You've Researched Very Thoroughly

Tsunade was sent flying like a kite with snapped strings, crashing through two remaining stone pillars before finally slamming into a broken wall with a thunderous boom, half her body buried under the rubble.

"Tsunade!!" Jiraiya's eyes were bloodshot, his gaze splitting with rage.

Amidst the ruins, Tsunade coughed up a mouthful of blood, struggling to push herself up, only to find her right arm hanging limp—it had been dislocated.

"Orochimaru! You bastard!!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes bulged, burning with more than just killing intent; he roared like a lion pushed to the brink of fury. His chakra surged violently, his combat uniform snapping and flapping in the wake of the pressure.

"Hiruzen! It's time!"

Enma's voice boomed from within the staff.

"Charge!!"

Hiruzen leaped into the air, the Adamantine Staff spinning into a fierce, blurred arc as he smashed it directly toward the nearest snake head!

On the other side, Lin Zi flashed in front of Tsunade.

Tsunade had just managed to pull half her body from the debris, her right arm dangling uselessly, blood staining the corner of her mouth.

Lin Zi crossed his arms, activating Snake Limb Hardening, and took the full force of a descending snake head head-on!

BOOM!!!

His feet sank three inches into the ground, gravel spraying from beneath his boots. With his back pressed against Tsunade, he could feel her ragged, desperate breathing behind him.

"Minato! Jiraiya!!"

Lin Zi turned his head and roared toward the distance.

"How much longer!!"

At the edge of the ruins, Jiraiya's white hair stood on end. The two Sages, Fukasaku and Shima, were perched on his shoulders, their hands moving rapidly across the ground as chakra patterns spread like a spiderweb.

Minato knelt nearby, a kunai dancing between his fingertips as he helped outline the sealing nodes, his forehead beaded with sweat.

"Just a little longer!!"

Jiraiya didn't even look up, his voice cracking.

"Almost there!!"

Lin Zi spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Fine!!"

He was just about to push off the ground to leap when, suddenly—

A faint, rustling sound of scales rubbing against air came from his side.

It was the sound a snake makes just before it constricts its prey.

A third snake head, like a giant python that had been lying in ambush, lunged silently at Lin Zi's side. Its blood-red maw opened wide, precisely coiling around his waist and arms! The snake's body tightened violently, and the sound of his bones groaning under the immense pressure echoed out!

"What?!"

Lin Zi's pupils contracted.

The chakra of Yamata no Orochi poured into the snake's body like chains, binding him tight.

His feet left the ground, and he was yanked upward, tossed like a pebble, tracing a pale arc through the air.

Then, he was delivered directly before the central head of Yamata no Orochi.

Orochimaru emerged from the split, bloodied flesh, his face covered in gore, his golden slit pupils gleaming with greedy madness.

He reached out a pale hand and gripped Lin Zi's chin, examining him like a rare treasure, his fingertips slowly stroking Lin Zi's cheek.

"Caught you, the me from another world."

Lin Zi was bound tight, unable to move. The horns of his Sage Mode were still glowing, but the flow of his chakra was clearly stuttering.

He sneered, his voice forced out through gritted teeth.

"Do you think... this is enough to take me down?"

"I have always admired those who possess both talent and a will of their own, you know?"

Orochimaru gripped Lin Zi's chin, then grinned, his mouth stretching all the way to his ears. A laugh squeezed out from his throat, sounding like snake scales scraping against rough stone.

"Ahhhhh! Orochimaru!"

In the ruins, Tsunade's eyes turned blood-red, and her intact left hand slammed into the ground.

BOOM! Gravel flew as she used her monstrous strength to force her dislocated right arm back into place with a sickening crack. She looked like a furious lioness ready to pounce.

But after taking only half a step, her legs gave way and she dropped to one knee, forced to pound the ground in a roar of frustration.

"Let him go!"

In the distance, Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya looked up sharply.

Jiraiya's hands were still pressed against the sealing array, the chakra patterns half-lit, but his fingertips trembled at the sound of that roar.

