Orochimaru tilted his head back, the deathly white pillar of light rapidly swelling in his golden slit pupils.
He froze for an instant, then bit his fingertip and slammed both hands toward the ground.
Being reckless once was confidence.
Doing it again was asking to die.
If that attack hit him, this damned whale would make sure he never left!
Hiding his strength, fearing exposure-none of that mattered in his current predicament.
He could only summon a giant snake to take the hit for him-but would even that let him escape this disaster?
Just before his palms struck the ground, his thoughts took an abrupt turn.
No, I can't use Manda.
That was a fighting force he had reserved for the day he would destroy Konoha.
If he summoned him today, his entire plan would never fit back together.
"Summoning: Giant Snake!"
Smoke exploded outward, and a giant snake thrust half its body through it, its scales brownish gray.
It had barely flicked its tongue and uttered half a syllable, with no time even to ready itself-
The icy light was already upon it!
There was no warning shriek, no roar of energy, only a dead silence that chilled the marrow.
The instant the pillar touched the snake's body, a rigid, deathly whiteness spread over the point of impact.
That frosty white raced along its scales, faster than the snake itself could move.
A hissing gasp sounded in the air, mingled with a few slurred human words:
"Orochimaru, how dare you..."
The rest of its curse never left its mouth.
Before the anger could fade from its eyes, even the summoned creature's lifesaving ability to escape to Ryūchi Cave at any moment was frozen along with its body.
In little more than ten seconds, the giant snake lost every trace