While Orochimaru and Hiruko were scheming against each other, elsewhere, Duy was excitedly trading blows with Jiying in close combat.
"Heh heh~"
"What are you laughing at?" Looking at Hiruko, who had suddenly started laughing, Orochimaru narrowed his long, slender eyes, the purple eyeshadow lending him an eerie, otherworldly charm.
"Heh heh ha ha ha~ What am I laughing at? I'm laughing at you, Orochimaru!" With a smile on his face, Hiruko slowly rose to his feet. "Yes, I'm not as good as you when it comes to research. I admit that. But when it comes to battle? Heh~"
"People change, Orochimaru. Haven't you noticed anything strange about your body?"
Perhaps because this was merely one of Hiruko's experimental bodies, the cautious man showed a bit of a desire to flaunt himself in front of Orochimaru, from the Dark Release just now to the nameless toxin now.
"Poison? Interesting. It's been a long time since I played with that. Shiro once called us Sannin this—porn, gambling, and poison. Guess which one I was?"
Hiruko's expression changed. Aside from Orochimaru's condition not matching what he expected, he had also sensed one thing: his own body was starting to feel a little bad.
The battle between the two was about to reach its end, while Duy was still excitedly trading blows with Jiying in close combat.
"Clack~ clack~"
The sound of wooden clogs suddenly rang out one after another in the somewhat quiet forest, awakening the fearless corpses that slumbered there.
Looking at the purple eyes among the corpses, the disappointment in Jiraiya's eyes flashed by. "Pain?"
Seeing that Konan and Nagato were not there, Jiraiya suddenly lost all desire to fight. He sighed. "You're no match for me, and I'm not interested in destroying a few corpses either. Let's talk together.