Minato's pupils shrank. His Flying Thunder God kunai had already slid into his palm, but when he looked up and saw the scene, he froze in place.

Lin Zi was bound tightly by the snake head, his waist and arms completely locked, like a moth trapped in a spider's web, delivered straight to Orochimaru.

"Do you know what I am about to do? My counterpart from another world?"

Orochimaru leaned in closer, his nose almost brushing against Lin Zi's forehead, his breath carrying the scent of rotting venom.

Lin Zi silently gathered natural energy within his body with frantic intensity, attempting to break through the chakra seal, while his mouth remained sharp and mocking.

"Of course I don't. How could I ever understand... what goes on inside a monster's mind?"

"A monster?"

Orochimaru laughed, his laughter growing louder and louder until it devolved into a crazed, wheezing gasp.

He released Lin Zi's chin and spread his arms wide.

"Do you know why I came tonight? What do you think my goal is? A clever person like you... you don't actually believe I came here just to get rid of you, do you?"

"Didn't you say so from the very beginning?" Lin Zi sneered. "You wanted my brain."

"That was the initial decision."

Orochimaru gripped his face again, this time with enough force to nearly crush bone, his golden slit pupils burning with a kind of morbid fanaticism.

"But I am prepared to try a different way of living now. I see that you are living quite happily—you have companions, you have trust, and you have... knowledge from another world."

"What do you mean?"

"Hahaha!"

Orochimaru threw his head back and laughed wildly, the eight heads of the Yamata no Orochi hissing in unison, the sound waves shaking the ruins.

"My counterpart from another world! Since you were able to come here, you must also know the method to travel to other worlds! Therefore, there is only one thing I need to do!"

He lunged forward, his mouth tearing open at an angle that defied human anatomy, and a sickly green soul-light erupted from the depths of his throat!

"And that is, Living Corpse Reincarnation!"

Hum!

Cold, decaying, and filled with a destructive aura, his spiritual energy poured toward the center of Lin Zi's brow like a bursting dam!

It was a gnawing at the level of the soul, an attempt to rip Lin Zi's consciousness out of his body entirely!

"Did you think I hadn't studied Sage Mode?!"

Orochimaru's voice exploded within the mental assault, piercing Lin Zi's mind like a needle.

"Maintaining one's energy in a 1:1:1 ratio, right? Spirit, body, and natural energy—the three must be in balance to maintain that form!"

Lin Zi's entire body shuddered; the horns of his Sage Mode began to flicker, and the natural chakra on his skin flashed frantically like a faulty lightbulb.

"You have to fight off my mental intrusion while simultaneously maintaining Sage Mode!"

Orochimaru's laughter was filled with the cruelty of one who holds victory in his grasp.

"As long as the balance tips even a little... your body will explode! Hahahaha!"

On the field, everyone who heard these words was left with only one thought.

This man had completely lost his mind.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand, gripping the Adamantine Staff, trembled; his eyes churned with heartache, fury, and the regret of having raised such a monster with his own hands.

"Orochimaru... you would even go so far as to sacrifice yourself!..."

Tsunade coughed up blood, bracing herself on her knees to stand once more, the veins on her forehead bulging.

"You bastard... what do you take your companions for!!"

Jiraiya's face was deathly pale, his white hair drooping even in Sage Mode, his fingers digging deep into the lines of the sealing formation.

"Damn it... damn it!! Just give me ten seconds!! Ten seconds is all I need!!"

Minato said nothing; he simply stared fixedly at Lin Zi, who was coiled by the snake heads in mid-air. The Flying Thunder God formula lit up quietly beneath his feet, his azure pupils shrinking to pinpricks, his entire body taut like a bow drawn to its limit.

And Lin Zi, amidst the opponent's torrent of soul energy, suddenly curled his lips into a smile.

"So that's how it is..."

He spoke in a low voice, so soft that only Orochimaru could hear.

"You've done... quite a thorough job of researching this."