The town was still bustling at night.
Tsunade was gambling, and every chip she tossed drew a round of gasps.
Shizune was worried. She had won 1.2 million ryō, but had already lost a third of it. So much for moderation.
Kakashi and Tenzo were writing up the mission report and making plans for their next move.
Eiji was carrying Xiao Er around after dinner, wandering outside.
When he reached a quiet street, he slowly came to a stop.
He had clearly seen a pair of serpentine pupils staring intently at him from the shadows.
Just meeting that gaze was enough to sense the dangerous aura radiating from him.
Eiji's slender fingers rested lightly on his sword hilt as he asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"
A hoarse, unpleasant laugh answered him. "Uchiha brat, haven't you been looking for me all this time?"
"You're Orochimaru!"
Eiji put on a look of surprise. "You're the one who ordered the Masked Man to invade Konoha!"
Orochimaru extended his long tongue and licked his lips, looking at Eiji as though he were an idiot.
"Uchiha brat, as expected, your brains aren't very useful. If I wanted to invade Konoha, would you still be alive and talking to me?"
[As Hokage, you must eliminate every possibility that could threaten the village.]
[New Mission: Defeat the Rogue Ninja Orochimaru and obtain the secret of the Masked Man from him.]
Orochimaru tapped his head. He had finally found a chance to catch Eiji alone, so naturally, he would not let it pass.
He suddenly opened his mouth, and a slender white snake shot out.
Even more bizarrely, the little snake opened its mouth again and spat out a sharp Kusanagi Sword.
There it is!
I spit out a snake, and the snake spits out a sword!
A cold glint flashed through Eiji's eyes. Xiao Er instantly left its sheath, and his figure vanished from where he stood.
Crack!
A flash of white streaked past, and the sharp blade sliced the white snake's head apart.
Orochimaru rapidly formed hand seals. "Summoning: Thousands of Snakes Technique!"
In an instant, countless venomous snakes surged toward Eiji like a black tide, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bite Burst!"
The entire street instantly transformed into a vast sea.
Surging waves covered the ground beneath Orochimaru's feet. The water level rose rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, it had submerged half his body.
Beneath the raging surface, whirlpools appeared from nowhere, pulling with tremendous force.
Orochimaru had no choice but to condense Chakra beneath his feet, barely managing to steady himself.
As for the countless little snakes, they had already been sliced into mince by innumerable tiny water blades.
Eiji stood atop an enormous Water Dragon, looking down at Orochimaru.
"Whoever you are, if you threaten the village's safety, I won't let you off."
A sense of helplessness rose in Orochimaru's heart.
Protect Konoha? Listen to yourself. Were those words something an Uchiha should be saying?
Did the Uchiha clan have any tradition of protecting the village?
Standing atop the Water Dragon, Eiji slowly raised one hand, then suddenly clenched his five fingers into a fist.
Following Eiji's hand seals, the water surged even higher.
The raging current instantly swallowed Orochimaru whole.
Countless sharp water blades sliced through his body.
Eiji could even clearly hear the sound of flesh being torn apart, along with Orochimaru's twisted, distorted howls.
Just as Eiji let down his guard, a thunderous boom rang out, and a massive creature suddenly burst from the ground.
Orochimaru stood atop a purple snake, looking somewhat disheveled.
"Foolish Orochimaru, did you summon me just to use me as a meat shield?"
Manda let out a deafening roar.
"Lord Manda, the situation is unusual this time. Help me defeat this little brat, and I'll offer a hundred people as sacrifices."
Manda was pleased to hear that.
He carefully sized up the enemy before him, then let out a mocking laugh.
"Orochimaru, have you really become so useless that you can't even defeat a brat?"
Orochimaru wanted to say something, but swallowed it back down.
Go ahead and pretend. Don't be fooled by the fact that Eiji is only an eleven-year-old brat. His mastery of Water Style has long surpassed that of his peers.
There are barely any people in Konoha who can match him.
And besides...
