Trapped in a Desperate Situation

"Kakashi, cover me!" Tahm ordered his teammate without ceremony. Against a sea of enemies, fighting separately would be foolish. After all, Tahm's abilities had cooldowns, and facing this many puppets was putting him under considerable pressure.

Kakashi cooperatively moved to Tahm's side and assumed a defensive stance, back to back with him.

Sasori had nearly lost his mind from rage after the bizarre disappearance of two of his creations. His ten fingers twitched slightly, and the puppet army charged at the two of them with bared claws.

Though their momentum was imposing, Tahm, the newly minted nemesis of puppeteers, felt no fear at all. He simply used Alpha Strike and Devour, two universally useful abilities, in succession, then used Time Warp to refresh their cooldowns. During the few seconds when his abilities were on cooldown, Tahm simply stuck out his tongue and licked. His targeted basic attacks were impossible to dodge for anyone below an exceptionally quick jonin, let alone these puppets. Most of the puppets struck by the tongue's tremendous force shattered on the spot, reduced to defective wrecks. Tahm was ultimately lacking in combat experience and was often struck by several blades or poisoned a few times, but he acted as though nothing had happened, continuing to fight back and forth at full strength.

Kakashi, meanwhile, used the Sharingan's dynamic vision to watch every blind spot, skillfully employing various ninjutsu to guard Tahm's back.

Every puppet here would give a chunin a headache if released into the field, yet the cooperation between the two made the battle seem almost like child's play. In just one minute, more than a dozen puppets had been swallowed by Tahm, while nearly twenty more had been smashed apart by Tahm and Kakashi.

After the battle, Tahm had actually gained another wave of experience and reached level 8.

This drove Sasori into a frenzy. Kakashi was still manageable, showing slight fatigue after the battle, but that toad was like a perpetual-motion machine. He grew braver the longer he fought. His combat techniques were not particularly advanced, but neither blades nor poison could slow him down in the slightest. He had even clearly broken through on the spot, with both his speed and strength increasing by a substantial amount. More terrifyingly, he kept using that ability that made his puppets vanish inexplicably, seemingly without any limitations.

At the end of his rope! As an elite shinobi of Kage level, Sasori was experiencing this sense of helplessness for the first time. The art he took pride in was nothing more than a toy in the other party's hands!

Tahm, however, wore an excited expression. While he desperately slaughtered experience bags, he did not forget to remind his teammate, "Kakashi, use more defensive ninjutsu. Leave some kills for me!"

Kakashi was covered in exasperation, but he still followed Tahm's instructions. Offensive ninjutsu consumed more stamina and chakra, so he might as well let this tireless toad do more of the work.

Tahm was actually consuming resources as well. Using his abilities in succession had drained most of his current mana pool, which had a maximum of over 1,200. But Tahm was not flustered. This enemy had no suppressive power over him at all. At worst, he could hide and wait a little longer. With his recovery rate of 13 points per second, he would be full again soon.

The outcome of the battle seemed decided. The balance of victory had already begun to tilt when Sasori's Hundred Puppet Performance started falling one after another.

But Tahm, absorbed in grinding monsters and leveling up, suddenly saw two portraits appear on his minimap! Someone else had entered the area within 1,000 meters of him!

When he looked again at those two familiar portraits, Tahm instantly despaired—Orochimaru and Kakuzu!

Before Tahm could show any reaction, two figures had already appeared on the battlefield, and Sasori stopped his attack at the same time.

"A survivor of the Uzumaki Clan? Tahm, you certainly have good taste." Orochimaru was unmistakably gripping Karin, who had originally been hiding to the side. After speaking, he extended his long tongue and licked Karin's cheek, frightening her until her eyes brimmed with tears. She looked at Tahm but did not dare call for help.

What the hell! My tongue is even longer than yours, and I haven't licked a little girl. How dare you!

Er... wrong thing to focus on. Tahm adjusted his emotions and shouted righteously, "Orochimaru, let her go!"

Orochimaru smiled eerily. "I was actually hoping to invite the two of you to my base as guests."

Kakashi immediately recognized this familiar Konoha super-S-rank rogue ninja, and his heart sank. In addition to the other masked man who had appeared on the field, all three enemies wore the same black robes adorned with red clouds. They were clearly part of a terrifying organization. It seemed they would not be leaving today.

"Who told you to interfere?" Sasori said indignantly to his two companions.

"Don't force yourself, Sasori," Kakuzu said. "I don't want ten billion to slip away just like that."

"From here on, let's have a proper talk, Tahm." Orochimaru stared at Tahm with amusement, making no effort to conceal the greed in his eyes.

A desperate situation! Kakashi's many years as a ninja had long since filled him with a resolve to die, but this was the first time Tahm had truly felt the fear of death.

No. This is even more terrifying than death. If I fall into the hands of a mad scientist with no sense of human morality, who knows what I'll have to face?

"Tahm, do you still intend to keep fighting? Karin is still waiting for you here." Orochimaru's voice echoed through the area. "I have to say, your abilities are truly fascinating. You never tire, heal instantly, possess taijutsu that can distort space, and have a spatial bloodline limit that makes puppets disappear. Ha ha!"

"But your combat style is too rigid. After using the same ability twice in a row, there is an obvious gap of several seconds."

"Do you think I can kill you several times in a few seconds?"

The icy words pierced Tahm's mind like blades, endlessly magnifying the fear in his heart.

No, I have to think! I can't just sit here and wait to die!

Tahm suppressed the suffocating terror and desperately searched for every possible lifeline, like a drowning man grasping for straws.

Alpha Strike? Such a purely physical attack, with Tahm's current strength, would probably only tickle Orochimaru, who had created Orochimaru-Style Body Modification.

Use Devour to swallow him? That law-like ability could indeed send Orochimaru into an alternate space, but Orochimaru was no Wind Shadow puppet. The cost of swallowing a Kage-level powerhouse would leave Tahm unable to maintain control for even a second, and it would also empty his mana bar, leaving him helplessly waiting for death.

Use Riftwalk to escape? No. The maximum blink distance of this move was only a few hundred meters, while the chakra cost of using it repeatedly grew exponentially. With Orochimaru's speed and sensory abilities, trying to escape like that would be as laughable as a grasshopper after autumn.

What about Divine Protection? Three seconds of invincibility—what could he do with that? Lick Orochimaru's face for three seconds, then die with a little more dignity?

Tahm's heart filled with despair.

Just moments ago, he had been happily killing monsters and leveling up, but now he was so powerless.

Wait. Tahm suddenly thought of the battle just now, which had taken him from level 5 to level 8.

In other words, he still had one ultimate ability he could use: Abyssal Dive!

An audacious idea suddenly formed in Tahm's mind.