Orochimaru stared at the barrier as it shattered into great swaths of purple fragments, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.
On his face, pale as a corpse's skin.
At last, uncontrollable shock surfaced, along with a trace of fear he himself had not noticed.
The specially made kunai in his hand trembled violently, his palm slick with cold sweat.
This barrier...
Was the Four Violet Flames Formation, erected by the combined efforts of the Sound Four!
Even the Hokage's own ANBU would instantly turn into a heap of charred ash if they so much as touched its edge.
And now.
This twelve-year-old genin brat had actually smashed it apart with one brutally powerful kick?!
What the fuck kind of absurd strength was that?!
In the instant Orochimaru briefly lost focus from fear and shock.
The eyes of Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, whom he held firmly hostage, sharpened.
The old man might have been getting on in years, but his combat experience remained.
He abruptly ducked down.
"Whoosh."
His neck slipped smoothly free of the kunai's blade.
Scrambling and stumbling across the green tiles, he retreated more than a dozen steps until he reached Sen's feet.
He still clenched the broken half of his mahogany pipe between his teeth, its surface covered in sticky gray saliva.
"Sen, my boy... you..."
The old Third Hokage gasped for breath as he looked at the boy standing before him with both hands in his pockets.
His eyes instantly reddened.
Two streams of cloudy tears mixed with the white lime dust on his face, washing two comical muddy trails down his cheeks.
"All right, old man."
Sen gave him a lazy glance and pulled the old towel, reeking of sour sweat, off his shoulder.
He wiped his face haphazardly with it.
"At your