A Single Blade

The first to move was neither Lin Qing nor Orochimaru.

It was the ninjas of Root.

If they didn't move now, they would truly turn into snakes.

"Orochimaru! Open the barrier and let us out!" the Fox Mask Ninja said, his tone filled with terror.

They could accept being cut down by a blade.

But watching themselves turn into venomous snakes was far more agonizing than death itself.

"Heh—"

Orochimaru chuckled softly. "You are all ninjas of Root. For the sake of the Will of Fire, you must have sacrificed plenty of your own comrades. Now that it is simply your turn, why make such a fuss?"

The Fox Mask Ninja and the others realized they had been played by Orochimaru.

Of the five Root ninjas, Lin Qing had killed two. The remaining three exchanged a glance, steeled their hearts, and grabbed their kunai to charge at Orochimaru.

One engaged in melee, while the other two quickly formed hand seals to cast ninjutsu, but a surge of natural energy flooded their bodies, disrupting their chakra circulation and causing their techniques to collapse.

Before Orochimaru even had to act, Kimimaro and Jugo rushed forward and slaughtered the three incoming Root ninjas.

As the three ninjas fell at his feet, Orochimaru glanced at them and stepped over their bodies. Noticing that one of them had not yet breathed his last, he offered a comforting remark:

"Rest assured, I will have Danzo pay you double the pension. I'll cover whatever he doesn't."

Upon hearing this, whether out of genuine relief or pure rage, the final ninja rolled his eyes back and died.

Orochimaru stepped over the corpses and spoke to Jiraiya once more: "For the sake of our time as classmates, I will give you one more chance. Leave, Jiraiya. Head south once you pass the barrier, return to Konoha, and never come looking for me again."

Jiraiya crouched low and whispered to Lin Qing and Sasuke beside him: "I will leave behind a purified zone. As long as you stay within it, you will remain safe. I will find a way to get you out."

Without waiting for a response from Lin Qing or Sasuke, Jiraiya formed hand seals, creating a shadow clone to remain in place and maintain the purified zone, while his true body charged toward Orochimaru and his two companions.

Sasuke looked at Jiraiya's back with worry.

"Can this old man really handle it?"

He looked toward Lin Qing again.

Since a moment ago, Lin Qing had been standing silently in place, staring at his left hand as if lost in thought. Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Brother Qing! You—"

Sasuke clearly saw the skin on Lin Qing's left hand hardening, with scales appearing just like those of a snake.

Could it be that Lin Qing was turning into a snake too?!

Sasuke felt both shocked and terrified.

But immediately after, he saw the scales on Lin Qing's arm change again.

Fish fins.

Mammalian fur.

Arthropod carapaces.

Bird feathers.

Countless changes occurred in a split second. Sasuke stood there in a daze, unable to believe his eyes. In a trance, he felt as if he were dreaming.

An absurd, bizarre dream.

"Ugh—"

Jiraiya's pained grunt interrupted Sasuke's thoughts.

The two men were evenly matched in their methods.

Now that Orochimaru held the home-field advantage and Jiraiya had diverted a portion of his chakra to create a shadow clone to maintain the purified zone, he found himself at a disadvantage against the fierce assault of Orochimaru, Kimimaro, and Jugo.

Leaving Kimimaro and Jugo to tangle with Jiraiya, Orochimaru moved first to strike at Lin Qing.

Orochimaru's logic was clear:

Lin Qing's Evil Spirit and his unique powers were far too mysterious. If he could just eliminate this variable, this battle...

would be won!

A smile curled on Orochimaru's lips as he reached Lin Qing. But just then, he saw the constantly shifting left arm of Lin Qing, and his thoughts instantly fell into confusion.

What is this?!

As one of the few true scientists in the world of the Hokage, Orochimaru could be considered the ninja who understood the human body best.

Anyone else might have assumed this was some kind of ninjutsu or Kekkei Genkai.

But Orochimaru knew that this level of transformation was simply not something that could be explained by ninjutsu or Kekkei Genkai.

A gust of wind blew by, scattering the feathers on Lin Qing's arm and reverting them back into human skin.

Lin Qing, who had kept his head lowered ever since Tagorihime opened her domain, slowly raised his head to look at Orochimaru.

As the wind blew against Orochimaru, a chill ran down his spine.

What, what kind of gaze is this?

It is not cruel, nor is it vicious.

It is heavy.

It is a gaze that seems to have descended from the ancient past, crossing the long river of time.

Lin Qing lifted the Blade of Ruin and took a deep breath.

Tagorihime, who was watching the show while hovering in the air, looked startled, her beautiful eyes fixed on Lin Qing—

The natural energy she had released was being sucked dry by the very man before her with every breath he took!

That was natural energy that Tagorihime had cultivated for hundreds of years, further amplified by the Dragon Snake Treasure Orb of the White Snake Sage.

"A mere mortal, how is it possible..."

Tagorihime was stunned into a daze, until she saw the Ripple and natural energy swirling together, surging into the Blade of Ruin. The already massive blade was first wreathed in golden lightning, then followed by countless cyan gales.

With wind and thunder swirling around it, the Blade of Ruin seemed to grow dozens of meters longer out of thin air, its radiant glow piercing through the pitch-black barrier.

Sunlight shone in once again.

It was as if a spotlight had fallen upon Lin Qing.

Tagorihime snapped back to reality: "Little snake! Dodge!"

Dodge?

Where could he dodge to?

Orochimaru's eyes were wide with terror.

Death had never felt so close.

"Lord Orochimaru!"

Kimimaro and Jugo abandoned Jiraiya and charged toward Lin Qing.

In this critical moment, the two of them unleashed their ultimate potential, stepping in front of the descending blade first.

Wind and thunder howled as the long blade fell.

A heaven-shaking roar echoed, and the earth trembled.

A long, narrow crack appeared in the barrier shrouding the village.

Jiraiya swallowed hard, scanning the battlefield.

Kimimaro, dead.

Jugo, dead.

Orochimaru...

His lower body was nowhere to be found; only his upper torso remained, his intestines spilling across the ground.

One strike!

A single strike!

It had crushed all of Orochimaru's preparations and contingencies.

Jiraiya could not believe it, his heart filled with nothing but horror.

Hiss—

The Blade of Ruin was glowing crimson and scorching hot, especially the "bone and soul" at its core, which had once belonged to Samehada, emitting a faint, mournful cry.

That previous strike had exceeded the load the Blade of Ruin could bear.

"Don't worry, just this once... for now."

Lin Qing whispered in consolation.

He had been able to swing that blade thanks to the dense natural energy provided by Tagorihime.

Now that the barrier was shattered and the natural energy exhausted, Lin Qing could not replicate that strike in the short term.

However, with Tagorihime's "help," he had grasped the method of fusing natural energy with the Ripple; as long as he was given more time to practice.

Swinging that heaven-piercing blade light again... would be absolutely no problem.

Lin Qing plunged the Blade of Ruin into the ground, letting it cool naturally.

In that brief moment, Orochimaru's mouth opened, and a complete version of himself crawled out from within, leaving the severed half of his body behind like a discarded "skin" on the ground.

"Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique."

After repairing his body, Orochimaru's first instinct was to flee.

"You really are hard to kill."

A calm voice sounded from behind him, and a hand reached out, gripping his neck tightly, lifting him up as if he were a small chick.

Orochimaru was forced to look up, meeting the piercing gaze of Star Platinum.

But he soon noticed a gaze even more terrifying than that of Star Platinum.

Lin Qing stood before Orochimaru.

"Show me, just how strong this recovery ability you're so proud of really is."