Orochimaru's Deterrent Power

In the valley, Orochimaru was directing his subordinates to seal away various valuable pieces of equipment in preparation for relocation.

"They've arrived. Jugo, make preparations. Have those cannon fodder perform their final act."

Orochimaru gave his orders with a sinister smile while preparing to relocate. But at that moment, his movements suddenly paused.

To the southwest, unfamiliar chakra had triggered the barrier. Kimimaro, go take a look.

"Yes." A pale, handsome youth rose to his feet and vanished from the room with the Body Flicker Technique.

Kimimaro was extremely fast, and the valley itself was not particularly large. Within a few breaths, he had reached the barrier to the southwest.

Yet what puzzled him was that he saw no intruders. The barrier was also completely intact. The entire scene appeared to be without the slightest problem.

No, there was still a problem. The only abnormal thing at the scene was a leaf.

When Kimimaro arrived, the leaf was drifting down from the air. He had not paid it much attention at first. But upon closer inspection, its trajectory was highly unusual.

It was actually falling slowly while swaying left and right in an even, symmetrical pattern.

A leaf falling from the sky in nature would inevitably flutter about unpredictably. Therefore, there was clearly something wrong with the leaf before him.

A layer of bony armor grew over Kimimaro's hand for protection, and he reached out to catch the leaf.

Sure enough, there were words on it.

Kimimaro's heart stirred, and he immediately returned to hand the leaf to Orochimaru.

Outside the valley, the team was making its final preparations. At this time, everyone needed to state what they were good at so the captain could assign combat duties more easily.

It was Aoba's turn.

"I specialize in swordsmanship. My attack style is Nintaijutsu combining swordsmanship and Wind Release. I excel at close- to mid-range combat."

At midnight, the surprise attack began.

A Root ninja broke through the surrounding barrier, and then the nine of them filed inside.

But in the next second, countless Shuriken and Kunai came flying straight at them.

"Enemy attack!" someone in the base shouted.

The surprise attack immediately turned into an encounter battle.

"Fire Release, Great Fireball..."

The ANBU ninjutsu specialist directly fired a Great Fireball to clear the way. Although this technique was famously unlikely to hit anyone, it was quite useful for opening a path and restricting movement.

Gekko Hayate and Aoba, acting as the main attackers, charged straight in along the path opened by the Great Fireball.

A Root ninja followed alongside them.

The moment he attacked, Aoba could clearly sense that everyone on his side was holding back.

No one was stupid. Orochimaru had been on the run for so many years without being captured. How could a few of them possibly succeed so easily?

Moreover, Orochimaru's status was unusual. Though he was a rogue ninja, he had once been the Third Hokage's disciple and still had unclear ties to Root.

With such a complicated background, even if they could capture him, most people would have to think carefully about it.

In truth, once the battle began, only Aoba charged directly into the base like a hotheaded fool.

A group of monsters came at him. Genuine monsters, with grotesquely twisted and mutated limbs and faces.

Yet these creatures moved swiftly, and many of their limbs had transformed into weapon-like forms. Each possessed the combat power of a Genin.

It seemed Orochimaru had already begun researching the Cursed Seal. However, the Cursed Seal should still have been in its early stages at this time. These monsters were likely failed Cursed Seal experiments.

Orochimaru was truly ruthless, because Cursed Seal experiments required subjects with chakra. The group of monsters before him had once been dozens of ninja prospects.

In Konoha, they would have made up an entire class of new students. With Orochimaru, they had all become experimental subjects.

Aoba did not pause for even an instant. He raised his right hand, and a long sword appeared in his grasp.

The monster before him was just about to swing its bladed hand to attack when its vision blurred, and Aoba vanished.

When it turned around, its opponent had already appeared behind it. But while its upper body had turned, its lower body remained where it was. That motion completely separated its upper and lower halves.

So fast... That was the final thought of its fading consciousness.

While sprinting at top speed, Aoba fiercely swung the long sword in his hand forward in an iaido slash.

Under the moonlight, the blade traced a dazzling arc. Then, at the leading edge of that arc, a wind blade formed from Wind Release chakra mixed with air.

It became a massive semicircular wind blade and slashed toward the enemies directly ahead.

This was Aoba's personal Nintaijutsu. By combining Wind Release with swordsmanship, he could unleash a variety of mid-range attacks resembling sword energy.

This kind of attack was fast, swift, simple, and fierce, with tremendous killing power. At least in this era, it was exceptionally lethal against ordinary ninja. In the later age when everyone piloted mechs, it would no longer be impressive.

The dozen or so monsters on the other side did not even have time to react. They only felt some icy force pass through their bodies.

Then Aoba's figure shot straight through their defensive line, leaving behind him scattered severed limbs and miserable screams.

"So strong!" Gekko Hayate exclaimed from nearby.

He was not familiar with Aoba, but he knew the man was famous for his swordsmanship. Before this mission, he had vaguely entertained the thought of competing with him.

But after witnessing that scene, he completely gave up on the idea.

It was not that he believed Aoba was necessarily stronger than him. Rather, he could see that Aoba had taken an entirely different path.

Konoha's Dance of the Crescent Moon was a sword technique used in conjunction with Genjutsu, gorgeous and deadly.

Aoba, however, was different. In Gekko Hayate's eyes, Aoba's swordsmanship was extraordinarily simple, so simple that it could almost be said to have no set moves at all.

His attack style should have originated from a samurai's iaido slash. But after Aoba incorporated chakra into it and extended it into those wind blade attacks, the technique's range had expanded dramatically.

Combined with his own high-speed movement, it made that simple technique exceptionally deadly.

It was a unique sword style that discarded all cumbersome techniques and pursued nothing but killing. It was completely different from the Dance of the Crescent Moon.

Aoba advanced with unstoppable momentum. Within a few breaths, he had broken through the monsters' defensive line, leaving the teammates behind him staring at one another.

Everyone else was only putting on a show. If he was going to risk his life like this, did that not make them look foolish?

But no matter what, Aoba had already rushed in. If the rest of them did not follow, there would be no way to justify it. So they could only grit their teeth and follow.

But in the next second, a massive shape soared into the night sky. Then the building before them was swept apart by some enormous force.

Amid countless fragments, the group vaguely saw by moonlight that it was a gigantic snake's tail.

Aoba's figure was flung out alongside the snake's tail. He was directly sent flying dozens of meters, landing on the other side, far away from the others.

At that moment, Orochimaru stood atop the snake's head, appearing before them.

"!!!"