Poisoned!

Lihuo had never fought such a difficult battle. He was alone against a peak elite Jonin and a gifted puppeteer.

Lihuo knew that with his current strength, he couldn't go toe-to-toe with them. The best strategy was to stall.

Conserve his strength and hold out until Orochimaru arrived!

It sounded simple enough, but Lihuo found it incredibly difficult to put into practice!

Oniichiro excelled at Taijutsu. Even with Lihuo's body strengthened several times over, he could barely keep up.

Bang!

Oniichiro's powerful roundhouse kick sent Lihuo flying. Sasori, meanwhile, wasn't idle.

He controlled Crow, a puppet armed with countless mechanisms and poisons, and launched one deadly attack after another.

Facing this situation, Lihuo knew that if he kept dragging things out, things would only get worse!

He had to use his trump card!

Lihuo rapidly formed Hand Seals. As a cloud of smoke rose, three Shadow Clones appeared beside him.

"Whatever you're planning, I won't let you get away with it."

Sasori spoke calmly, then controlled Crow to sweep at them with a poison-coated spinning blade.

At the same moment, Oniichiro burst forward with ghostly speed.

He appeared before Lihuo and his Shadow Clones like a phantom.

Lihuo, who had been struggling moments earlier, now looked completely composed.

Faced with the two of them attacking at once, Lihuo calmly began to respond.

Two of the Shadow Clones charged at the puppet as it hurtled toward them like a cannonball.

Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!

With a shout, one Shadow Clone's sleeves suddenly bulged.

Five massive white snakes shot out of his sleeves and swiftly coiled around Crow, on the verge of crushing the puppet into splinters!

Sasori's pupils contracted. He hadn't expected Lihuo to have been holding back all this time.

But after only a moment's hesitation, Sasori's puppet had already begun to come apart.

Sasori hurriedly refocused. His fingers flicked lightly, like a pianist playing a chilling melody.

The puppet, which had seemed lifeless, now appeared to have a soul.

Countless spinning blades sprang from Crow's body. Within seconds, they had cut apart every snake coiled around it.

Just then, Lihuo's other Shadow Clone moved!

Rasengan!

With a shout, the Shadow Clone leaped high into the air and slammed the Rasengan in his hand into the puppet.

Crow, which had just been displaying its fearsome power, took a massive hit.

Bang!

The rapidly spinning chakra tore through the puppet's chest, scattering splintered wood across the ground.

Crow crashed to the ground like a kite with its strings cut.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru's battle had also reached its final stages.

With three Anbu joining the fight, the Fire Snake Squad was at an even greater disadvantage. Orochimaru and the others soon defeated them completely.

"Well, that takes care of the mission."

Orochimaru spoke with an easy smile, looking nothing like someone who had just fought a major battle.

"Now, let's return to the village with Lihuo."

Orochimaru released his sensory ninjutsu and carefully searched for Lihuo.

A moment later, his brow furrowed tightly. Lihuo had disappeared?!

In an instant, an overwhelming bloodlust poured out of him like a flood, pressing down on the three Anbu.

The three Anbu dropped to one knee. Captain Xiang spoke with a slight tremble in his voice.

"Lord Orochimaru, is there anything you need us to do?"

Orochimaru acted as if he hadn't heard Xiang. He continued expanding the range of his sensory ninjutsu.

When he sensed the border of the Land of Wind, his pupils contracted.

He had sensed Lihuo fighting an elite Jonin and a Chunin!

"How did that kid end up all the way over there?"

With no time to think, Orochimaru reached into his ninja pouch, took out the secret scroll Sha had been carrying, and tossed it to Xiang.

"Return and report."

Xiang caught the bloodstained scroll. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but one look at Orochimaru's ice-cold expression made him swallow his words.

"Yes, sir!"

At Xiang's signal, the three Anbu dashed toward Konoha like phantoms, determined to deliver the scroll to Lord Hokage as quickly as possible.

As the Anbu left, Orochimaru's expression grew darker and darker.

If Jiraiya and Tsunade had been there, they would have recognized it as the look Orochimaru wore when he was about to kill.

The next moment, Orochimaru raced off like a cannonball, heading straight for the place where Lihuo was fighting!

