With just a few words, Orochimaru had overwhelmed Kakashi's presence.
Uzuki Yugao and Eagle both braced themselves for a formidable enemy.
Of everyone present, Uchiha Sora probably felt the least pressure. He had already set up Flying Thunder God coordinates as his trump card, so Orochimaru's appearance posed no threat to his life.
But someone like Orochimaru always had a clear purpose. His appearance here was probably no coincidence.
At this point, Orochimaru had only defected from Konoha a year or two ago. Based on the original story, he should have been searching for subordinates and probably had not yet joined the Akatsuki.
Just as Uchiha Sora pondered this, Orochimaru's gaze suddenly settled on him.
"Hehehe. If I'm not mistaken, you're the Uchiha Clan's prodigy, Uchiha Sora, aren't you?" His laughter was cold and sinister.
Uchiha Sora instantly felt as though a venomous snake had fixed its eyes on him, making his whole body uneasy.
"As expected of you, Orochimaru. You recognized me even with my mask on. What can I do for you?" Uchiha Sora said evenly, drawing on his chakra as he quietly raised his guard.
Although Orochimaru's presence was imposing, Uchiha Sora had no intention of letting himself be overwhelmed.
He activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, unleashing his powerful ocular power and chakra at the same time.
The air churned, whipping up a fierce wind.
His presence was so powerful that Kakashi and the other two beside him couldn't help glancing over in surprise.
Such powerful chakra! Uchiha Sora probably has far more chakra than I do! Kakashi thought.
"Excellent, excellent, Uchiha Sora! A prodigy who defeated Itachi indeed! Meeting you has made today's trip worthwhile!" Orochimaru's eyes shone as he extended his long tongue to lick his lower lip, looking as though he were admiring his prey.
Hearing the apparent implication in Orochimaru's words, Kakashi's expression changed. "Orochimaru! What are you planning?"
Orochimaru chuckled. "Don't be so nervous, Kakashi. I merely want to play with Konoha's younger generation."
"Orochimaru! Don't try anything!" Kakashi immediately stepped in front of Uchiha Sora and formed hand seals. The crackle of thunder rang out in his palm.
It was Kakashi's signature technique, the S-rank Lightning Release: Lightning Blade!
Holding his Lightning Blade, Kakashi had already uncovered his Three-Tomoe Sharingan. He stared fixedly at Orochimaru. "If you want to touch Sora, you'll have to get through me first!"
"Me too!" Uzuki Yugao leaped over as well, drawing her longsword and pointing it at Orochimaru. Although her sword hand trembled slightly, her voice was utterly resolute.
Eagle silently stepped over as well.
"Hehe. What a nuisance." Orochimaru shook his head helplessly, raised his right hand, bit his finger, and formed hand seals. "Summoning Technique!"
Boom!
A huge cloud of white smoke rose.
Three Yellow-brown Giant Snakes, each at least twenty meters long, slowly emerged from the smoke.
"Keep those three occupied. Don't let them interrupt me," Orochimaru ordered, standing atop one of the giant snakes' heads.
The three snakes obeyed, instantly lunging at Kakashi and the other two.
Facing the giant summons' attack, everyone had no choice but to scatter.
Uchiha Sora had just leaped into the air when Orochimaru's neck suddenly stretched out, shooting toward him.
His grasp of timing was far beyond that of an ordinary Ninja.
Unable to dodge in midair, Uchiha Sora could only rely on his swordsmanship, unleashing several Gale Slashes in rapid succession.
But Orochimaru's neck was far too flexible. With a casual twist in midair, he effortlessly evaded the attacks.
Then Orochimaru gave him a sinister smile, opened his mouth wide, and bit toward Sora's neck.
Just as Orochimaru's fangs were about to pierce Sora, he suddenly caught a flash of blue chakra from the corner of his eye.
Orochimaru's expression abruptly changed.
At the same moment, Uchiha Sora thrust out his left hand from behind his back, a violently spinning Rasengan in his palm, and drove it toward Orochimaru's face at point-blank range!
Just as Uchiha Sora thought he was about to succeed, Orochimaru's tongue suddenly curled around his arm. With a sharp tug and swing, he pulled the Rasengan in Sora's hand off course.
The Rasengan missed!
Orochimaru retracted his neck, returning his head to his body, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
This brat even knows the Rasengan! Could he have some connection to Jiraiya?
Uchiha Sora used the momentum to land off to the other side.
Orochimaru really lives up to his reputation. Even that counterattack combo I planned couldn't hit him. So this is the strength of the Sannin. His ability to adapt in battle-his combat experience-is incredible! Uchiha Sora thought.
When it came to combat experience, he simply couldn't compare with someone like Orochimaru, who had survived both the Second Shinobi World War and the Third Shinobi World War.
