Eight Branches Technique

"The Jiraiya on your side told me," Lin Zi shrugged, looking indifferent, "it's not like I'm naturally fond of prying into your pathetic affairs."

"That bastard Jiraiya..." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, a cold, sinister glint flashing within his serpentine pupils.

"Yo? Is that how you treat a former comrade?"

Lin Zi tilted his head, offering a mocking smile.

"No wonder they couldn't stop you. Let me see..."

He suddenly stepped forward, his golden slit pupils locking onto Orochimaru's eyes.

The sensory perception of Ryūchi Cave acted like countless invisible threads, burrowing into the other's skin and bones, probing all the way to the depths of his soul.

Lin Zi's voice dropped suddenly, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue against an earlobe.

"The soul power within you... it is far too sluggish and fragmented. Do you have any insights regarding this matter?"

"You—"

Orochimaru's face was filled with shock, and he recoiled half a step. He had never revealed this to anyone; how could this imposter possibly see through it?!

"No wonder you can't master Sage Mode."

Lin Zi crossed his arms, looking down at him with an expression one might use to inspect a defective product.

"So... you are pursuing immortality?"

The shock on Orochimaru's face slowly faded, replaced by a fervor bordering on madness, as if he had found a kindred spirit in Lin Zi's words.

He suddenly spread his arms, his pale fingers splayed under the moonlight as if to embrace some ethereal truth.

"What, do you also wish to explore the secrets of eternal life?"

Orochimaru's voice trembled with irrepressible excitement.

"We can exchange techniques! I believe that with our combined talents, we have enough to find true immortality!"

He grew more agitated as he spoke, his hands suddenly gripping Lin Zi's shoulders, his nails digging into the flesh.

"Come! Tell me what you know! The complete Senjutsu of Ryūchi Cave, the mysteries of the soul, and the knowledge from your world—tell me everything!"

Lin Zi looked down at the two hands gripping his shoulders, then back up at Orochimaru's face, which was twisted by fanaticism.

He suddenly laughed.

"Is that so?"

He uttered the two words softly, then gave his shoulders a jolt, shaking off Orochimaru's hands.

"But I'm afraid I have something I love saying most to people who think too highly of themselves."

He enunciated each word clearly.

"NO."

"What...?"

Orochimaru froze in place, the fervor on his face freezing over as if doused by a bucket of ice water.

Lin Zi stepped back, crossing his arms and wearing an expression of someone examining trash.

"Orochimaru, the you of this world is truly a lonely soul, and I suspect you haven't actually researched anything of value yet, have you?"

"What did you... say?!"

Orochimaru's pupils shrank to pinpricks, trembling uncontrollably.

"Oh? Angry now?"

Lin Zi licked his lips, his snake-like eyes filled with mockery.

"Did I hit a nerve?"

Before the words had even faded, Orochimaru erupted into action!

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

Countless venomous snakes surged madly from his sleeves like a rampaging meat grinder, lunging straight for Lin Zi's face!

The fangs of those snakes shimmered with a purple-black toxic glow, and wherever they passed, the very air hissed with the sound of corrosion.

"It seems we are completely beyond reconciliation, my other self!"

Orochimaru roared as he controlled the swarm.

"I will take your brain right here! I will dig out... all of your knowledge!"

Lin Zi let out a cold snort, stepping forward instead of retreating, his own hands striking out!

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

It was an equally overwhelming swarm of snakes, but the scales of Lin Zi's white serpents shimmered with a warm, gentle luster. The two tides of snakes collided violently in mid-air; fangs tore at fangs, venom sprayed against venom, and flesh and blood flew everywhere!

Lin Zi stood in the center of the serpent swarm, his black ponytail dancing in the gale, his golden slit pupils glowing with a terrifying intensity.

"You are welcome to try!"

He backhanded a black snake that had breached his defenses and was lunging for his throat, crushing its head with a single, forceful squeeze of his fingers.

"But let me warn you."

He shook the blood and venom from his hand, his lips curling into a savage grin.

"I am not like a piece of trash such as you. If you want to swallow me whole..."

"Be careful you don't choke to death!"

Two tides of snakes tangled in the center of the ruins, piling up into a mountain of pale, mangled carcasses that reeked with a stench so foul it made one's brain ache.

Lin Zi stood in the heart of the swarm, pressed his palms together, and horns erupted from his forehead.

Sage Mode, fully unleashed!

"Many Snakes Array!"

He opened his mouth and exhaled, natural energy surging forth alongside his own swarm; his snakes, as if injected with adrenaline, instantly tore Orochimaru's black snakes to shreds.

The fangs of Orochimaru's black snakes sank into the bodies of the snakes summoned by Lin Zi, but instead of piercing them, they were backlashed by the natural energy, causing the entire snake to explode and vanish.

"Damn it!"

Orochimaru retreated thirty feet, his face dark. He formed hand seals, and two giant pythons lunged from his sleeves to entangle Lin Zi's ankles, while simultaneously, he flipped his palm, thrusting a gleaming Kusanagi Sword straight at Lin Zi's heart!

Lin Zi did not dodge or weave, allowing the Kusanagi Sword to pierce his chest.

Squelch!

Blood sprayed, and Orochimaru's pupils constricted, followed immediately by a look of wild ecstasy.

"Got you!"

But the next second, Lin Zi's pale face suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon.

His entire body went limp, melting into a pile of pale snakeskin that rustled as it fell to the ground.

"What?!"

Orochimaru froze in place.

"I'm over here."

The voice came from right behind him, so close he could hear the breathing.

Orochimaru spun around violently, only to see Lin Zi standing unscathed ten yards away, calmly pulling the last bit of snakeskin residue from his mouth.

"Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique, never seen it?"

Lin Zi tilted his head, his golden slit pupils filled with mockery.

"Oh, right, you invented this yourself, though it seems you've forgotten how to use it."

"You're playing me?!"

Orochimaru's face twisted, veins bulging on his forehead.

"And what if I am?"

Lin Zi shrugged, looking perfectly innocent.

Orochimaru was thoroughly enraged.

He let out a roar that sounded nothing like a human, slammed his hands into the ground, and his chakra surged like a bursting dam!

The ground collapsed with a roar, and countless massive, pale snake bodies erupted frantically from beneath the earth.

"Eight Branches Technique!!!"

Rumble!

A gargantuan serpent, as thick as a house, broke through the soil. Eight massive heads reared up in unison, sixteen slit pupils glowing in the night.

The monster had no tail; in its place were eight bone spikes that shot toward the sky, stabbing into the night air with a ghastly white hue.

It loomed over the ruins of Konoha, showing off its might, carving deep, bottomless trenches into the earth with every step.

S-rank Forbidden Jutsu, Eight Branches Technique!

Lin Zi tilted his head back, staring at the eight snake heads that blotted out the sky. His perception under Sage Mode pricked at his nerves like needles, sensing the world-destroying chakra contained within every single head.

The mockery on his face finally faded, his golden slit pupils narrowing into thin lines as his Adam's apple bobbed once.

"...This is interesting, Orochimaru. I truly shouldn't have underestimated you."