Orochimaru's Retreat

He gathered chakra at his fingertips, turning his fingers into scalpels, and sliced off the snake's head as it coiled around his neck.

In that fleeting instant, Orochimaru unleashed another follow-up attack, sending snakes flying from his sleeves.

The snakes were small, each just over a meter long and as thick as a thumb, but they made up for it in numbers. There were at least a hundred of them.

Long Ye darted backward.

Having witnessed Orochimaru's dirty tricks, he refused to believe these snakes were as simple as they looked.

Sure enough!

As soon as the flying snakes drew close, they began exploding one after another. Each blast was as powerful as an explosive tag, making the barrage equivalent to over a hundred explosive tags detonating at once.

Although Long Ye dodged promptly, he was still caught in the blasts. He emerged covered in dust and soot, his clothes torn and his skin split, bleeding from several wounds.

But for someone whose Hashirama cells had undergone a second awakening, these superficial injuries would heal in just a few breaths.

"Just what I'd expect from Orochimaru. You never run out of dirty tricks."

Long Ye did not attack recklessly again. He watched Orochimaru step out of the hole in the wall.

Then he witnessed a horrifying sight.

Orochimaru opened his mouth wide and spat out an entirely new Orochimaru, with a human head and a snake's body.

The new Orochimaru landed and took on a normal human form, completely unscathed. His previously wounded body lay discarded on the ground like a shed skin.

"Orochimaru Style Substitution Technique!"

This was Long Ye's first time seeing this bizarre substitution technique, but he had heard about it many times. It was reputed to be one of the most perfect substitution techniques.

Long Ye