"Four Violet Flames Formation?"
Chiba stood in the air and calmly glanced at the Sound Four, who had dispelled their Transformation Jutsu and reverted from Sunagakure ninja to their original appearances at the four corners of the Purple Rectangular Barrier. His expression did not change much.
In the original Konoha Crush Plan, the Sound Four had used this technique to create an undisturbed battlefield for Orochimaru and Sarutobi Hiruzen.
In theory, this barrier should have been capable of temporarily trapping a Kage Level expert.
But to Chiba, who possessed the Tenseigan, it was really nothing special.
What concerned him more was...
"Isn't this Orochimaru-sama, Konoha's S-Rank Rogue Ninja and one of the legendary Sannin?"
Chiba looked toward Orochimaru, who stood atop the Giant Snake and had reverted from a Sunagakure Jonin to his original form. He instantly began mocking him. "Why are you not only cooperating with Sunagakure now, but even lowering yourself to transform into one of their Jonin?"
"Though I'll give you this, your acting was decent. It just seems you underestimated my Tenseigan and my judgment."
"That massive amount of Chakra in your body isn't something an ordinary Jonin should possess."
"No matter how convincing your performance is, some things can't be hidden. For example... the fear of Gaara in your eyes was far too fake."
That was right. Chiba had known from the beginning that the six Sunagakure ninja around Gaara had been suspicious.
But he did not care. It was enough for him to confirm that Gaara was the real one.
"Come to think of it, you actually used the real Gaara this time?"
Chiba glanced again at Gaara, who had pierced through the Giant Snake's abdomen with sand and flown out while standing on a sand carpet, his gaze fixed firmly on Chiba. There was a hint of surprise in Chiba's voice.
He had originally thought finding Gaara's real body would be more troublesome.
"Chiba-kun, you seem rather different from what I imagined."
Orochimaru extended his long, snake-tongue-like tongue and washed his face with it. His eyes gleamed with excitement as he said, "You don't look at all like a twelve-year-old Hyuga Branch Family member born with Innate Blindness, one who had never trained before and could only survive on support from his clan."
"And your Tenseigan... it actually looks even more beautiful than the Rinnegan, and it has indeed granted you immense power."
"I am very interested in it. That is why I used this method to create an opportunity to obtain it without interference from Sunagakure."
"As for Gaara's real body? If I had not done that, how could I have drawn out the real Chiba-kun, who had already infiltrated Sunagakure?"
Hearing that, Chiba's expression remained calm. As if chatting casually with a friend, he asked, "Are you really so confident that you and those useless subordinates of yours can take my Tenseigan?"
"Just because my Tenseigan has only recently awakened, have you forgotten how, when you were still in the Akatsuki, you tried to attack Pain but were suppressed by the abilities of his Rinnegan instead?"
Before Orochimaru could respond to Chiba's words, the Sound Four each became visibly enraged. "What is this guy saying?"
"He actually dares to look down on Orochimaru-sama and call us useless?"
"Damn Hyuga Brat, how dare he look down on us?"
"What is so great about the Tenseigan? Orochimaru-sama will definitely make him regret saying those things!"
"Orochimaru-sama, let me kill him!" Kimimaro, who stood with Orochimaru atop another Giant Snake, spoke with sharp killing intent surging in his eyes.
Kimimaro came from the highly warlike Kaguya Clan and possessed the Kekkei Genkai known as Shikotsumyaku, which allowed him to freely manipulate the bones within his body.
Throughout his childhood, the Kaguya Clan had treated him as nothing more than a powerful tool for battle.
Only after meeting Orochimaru did he see the light that belonged to him.
For Orochimaru's sake, Kimimaro was willing to do anything. Nor would he ever spare anyone who dared insult him.
Even if that opponent possessed the so-called Tenseigan!
"Sand Binding Coffin!"
Yet Gaara, who had long wanted to kill Chiba under Shukaku's torment within him, moved faster than Kimimaro, who needed Orochimaru's permission before daring to act.
At Gaara's command, both the sand inside the Large Gourd on his back and the sand on the ground rapidly gathered into a mass and lunged at Chiba.
"I don't enjoy playing with sand. You can have it back."
Chiba glanced at Gaara. The sand that was about to strike him seemed to have its control forcibly seized, turning around to attack Gaara instead.
"It is an ability like Pain's Rinnegan, capable of manipulating Gravity and Repulsion." Orochimaru's expression immediately tightened at the sight.
Setting aside whether Chiba's control over attraction and repulsion was as powerful as Pain's, his application of it seemed to surpass Pain's.
After all, Orochimaru had never seen Pain seize control of an opponent's attack and turn it back on them.
Of course, Orochimaru could not rule out the possibility that he simply had not witnessed Pain fight often enough, which was why he believed Pain lacked a similar fighting style.
In addition, Orochimaru found it quite surprising that Hyuga Chiba actually knew about his past attack on Pain.
"How interesting!"
After recovering from his surprise, Orochimaru stared at Chiba and once again washed his face with his tongue.
It was just unclear whether he was now interested in the Tenseigan or in Chiba himself.
"What?"
After seeing his own attack forcibly sent back at him, Gaara's face rarely showed a stunned expression.
"Flowing Sand Stream!"
Still shocked, Gaara immediately made a vast wave of sand rise from the ground, nearly filling the entire Four Violet Flames Formation. While blocking the sand returned to him, it continued attacking Hyuga Chiba from all directions.
"Heh, do you think I can't control it in reverse just because there's more sand now?"
Chiba gave a light laugh as the effects of Shinra Tensei and Universal Pull intensified.
The next instant, the waves of sand rushing in from all directions had their control forcibly seized again. They rapidly condensed into an enormous Sand Dragon and turned once more to attack Gaara.
"Damn it!"
"Kill you! I'll definitely kill you!"
After having control of his sand forcibly taken twice in a row, Gaara was shocked—but he also seemed to snap.
As he continuously roared with killing intent filling his voice, his right eye instantly transformed to resemble Shukaku's, while his right arm became like one of Shukaku's arms.
This was the Possession Body form of Gaara as the One-Tailed Jinchuriki, similar to Naruto's Partial Tailed Beast Transformation.
In this form, his mental state became increasingly frenzied, and all aspects of his abilities, including his control over sand, improved considerably.
Even so, the massive Sand Dragon remained under Chiba's forcible control and crashed ruthlessly into him.
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