The moment Chiba interlocked his fingers, symmetrical emerald-green sage markings appeared on both sides of his face. The glow of the Byakugō Seal on his forehead intensified tenfold, and his entire presence switched from "taking a leisurely stroll" to "a god descending upon the earth."
"Senjutsu: Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence."
His voice was quiet, his tone even lazily casual.
But the earth beneath his feet answered that voice.
Boom.
It was not a single tree breaking through the ground. The entire earth split open at once.
Within a two-kilometer radius, countless ancient trees so massive that three people could not wrap their arms around them burst from deep underground. They grew so quickly that the naked eye could only catch the gray rocky ground transforming into a lush green wooden forest in an instant.
Every giant tree was covered in a transparent film of wind blades. Moonlight refracted off them with a chilling gleam that made one's scalp tingle. The air was filled with the fresh scent of wood and the sharp cutting sounds of wind-nature chakra.
When the Kusanagi Sword Orochimaru spat out came within three meters of Chiba's chest, an arm-thick branch swept in from the side. The wind blade along its edge directly stripped away most of the Kusanagi Sword's poisonous chakra coating.
The sound of metal clashing was ear-piercing.
The Kusanagi Sword was sent flying.
The Kusanagi Sword that could even pierce the Third Hokage's Adamantine Staff was knocked away by a single wooden branch.
For the first time, shock appeared in Orochimaru's golden slit pupils.
But he had no time to think about it.
The countless venomous snakes flooding toward Chiba had barely entered the range of the giant trees when they were crushed into pulp by clusters of wooden stakes bursting from the