14. Saw a ghost

Before the Masked Man could speak, Suddenly, another black figure descended from the sky, landing directly in front of Orochimaru.

Seeing that familiar red-cloud-patterned black robe, Orochimaru's eyes flashed instantly.

A member of the Akatsuki?

However, before he could react, something even more astonishing occurred.

Because this time, Chen Xiaoxi did not land on a tree branch; instead, he was... standing directly in mid-air.

Levitation?

Orochimaru's gaze immediately sharpened as he scrutinized the figure.

He saw a man wearing a loose red-cloud-patterned black robe, holding an unsheathed short blade in his hand.

Short brown hair, a sharp-angled face, fair skin, and... golden eyes that seemed to be burning.

He wore no ninja headband.

Orochimaru suddenly grinned, revealing a sinister smile.

"Tsk, tsk,"

"A member of the Akatsuki, are you..."

"Isn't it a bit rude to use such tricks upon our first meeting?"

"Shouldn't you greet me first, boy with the golden eyes?"

As his voice faded, Before Chen Xiaoxi could answer, Orochimaru suddenly opened his mouth wide with a bizarre expression.

Immediately following, an even more grotesque scene unfolded.

A hand suddenly reached out from his mouth!

Next came another hand, then a head, and finally an entire body!

In the end, a figure of Orochimaru covered in slime crawled out from his own mouth and leaped onto a nearby tree trunk.

The figure that had been trapped by the Six Rods Light Prison was left as nothing more than an empty shell.

This was the Orochimaru-Style Perfect Substitution!

Without the need for any hand seals, he could escape any predicament by shedding his skin like a snake.

Even if his main body was locked down by the Six Rods Light Prison, he could still break free!

Seeing this, Tobi, the Masked Man standing to the side, let out a strange cry: "Ew, how disgusting!"

However, Chen Xiaoxi remained calm, as if he had expected it all along.

He certainly knew that Orochimaru possessed such a technique, and he never intended to defeat him so easily with a single binding spell.

Therefore, he simply looked at Orochimaru calmly and smiled, saying:

"Do I need to greet you?"

"Isn't it true that you leaked the information yourself to lure us Akatsuki here?"

"...Eh?"

As these words were spoken, not only Orochimaru but also Tobi, the Masked Man, were stunned.

Immediately after, Tobi began to clutch his head in an exaggerated manner:

"What?

Is that true, Senpai?"

"Damn it! Does that mean we, the Feiyu duo, are the ones being ambushed this time?

Wahhh!"

"Shut up."

Chen Xiaoxi glanced at Tobi, then looked back at Orochimaru, saying indifferently:

"Was that speed of yours just now meant to look like you were traveling?

It's quite obvious you were waiting for us to attack you."

"Your acting is terrible."

"..."

As the words fell.

Orochimaru was slightly taken aback for a moment, Then, he slowly grinned, revealing a sinister smile as he stared at Chen Xiaoxi, laughing hoarsely:

"Heh, is that so?"

"And yet, even with my subpar acting, it seems I have successfully deceived you, boy with the Golden Eyes."

"Have you not realized yet... that something behind you is different?"

As he spoke, the smile on Orochimaru's face grew increasingly eerie.

Hearing this, Tobi, the Masked Man standing to the side, immediately looked toward Chen Xiaoxi's back, and upon doing so, he was instantly stunned.

He saw that, at some unknown moment, several small purple snakes had appeared on the tree behind Chen Xiaoxi, their silver fangs bared!

And the very instant he noticed them, all the small snakes lunged toward Chen Xiaoxi's back with incredible speed!

Before Chen Xiaoxi could even react, the snakes had instantly locked his limbs, rendering him completely unable to move!

In that moment, the situation shifted entirely! Chen Xiaoxi had actually been restrained!

Seeing his scheme succeed, Orochimaru curled his lips into a grin, squinting at the Chen Xiaoxi before him as he chuckled in a low voice:

"So, how does it feel now?"

"..."

The scene fell into a deathly silence.

Tobi, the Masked Man, seemed to only then snap out of it, immediately feigning extreme anxiety as he shouted at Chen Xiaoxi:

"Waaah! Senior Chen Xiaoxi? Are you alright? Do you need my help?"

"Too noisy."

Chen Xiaoxi's calm voice suddenly rang out, cutting off Tobi's clamor.

However, to everyone's shock, Chen Xiaoxi's voice did not come from beside them. It came from... the sky!

"?"

Realizing this, Orochimaru and Obito Uchiha both felt their hearts skip a beat, and they looked up toward the high heavens in alarm!

But before they could even pinpoint the direction of the voice, they heard that calm tone once more.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura."

Before the words had even faded, cherry blossoms scattered across the entire sky.

Sharp blade tips sliced through the air as if cutting through fabric!

In a heartbeat, the blades descended from the sky, instantly sweeping toward Orochimaru's chest!

Squelch!

In the blink of an eye, Orochimaru's entire body was completely pierced by the cherry blossoms, along with the tree trunk behind him, which was blown apart!

Finally, he was pinned firmly to the ground.

Blood gushed out, staining the earth red. Orochimaru's pupils shrank to pinpricks, his face frozen in disbelief as he stared at the cherry blossoms in the sky.

Meanwhile, off to the side, the Masked Man, Obito Uchiha—who had believed he held the situation in the palm of his hand—saw this scene and froze, his expression as if he had seen a ghost.

The next moment, he quickly looked up toward the sky, where he could vaguely make out the silhouette of Chen Xiaoxi holding his blade.

No, it couldn't be... What on earth was going on?

Could it be that Chen Xiaoxi had never actually come down from the start?

Obito was completely dumbfounded.

"..."

The vast valley forest was, at this moment, terrifyingly silent.

Almost nothing remained but the rustling of leaves in the cool breeze, as if time itself were at peace.

However, At this moment, Orochimaru and the Masked Man felt no such tranquility; instead, a chill crawled up their spines!

Their eyes were filled with utter disbelief.

When?

How on earth did he do it?

Stunned, they both turned their gazes toward the same direction simultaneously—

They wanted to see Chen Xiaoxi, who had been bound by the small purple snakes.

Yet, what they saw next

Made their scalps tingle even more.

The trapped Chen Xiaoxi suddenly offered them a faint smile, And then, he began to turn transparent, until finally... he vanished completely!

He dissolved into thin air!

"?"

Seeing this, Orochimaru and the Masked Man were both shaken to the core, their eyes widening in unison.

There was no explosion, no replacement body?

What was going on...

This guy, what he used just now wasn't a Shadow Clone or a Substitution Jutsu?

Hiss—

No way...

Could what this guy used be... "Genjutsu"?

Though they stood in different positions, they both arrived at the same conclusion at once.

After all, in their experience, any clone or substitution technique would leave behind at least some trace.

But this Chen Xiaoxi below had simply vanished...

It was safe to conclude that it could be nothing other than Genjutsu!

But...

If that was a Genjutsu, then when exactly did this guy put them under a trance?

He hadn't even descended, yet he managed to pull this off?

Isn't that just absurd?