Battle Against Orochimaru

Orochimaru quickly used an Earth Style ninjutsu to re-harden the training ground, stood at the center with Touma, and performed the Seal of Confrontation toward him.

After Touma responded to Orochimaru's Seal of Confrontation, the two of them vanished from their spots in an instant.

Orochimaru's Body Flicker Technique was never slow to begin with, and after five years of baptism by blood and fire on the borders of Kikyo City, it had become even more ferocious.

Touma's own Body Flicker could not keep up with such speed, leaving him no choice but to activate the "Wind Style Chakra Mode" to augment his base physique.

The current version of the "Wind Style Chakra Mode" possessed two primary capabilities.

One was to disperse airflow through a chakra cloak, reducing wind resistance during movement and significantly boosting his speed and agility.

The other was the ability to deflect the trajectories of direct-fire ninjutsu and ninja tools, preventing them from striking him, the primary target.

Orochimaru attempted to draw his katana and trade a few blows with Touma's long staff, only to find that the boy's staff technique had undergone a heaven-defying transformation compared to five years ago.

The staff technique he had used previously was merely a rigid execution of the moves developed by his late father; it lacked any sense of adaptability, leaving massive openings between his strikes.

Now, having absorbed a vast array of taijutsu-related entries, Touma not only possessed rich combat experience but had also integrated the essence of the Ninja Ape clan's "Huaguoshan Staff Technique," making his movements fluid, natural, and impossible to track.

Orochimaru tentatively attacked from Touma's blind spots several times, but each time, the tip of his blade was parried away by the flexible spinning of the staff.

At this point, the experienced Orochimaru stopped his all-out assault and instead used his strength to force Touma toward the rock wall at the edge of the training ground, wanting to see how he would handle being cornered.

To his surprise, Touma utilized the force of the final diagonal slash to leap onto the rock wall, sticking to it with chakra focused in the soles of his feet.

Orochimaru was not surprised that Touma could use chakra to adhere to the wall, but rather astonished that he was still maintaining the "Wind Style Chakra Mode" while simultaneously controlling the chakra in his feet.

One had to understand that before reaching adulthood, most ninjas maintained chakra control at a very low level; cases where one could split their focus to maintain both shape and nature transformation simultaneously were extremely rare.

Even Orochimaru, who considered his own talent to be a cut above the rest, could not have managed dual-simultaneous transformations before the age of eighteen.

The key here was not the "transformation" itself, but the "maintenance"; in Orochimaru's view, only those with inherently powerful spiritual energy could possibly achieve this.

Of course, he might have only encountered Touma as a rare exception for now; if a few more years were to pass, he would surely notice another genius—one who, barring any accidents, would be born into the Uchiha clan!

Seeing that a pure taijutsu duel would not end the battle quickly, Orochimaru shot a glance at Touma, and four or five gray-scaled pythons emerged from his sleeves, locking onto Touma's position and shooting toward him.

Seeing the snake limbs approaching, Touma did not panic. He quickly flickered backward, pressed his palms together to rapidly compress the air currents generated by two "Gale Palms," and just as the snakes drew near, he released his control, sending chaotic wind blades shredding directly into the limbs.

Seeing this application of "Gale Palm," the joy in Orochimaru's eyes could no longer be concealed, though he still wanted to see what other tricks his younger brother had hidden up his sleeve.

He quickly performed hand seals, and a stone wall suddenly rose up behind Touma, blocking his retreat.

Feeling the stone wall against his back, his body reacted instinctively by using the basic "Clone Technique" from the Three Body Techniques, with three clones choosing to flee from the sides and over the top of the wall.

Orochimaru was momentarily stunned by the sight of the clone technique, but he quickly realized that the number of ninjutsu his brother had mastered was very limited; under these combat conditions, being able to think of using the clone technique was already quite impressive.

He immediately pressed his right hand to his left wrist, summoned three shuriken, and threw them toward the directions of the three fleeing figures.

