Lunar Battle III

Knowing the power of Orochimaru 'All-Killing Ash Bones, Izumi Uchiha carefully avoided the attack, but Orochimaru did not stop his assault.

After defeating Susanoo, Orochimaru immediately used ninjutsu to continuously pressure Izumi Uchiha.

At the same time, Orochimaru's main body rushed forward again after Izumi Uchiha's Susanoo was destroyed.

Orochimaru's attack didn't come flying; instead, he extended his body to close the distance between the two, catching Izumi Uchiha guard.

As Izumi Uchiha, she kept a close Rinnegan on Orochimaru's hands with her Rinnegan.

Sure enough, upon getting close, Orochimaru immediately hurled a bone spike.

Having anticipated this, Izumi Uchiha gently flicked her right hand, instantly generating a repulsive force that sent Orochimaru's bone spikes flying.

Orochimaru's eyes flashed, and Izumi Uchiha's first eye technique appeared—a fairly standard Gravity Ninjutsu.

Orochimaru never expected that a single bone spur would be enough to Izumi Uchiha. Without pausing, as Izumi Uchiha, Orochimaru's right arm unexpectedly extended, and he punched Izumi Uchiha the head.

Izumi Uchiha seemed to instinctively use her left hand to defend herself in a moment of haste.

Seeing Izumi Uchiha left fist to meet his attack, Orochimaru's lips curled into a smirk.

The Uchiha Clan has never been known for its physical strength, Orochimaru was confident that his modified body could easily defeat Izumi Uchiha.

Boom~

Their fists collided, and Orochimaru's newly recovered right arm was smashed to pieces, sending his body flying backward.

Orochimaru's eyes widened, ready to unleash a shockwave to counter Izumi Uchiha's follow-up attacks.

He didn't have time to think about why Izumi Uchiha could shatter his arm, or where Izumi Uchiha such strength.

He knew that since Izumi Uchiha had tricked him, she would definitely have follow-up attacks.

As expected, Izumi Uchiha, who had just gained the upper hand, did not hesitate at all. A small black ball suddenly appeared in her right palm, and then she flicked her wrist, sending the black ball flying directly towards Orochimaru.

Orochimaru, unsure of what it was, immediately activated his prepared eye technique, sending the small black ball flying back the way it came.

The small black ball changed direction and hurled itself towards Izumi Uchiha, the caster.

Orochimaru's Byakugan was fixed on Izumi Uchiha's reaction; he wanted to see what the purpose of the small black sphere was.

But the next moment, he suddenly felt a blur before his eyes, and Izumi Uchiha suddenly grew larger.

"Is it Genjutsu? No, it's that the distance between them has closed! Izumi Uchiha is that fast?"

The moment Orochimaru had this thought, he realized something was wrong. It wasn't that Izumi Uchiha had suddenly appeared in front of him, but rather that he had been suddenly pulled in front of Izumi Uchiha.

He returned directly to the position where Izumi Uchiha earlier.

Before he could figure out what was happening, Orochimaru felt as if something had hit him on the back.

Oh no, it's that little black ball from before.

Despite not knowing what it was, Izumi Uchiha was willing to reveal multiple eye techniques for this one strike, demonstrating her immense confidence in it.

As expected, before Orochimaru could make a move, Izumi Uchiha, who was prepared, had already completed the hand seals.

"Chibaku Tensei!"

Orochimaru heard Izumi Uchiha's words and then felt an indescribable sense of weightlessness.

At this moment, although his Byakugan was still intact, the chaotic feeling of weightlessness made him unable to distinguish between the sky and the ground.

In his dizziness, he felt heavy blows hitting his face and body repeatedly.

He gritted his teeth again and unleashed his Shockwave Dōjutsu, managing to repel the objects around him a short distance.

However, this time was very short. After the shockwave subsided, he was hit by objects from the surrounding area again.

It was only during that brief moment that he finally understood his current situation.

He was still in the air, but a large number of rocks were hurtling towards him from the ground.

It was as if he were being completely enveloped within these rocks.

Orochimaru's expression was solemn, but he did not panic.

Instead of immediately putting up a futile resistance, he began to gather his strength.

From the perspective of Izumi Uchiha, Yichen, and the others, Orochimaru was now completely encased in those rocks.

The rocks in the sky grew larger and larger.

As time goes on, Orochimaru's chances of escaping will only diminish.

Suddenly, Neji said, "Something's wrong. There's something wrong with the rocks inside. It's that All-Killing Ash Bones technique!"

Sure enough, as soon as Neji finished speaking, the rocks that were flying into the air suddenly lost power and fell down, while the rock ball in the air quickly turned into ashes.

Orochimaru's body burst forth directly from the ashes.

Yichen was astonished. Could the Chibaku Tensei be broken in this way? Why didn't Kaguya do it back then?

