"Whoosh—!"
A flash of cold light appeared. The Grass-Cutting Sword in Orochimaru's hand became a sharp streak, aimed straight for Xuan Yu's heart.
But with Xuan Yu's speed now off the charts, an attack like this posed almost no threat to him.
He shifted slightly and deftly dodged the thrust of the Grass-Cutting Sword, then flashed behind Orochimaru in an instant.
Orochimaru had extremely rich combat experience. Sensing that his thrust had missed, he swept his sword backward without even turning around, while his left hand rapidly formed seals and he unleashed a technique in an instant.
Facing the sword sweeping toward him, Xuan Yu's figure flickered again. In a flash, he used Phantom Body Flicker!
Orochimaru's sword cut through empty air. He turned and swept his gaze around, only to see five Xuan Yus appear around him at once, each launching an attack!
Orochimaru was secretly startled.
So this is the technique Zetsu mentioned in that report—the Clone Technique said to rival Body Flicker Shisui's. Which one is the real body?
Since he had neither a bloodline ocular jutsu nor powerful sensory abilities, Orochimaru couldn't tell which of the five Xuan Yus before him was the real one.
Faced with this situation, he didn't gamble on hitting the real body like Kakuzu had. Instead, he decisively chose an attack that covered a wide area.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Orochimaru took a deep breath and abruptly unleashed a powerful gust of wind. It swept from left to right, instantly engulfing all five of Xuan Yu's figures.
But the next second, Kabuto Yakushi, Kaguya Kimimaro, and Orochimaru all widened their eyes. Those five "Xuan Yus" were all insubstantial illusions!
"Not good!"
At first, Orochimaru was puzzled by what had happened. But as one of the Konoha Sannin, his combat experience far surpassed that of ordinary people, and he quickly understood.
That Wind Release: Great Breakthrough had swept across all five of Xuan Yu's figures, but it hadn't hit them all at once, nor had it destroyed every illusion one after another.
In other words, his attack had only hit illusions. It hadn't wiped out all five figures at once.
That gave Xuan Yu an enormous amount of room to maneuver!
What happened next proved Orochimaru's judgment correct.
Before Orochimaru could react, the first "Xuan Yu" on his left had already launched his strongest killing move.
"LEAF! WHIRL! WIND—!!"
With a loud shout from Xuan Yu, he kicked a small, rapidly spinning green tornado through the air!
The green whirlwind almost instantly swept Orochimaru up. A moment later, it roared and hurled him high into the air!
Seeing Orochimaru sent flying, Kabuto Yakushi and Kaguya Kimimaro both rushed to attack Xuan Yu, intending to stop him from pressing his advantage and hurting Orochimaru further.
"Stop!"
Orochimaru's voice rang out from a distance, slightly disheveled but still steady, stopping them in time.
Orochimaru looked a little worse for wear, his cloak covered in dust, but his expression was unusually excited.
He clearly remembered the first day Xuan Yu joined the Akatsuki. He had fought the boy then, and he knew exactly what level Xuan Yu had been at.
Although Xuan Yu hadn't used any more new techniques in this battle, and had ultimately sent him flying with an old Taijutsu move like Leaf Whirlwind, Orochimaru had clearly felt how much Xuan Yu's strength had leapt forward.
Xuan Yu's speed, strength, the power of his ninjutsu, and nearly every other aspect of his abilities had improved considerably.
Xuan Yu might not yet qualify as a "perfect vessel," but the astonishing potential he had shown was more than enough to let him grow into the perfect reincarnation vessel Orochimaru had dreamed of.
At the thought, Orochimaru's gaze toward Xuan Yu grew even hotter and greedier.
Xuan Yu's abnormal rate of growth and his incredible ability to learn ninjutsu left Orochimaru slavering.
If he could make Xuan Yu his, wouldn't all of Xuan Yu's abilities become his, too?
Not far away, Xuan Yu didn't continue attacking.
He folded his arms and called to Orochimaru with a cheerful smile. "Snake Bro, you've got a pretty good idea of my talent for learning ninjutsu and my rate of growth now, right? You could say that all the reports about me out there are wrong—my strength and potential are far greater than they make them out to be."
Orochimaru nodded slowly. "Indeed. You're a rather unusual ninja. Although you're a member of the Uchiha Clan and haven't awakened your Sharingan, your merits outweigh that flaw."
Xuan Yu rolled his eyes. "Can we not bring up the Sharingan? Besides, it's not like I definitely can't awaken it. And even if I really can't...the Sharingan is basically a hot-swappable accessory in the Ninja World, isn't it? Getting a couple and installing them would be a piece of cake."
Orochimaru naturally understood what Xuan Yu meant.
But that wasn't the focus of their conversation. The main point was their cooperation.
Orochimaru chuckled. "Your special abilities are indeed worth a commission of fifty million ryo. But tell me, how do you plan to work with me?"
Xuan Yu answered without hesitation. "Simple. I can provide you with Chakra for your experiments."
Orochimaru's expression darkened, and his tone turned displeased. "That doesn't sound like you have any sincerity about cooperating."
Xuan Yu didn't answer at once. He merely smiled and formed seals in front of Orochimaru again.
"Poof!" A cloud of white smoke burst open, and a second "Xuan Yu" appeared beside him.
Then both Xuan Yus used the Mystical Palm Technique they had just learned.
Two glows of green Chakra shone brightly in their palms.
As he demonstrated the Chakra Clone and Mystical Palm Technique, Xuan Yu spoke unhurriedly. "All my special abilities, when you get down to it, rely on my Chakra. Because my Chakra is unusual, the clones I create with the Clone Technique aren't just hard to distinguish from the real thing—they can almost function as real bodies."
He spread his hands slightly toward Orochimaru. "So, providing you with my Chakra to study is already doing you a huge favor. It's the greatest sincerity I can show in this cooperation."
This time, Orochimaru was once again left stunned.
He had already witnessed many of Xuan Yu's bizarre abilities, but hearing Xuan Yu reveal this trump card himself still left him visibly shocked.
The Wood Style Clone of Hashirama Senju, the First, was certainly powerful, but it still differed considerably from the original body.
Other kinds of Clone Techniques might each have their own strengths, but compared with Xuan Yu's ability to make clones, they were undoubtedly inferior.
With this Clone Technique, Xuan Yu alone could perform many combination ninjutsu techniques that would normally require several people working together!
A sharp glint flashed in Orochimaru's eyes, and he finally nodded. "Fine...come with me to the laboratory."
With that, he turned and walked toward the cliff on one side of the valley.
The few wooden houses here weren't his real laboratory. His base was built inside the mountain.
Seeing that Orochimaru had agreed to cooperate, Xuan Yu was overjoyed.
Once they settled the details, he'd walk away with a net fifty million ryo from this trip, and he'd already scored the Mystical Palm Technique for free.
If he put in a little more effort, maybe he could score Orochimaru's Triple Rashomon Summoning Technique for free, too?
A technique like Triple Rashomon was incredibly useful against those wide-area killing moves that were like self-propelled cannons!
Before you continue