Orochimaru

"Lord Souya! Konoha ninja are guarding in all directions! We haven't found any weak points in their defenses," a masked Sunagakure ANBU member reported, approaching Souya.

"Konohagakure is certainly not that easy to deal with! But since we're fighting, we have to achieve something! Even if we fail, we can't let Konoha off easy!" Souya's eyes showed a determined expression.

Then he shouted loudly, "Have everyone concentrate in my direction, with me as the arrowhead, and pierce through Konohagakure's defense line!"

"Yes!" The ANBU ninja quickly pulled out a signal flare and shot it into the sky. A red smoke ring then bloomed above their heads, but the smoke was constantly retracting, clearly marking their position.

"Quite the spirit!" Orochimaru stuck out his tongue, having naturally heard Souya's words.

However, Manda, summoned by Orochimaru, had a rather violent temper. It had no leisure time to chat here; consuming blood food was its greatest pleasure, and the stronger the person, the more unique the taste.

A purple afterimage flashed by.

Bang!

Gold Dust scattered everywhere. In front of Souya's left, Manda's thick tail swept over, only to be blocked by a rising golden wall.

However, a large, sunken pit appeared in the middle of the golden wall, indicating the terrifying power contained within that tail.

Seeing that its sneak attack had failed, Manda's eyes flashed with ferocity. Its massive body lunged forward, its enormous head smashing directly towards Souya.

Souya remained calm. He gripped the Starfall Rod, channeling all his Chakra into it without reservation.

Purple-blue light instantly surged within the Starfall Rod, followed by small, deep red sparks blooming and adorning its interior.

After all, this was something Sasori had spent great effort having the artisans of the Land of Artisans forge. Because of its current form, Samehada's Chakra-devouring function was not preserved, but its ability to store Chakra was in no way inferior.

Souya slammed the Starfall Rod into the ground.

Thump!

The Chakra stored within the rod beforehand, the rod's inherent Chakra, and Souya's own Chakra combined. A massive amount of Chakra surged underground like a river bursting its banks.

The Gold Dust on the ground churned violently, like roaring, monstrous waves.

Large swathes of Gold Dust rolled upwards, directly clinging to Manda's body. Originally, Manda could still move on the surface of the Gold Dust by controlling its Chakra.

But as the Gold Dust's surging intensified, Manda's massive body began to slowly sink under its pull.

"Roar!"

Manda roared, its body twisting and rolling violently, tearing apart streams of Gold Dust.

But the amount of Gold Dust kept increasing, leaving Manda overwhelmed.

Clang!

A crisp metallic impact sounded. Unbeknownst to him, Orochimaru was already wielding a gleaming sword and slashing directly at Souya.

"Good reflexes!" Orochimaru's tone carried a hint of admiration.

But his actions were merciless. His sword strikes were sharp and fierce, launching an assault on Souya like a storm.

Fortunately, Souya's physical combat skills were also quite solid, and he wielded the Starfall Rod with airtight defense.

However, Souya soon discovered small nicks appearing on the surface of the Starfall Rod. When his fingers brushed over them, the discomfort caused by the indentations was clearly palpable.

"Is this the Kusanagi Sword?" Souya stared at the treasure sword in Orochimaru's hand. Its blade shone with a silver light, as if coated in moonlight.

"I didn't expect you to have such good taste!" Orochimaru licked the blade with his tongue, and an even more dangerous aura suddenly erupted from him.

"Tongue Snake Swallow!"

Orochimaru's mouth opened to an unbelievable extent, and a venomous snake shot out, its speed like a spring compressed to its limit and then released.

Souya only had time to raise his rod to block, but the snake instantly split into two, its heads emerging from either side and fiercely biting Souya's neck, injecting all the venom from its glands into his body.

The snake's body then slithered upwards, tightly constricting Souya with such force that his bones creaked.

But there was no look of triumph on Orochimaru's face. Instead, he turned his body to the side.

As Orochimaru shifted his body, Souya, bitten by the snake, instantly turned into Gold Dust and slid down.

The snake's fierce eyes momentarily turned confused, as its mouth was now filled with hard Gold Dust.

Souya's figure reappeared in front of Orochimaru, who looked at him with interest.

But Souya seized the opportunity, his right hand forming a loose grip. The Gold Dust beneath Manda, which had been flowing more slowly, suddenly accelerated.

Solidified Gold Dust arms wrapped around Manda, which was struggling to escape. Its body constantly stretched out, as any slight carelessness would result in it being absorbed and sinking into the Gold Dust.

Orochimaru naturally would not allow Souya to continue his tactics. He flicked his right hand, and his arm instantly transformed into a dense swarm of snakes. The snakes' bodies seemed like rubber as they lunged towards Souya.

Shadow Snake Hands!

Souya pointed his left index finger, and two Gold Dust arms suddenly shot up from the ground in the middle of the snake swarm, firmly gripping them.

The snakes' advance immediately halted. As the Gold Dust arms tightened, Orochimaru's snake hands were brutally snapped in two, the snake corpses scattering across the ground.

But the severed snake bodies retracted to Orochimaru's right hand and transformed back into a perfectly intact human arm. The recently broken snake bodies had no effect on him.

"Heh... this staff is also quite good!" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at Souya's Starfall Rod.

A peculiar ninja tool that had never appeared in the ninja world, and one with extraordinary power, naturally attracted Orochimaru's attention.

After all, the raw materials for the Starfall Rod were already extremely luxurious. Even if someone else obtained these materials, they would likely not have the idea of melting them down again.

"Orochimaru, are you interested in a trade?" Souya, seeing that Orochimaru was not attacking for the moment, cautiously spoke while controlling the Gold Dust to continuously harass Manda.

After all, facing a powerful opponent like Orochimaru, even the slightest carelessness could mean not having time to even use the Substitution Technique.

Fortunately, Orochimaru wasn't the swift Lightning Release type of powerhouse. Souya believed that while he couldn't win, he could at least escape.

If he encountered Minato or the Raikage, Souya figured he wouldn't even dare stand on the ground; perhaps flying away directly would be his only chance of survival...

"Oh? What kind of deal?" Orochimaru's gaze flickered imperceptibly towards Souya's rear flank.

"I can provide you with funds, personnel, and I can even participate in your experiments myself to help you research Forbidden Jutsu," Souya said, a verdant green glow of the Mystical Palm Technique appearing on his left hand.

Meanwhile, the area of the Gold Dust swamp beneath Manda continued to expand.