Was it because there wasn't enough time, or because they lacked combat experience?

However, being sealed twice in a row by the same move cannot be simply explained by a lack of experience.

This is because the Chibaku Tensei of Sage of Six Paths' Chibaku Tensei was centered on Kaguya Otsutsuki's body.

However, Izumi Uchiha's Chibaku Tensei was centered around a small black sphere.

If Orochimaru finds the right opportunity to destroy that small ball, Izumi Uchiha's Chibaku Tensei will lose its gravity.

However, Kaguya Otsutsuki did not have such a loophole to exploit.

Yichen turned his gaze to Orochimaru. Although he didn't know how Orochimaru had escaped, he knew that he had paid a heavy price.

Another desperate attempt to survive by cutting off the tail!

Orochimaru's Chakra is now less than one-third of what it was before Izumi Uchiha Chibaku Tensei.

This situation was similar to when he had just escaped from Sokai's Totsuka Blade.

After Orochimaru burst out of Chibaku Tensei, he did not launch another attack on Izumi Uchiha. He stopped in mid-air in Izumi Uchiha, his expression uncertain.

Izumi Uchiha was somewhat surprised. She looked at Orochimaru, still wondering how he had escaped Chibaku Tensei.

Orochimaru then spoke up, "Izumi Uchiha, your eye technique is very powerful!"

"Putting aside Shinra Tensei, that punch must have used a dojutsu, a dojutsu that amplifies power!"

"I never expected that such an ordinary eye technique could actually catch me off guard."

"The move that pulled me in front of you afterwards, if I'm not mistaken, was probably a time-based ninjutsu!"

"I didn't sense any spatial fluctuations, yet you were able to pull me back to where I was before. That's amazing!"

"And the last move is called Chibaku Tensei, right? I'll remember it!"

He paused for a moment, then said, "I lost this round!"

Orochimaru knew that his biggest problem right now wasn't how much Chakra he had used up, but that his injuries hadn't healed yet.

When he forcibly broke free from the Chibaku Tensei, his pupil technique suffered a backlash, which has not yet subsided.

His right arm, which was smashed by Izumi Uchiha, is still recovering.

Izumi Uchiha didn't answer, so Yichen made the decision for her. "Quan Luo, come back. Don't kill Orochimaru directly. Give Neji a chance to spar."

Izumi Uchiha, then turned and flew back to the group.

Shion immediately went up to her and said, "Sister Izumi, you're amazing! You almost sealed that guy away!"

"Thank you for helping me get revenge!"

"Also, what's the principle behind your Chibaku Tensei sealing ability? It feels even more powerful than my Miko Seal."

Izumi Uchiha smiled at Shion but didn't say anything, only gesturing for Shion to watch the battle between Neji and Orochimaru.

Neji didn't attack immediately, but quietly waited for Orochimaru to recover from his injuries.

A moment later, Orochimaru's right arm returned to normal, and the intense shock of his pupil power gradually subsided.

At this moment, Neji launched his attack on Orochimaru.

Compared to the conservative approaches of Sokai, Shion, and Izumi Uchiha, Neji's battle tactics were much more aggressive.

He charged toward Orochimaru like an arrow released from a bow.

Orochimaru had witnessed the battle between Neji and Hyuga Hiashi and knew that fighting Neji with Pure Taijutsu would be quite difficult, so he chose to combine Taijutsu with ninjutsu.

Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique.

Orochimaru unleashed a Fire Release first, Neji's response was simple: he raised his hand and struck several Empty Palm, shattering the fire dragon.

Wind Release - Great Breakthrough.

Orochimaru, seeing that single-target ninjutsu attacks were easily destroyed by Empty Palm strikes, opted for Area of Effect Ninjutsu.

Neji remained calm and pointed his finger at Orochimaru's Wind Release: Hollow Release a few times.

Several invisible attacks struck specific locations on the Wind Release.

The seemingly simple attacks easily destroyed the entire structure of the Wind Release.

Orochimaru frowned. Gentle Fist can be used like this?

However, he was only slightly surprised and didn't pay too much attention to it, instead using ninjutsu several more times.

The Five-Attribute Ninjutsu bombarded them in turn.

But the result was always the same: Neji could easily defeat him every time.

Neji was the first among them to become Sage, giving him more time to familiarize himself with his own strength.

He even figured out all sorts of tactics on his own.

The first thing he thought about was how to counter the enemy's conventional ninjutsu.

Therefore, no matter what ninjutsu Orochimaru used, Neji seemed to handle it with ease.

The ninjutsu failed to stop Neji's advance, and the two quickly engaged in close combat.

Orochimaru rapidly changed his form, sometimes closing the distance to fight Neji, and sometimes dodging and interfering with his ninjutsu.