What puzzled Orochimaru was whether Eiji's Chakra was inexhaustible.
He was maintaining such a massive ninjutsu, yet had barely broken a sweat.
There had to be some secret hidden within this boy!
"Go, Lord Manda!"
"Shut up! I don't need you lecturing me!"
Manda opened his enormous maw and swallowed Eiji in one bite amid a gust of foul wind.
"All right, Orochimaru. When will the sacrifice—"
"Something's wrong!"
Orochimaru's pupils shrank. The Water Style had not dissipated.
That idiot Manda had not bitten the real body at all!
Before he could finish speaking—
With a splash, Eiji's figure burst through the water beneath Manda's side like a ghost.
He tightened his grip on Xiao Er. Surging currents wrapped around the blade as he viciously stabbed it into Manda's purple scales.
"Hiss!" Manda cried out in pain and wildly thrashed his massive body, raising monstrous waves.
After landing his strike, Eiji's figure vanished again, leaving several Explosive Tags around Manda's wound.
"Damn brat, come out of the water if you've got the guts!"
Manda roared furiously, churning the waves into a frenzy.
"Your grandpa's here!"
Eiji's voice rang out beside Manda's enormous head once more.
This time, Xiao Er pierced straight through its lantern-sized right eye.
He lightly tapped the hilt with his toes and formed a technique.
"Ha!"
"Art is an Explosion!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Explosive Tags detonated one after another with tremendous force!
The fiery explosions and shock waves rolled higher and higher, blasting Manda's huge body into flying chunks of flesh and a charred mess.
In the end, he collapsed like a mountain of flesh into the gradually receding pool of water.
Eiji wiped the blood flecks from his forehead and lifted the blasted-apart Orochimaru with the tip of his blade.
"You should be dead this time, right?"
He flicked his wrist, shaking the filthy blood from Xiao Er's blade, then sheathed it with a clang.
He had only taken one step when a cold, slippery sensation suddenly wrapped around his upper body.
"Damn it!"
Several white snakes wrapped around his arms and torso like tough ropes, binding him tightly.
Orochimaru crawled out from the shadows in some unknown corner, his entire body covered in mucus.
He looked utterly wretched, yet his face was filled with nauseating excitement.
"A perfect body. It belongs to me now!"
Greedy fanaticism gleamed in Orochimaru's eyes as his long tongue slid across his lips.
"Foolish Orochimaru, when did you get the impression that you had me under control?"
Eiji's voice rang out from behind Orochimaru, raising goosebumps all over him.
He suddenly lowered his head, only to realize that there was no Uchiha being restrained.
The person tightly wrapped in the giant snakes was, astonishingly, himself.
Confusion filled Orochimaru's voice. "Tsk, your genjutsu has actually reached this level?"
Eiji chuckled, and the Three Tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly.
"Die, trash who threatens Konoha."
Eiji drew his sword again. The surface of the water seemed to be drawn by some force, churning restlessly.
Eiji raised his sword. The remaining water rushed along the blade like a living creature, gathering, winding, and compressing at incredible speed.
In the end, it condensed into an enormous, icy-blue Water Blade that gleamed with a bone-chilling light.
"Go to hell, trash!"
Eiji let out an angry shout. The five-meter-long Water Blade tore through the air.
With the force to sever everything, it came crashing down on the restrained Orochimaru!
[Orochimaru was naturally cunning, and ordinary ninjas found it difficult to discover a way to kill him completely.]
[Mission Progress Update: Killing Orochimaru in progress.]
Tsk. Eiji looked at Orochimaru's remains, cleanly split in two by the Water Blade, and curled his lips.
This guy really could survive anything. At this rate, even if he killed all the aliens, he probably still couldn't kill him.
Even so, Eiji collected Orochimaru's corpse and sealed it inside a scroll.
After all, this counted as his achievement, right?
By then, his two companions and Tsunade had finally arrived at a leisurely pace.
Eiji suddenly broke into a wide grin. "Lord Tsunade, I won this time."
Before you continue