Epic Battle of the Colossus!

"Calling out the big guy so soon?"

Lin Zi tilted his head, a hint of playfulness flashing in his golden vertical pupils. "Fine, then I'll get a bit serious too."

He bit his thumb and slammed his hand onto the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu: Manda!"

Bang!

White smoke exploded, causing the ground to crack inch by inch. A massive snake with a purplish-black body and hideous stripes raised its head from the smoke, its vertical pupils cold, its flickering tongue stirring up a foul-smelling gale.

It lowered its head, its tone respectful: "Lord Orochimaru, who is the opponent this time?"

Lin Zi didn't speak, merely gesturing with his chin toward the mountain-sized Gamabunta opposite them.

Manda understood instantly. Too lazy to even hiss, its massive body shot across the grass, moving with unreasonable speed like a purple lightning bolt tearing through the wilderness.

Gamabunta's pupils constricted, and he abruptly drew the short sword from his back. "Well come!"

Boom! Boom!

During the first collision, Manda dodged the blade, its thick tail lashing out to strike Gamabunta's cheek so hard that the toad's head jerked to the side, sending the pipe he was clenching flying over ten meters away.

The second time, Manda opened its blood-red maw, fangs aiming straight for Gamabunta's throat. Gamabunta raised his sword to block, but Manda took the opportunity to coil around the blade and slam it into the ground!

Bang!!!

Gamabunta's hind legs went numb, and he stumbled back two steps, a look of gravity appearing in his copper-bell-sized eyes for the first time.

"Damn it..." He spat, veins bulging on his face. "In the food chain of the Three Great Sage Regions, snakes prey on toads... This bastard's fangs and constriction are naturally superior to ours!"

Indeed, every one of Manda's attacks carried the instinct of a predator: coiling, strangling, and using its venomous fangs to seal off any retreat.

Gamabunta's short sword struck the snake scales, sliding off without finding purchase, while once Manda coiled around him, that terrifying muscular strength could crush his bones inch by inch.

After two exchanges, Gamabunta was already drenched in sweat; this battle was proving difficult.

As Lin Zi watched Gamabunta and Manda brawl, he muttered in his mind: "System, is the summon I called also from another world?"

[Ding! Yes.]

"No wonder Manda is so obedient." Lin Zi curled his lip. "If it were the original snake, it would have already opened its mouth demanding a hundred living humans as a snack."

"This is much better; saves me from blowing my cover."

Over there, just as Gamabunta's short sword was twisted away by Manda, Jiraiya finally gathered enough natural energy.

"Orochimaru!"

He let out a roar, the grass beneath his feet exploding as he charged forward, dragging a trail of afterimages, a Rasengan buzzing in his palm.

Lin Zi opened his mouth, a wave of nausea rising in his throat, and reached in to pull out a gleaming, cold longsword.

"I really can't break this habit of Orochimaru's, using his stomach as a locker." He shook the mucus off the blade. "Disgusting."

"Triple Rashomon!"

Lin Zi slammed his hand on the ground, and with a rumble, three giant iron gates erupted from the earth, standing like three city walls before him.

Jiraiya's Rasengan slammed into the first gate, shattering the panel into a sky full of iron shards. The second gate was dented by a massive crater, sparks flying as the ball was forcibly jammed, while the third gate remained completely unchanged.

"It's not over yet."

Lin Zi stabbed the Kusanagi Sword back into the ground, formed hand seals, and puffed out his cheeks.

"Many Snakes Array!"

As he opened his mouth, a dense swarm of snakes surged out like a floodgate breaking, overwhelming the area and rushing toward Jiraiya.

Jiraiya was entangled by the snakes around his ankles, calves, and waist, held fast. He struggled twice, failed to break free, and simply gave up.

"Sage!"

"I know!"

Fukasaku and Shima tapped his shoulders simultaneously, pouring chakra into his hair roots, causing Jiraiya's hair to stand on end and harden into steel needles.

"Sage Art: Needle Jizo!"

Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft.

Countless strands of black hair struck the ground like steel nails, pinning the snake swarm into a field of hedgehogs, blood splattering all over the grass.

With the snakes cleared, Jiraiya pushed off with both feet and leaped into mid-air.

"Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan!"

A giant energy sphere dozens of times larger than a normal Rasengan condensed in his palm, the chakra so violent that even the air seemed to wail.

"Break for me!"

Boom! Boom!

The second and third gates were torn apart like paper, the giant ball carrying a destructive momentum as it slammed straight toward Lin Zi's face.

"I won't hold back, Orochimaru!"

Lin Zi looked up at the sphere that blotted out the sky, his golden slit pupils narrowing into thin lines before he suddenly laughed.

He did not dodge.

"Who asked for your mercy?"

The voice was light, yet it drilled precisely into Jiraiya's ears.

"It is you I am concerned about."

Lin Zi tilted his head, his snake-like eyes passing over the giant sphere to look at the two toad sages trembling slightly on Jiraiya's shoulders.

"How much longer can your Sage Mode hold out?"

"At least long enough to drag you back to Konoha!" Jiraiya roared, the sphere in his hand expanding by another circle.

"Ha? Who wants to go back with you? I was planning to return to Konoha to report in anyway."

Before the words had even faded, the giant sphere crashed down with a thunderous boom.

Lin Zi stood his ground, refusing to dodge, and was instantly swallowed by the violent chakra. The ground exploded into a crater over a dozen meters wide, sending soil and debris shooting into the sky as Lin Zi was crushed into a puddle of gore.

Jiraiya landed on the edge of the pit, gasping for air, his knees buckling until he nearly collapsed. He stared at the shapeless mess of remains in the pit, unable to stop himself from trembling as his hands clenched into tight fists.

They had survived the Ninja War together, had been bestowed the title of "Sannin" together, and were even fellow disciples.

The two of them had fought to the death right here, and now, only one person remained standing.

"Jiraiya, why the long face?"

Jiraiya's pupils constricted sharply.

The puddle of gore at the bottom of the pit suddenly began to writhe, and a mouth slowly opened within the pool of blood, splitting wider and wider.

Immediately after, a pale arm reached out from the throat, gripping the edges of the mangled flesh.

Then came a second arm, a wet head, and finally, an entire body crawled out from the corpse like a snake shedding its skin.

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

"Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique—never seen it before?"

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

"You really are lacking in experience; have you forgotten even my most basic survival tactic?"

Jiraiya tried to raise his hand, only to find his arm as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

The forms of Fukasaku and Shima on his shoulders began to blur, the markings of Sage Mode fading from his face, and the color of the Rasengan that had just ignited in his palm grew dim.

He stumbled, but forced himself to remain upright.

"That's enough, stop fighting." Lin Zi brushed the dust off his clothes and spoke lazily.

"Have you still not realized anything even now?"

Jiraiya gasped for air, remaining silent. He stared at the composed figure opposite him, suddenly realizing that from the start of the fight until now, this guy hadn't used a single forbidden jutsu.

"Even a fool could see that I haven't been using my full strength, right?"

Jiraiya's clenched hands loosened; the person opposite him was toying with him, like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Orochimaru, you bastard, why didn't you use your forbidden jutsus?"

"Because I only know a few, and they aren't suitable for use against a former comrade."

"A former comrade? Orochimaru, have you completely abandoned Konoha?"