Desperate Survival

"Three."

Takuma suddenly called out the number. Instead of counting from one to three as they had agreed, he jumped straight to the last number.

The unexpected move caught Yakumo and Tetsu half a beat off guard. In that split second, Takuma shoved Yakumo hard on the shoulder, sending her stumbling toward the woods on the right along with Tetsu.

Yakumo staggered two steps. She instinctively tried to turn and grab Takuma, but Tetsu seized her wrist.

Tetsu gave Takuma a long look.

Then, without looking back, he grabbed Yakumo and charged into the dense woods.

The sounds of branches snapping and dead leaves crunching grew fainter, gradually swallowed once more by the silence of the forest.

Orochimaru merely tilted his head slightly. His gaze shifted from Takuma to the direction the two had fled, lingered for a moment, then returned to him. "Your teammates have abandoned you," he drawled, with deliberate disappointment. "What a shame. I thought I might get two more test subjects."

"They didn't abandon me." Takuma tightened his grip on the Kunai in his hand. Sweat trickled from his palm, dripping onto the dead leaves and leaving dark spots. "I told them to go."

"Oh?" Orochimaru's brows lifted slightly, and he gave Takuma a knowing smile. "Do you think... they can really get away?"

The instant the words left his mouth, Orochimaru moved.

It wasn't the Body Flicker Technique, just sheer physical speed. Takuma's Spider-Sense didn't even react before the gray-black figure appeared in the direction Tetsu and Yakumo had fled.

He was as fast as a snake skimming low across the ground.

But Tetsu wasn't slow to react, either.

Earth Release: Earth Prison Dome!

Tetsu's voice came from deep within the woods, low and resolute, carrying the desperate resolve of someone prepared to risk everything. He shoved Yakumo forward, then stayed behind, waiting for this very moment.

The earth trembled. Four massive earthen walls surged from the ground, closing in to enclose Orochimaru.

Each wall was a full three meters thick, its surface suffused with dark yellow chakra. Tetsu poured all his Earth Release chakra into them. Under its influence, the soil compressed and hardened, emitting a grating creak. Inside the dome, chakra channels spread across the earthen walls like veins, greedily draining the chakra of the enemy trapped within.

This was Tetsu's trump card.

Earth Prison Dome, a B-rank Earth Release Ninjutsu. It surrounded enemies with thick earthen walls while continuously draining their chakra. Even a Jonin trapped inside would quickly lose stamina and eventually be exhausted.

Tetsu's legs gave way, and he dropped to one knee, both hands pressed firmly against the ground to sustain the technique.

His chakra poured out like water from an opened floodgate. The veins on his forehead bulged, and sweat dripped from the edge of his hood.

How long could he hold it? He had no idea.

But every second he could buy would give Yakumo and Takuma one more second of opportunity.

Just three seconds later, one wall of the dome exploded from within.

The entire three-meter-thick earthen wall was blasted apart by a terrifying force.

Chunks of stone and clods of earth flew in every direction, striking tree trunks with dull thuds.

Tetsu took the full brunt of the shockwave and was hurled away. His body flew half a meter through the air before his back slammed hard into a tree trunk. He grunted, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Orochimaru stepped through the breach in the collapsed wall. Not a speck of dust clung to him, and his clothes remained perfectly pristine.

"Not bad with Earth Release," Orochimaru remarked, his tone flat. "The density and structure of your chakra are both quite solid. Among ordinary shinobi, you'd be considered above average."

He walked up to Tetsu and looked down at the man, who was on one knee and struggling to stand.

Tetsu tried to raise his hands to form Seals, but Orochimaru was much faster.

Three white snakes shot out from his sleeves, their bodies tracing three white arcs through the air, fangs gleaming as they flew straight at Tetsu's face.

Tetsu barely dodged the first snake, but the second sank its teeth into his forearm.

The fangs pierced his flesh, and its icy venom spread through his veins. His entire right arm turned purple in an instant, swelling until it was twice the size of his left.

The third snake coiled around his neck and tightened sharply.

Tetsu's face turned from pale to bluish-purple. He tried to grab the snake around his neck, but his right arm no longer obeyed him.

His breathing grew increasingly labored. Black spots appeared in his vision, and the sounds around him grew distant and indistinct.

"Uncle Tetsu...!"

Yakumo's cry came from deep in the woods, anguished and desperate.

She had turned back. Her scroll was fully unfurled and held before her. She clutched three charcoal pencils in each hand, her fingers flying as she frantically sketched across the paper.

Painted Realm: Shura Hell.

Ink spread wildly from the paper, pouring out like spilled black paint and staining the entire area within twenty meters.

The ground beneath Orochimaru turned into a boiling pool of blood.

Countless pale hands reached up from the blood, grabbing his ankles, calves, and knees, desperately dragging him down.

A crimson gash split open in the sky overhead, and countless demon heads thrust through it, shrieking in agony.

The air grew thick and scorching, reeking of blood. Every breath was like swallowing a mouthful of molten iron.

This was the Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai... the pinnacle of their sensory Genjutsu.

Within the Painted Realm, the user could control everything. Pain, temperature, gravity, the passage of time—everything was governed by Yakumo's brush.

Orochimaru glanced down at the countless arms beneath his feet, then looked up at the demons churning in the sky. A hint of genuine surprise flashed in his eyes.

"Oh?" He narrowed his eyes slightly. For the first time, something beyond surprise appeared in his golden slit pupils: intense, burning interest. "The Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai? What a rare specimen. The entire Shinobi World has fewer than three heirs to your painting-based Genjutsu."

He laughed, his voice hoarse and delighted, like an antique dealer who had just discovered a long-lost treasure in a pile of junk.

"A descendant of the Senju, and the Kurama bloodline... Today's haul is far richer than I expected."

Yakumo's forehead was already beaded with sweat, and the hand clutching her charcoal pencils trembled slightly.

Maintaining a Genjutsu on the level of Shura Hell took a tremendous toll on her. Her mental strength was draining away at an astonishing rate, as if being sucked out by a pump.

She poured everything she had into deepening the blood pool beneath Orochimaru. Within the illusion, his body had already been dragged halfway under.

In the real world, however, Orochimaru merely took a step forward.

The Painted Realm fractured like a shattered mirror, countless fine cracks spreading from the spot beneath Orochimaru's feet.

The cracks raced outward before her eyes. Wherever they passed, the blood pool evaporated, the demons shattered, and the crimson sky peeled away and faded.

The entire Shura Hell broke into countless scraps of illusion in a single second, like a silent firework.

Yakumo's charcoal pencils all snapped with a sharp crack. Their shafts burst in her hands, and splinters cut her fingertips.

It was as if an invisible force had struck her in the chest. She flew backward and tumbled into a pile of dead leaves. She struggled twice but couldn't get up.

The backlash from the violent dispelling of her Genjutsu had nearly emptied her mental strength. Her vision doubled, and her ears rang.

Orochimaru walked over and looked down at her. His golden slit pupils held no killing intent, only the cool scrutiny and pickiness he reserved for examining test subjects.

"Your talent for Genjutsu is excellent, but your physical constitution is too weak. You can't withstand the backlash of your own techniques. That's a fatal flaw."

He casually struck the back of Yakumo's neck with a palm, controlling the force with pinpoint precision.

Yakumo gave a muffled groan and went limp, her hair spilling across the dead leaves.

Then Orochimaru turned and looked at the last person.