The three shuriken traced beautiful arcs in the air and collided just before they were about to strike the stone wall. Then, utilizing the force of the impact, the three shuriken shot off toward the directions of Touma's three figures.

This was the iconic "Uchiha Style Shurikenjutsu," a divine skill that had been gradually updated and iterated upon by generations of Uchiha who copied and learned the throwing techniques of various families.

Generally speaking, without the high-level insight of the Uchiha Sharingan, it was impossible to execute such a miraculous throwing technique, but these issues were hardly a difficulty in Orochimaru's eyes.

During his time at the Ninja Academy, Orochimaru had continuously strengthened and improved his muscle memory through extensive mathematical modeling of data, allowing him to perform "Uchiha Style Shurikenjutsu" without the high-speed insight of a Sharingan.

It sounded simple, but in reality, the operation was extremely difficult; among the few who trained with him, only Hatake Sakumo had managed to persevere.

However, even Hatake Sakumo had not fully adapted to the muscle memory of this special throwing technique; instead, he applied the training model Orochimaru had established for strengthening muscle memory to his own sword technique, allowing the Hatake clan's blade work to erupt with unprecedented power in his hands!

Yet, to Orochimaru's bewilderment, the three shuriken struck Touma's three figures without dispersing the chakra-projected clones. It was only after Touma disappeared behind the stone wall that Orochimaru realized these were not simple clones.

In reality, they were indeed not simple clones; Touma had integrated the C-rank genjutsu "Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique" into them, which could mislead the enemy's judgment of the clones' distance and truly bring out the tactical value of the clone technique.

In particular, the chakra-disrupting effect of the "False Surroundings Technique" was so subtle that, without active sensory enhancement, no ninja could easily feel that the genjutsu effect had already attached itself to their corneas.

Realizing this, Orochimaru dispelled the genjutsu effect within his body with a single thought and quickly performed hand seals to dissolve the stone wall he had summoned!

The next second, he witnessed a scene that surprised him even more.

Touma did not hide after escaping his line of sight; instead, he was preparing a ninjutsu behind the stone wall. Seeing the sheer volume of chakra Touma was frantically gathering in his hands, Orochimaru's fighting spirit reached its peak.

He immediately planted his feet firmly on the stone floor, prepared his hand seals, and shouted to Touma: "Come, Touma! Let me see exactly what your caliber is!"

"Gale Palm Secret Technique: Wind Roar Cannon!"

The massive energy of the air current was compressed to the extreme and fired from the tips of the index fingers of Touma's hands, which were held in the Tiger seal.

The compressed air current found its release path and rapidly expanded, forming a destructive air cannon that shot straight toward Orochimaru.

The loose hair at Orochimaru's temples rustled in the turbulent airflow. He quickly bit his thumb and performed five hand seals: "Boar-Dog-Bird-Monkey-Ram."

"Summoning Technique: Rashomon!"

A giant gate engraved with a demon mask rose from the ground, blocking Orochimaru's front and intercepting Touma's "Wind Roar Cannon"!

However, the violent energy of the "Wind Roar Cannon" began to shatter the demon mask of the "Rashomon," leaving a massive, deep crater on its surface.

Just as Touma intended to press his advantage, a cold sensation appeared at his parched throat, followed by Orochimaru's hoarse voice in his ear: "A very impressive move, not at all weaker than Sarutobi-sensei's Five-Shot Combo!"

Hearing this, Touma knew there had to be a "but" coming.

Sure enough, Orochimaru's teasing voice sounded again.

"However, next time, remember to pay attention to the battlefield environment. If you were more careful, you would have certainly noticed that I had already used Earth Style to get behind you!"

"Ninjas on the battlefield often die in such moments of carelessness!"

"Of course, I don't have to worry since you, little brat, have this kind of strength before graduation!"

Orochimaru put away his kunai and patted Touma on the shoulder, speaking with earnest concern, though Touma could still detect the deep worry hidden within his words!