True Orochimaru

Yuzuru had used the Body Flicker Technique to rush in and finish off his enemy with a Rasengan before. But this time, since his opponent had been rather cooperative, his attack had been clean and decisive. He couldn't help picturing the Fourth Hokage defeating the Masked Man...

Well, the gap between them was still pretty wide.

The sound of a Shuriken cutting through the air mingled with the rain. Yuzuru's keen hearing picked it out, but instead of advancing, he retreated. He ducked to evade the enemy's attack, then immediately used the Body Flicker Technique again, appearing right in front of the man.

"Such a fast Body Flicker..."

The enemy tensed up at the incredible speed and focused all his attention on the fight to come. But once his opponent closed in, he didn't stop at all. Before the man could react, they had already passed each other.

"Why...?"

The enemy soon found his answer. Warmth and strength were rapidly draining from his body. He instinctively reached behind himself to touch his neck and found that his artery and throat had both been cut.

A ninja was always shifting between the roles of killer and victim. Yuzuru felt no particular satisfaction as he dispatched his enemy. In fact, he suddenly understood Orochimaru's attitude toward life... A ninja's life was simply too fragile.

When operating alone in the Land of Rain, his priority was to keep himself in good condition and avoid getting hurt whenever possible.

Speaking of Orochimaru, Yuzuru suddenly wanted to try a special ninjutsu... the Summoning Technique.

Though one had to sign a contract before using the technique, Yuzuru felt there was a very good chance he could pull it off right away. His connection to Ryūchi Cave was far closer than a simple Summoning Contract.

This wasn't just "showing off," of course. The Summoning Technique was a Space-Time Ninjutsu, after all. If he succeeded, Yuzuru would gain another layer of protection... The Summoning Technique and Reverse Summoning Technique were essentially the same ninjutsu, and mastering it would give Yuzuru another way to escape the battlefield in an emergency.

Yuzuru gathered his chakra and drew on the Natural Energy within him, then began forming hand seals: Boar—Dog—Rooster—Monkey—Ram. Ninjutsu: Summoning Technique!

The Summoning Technique itself wasn't difficult to perform. The real hurdle was having a Summoning Beast. Without one, the technique either wouldn't activate at all or would lead to even worse consequences.

As Yuzuru performed the hand seals and cast the technique, a cloud of smoke rose among the trees. Something enormous suddenly appeared... A gigantic white snake not only crushed the surrounding trees, but also squashed the third ninja in front of Yuzuru as soon as it materialized.

The Summoning Technique had worked. As Yuzuru looked at the white snake before him, he thought it seemed awfully familiar.

Could it be? It looked a bit like the snake in Orochimaru's lab that had taken Yuzuru to Ryūchi Cave. Was it the same one? Yuzuru couldn't be sure. To human eyes, all snakes looked much alike anyway.

The white snake sensed the Natural Energy within Yuzuru, as well as the unusual nature of his "bloodline"... A vague sense of affinity seemed to pass between them.

After glancing at the ninja standing atop its head, the white snake fixed its dangerous eyes on the lone enemy who remained.

The white snake abruptly lowered its head. It didn't attack physically; it simply leaned toward the enemy and breathed out a stream of white vapor.

Poison gas? No. Yuzuru sensed it for a moment and immediately realized it wasn't poison gas, but saliva laced with a massive amount of Natural Energy.

What kind of attack was this?

Then something bizarre happened. The last enemy was enveloped in an abundance of Natural Energy. A huge amount of it invaded his body, severely corroding him. Within seconds, his body began to deform rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, he had become a fleshy sculpture in a postmodern style.

"..."

The result of the technique was certainly in keeping with Orochimaru's style. It was downright bizarre. Yuzuru glanced at the enemy's corpse, then involuntarily looked away.

"White Snake... what should I call you?" Yuzuru tried to communicate with the snake.

But the snake had no need for social interaction. It simply memorized Yuzuru's chakra, then dispelled the summoning on its own... After all, it had finished the job.

Did it mistake me for a Konoha Ninja from Orochimaru's circle?

But if this white snake could use Natural Energy, did that mean it ranked above Manda in Ryūchi Cave's hierarchy?

Could Manda use Natural Energy? Yuzuru couldn't quite remember the details.

"I still haven't confirmed the Reverse Summoning Technique."

The Reverse Summoning Technique was rather troublesome to activate. The Summoning Beast had to be signaled first. The process went like this: the ninja summoned the beast with the Summoning Technique, then dispelled the summoning. Once the beast returned, it could then try to summon the ninja.

So unless it was an emergency, there was no need to use the Reverse Summoning Technique. Its response time was simply too slow.

Aside from the cumbersome process, Yuzuru also thought it best not to appear before the White Snake Sage unless absolutely necessary. Who knew how the White Snake Sage would react when she saw him?

A giant summoning was bound to make quite a commotion, so Yuzuru quickly left.

As expected, the commotion from the battle had drawn the attention of the surrounding Amegakure ninja. But by the time they arrived, it was already too late.

"These tracks..."

"Signs of a large Summoning Beast."

"If I had to guess, it was a snake or something similar. The tracks are too obvious... The most likely person capable of controlling a Summoning Beast like this is Orochimaru, a Konoha jonin."

Another squad of Amegakure ninja arrived at the scene and immediately reached this conclusion. The environment in the Land of Rain made it easy to cover up the traces of a ninja's movements, but that wasn't the case with the tracks left by a giant Summoning Beast.

Orochimaru was already fairly well known, so the traces at the scene naturally brought him to mind.

"Not necessarily. Sunagakure also has someone who can summon giant sand snakes."

"True."

"Captain, come take a look. Our men's corpses are... strange."

Hearing his subordinate's report, the Amegakure squad captain went over to the corpse of the ninja who had died from the Natural Energy. His expression immediately turned dreadful.

"What happened here? What kind of ninjutsu could cause something this horrifying?"

They were used to seeing ninja corpses with limbs torn off and flesh mangled. But this "indescribable" state was a first.

The captain immediately realized that something new might have happened on the battlefield.

"Bring the bodies back. Find out exactly what happened!"

Who had done this? The captain began to suspect that Orochimaru of Konoha had been here. They said that the man always carried an intense, inhuman aura about him.