Faster!

The thought rang through Orochimaru's mind.

He remembered the boy who had been killed by an Explosive Tag on a rainy night.

Ever since that moment, Orochimaru had come to understand just how fragile human beings were!

At the thought, Orochimaru quickened his pace even more.

Don't die on me, little Lihuo...

Meanwhile, just as the two Shadow Clones had severely damaged Sasori's puppet,

Lihuo and his remaining Shadow Clone were facing off against Oniichiro.

Without wasting words, Lihuo chose to trade blows with Oniichiro. Even with his Shadow Clone harrying the enemy,

Oniichiro's Taijutsu was simply too strong. Lihuo's attacks weren't landing!

Even so, Lihuo showed no sign of frustration. His eyes remained clear.

Suddenly, Oniichiro seized his chance and drove a powerful punch into Lihuo's stomach.

But Lihuo didn't try to dodge. Oniichiro couldn't help but stare at him in confusion. In Lihuo's eyes, he saw nothing but madness.

Pfft!

As Lihuo spat out a mouthful of blood, his hands reached Oniichiro's head.

"Ding! You touched the head of an A-rank ninja: Oniichiro. Choose three of the following rewards."

In the blink of an eye, Lihuo was sent flying, while the Flying Thunder God Mark appeared on Oniichiro's body.

Ptui!

Lihuo spat out blood and glared coldly at Oniichiro as he thought,

Claim the rewards.

"Greatly enhanced physical strength."

"Proficiency in Sand Village Taijutsu."

"100,000 yen."

"Greatly enhanced reflexes."

"Greatly enhanced coordination."

Without hesitation, Lihuo chose the three "greatly enhanced" rewards.

Pfft!

A moment later, piercing pain struck every part of Lihuo's body. Then he felt as if his body were about to melt.

Oniichiro gave Lihuo no chance to catch his breath. He appeared before him again, like a poison clinging to his bones.

His hammer-like fist crashed toward Lihuo's chest.

Bang!

Instead of being pulverized as expected, Lihuo dodged the deadly blow like a startled hare.

"That was close."

Lihuo brushed the dust off himself. He could clearly feel that his physical strength had reached Jonin level!

"You brat!"

Oniichiro said nothing more and charged forward, locking Lihuo in close combat once again.

But as the fight went on, he realized that the boy before him seemed to have grown stronger all at once!

Oniichiro had held an overwhelming advantage, but now the two were evenly matched!

His expression grew more and more solemn, while Lihuo's eyes gradually brightened.

But as the two fought, Sasori, who had been struggling to control the damaged Crow, suddenly made his move!

His expression remained unreadable, and his fingers danced through the air. Thin Chakra Threads controlled the puppet's inner workings.

Bang!

The two Shadow Clones, who had been gaining the upper hand, suddenly exploded. The intense pain shot through Lihuo's mind, making him falter for an instant.

That single crucial instant was all Oniichiro needed. His merciless iron fist slammed into Lihuo.

Pfft!

A Kunai shot from Crow's arm like lightning. Its blade glinted with an eerie green light—it had clearly been coated with potent poison.

Lihuo's body flew backward like a broken sandbag, and Sasori's Kunai struck him squarely in the shoulder.

The situation took a sudden turn for the worse.

Lihuo felt his condition deteriorating rapidly. His body was growing numb and weak as the poison took hold.

Summoning all his strength, he forced himself to his feet and used Life Return to suppress the poison in his body!

Then he surged forward with all his strength, moving so quickly that even Oniichiro couldn't react, and charged at Sasori.

Sasori was a puppeteer, but his physical strength had still reached Chunin level. Even so, he couldn't escape Lihuo's grasp. He didn't even have time to pull Crow back to defend himself.

As soon as Lihuo's hand touched Sasori's head, the poison in Lihuo's body erupted completely, and he collapsed in front of Sasori.

Tap!

With a soft landing, Orochimaru appeared before the three of them.

Behind him stretched an entire forest, devastated by his breakneck sprint!

The moment Oniichiro recognized him, he summoned all his strength, spun around, and shouted at Sasori,

"Run!"

Orochimaru looked down at Lihuo lying on the ground, then slowly raised his head.

"None of you are getting away!"