The Price of Refusing a Cursed Seal Deal

The moment the glass tube was sealed with a cork, a silver-white root spear pierced through the fallen log and shot straight for the sample in Orochimaru's hand.

"Give it back."

Orochimaru slid backward, the grass parting around his feet as the glass tube vanished into his sleeve.

"Once something falls into someone else's hands, how can it still be yours?"

"Leave your hand, and the item will stay too."

Metal roots crossed over the snake swarm. Spear-like bones closed in from both front and back, locking Orochimaru's position inside a silver-white cage.

The body within the cage rapidly softened. Several white snakes slipped through the gaps between the roots and slithered off in different directions.

Chiba pressed his right palm to the ground. Purification Light spread through the Root Network, extinguishing the chakra within the white snakes one by one.

"Come out."

"Your temper is much worse than Hashirama's."

Orochimaru emerged from behind a tree trunk, still holding the glass tube. Fine roots inside it were growing golden-green wood grain patterns.

"If someone took his cells, he wouldn't smile and see them off either."

"You met him?"

"No."

"Then what gives you the right to mention him?"

"Because I understand Hashirama Cells better than you do."

Chiba did not argue. Half-Sage Mode continued accelerating its cycle, and the positions of the underground snakes entered his senses one by one through the roots.

Their numbers had not decreased.

The white snakes purified earlier had only been the outer layer. More chakra was hidden deep in the soil, already sealing off every route of retreat.

Orochimaru raised the glass tube and turned it halfway beneath the sunlight filtering through the forest.

"This root cell is still cleansing the Cursed Seal on the glove even after leaving the body. Do you know