Kotoamatsukami

After speaking, the two sheathed their blades and began forming hand seals from opposite sides.

"Earth Style, Swamp of the Underworld!"

Under the influence of Chakra, the ground around Uchiha Toko turned into a liquid swamp in the blink of an eye. Countless venomous snakes flickered in and out of view within it, converging on Uchiha Toko at the center.

"Ten Thousand Snake Prison."

Facing the tens of thousands of venomous snakes, Uchiha Toko remained calm as he completed the final hand seal.

In an instant, a raging sea of lightning reappeared. Thunder pillars as thick as thighs danced like silver serpents, reducing every fast-approaching snake in their path to ash. Fear filled the eyes of the snakes at the edge. Though Orochimaru's careful cultivation had given these venomous snakes considerable intelligence, faced with such a natural disaster, their instincts took over.

As the fortunate surviving snakes stopped advancing, the silver serpent-like lightning in the sea of thunder around Uchiha Toko began to gather. A wrathful vajra dozens of meters tall rose from the ground.

"Lightning Style, Immovable Wisdom King!"

The lightning around Uchiha Toko began to gather and compress within the demon-subduing vajra held by the Immovable Wisdom King above him. The vajra, formed from Chakra, now possessed a tangible texture. One could only imagine the terrifying energy it contained.

"Fall back a little farther!" Kakashi roared after sensing the terrifying Chakra fluctuations.

Its power was probably on par with the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb during the Nine-Tails Incident six years ago.

Uchiha Toko raised his hand, then abruptly clenched his open palm into a fist. The Immovable Wisdom King above him hurled its demon-subduing vajra toward Orochimaru.

In an instant, thunder roared. Orochimaru had originally intended to block it with a defensive Wind Style technique, but the terrifying explosion engulfed everything within several hundred meters. Once the lightning compressed to its limit was unleashed, its purest release of energy reduced everything in the area to nothingness.

Once everything settled, only the mangled corpse of a giant snake remained.

Uchiha Toko slowly walked toward the snake corpse. He had no doubts that Orochimaru could survive that blast. This was the hardest man in the Ninja World to kill.

Sure enough, just as Uchiha Toko had expected, the lifeless snake corpse on the ground suddenly began to writhe. Orochimaru emerged from the charred snake's mouth, his robes completely intact. Only the Akatsuki's Red Cloud Robe uniform had been soaked through by viscous fluid.

"So this is the power of the Uchiha Clan, Toko-kun?" Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and licked the slime from his face. "After releasing a ninjutsu like that, I imagine you have very little Chakra left."

"So what?" Uchiha Toko frowned slightly. Even in this world, where killing had become routine, the sight before him still made him feel a little sick.

In the original timeline, Uchiha Itachi had ignited Orochimaru's greed for the Uchiha Clan's body. Now, Uchiha Toko had taken that role. A sickly smile spread across Orochimaru's face as he could no longer wait to claim Uchiha Toko's body for himself.

Orochimaru's neck abruptly stretched out, and his entire head shot toward Uchiha Toko.

As long as I can plant a curse mark, this body will be mine.

Yet at that very moment, a piercing eagle cry rang through the skies.

Driven by the fear of raptors etched into a snake's genes, Orochimaru suddenly looked up. In that instant, his eyes met the pair of crimson eyes belonging to the hawk diving from the sky.

That is...? The Mangekyō Sharingan?

Ultimate illusion technique, Kotoamatsukami, activate!

The flowing Eye Power and Chakra branded Orochimaru's soul with eternal loyalty to Uchiha Toko.

Orochimaru's gaze instantly became clear.

Uchiha Toko drew his blade and stepped forward, beheading this body of Orochimaru with a single stroke.

Only then did Kakashi and the others finally arrive.

"Is it over?" Hyuga Ken'ya looked at Orochimaru's severed head and body, letting out a long breath.

"As expected of the Uchiha Clan's clan head. Even a renowned ninja like Orochimaru was no match for him," Nagai Seiichi said with feeling.

"No, I'm afraid it isn't that simple." Kakashi frowned deeply as he looked at Orochimaru's corpse.

As they spoke, Orochimaru's relatively intact body turned to ash, scattering into the heavens and earth with the wind.

"This..." Inuzuka Fu frowned as well. "What is going on?"

"I'm afraid he isn't dead yet." Uchiha Toko sheathed his blade and let out a long sigh. "Damn it. He still got away."

"You can't really say that. Orochimaru has survived the village's pursuit for so many years, so naturally he has a few tricks up his sleeve," Kakashi said.

"Big Brother Fu, have Sumimaru search carefully. That guy should have a base nearby. Once I recover some Chakra, we'll head over together," Uchiha Toko said.

At that moment, in Orochimaru's base twenty miles away from the group, a body bearing a curse mark suddenly opened its eyes inside a large cultivation tank.

The tank shattered, and the person inside stepped out through the cultivation fluid, his features gradually transforming into Orochimaru's.

After getting dressed, the newly reborn Orochimaru immediately began altering the laboratory.

Two hours later, after Uchiha Toko had recovered his Chakra, he and the others found the base under Sumimaru's lead, having followed the scent all the way there.

"There are no people inside." Hyuga Keito spoke after scanning the area with his Byakugan.

"Looks like he's already fled," Kakashi said. "Let's go in and take a look. We might find something."

As they ventured deeper into Orochimaru's base, evidence of human experimentation was exposed without concealment.

Even though they were all ninjas accustomed to bloodshed, some of the scenes inside made them physically ill. Uzuki Yugao, the only girl on the team, even covered her mouth, fighting the urge to vomit.

"That bastard really has no humanity at all," Inuzuka Fu said through gritted teeth.

"Look for clues first," Kakashi ordered.

The group immediately began searching the research facility.

While soothing his girlfriend's emotions, Gekko Hayate searched as well. Before long, he discovered a pile of scattered documents.

The moment he casually picked one up and read it, Gekko Hayate's pupils shrank.

The document detailed records of Danzo's Root kidnapping children from some of the village's small clans with bloodline limits and delivering them to Orochimaru as material for human experiments. It also contained traces of the Utatane Clan and the Mitokado Clan. Gekko Hayate suddenly thought of a four-year-old younger clansman who had mysteriously disappeared from the village years ago, and a chill ran down his spine.

Just as he was about to speak, Uchiha Toko appeared beside him, stopping him. After signaling for silence, he shook his head.