The summoned beasts of Konoha's Sannin were, in a sense, perhaps even more remarkable than their masters. After all, on large battlefields, gigantic summoned beasts held an overwhelming strategic advantage.
Orochimaru's summoned beast was Manda, from Ryūchi Cave, one of the ninja world's secret lands. It was unclear whether it was truly powerful, but its appetite was certainly immense...
"Orochimaru, while these sacrifices look tasty, there aren't enough of them..."
Manda glanced at the group of children below, tiny as ants. Well versed in mathematics, it immediately counted their rough number. There simply were not enough heads.
"Caw..."
Kitahara raised his head and looked up at Manda, which was as massive as a mountain, feeling profoundly enlightened... Now that was the awareness of a top-tier ninja beast!
Then he looked at himself...
Back in Konoha, some suicidal little brat had always spat at him, and there had been nothing he could do about it...
While traveling out to train, some shameless old man had constantly criticized him for sleeping in, being greedy, lazy, and a whole list of other flaws. He had not been able to refute any of it either...
The road to turning things around began here!
"Caw!"
The crow beat its wings and flew high into the air.
A second later, he decided that Manda was so huge that there was no need to fly that high to attack it...
On second thought, the fledgling's shoulder was still more comfortable, and less tiring... Summoned beasts like Manda could be left to Jiraiya...
"All right, all right. There, stop crying for now. We need to leave this place quickly..." Uchiha Itachi comforted the children who were crying their eyes out, urging them to move. Then he suddenly felt a weight settle on his shoulder.
Itachi watched the crow open its beak in a yawn.
It really kept up its sleeping habits well!
It could not even handle staying up late anymore...
"Kitahara, hang in there. We'll be back in town soon." The worry on Uchiha Itachi's face softened slightly at the crow's actions, and he gently stroked its neck.
The group of little children suddenly collapsed to the ground and burst into unrestrained tears...
"Waaah! Waaah!"
"I want to go home..."
"Big brother... that really, really huge snake..."
"Dad... Mom..."
Uchiha Itachi turned around and saw Manda swooping toward them. Its enormous size did not mean it was slow; it was incredibly fast, arriving before Uchiha Itachi in the blink of an eye.
The little boy's heart sank...
Teacher Jiraiya could not stop it at all...
In truth, Jiraiya had been completely tied up by Orochimaru. He did not even have an opening to use the Summoning Technique. The two of them were still playing their ninja battle game!
Orochimaru, with his clear objective, had a much simpler plan. He did not need to think about how to defeat Jiraiya. He only needed to stay close and fight Jiraiya, then send Manda to take Uchiha Itachi away...
Jiraiya, on the other hand, had far more on his mind. For instance, buying time, then figuring out how to defeat Orochimaru and bring him back to Konoha...
Manda lowered its head to look at the little ants below and rumbled, "This is the brat Orochimaru wants, right? It should be fine if I secretly eat him..."
"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"
Uchiha Itachi formed hand seals without hesitation and spat out a massive fireball!
Before Manda, the fireball was like a firework. Even exploding against its body only left a scorched black mark... The damage was negligible.
"Hey, little brat. Wouldn't it be enough for you to obediently let me eat you?" The snake's head suddenly slammed down toward the ground...
Uchiha Itachi looked up, a wave of helplessness rising in his heart. Without hesitation, he formed seals again. "Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Jutsu!"
He could not retreat or run, because behind him was a group of children who had not escaped in time...
But before him was Manda's gaping maw...
A dragon-headed blaze rushed straight at Manda!
The massive snake head whipped aside like lightning and avoided it. This sort of jutsu had too low a chance of hitting Manda, and it did not want to get hurt... Life in Ryūchi Cave was not that easy!
"Hiss..."
"Sharingan—Release! Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!"
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan opened. The enhanced genjutsu halted Manda's movements, and Uchiha Itachi gradually relaxed... In that time, the children had enough opportunity to run a safe distance away...
Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique was one of the most commonly used Sharingan genjutsu. By taking advantage of the moment an opponent looked directly into the Sharingan, it manipulated the target's mental energy, making them feel as though they were pinned down by stakes.
But how long could it hold?
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan's ocular power should be enough to last for a while, right?
Kitahara flew up from Uchiha Itachi's shoulder. A Tailed Beast Ball condensed in his beak, then shot toward Manda's head...
The huge snake head abruptly dodged aside. Watching the Tailed Beast Ball blast away a section of the mountain peak, the leader of Ryūchi Cave's snakes cried out in fright, "Hiss! That crow!"
"Caw..."
Kitahara did not look at it. He only looked at Uchiha Itachi, who was panting heavily on the ground... That was far too short!
Uchiha Itachi's progress had been too rapid...
Or rather, he was too young. Even if his Chakra reserves and Sharingan development were practically perfect, it was clearly impossible for him to suddenly go from shuriken throwing to mastery of ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and combat.
Honestly, being able to use genjutsu at all was already good enough... He simply had not fully mastered the movements of his target's mental energy after succeeding.
"Hey! Sharingan brat!" After breaking free of the Sharingan's control and narrowly avoiding the Tailed Beast Ball, Manda looked down at them and said in a low voice, "Give that crow to me, and I'll let you leave!"
Kitahara: "..."
Why did every single one of them like pulling this kind of stunt?
Orochimaru wanted to keep Itachi, so he sent out his summoned beast. Then his summoned beast wanted Itachi's crow, so it decided to negotiate... They really were the same kind!
Uchiha Itachi answered Manda with a firm shake of his head. "Absolutely not!"
The enormous snake head slowly lowered, drawing closer and closer to Uchiha Itachi. Manda hissed, "It is not a treasure you can possess!"
As a member of Ryūchi Cave, Manda's focused sensory abilities were equally exceptional, far surpassing those of ninjas who used Chakra sensory techniques.
It could clearly sense Kitahara's uniqueness!
Both the crow's Chakra and its unusual body made Manda drool with desire... If it ate him, perhaps it could become the next White Snake Sage!
"Kitahara, let's continue!" Uchiha Itachi ignored Manda. Of course he knew how precious Kitahara was; at the very least, the atmosphere at home had become much livelier...
Having seen how effective Kitahara's unique move was, Uchiha Itachi saw hope of defeating Manda. As long as he could restrain Manda's movements, it might be possible to kill it in one blow.
Another Tailed Beast Ball formed in the crow's beak. One after another, they were dodged by Manda's nimble movements, and the battlefield gradually became riddled with devastation...
"I'm truly jealous... You clearly possess such great power, yet can only use it so crudely..." Manda did not dare look at Uchiha Itachi again. It tightly closed its eyes and relied on its senses to dodge another of Kitahara's attacks.
Kitahara lowered his head toward Itachi. "Caw!"
He told the fledgling to take those children farther away... His crude usage was not something Manda had any right to criticize. At the very least, it would take someone on the White Snake Sage's level to say that!
The crow flew higher and higher, while an immense amount of Chakra gathered within him...
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