Orochimaru

Someone once said:

Everything in the world had its weaknesses.

As long as you found the weakness, there was always a way to overcome it.

Besides, Obito considered his own Kamui to be far more versatile, so he had no reason to be afraid.

So, a moment later, the Masked Man, intern Tobi, once again returned to his usual goofy self and pretended to panic as he spoke:

"Waaah! Please go easy on me, senior!"

"I know I was wrong! I absolutely won't reveal your secrets, senior!"

"Please believe me!"

Masked Man Tobi pleaded with all his might.

Hearing this, Chen Xiaoxi smiled faintly to himself, and his expression softened a little.

Then, with a thought, he withdrew his Reiatsu and put on a cool expression.

"Good. You understand."

"Now, lead the way. We're leaving."

"Since this is my first mission, let's hurry up and get it done."

"Yes, senior!"

Masked Man Tobi immediately adopted an extremely respectful attitude.

After calling out, he led Chen Xiaoxi outside.

The two walked one behind the other.

The intern, who had been making a racket just moments ago, suddenly fell quiet. He seemed lost in thought and didn't say a word.

And Chen Xiaoxi certainly wasn't going to strike up a conversation with him.

So the two temporary partners maintained an odd silence.

But in truth,

both of them had their own thoughts.

The Masked Man walking ahead was doing his best to figure out the weakness of Chen Xiaoxi's eye technique.

And though Chen Xiaoxi's expression remained unchanged as he followed behind, he couldn't help smiling to himself.

The truth was, with his current level of Reiatsu, even if he concentrated his strength, the most he could do was crush the ground to a depth of three inches.

Still, that display had been necessary to intimidate Obito.

From today onward,

Obito would probably believe completely that he really did have an eye technique.

In this first clash between two master actors, Chen Xiaoxi had essentially won outright.

The truth was,

even Chen Xiaoxi himself might never have imagined

that this chance action of his would lead to him, many years later,

gaining a new title in the Ninja World: the "Eternal Burning Eye-Technique Master" of the Akatsuki...

Two days later,

Chen Xiaoxi followed in Obito's footsteps and arrived at the location mentioned in the intel.

It was within the Land of Fire,

in a forest surrounded by deep valleys.

At that moment, Chen Xiaoxi and Masked Man Tobi were standing atop a towering tree, looking down below.

"Senior, according to the intel we have, that guy named Orochimaru passes through here every day!"

"We just have to wait!"

"And with your powerful Wicked Eye of the Tyrant, you'll definitely be able to take him down, right?"

"Right?"

After spending the past two days together,

Masked Man Tobi had become just as noisy and talkative as before.

He was like a machine gun that never ran out of bullets, barely stopping for a moment the entire way. Chen Xiaoxi's ears were practically growing calluses.

He also kept going "right, right, right," like some old-school anime fan.

"Shut up, Tobi."

Chen Xiaoxi glanced at him, then looked down and said calmly:

"Can't you sense it? Someone's already approaching."

"Huh?"

At this, Masked Man Tobi let out a surprised cry, then quickly covered his mouth and pretended to search around.

And the very next moment,

the figure of a man with long black hair suddenly appeared in their view below!

It was their target for this mission—Orochimaru!

The instant he saw him,

Masked Man Tobi grew excited and exclaimed in a hushed voice:

"Wow, senior!"

"It's Orochimaru! Our target's here!"

"Should we move now?"

However,

before he could finish speaking, Chen Xiaoxi had already made his preparations.

He simply raised his hand without haste, pointed down with his index finger, and said in an even tone:

"Binding Way 61: Six Rods Light Prison!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a gleam flashed in Chen Xiaoxi's eyes. Below, six brilliant white beams of light appeared in an instant!

They locked Orochimaru firmly in place as he made his way through the forest below!

His movement was cut short before he could finish it!

Orochimaru was pinned in midair by the Six Rods Light Prison in that bizarre position, unable to move even a fraction!

The sight was extremely strange!

His expression changed at once. He looked up and gritted his teeth.

"Tch... Who is it?"

Orochimaru's voice rang out across half the forest.

He could clearly sense that the strange attack had come from somewhere directly above the forest!

But because of the backlighting, he couldn't make out what was up there.

A moment later,

he narrowed his eyes slightly, lowered his head, and carefully examined the space around him.

He saw six white beams of light arranged in perfect symmetry, holding him firmly in midair. He couldn't even fall to the ground.

What kind of technique was this?

Orochimaru gritted his teeth. Even with all his years of experience on the battlefield, he had never heard of anything like it.

But just then,

a gray figure suddenly leaped down from above.

He landed on a branch, then immediately began flailing about and making an exaggerated racket.

"Waaah! Senior!"

"That was incredible!

You took this guy down with just one move?

As expected of the Wicked Eye of the Tyrant!"

"?"

At the noisy words, Orochimaru's gaze sharpened at once, and he looked over.

He saw a man wearing gray shinobi clothes and an orange Spiral Mask. Not a single feature was visible.

The man was still shouting in an absurdly over-the-top manner, as if he didn't take Orochimaru seriously at all.

After getting a good look at him, Orochimaru was completely baffled.

Wait.

Who was this guy?

Shouldn't the people waiting here have been from the Akatsuki...

In an instant, Orochimaru's thoughts came to a complete halt. He couldn't even think.

What was going on?

Who had Yakushi Kabuto given my intel to?

Hadn't I told him to pose as a subordinate of Sasori of the Red Sands, then deliberately leak my intel to the Akatsuki...

Had he gotten it wrong?

The Akatsuki members were supposed to wear those distinctive uniforms...

Orochimaru began to puzzle it out.

In fact, he had been investigating the Akatsuki for quite some time.

Back then, when he learned through the Land of Wind's intelligence network that a member of the Akatsuki was asking around about Sasori of the Red Sands, he had begun preparing to use the situation to his advantage.

This time, he had deliberately let his double agent, Yakushi Kabuto, leak his movements to the Akatsuki.

That way, he could investigate them more thoroughly.

But he hadn't expected the person who showed up here to be a masked fool.

"Hey,"

"you, the guy in the mask... are you from the Akatsuki?"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at the Masked Man in front of him and spoke in a low, raspy voice.