The Clash of Colossal Beasts!

"Already summoning the big guy so soon?"

Lin Zi tilted his head. A hint of amusement flickered in his golden, slit-pupiled eyes. "All right, then. I'll get serious too."

He bit his thumb and slapped one hand against the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu: Manda!"

Bang!

White smoke burst outward, and the ground cracked under the weight. A giant snake, its entire body purplish-black and its scales marked with sinister stripes, lifted its head from the smoke. Its cold, vertical pupils gleamed as its tongue flicked out, whipping up a foul-smelling gust of wind.

It lowered its head and asked respectfully, "Lord Orochimaru, who's the opponent this time?"

Lin Zi didn't answer. He only pointed his chin toward Gamabunta, who was as big as a mountain on the other side.

Manda understood at once. It didn't even bother to hiss. Its enormous body shot across the grass, impossibly fast, like a purple bolt of lightning tearing across the plain.

Gamabunta's pupils contracted. He swiftly drew the short sword from his back. "Come on, then!"

Boom! Boom!

At their first clash, Manda twisted aside to evade the blade and slammed its thick tail into Gamabunta's cheek. His head jerked to the side, and the pipe clenched in his mouth flew more than ten meters away.

At their second, Manda opened its jaws wide and lunged for Gamabunta's throat with its fangs. Gamabunta raised his sword to block, but Manda coiled around the blade and slammed him hard into the ground!

Bang!!!

Gamabunta's hind legs went numb from the impact, and he staggered back two steps. For the first time, his enormous bell-like eyes showed caution.

"Damn it..." He spat, the veins on his face throbbing. "The food chain among the Three Great Sage Regions—snakes prey on toads... That bastard's fangs and constriction naturally give him the advantage over us!"

It was true. Every one of Manda's attacks carried a predator's instinct: coiling, crushing, and using its fangs to block escape routes.

Gamabunta's short sword slid uselessly over Manda's scales, unable to find a grip. And once Manda got its coils around him, its terrifying muscular strength could crush his bones one by one.

After just two exchanges, Gamabunta was already drenched in sweat. This fight was going to be difficult.

As Lin Zi watched Gamabunta and Manda trade blows, he muttered to himself, "System, are the summon beasts I call from another world too?"

[Ding! Yes.]

"No wonder Manda's so obedient." Lin Zi pursed his lips. "The original snake would've already opened its mouth and demanded a hundred living people for snacks."

"This is much better. No risk of blowing my cover."

Meanwhile, Manda had just twisted Gamabunta's short sword out of his hands. At last, Jiraiya had gathered enough Natural Energy.

"Orochimaru!"

He roared and blasted off the grass beneath his feet, charging forward in a blur with a Rasengan spinning and humming in his palm.

Lin Zi opened his mouth. A wave of nausea rose in his throat as he reached inside and pulled out a gleaming long sword.

"Orochimaru really can't shake that habit of his. He uses his stomach like a storage cabinet." Lin Zi shook the mucus off the blade. "Disgusting."

"Triple Rashomon!"

Lin Zi slapped the ground with one hand. With a rumble, three enormous iron gates surged up from below, standing in his way like three walls.

Jiraiya's Rasengan slammed into the first gate, which exploded into a shower of iron fragments. The second gate caved inward, sparks flying, and trapped the sphere. The third gate didn't change at all.

"It's not over yet."

Lin Zi planted the Kusanagi Sword in the ground, formed Hand Seals, and puffed out his cheeks.

"Many Snakes Array!"

He opened his mouth, and a dense swarm of snakes poured from his throat like a flood breaking through a dam, surging toward Jiraiya.

The snakes wrapped around Jiraiya's ankles, calves, and waist, binding him tight. He struggled twice without breaking free, then simply gave up.

"Sages!"

"We know!"

Fukasaku and Shima each slapped one of his shoulders. Chakra flowed into Jiraiya's hair roots, and his hair stood on end, hardening into steel needles.

"Sage Art: Needle Jizo!"

Puff, puff, puff, puff.

Countless black hairs rained down like steel spikes, pinning the snakes to the ground and turning them into a mass of porcupines. Blood splattered across the grass.

With the snakes cleared away, Jiraiya kicked off with both feet and leaped into the air.

"Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan!"

A gigantic sphere of energy, dozens of times larger than a normal Rasengan, formed in his palm. Its chakra was so violent that even the air seemed to howl.

"Break!"

Boom! Boom!

The second and third gates were torn apart like paper. The gigantic sphere, carrying the force of annihilation, hurtled straight toward Lin Zi's face.

"I won't hold back, Orochimaru!"

Lin Zi looked up at the Rasengan blotting out the sky. His golden, slit-pupiled eyes narrowed to two fine lines, and he suddenly smiled.

He didn't dodge.

"Who asked you to hold back?"

His voice was light, yet it reached Jiraiya's ears perfectly.

"Besides, you—"

Lin Zi tilted his head. His snake eyes looked past the gigantic sphere at the two Toad Sages trembling slightly on Jiraiya's shoulders.

"How much longer can your Sage Mode last?"

"At least long enough to drag you back to Konoha!" Jiraiya roared, and the sphere in his hand swelled another size.

"Huh? Who said I was going back with you? I'm already on my way to Konoha to report in."

Before he could finish speaking, the gigantic sphere came crashing down.

Lin Zi stood his ground and let the violent chakra swallow him whole. The earth erupted into a crater more than ten meters across, sending dirt and rocks flying into the sky. Lin Zi was crushed into a pool of pulp.

Jiraiya landed by the crater, panting hard. His knees buckled, and he nearly fell. He stared at the shapeless mess inside and couldn't stop himself from trembling. His hands clenched tightly.

They had fought through wars together. They had been given the title of the Sannin together. They had even been fellow students.

Now the two of them had fought each other to the death here, and only one person remained standing.

"Jiraiya, why the long face?"

Jiraiya's pupils contracted.

The pool of pulp at the bottom of the crater suddenly began to writhe. A mouth slowly opened in the pool of blood, splitting wider and wider.

Then a pale arm reached out from its throat and gripped the edge of the mangled flesh.

A second arm followed, then a wet head. Finally, an entire body crawled out of the corpse, as if shedding its skin.

The new Orochimaru stood at the bottom of the crater, flicked human tissue from his hair, and grinned at Jiraiya.

"Never seen Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique before?"

Lin Zi stuck out his forked tongue, his snake eyes filled with mockery.

"You really don't know much, do you? You even forgot my most basic life-saving trick?"

Jiraiya tried to raise his hand, only to find his arm as heavy as lead.

Fukasaku and Shima began to fade on his shoulders. The markings of Sage Mode disappeared from his face, and the Rasengan that had just lit up in his palm dimmed.

He staggered, but still forced himself to stay upright.

"Enough. Let's stop fighting." Lin Zi brushed the dust off his clothes and spoke lazily.

"Have you still not noticed anything?"

Jiraiya panted but said nothing. He stared at the unruffled figure across from him and suddenly realized that, from the beginning of the fight until now, this guy hadn't used a single forbidden technique.

"Even an idiot could tell I haven't been fighting at full strength, right?"

Jiraiya relaxed his clenched hand a little. The man across from him had been toying with him, like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Orochimaru, why didn't you use any forbidden techniques?"

"Because I only know a few, and they're not suitable for using on a former comrade."

"Former comrade? Orochimaru, have you completely abandoned Konoha?"