Chains coiled around him like the bars of a cage, binding Orochimaru, who had just appeared in the distance. "Your Substitution Technique was decent. Unfortunately, that's all it was."
"Fire Style: Flame Chain Technique!" With a cold snort, Hanzo of the Salamander formed hand seals with the hand holding his axe. Flames raced along the chains, and Orochimaru's body burst into fire. Even the torrential rain could not extinguish it in the slightest.
Orochimaru's face twisted in pain amid the flames, and Hanzo relaxed slightly.
Yet at the very instant Hanzo let down his guard, Orochimaru turned into a withered log with another bang.
"Another Substitution Technique? It fooled my eyes?" Hanzo spoke instinctively, his gaze abruptly sharpening.
A longsword formed from wind blades silently appeared behind him and slashed down in an instant.
"Naive."
Without even turning around, Hanzo merely uttered that one word before his body abruptly vanished. Orochimaru's long-planned strike missed completely.
"The Body Flicker Technique... it can be this fast?" His snake-like pupils narrowed vertically. It was already too late to change moves.
The instant his sword swept through the air, Hanzo reappeared, his axe slicing across Orochimaru's abdomen.
Blood sprayed. This time, Orochimaru neither used the Substitution Technique nor had time to.
Bang!
Just as the axe passed by, Orochimaru was sent flying by a kick. He traced an arc through the air before crashing heavily to the ground, blasting a huge crater into the waterlogged earth as rainwater rapidly pooled within it.
Orochimaru spat out a mouthful of blood. He tried to rise, but a numb sensation spread from the wound in his abdomen, leaving his entire body weak. "Poison on the axe?"
Everything had happened in the blink of an eye. With a slight movement of his right hand, Hanzo recalled the scythe