Although Orochimaru's Taijutsu were inferior to Neji's, he managed to fight Neji to a standstill thanks to his experience.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

After a long struggle, Orochimaru was still hit in several pressure points by Neji, and Orochimaru quickly dismounted from his body after Neji had struck his pressure points.

Then the new Orochimaru, wielding a bone spike, charged at Neji more.

His expression was grim; Neji had somehow managed to gain the upper hand in a normal battle against him.

It even forced him to be the first to use the Byakugan's special eye technique.

This is undoubtedly a huge humiliation for Orochimaru has been famous for decades.

Considering seniority, Orochimaru is the oldest and most famous ninja in the entire Ninja World, aside from the old man Ōnoki.

Losing to Yichen was bad enough, but now he can't even beat Neji.

Seeing Orochimaru charging towards him with Orochimaru in his hand, Neji did not retreat cautiously like Yichen.

He seemed completely unconcerned about the terrifying destructive power of the bone spurs, and faced them head-on as before.

Brush!

Neji dodged Orochimaru's thrust, and was about to sweep it away when Neji struck his arm with a backhand.

This attack would have nearly destroyed the arm of anyone else, but Orochimaru's body was different.

He forcibly bent his arm, and during the bending process, his arm abnormally extended again, causing the bone spurs to pierce Neji's body once more.

Neji hadn't expected Orochimaru's body to have so many changes, and immediately used his Wheel Rotation Like Intent to move himself sideways.

Orochimaru was somewhat surprised; he had originally thought Neji would use repulsive force to deflect the bone spikes.

He was even prepared to use his own eye technique, his shockwave, to counter Neji's Wheel Rotation Like Intent.

To everyone's surprise Neji didn't use the Wheel Rotation Like Intent on him, but instead used it on himself.

Orochimaru was very familiar with this scene; it was Yichen's close-combat Movement Technique, which Yichen had used during their fight just now.

However, although Orochimaru was surprised, his attack rhythm remained intact. He continued to turn his hand holding the bone spike, sweeping towards Neji again like a tentacle.

However, Neji was prepared this time. He used his hand as a blade and slashed directly at Orochimaru's arm.

Orochimaru recognized it at a glance; it was Chakra Scalpel commonly used by Medical Ninja in battle.

Kabuto Yakushi liked to use this move against his enemies.

His right arm had already been severed twice today, and he didn't want to go through that again.

Orochimaru then quickly withdrew his arm.

Neji felt a little regretful. He reminded himself again not to be bound by the Byakugan Secret Technique during battle.

If Orochimaru had used the Chakra Scalpel in his first attack, his arm would probably be severed by now.

Taking a deep breath, Neji launched another attack on Orochimaru.

This time, Neji no longer limited himself to using the Byakugan Secret Technique, but began to use the Tenseigan technique.

Clang, clang, clang. After the two clashed several more times, Neji suddenly produced a longsword several tens of meters long in his hand. Neji gripped the sword and slashed horizontally.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. Sure enough, it was this move. He was prepared and used his snake substitute to easily dodge it.

Neji's Tenseigan technique was exactly as he had predicted; it was the same eye technique he had used against Hyuga Hiashi during the Joint Chunin Exams.

At that time Neji revealed his Wheel Rotation Like Intent, the Wheel of Fortune, Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, as well as his rock golem.

So Orochimaru had been on guard against Neji's move all along!

Neji's sword only managed to strike Orochimaru's shed body, which left him somewhat disappointed.

As expected, Orochimaru had already guessed his eye technique.

The reason why Sokai and Izumi Uchiha were able to nearly kill Orochimaru was because Orochimaru knew nothing about their eye techniques.

However, it is difficult for Neji to achieve a surprise attack.

Neji considered his own eye techniques. The Rock Puppet was completely countered by Orochimaru's All-Killing Ash Bones, and the Wheel Rotation Like Intent was not much of an advantage against Orochimaru's Shockwave Dōjutsu.

Even with Orochimaru's preparations, the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion was ineffective.

The Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion is designed to deal with extremely large targets. Using a giant sword that measures thousands of meters in length when fully unleashed is truly inappropriate for cutting people.

Since that's the case...

A layer of green Chakra suddenly appeared on Neji's body; it was the Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

Clad in a green Chakra Cloak, Neji's speed and strength were greatly enhanced, and he charged directly at Orochimaru.

Even though Orochimaru didn't recognize Neji's Tenseigan Chakra Mode, the sheer power of this technique was enough to make him extremely vigilant.

Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame.

Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet.

As usual, Orochimaru used ninjutsu to test Neji's strength in this state.

However, Neji did not use the Byakugan Secret Technique to attack this time, nor did he use the Tenseigan to absorb ninjutsu.

His solution was simple, just two words: ignore it!

