Yun Xi's Counterattack

"I'll be safe once I reach the Hokage Office Building!"

After a quick scan of his surroundings, Yun Xi made an instant decision.

However, while the idea was simple, executing it was not nearly as easy as he had imagined.

After all, the Orochimaru before him was, without a doubt, the ceiling of combat power prior to the Chunin Exams.

Within the Hidden Leaf Village, there were almost no individuals capable of rivaling him.

In the original story, the only person who could clearly suppress Orochimaru was Uchiha Itachi with his Sharingan...

And although Yun Xi also possessed a Sharingan, the gap between a Three-Tomoe Sharingan and a Mangekyou Sharingan was no less than the difference in combat power between an average Jonin and a peak Kage Level ninja...

Yun Xi felt a slight panic.

Most crucially, the location where Yun Xi and Orochimaru stood was incredibly awkward.

The Hokage Office Building was right in front of him, but in reality, the distance from where Yun Xi stood to the building was at least two kilometers.

And that was at a full-out sprint...

"Forget it, stop thinking!"

As he calculated the plan in his mind, Yun Xi felt a sense of helplessness. Realizing that his chances of escape were becoming increasingly slim, he simply stopped overthinking.

He cleared these complex thoughts from his mind.

With only the escape route remaining in his head, a flicker of fighting spirit ignited in Yun Xi's eyes!

"Although I don't know what your combat strength is like, little brat, for this courage alone, I, Orochimaru, am willing to give you another chance."

"Are you willing to come with me?"

As the words faded, Orochimaru and Yun Xi fell into silence once again.

Clearly, Orochimaru was well aware that Yun Xi intended to escape.

Following standard procedure, Orochimaru should have prioritized subduing Yun Xi before attending to other matters.

But Orochimaru disdained doing so.

The person before him was merely a twelve-year-old boy, and even if there were aspects of him that piqued Orochimaru's curiosity, in Orochimaru's eyes, Yun Xi was nothing more than an interesting ant.

Strike first?

In Orochimaru's eyes, Yun Xi truly wasn't worth it...

"Many thanks, but I still don't want to go!"

As Orochimaru spoke again, Yun Xi decisively refused, and then, without a moment's hesitation, he moved!

Because he had already positioned himself on a relatively perfect escape route before speaking, the moment his words ended, Yun Xi exerted all his strength and bolted.

It took only a few seconds.

With a full burst of speed, Yun Xi finally charged out of the alleyway.

But looking at the environment before him, Yun Xi's expression remained grim.

"There's actually no one here either..."

Gazing at the empty, desolate wilderness before him, Yun Xi instantly felt a sense of malice.

In Yun Xi's original plan, if there had been other villagers from the Hidden Leaf outside the alley, he would have been essentially safe the moment he escaped.

Orochimaru dared to kill the few ninjas monitoring Yun Xi because there was no one else at Yun Xi's home.

But when faced with civilians near the main street of the Hidden Leaf, Orochimaru would absolutely not dare to act!

Orochimaru was indeed strong, but compared to the entire Hidden Leaf, he was ultimately still a bit weaker.

Furthermore, Yun Xi knew that because Orochimaru was still in cooperation with Danzo at this time, he actually did not want to expose his identity.

Yun Xi's plan was perfect...

It was just that...

His luck was a bit poor.

Here and now.

Apart from Yun Xi and Orochimaru, there was no one else present.

"It seems your luck isn't very good, little brat."

At this moment, Orochimaru slowly emerged from the alley, speaking to Yun Xi in a teasing tone, seemingly not worried in the slightest that Yun Xi might escape his grasp.

"Damn it..."

Yun Xi's mood was already sour, and with the provocation of Orochimaru's words, he instantly felt an inexplicable sense of malice.

However, Yun Xi did not give up.

While scanning the surrounding environment, he was also searching for a new escape route.

Suddenly!

A dense grove of trees appeared before Yun Xi's eyes.

Looking at the woods, something instantly crossed his mind.

"Brother Yun Xi, want to go play?"

"Brother Yun Xi, let me tell you, as long as you pass through this little grove, you can go straight to the Ninja Academy. It saves so much time..."

"..."

In an instant, Tenten's adorable face surfaced in Yun Xi's mind, along with the words they had shared previously.

"I'll run this way!"

Although in Yun Xi's plan, heading to the Hokage Office Building to seek the protection of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was the safest method, he had to helplessly abandon that idea once he considered the distance.

The Ninja Academy was also a decent choice.

Even though there were no powerful ninjas in the school, Yun Xi did not believe that Orochimaru would dare to make a move on him inside the Ninja Academy!

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Just as Yun Xi made his decision, he noticed Orochimaru slowly walking toward him. Seeing this, Yun Xi immediately gathered chakra in his mouth and rapidly formed hand seals!

In less than half a second, a red fireball about the size of a basketball was released from Yun Xi's mouth, aimed directly at the approaching Orochimaru.

"It seems I underestimated you, you dead-last brat!"

Feeling the heat from the Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique, Orochimaru did not panic; instead, a faint smile appeared on his face. Clearly, based on Orochimaru's experience, being able to execute such a fire jutsu with such proficiency was definitely not something a dead-last student who hadn't even graduated from the Ninja Academy could achieve. In other words, the Yun Xi before him possessed at least the strength of a Chunin.

"Twelve years old, a Chunin..."

A thoughtful look crossed Orochimaru's face. Then, he suddenly spoke up.

"If I recall correctly, there is a genius in the Uchiha clan named Uchiha Itachi who only achieved such results."

"A little brat like this..."

"Actually considered a dead-last?!"

"Konoha is truly rotting away..."

As Orochimaru lamented, the Great Fireball Technique released by Yun Xi appeared before him.

"Swish!"

Suddenly, the sound of a sword being drawn rang out. The flame, which had been the size of a basketball, was instantly sliced apart by the Kusanagi Sword in Orochimaru's hand, subsequently dissipating into the air.

"As expected..."

"This level of ninjutsu is nothing more than child's play to Orochimaru."

Watching the scene unfold before him, Yun Xi was not particularly surprised.

On the contrary, he wore an expression that suggested this was only natural.

After all...

The Fire Style ninjutsu he had unleashed earlier was merely a simple Great Fireball Technique.

He had not only refrained from imbuing it with the power of the Flame-Flame Fruit, but he hadn't even utilized his Sharingan or the strength granted to him by the system.

If a Fire Style technique of this caliber could actually injure the Orochimaru standing before him, Yun Xi would have been the one truly shocked.