Orochimaru froze with the Kusanagi Sword raised.
For the first time, something like astonishment surfaced in his serpentine, slit-pupiled eyes.
A pressure that made even his soul tremble locked onto every inch of his body from directly overhead.
He looked up.
A golden meteor tore through the clouds and slammed straight down in utter defiance of reason.
The air seemed to freeze.
That was no ninjutsu. There were no chakra fluctuations at all.
It was sheer mass and speed, carrying the most primal aura of destruction.
Goten did not even throw a punch.
He merely adjusted his posture as he descended and stamped down with one foot.
His foot came down on Orochimaru's sickly pale face.
Crack.
The sound of shattering bones set teeth on edge.
Orochimaru did not even have time to scream before his entire body became like a nail hammered into concrete.
Rumble!
The ground within a hundred-meter radius of Goten's landing point collapsed, too fragile to withstand a single blow.
Earth and stone shattered as a ring of shock waves spread outward.
Four-Tailed Naruto and Yamato, who were fighting nearby, were sent flying by the tremendous impact.
Dust filled the sky, obscuring everyone's vision.
At the center of the dust cloud, a pit too deep to see the bottom had appeared out of nowhere.
Son Goten stood steadily at its edge with both hands in his pockets, not a speck of dust on him.
He tilted his head slightly and loosened his neck.
In the decade and more since he had come to this world, he had always suppressed his strength because matter here was far too fragile.
This was the first time he had let loose just a tiny bit.
Felt... all right.
Nearby, Yamato struggled to wrap Wood Release vines around a massive rock,