Neji charged forward without stopping, plunging headlong into Orochimaru's ninjutsu.

He completely ignored Orochimaru's ninjutsu and charged straight at Orochimaru using the Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself: This is really troublesome!

That's what he said, but his hands didn't stop moving. Since conventional ninjutsu was ineffective, he would use All-Killing Ash Bones.

Orochimaru continued to hurl bone spikes at Neji with both hands.

Neji remained calm despite Orochimaru's Kunai the bone spikes of the All-Killing Ash Bones technique. He wielded a golden Chakra lightsaber several meters long and continuously swatted away the bone spikes.

The All-Killing Ash Bones' properties can spread, but Neji would discard a section of the Golden Greatsword with each strike of the bone spikes.

This way, he wouldn't use up all of his Golden Greatsword at once.

By the time Neji got close to Orochimaru, the golden lightsaber in his hand was only half a meter long.

Snap!

Neji swung his golden lightsaber, knocking away the last bone spike. By then, he was completely in front of Orochimaru.

Neji clenched his right fist and threw a straight punch at Orochimaru with all his might.

Orochimaru naturally dared not take the attack head-on, Neji state was clearly a close-combat form.

He was already inferior to Neji in close combat, and now he's even less of a match for him.

He used bone spurs to restrict Neji's movements while using his body's flexibility in conjunction with the Snake Substitution Jutsu to evade.

If you really can't dodge it, use the Shockwave Dōjutsu.

However, Neji's speed in Tenseigan Chakra Mode completely exceeded Orochimaru's expectations.

He had just abandoned his original body when Neji rushed to his new one.

Bang bang bang! This time Orochimaru didn't fall, but was hit multiple times by Neji, and was sent flying a long way.

The person coughed up a mouthful of blood mid-air.

Even so, Neji didn't let him go. He unleashed his full speed again, rushing directly to Orochimaru as he was sent flying backward.

Neji opened his right hand, and a black sphere immediately appeared in his palm.

He pressed the black sphere directly towards Orochimaru's body.

"Another black ball?" Orochimaru had already learned his lesson about black balls once today.

This time, they certainly wouldn't dare let Neji succeed so easily.

Even though Neji's black sphere looked completely different from Izumi Uchiha's.

He immediately used his Shockwave Dōjutsu, attempting to deflect the black ball along with Neji.

However, Neji also used the Tenseigan technique Wheel Rotation Like Intent.

The repulsive force and the shock wave collided, resulting in a brief stalemate.

During this brief stalemate, the black ball in Neji's hand suddenly changed shape, transforming from a sphere into a stick, and instantly and accurately penetrated Orochimaru's heart.

At that moment, time seemed to stand still. Orochimaru spat out another mouthful of blood and said to Neji, "Neji Hyuga, not bad eye technique."

"But be careful!"

Neji frowned. He didn't understand what Orochimaru meant. He could feel that Orochimaru's life force was rapidly dissipating after he pierced Orochimaru's heart.

Neji hesitated, wondering whether he should deliver another blow to Orochimaru.

Just then, he heard Yichen's voice. "Neji, come back!"

Neji did not hesitate at all in response to Yichen's order. He immediately retreated quickly and retrieved his Truth-Seeking Orb.

Neji flew backwards back to Yichen's side, so he clearly saw that Orochimaru's body underwent a huge change after he left.

First, a layer of black substance appeared from his head, quickly spreading throughout his body, eventually binding him tightly like a net.

Neji could sense that the black substance seemed to have stabilized Orochimaru's life force.

However, Orochimaru's life form was also changing at this time.

Neji tried to strike Orochimaru in this state with an Empty Palm strike, but the moment his Empty Palm touched Orochimaru's body, it was immediately sucked away by a suction force.

After absorbing the Chakra from Neji's Empty Palm, a large amount of Chakra rapidly surged out from the ocean directly below Orochimaru, and Chakra absorbed this Orochimaru immediately as well.

Then Orochimaru's body changed rapidly once again.

Orochimaru's appearance immediately transformed into that of Hyuga Hiashi, except that his entire body was now covered in black lines.

As more and more Chakra surged from the ground, the black patterns on Orochimaru's body grew thicker and thicker, and soon the black patterns merged into one.

In the end, Orochimaru's entire body was covered in this blackness.

That wasn't all. Orochimaru's dark body shape began to change, quickly transforming into the form of a woman wearing a loose robe.

Finally, the darkness faded, revealing the woman's true appearance to everyone.

Long white hair, white robe, white skin, even her eyes are white, except for a half-open red Tomoe Rinnegan on her forehead.

This person was Kaguya Otsutsuki.

She possessed Orochimaru's body when he was extremely weak and on the verge of death!

After a thousand years, Chakra Progenitor and known as the Kaguya of the Rabbit Goddess, has finally regained her freedom!