Death of the Great Serpent?

Bang!

With a dull thud, the charred humanoid object suddenly collapsed onto the ground.

At the four corners of the purple barrier, the bodies of the four black-robed figures visibly began to tremble.

"This guy... this guy... actually... killed Lord Orochimaru!"

"The Uchiha... are terrifying!"

Although Root's training had stripped these ninja of much of their personal emotion, the scene before them was simply too overwhelming! And it had nothing to do with personal feelings—it was sheer shock born from everything they knew as ninja!

A ten-year-old boy had killed Orochimaru!

No one would believe it if word of this got out!

"Do we... still need to maintain this barrier..." One of the black-robed figures swallowed unconsciously as he looked at the figure standing in the field.

"This..."

"Return and report to Lord Danzo!"

After a brief exchange, the four came to a decision. They watched Uchiha Mo warily, intending to flee in different directions the instant the barrier was undone.

Mo glanced at the black-robed man who had made the decision and ignored them. He walked over to the mud-and-stone sculpture, pulled out Futsunomitama, and returned it to its sheath.

The next moment, the Four Violet Flames Formation slowly dissipated. Yet before the black-robed figures could react, a shadow shot out like an arrow released from a bow!

They froze instantly, because the one fleeing was... Uchiha Mo!

Immediately afterward, a skin-crawling sound of flesh tearing echoed through the woods. The charred corpse slowly split open, and then...

A brand-new, dripping-wet Orochimaru crawled out from within.

Snake Style Substitution Technique!

"Lord Orochimaru..." The Root ninja were stunned.

What was going on?

Orochimaru narrowed his snake-like eyes. Ignoring them, he stared directly in the direction Uchiha Mo had left. He did not pursue, merely murmuring in a hoarse voice.

"How interesting... He seemed to know I wasn't dead... Mo-kun, I'm becoming more and more interested in you. Just what can those eyes of yours see that I cannot..."

As he spoke, Orochimaru once again extended his long tongue and licked the corner of his lips. Yet combined with the wet slime covering his entire body... the gesture looked especially disgusting...

Even the Root ninja turned away in discomfort, but Orochimaru did not care in the slightest. He merely murmured:

"Such a perfect body... truly intoxicating..."

Elsewhere.

Uchiha Mo's pupils constricted slightly. He turned to look behind him, then frowned in disappointment.

"He didn't follow me..."

As he spoke, he raised his head and looked at the forest above, where all kinds of shuriken, kunai, and Fuma shuriken had been embedded throughout the trees. Many of those kunai and shuriken bore red-and-white explosive tags, all high-quality goods obtained from Cat Granny.

They were also the burial offerings Mo had carefully prepared for Orochimaru!

Uchiha Mo knew that Orochimaru possessed the incredibly disgusting life-saving Snake Style Substitution Technique. That was why the Lightning Release: Shadow Clone at the start had been sent straight to Orochimaru's mouth—to restrain him at the critical moment and see whether it could prevent him from using that substitution technique.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru had ultimately used that move to avoid fatal damage.

The reason Mo had known the outcome in advance was because the panel had not reacted at all...

Orochimaru was an exceptionally rare ninja who possessed all seven attributes: the five elements, Yin, and Yang. Though he did not specialize in any particular nature transformation, as far as Mo knew, the Wind Release, Earth Release, and Yang Release proficiency he could provide would definitely not be low.

Yet there had not been the slightest change on the panel. Naturally, Mo could guess that Orochimaru was not dead.

"Forget it. Orochimaru isn't Danzo's dog. After this exchange, Danzo should behave himself. At least until he finds a better method or another thug, he probably won't make a move. But..."

As he spoke, Uchiha Mo recalled Danzo's gloomy face.

"If I don't get rid of that stray dog... it won't sit right with me..."

However, the moment the words left his mouth, a set of footsteps suddenly came from the woods ahead.

Mo immediately looked up and saw the anxious-faced Shisui rapidly approaching with a slightly hunched old man.

Seeing Mo standing there completely unharmed, Shisui immediately looked overjoyed. He appeared beside Mo in a Body Flicker and hurriedly asked:

"Nii-san, are you all right? I was afraid you wouldn't be able to handle it, so I brought the Great Elder."

As they spoke, Uchiha Setsuna also arrived beside them. He looked Mo over from head to toe with his somewhat clouded eyes before speaking in a low voice.

"Mo, what exactly happened?"

Uchiha Mo rested a hand on the hilt at his waist and answered calmly, "Nothing much. Just a stray dog coveting the Uchiha's power."

Setsuna narrowed his eyes. After thinking briefly, he asked in return, "Danzo Shimura? He made a move against you?"

"It was him, but Orochimaru was the one who acted. He was in the forest, but he's already escaped."

The instant those words fell, Setsuna's eyelid twitched sharply.

"Orochimaru?! You were just fighting Orochimaru?"

Mo glanced at Setsuna's shocked expression and nodded impassively.

Uchiha Setsuna looked at the unruffled Mo and swallowed hard in disbelief.

"You can actually contend with one of the Sannin... No, if it's you, I suppose that's only natural..."

Setsuna no longer knew how to describe his current feelings, but Mo felt no great stir in his heart.

In truth, Mo knew his own strength very well. If it came down to a head-on clash, his base attributes were still far below those of true Kage-level experts...

At the very least, in today's battle, if his base attributes had reached the threshold of Kage level, Orochimaru would never have survived... But that was reality.

He was not strong enough—not even close.

That was Mo's assessment of himself. Yet at the same time, he did not believe himself inferior to anyone.

Slap!

Setsuna suddenly placed his right hand on Mo's shoulder. His expression abruptly turned resolute and grim as his eyes fixed earnestly on Mo's.

"Since Danzo dared to lay a hand on you, he's declaring war on the Uchiha! Come with this old man. We'll gather our people and wipe out Root! Since he even called Orochimaru in to act, even Hiruzen Sarutobi won't be able to say anything!"

Intense killing intent erupted from Setsuna's clouded old eyes. It felt as though his most beloved junior had been bullied by an outsider, and no matter how terrible the cost, he would reclaim their honor.

Their eyes met, and the air suddenly fell silent.

"..."

Mo looked away and abruptly turned around.

"There's no need. Revenge only has meaning if I take it myself..."

With that, Mo lowered his gaze to Shisui.

"Shisui is in your care, Great Elder."

"Mo..."

Uchiha Setsuna hurriedly raised a hand, wanting to say something, but Mo had already vanished from the spot in a Body Flicker...