heh."
Orochimaru let out a cold laugh.
"Let's see how many you can kill."
As his voice fell, endless black liquid began sliding out from his sleeves, pooling on the ground into a spreading mass that continued to expand.
Water Release?
Before Akashō could examine it closely, the Ino–Shika–Chō trio, who had been watching from a distance, suddenly changed expressions drastically and turned to run.
Why are they running?
"Hiss!"
Suddenly, the sound of snakes flicking their tongues reached Akashō's ears. Turning his head, he realized that the tree trunks around him had somehow become covered in venomous snakes.
"When did this…"
Akashō instinctively stepped back, only to suddenly realize that the forest around him had already been packed full of snakes—countless venomous ones, along with massive pythons.
It was practically a sea of snakes!
Wait… a sea?
Activating the Transparent World, Akashō quickly located Orochimaru within the snake swarm. From his sleeves, the "black water" was still pouring out.
But in the Transparent World, how could that be water? It was nothing but an overwhelming mass of snakes!
Is this guy the king of snakes or something? This is insane!
Looking at the densely packed sea of snakes writhing everywhere, their tongues flicking like the buzzing of cicadas in summer, Akashō felt his scalp go numb.
There was no helping it—the impact of this scene was simply too great. Even the sand sea created by the Magnet Release duo on the Wind-Fire battlefield, which had resembled a natural disaster, didn't compare to this overwhelming sight.
"Go."
Amid the endless hissing, Orochimaru's command could faintly be heard. The next moment, the sea of snakes that had left Akashō a small clearing suddenly contracted, pressing toward him.
"Moon Breathing, Fifth Form: Moon Spirit Calamitous Eddy!"
Even though he knew getting bitten wouldn't be a big deal, Akashō still had no desire to let those fangs pierce his body. He used his only defensive technique—pink rotating blade winds instantly wrapped around him, shredding every snake that lunged toward him into pieces.
"Heh… let's see how long you can keep that up."
From within the sea of snakes, Orochimaru sneered. With a flick of his fingers, several massive pythons immediately charged toward the spinning Akashō, coiling against the direction of the blade winds.
"Roar!!!"
The sharp blade winds instantly tore their bodies apart, yet the pythons showed no fear, continuing to push forward against the wind.
Because of this, the effectiveness of Akashō's Fifth Form was greatly weakened once again.
In less than half a minute, the pale pink blade winds gradually faded, revealing Akashō's darkened expression.
With nothing blocking them, the sea of snakes surged forward and completely submerged him.
However, during that half-minute, Akashō had already calmed down. This scene was almost identical to what he had faced on the Sand Village battlefield before. The method to break it—hadn't he already figured it out?
"Transparent World!"
Akashō quickly locked onto Orochimaru's position. As for the snakes biting him—honestly, they were nothing compared to the sand of the Magnet Release duo.
Gathering his strength, Akashō leapt out of the sea of snakes, stepping on the head of a giant python to propel himself forward toward Orochimaru.
"Moon Breathing, Sixteenth Form: Moonbow, Half Moon!!"