But only by fighting a Kage Level powerhouse like Orochimaru could he truly feel that pressure!
Only battles of this caliber could temper him quickly!
Feeling the immense pressure from Orochimaru, Uchiha Sora instead found a spark of excitement rising within him.
"Ding! Under Orochimaru's pressure, your mental energy has successfully entered automatic training mode!" "Pressure is motivation! Your will is extremely excited! Automatic mental energy training accelerated! Mental energy instantly increased by one hundred percent!"
Suddenly, a system notification sounded in his mind.
Sora couldn't help feeling delighted.
He hadn't expected tempering his will to send his mental energy into automatic training!
Mental energy was one of the two essential components of chakra, but it was normally elusive and intangible, with no concrete method of increasing it.
For ordinary Ninjas to increase their chakra reserves, they needed to find ways to improve their physical and mental energy in addition to practicing the Chakra Extraction Technique.
Otherwise, practicing the Chakra Extraction Technique alone would soon lead to a bottleneck.
The most fundamental way to increase chakra reserves was to improve physical and mental energy.
Yet increasing these two forms of energy was extremely difficult. Although physical energy could grow stronger through constant exercise, it depended heavily on one's bloodline. Someone with a Sage Body, for example, was born with far more physical energy than an ordinary person.
As for mental energy, aside from those of the Sage Eyes lineage, who could increase it by repeatedly evolving their Dōjutsu through emotional stimulation, everyone else could only strengthen it by continually tempering their will. Even then, the results for ordinary people were quite limited.
This was also why most Ninjas could only reach Chunin.
Most Ninjas lacked a bloodline advantage. They had no method of rapidly increasing their physical and mental energy, and their upper limits were fixed. Only true geniuses had a chance of breaking through that bottleneck.
Uchiha Sora had already put physical exercise into automatic training mode, which effectively meant his physical energy was training itself at every moment. He had even awakened a Sage Body.
Now that his mental energy had also entered automatic training mode, Uchiha Sora no longer needed to worry about how to raise the limits of either form of energy.
Barring any unexpected developments, Uchiha Sora's chakra reserves would continue to grow without end!
It sounded complicated, but after his mental energy instantly doubled, Uchiha Sora not only felt more mentally invigorated, his total chakra reserves were also growing at an incredible rate as his body passively extracted chakra!
At the same time, the ocular power of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan had also increased considerably thanks to the growth in his mental energy.
Although it was not enough to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, his ocular power already far surpassed that of an ordinary Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Then the system spoke again.
"Ding! Thanks to the increase in your mental energy, your Sharingan feels very comfortable and very happy! During its automatic training, it is developing a new innate ability!"
Uchiha Sora was stunned by the notification!
Amazing! My Sharingan, you can even do that?
You already awakened Genjutsu Immunity under Shisui's genjutsu, and now you're getting ready to produce another innate ability?
Wonderful, my Sharingan! Daddy's waiting for your surprise!
Naturally, developing a new Sharingan ability wouldn't happen so quickly.
Uchiha Sora reined in his surging emotions and looked at Orochimaru, a heartfelt smile appearing on his face. "Orochimaru, I really can't thank you enough!"
Without Orochimaru's appearance, his mental energy wouldn't have entered automatic training or increased by one hundred percent, nearly doubling his chakra reserves along with it.
"???" Orochimaru froze, somewhat bewildered.
"Hehe. To express my gratitude, I'll let you experience the power of the Sharingan you desire so much!" Uchiha Sora said with a slight smile.
The ocular power within his scarlet eyes surged.
An invisible wave of ocular power spread toward Orochimaru.
Orochimaru's expression instantly changed.
Not good! Just as he tried to put some distance between them, he realized he had already been drawn into a genjutsu.
The scene before his eyes abruptly changed.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan in Uchiha Sora's eyes grew larger and larger, until they filled Orochimaru's entire field of vision.
As one of the Sannin, Orochimaru possessed not only vast combat experience but also exceptional mastery of genjutsu. He immediately formed a hand seal and cast a genjutsu of his own, attempting to reflect Uchiha Sora's illusion.
In his view, even with the Sharingan, Uchiha Sora couldn't possibly surpass him in genjutsu.
Yet Orochimaru discovered, to his shock, that he couldn't move his body at all!
It was the Binding Technique!
How is this possible? How could a genjutsu like this restrain me? Orochimaru was utterly shocked. This was completely beyond his expectations!
Then Uchiha Sora's unhurried voice rang out. "Orochimaru, it seems you still haven't noticed. But these eyes of mine saw right through you long ago!"
"What do you mean?" Beads of cold sweat appeared on Orochimaru's forehead.
As one of the Sannin, he had never experienced being immobilized by someone's single genjutsu.
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