"Then I'll show you what... true despair means."
Shengu Xuan's calm yet endlessly arrogant voice rang in Orochimaru's ears like a death knell.
The instant his words fell, Shengu Xuan abruptly raised his right hand and aimed it at Orochimaru.
Rumble!
The sky, originally obscured by dense treetops, was instantly shrouded in leaden clouds.
Without warning, fierce winds ravaged the forest.
They swept up dead leaves, sand, and stones, howling like wailing ghosts.
A surge of magical power, thousands of times more terrifying than the tangible killing intent Orochimaru had released earlier, burst forth like a flood breaking through a dam!
Centered on Shengu Xuan, it swept thunderously across all of Training Ground Forty-Four!
Orochimaru's face, which always wore a sinister smile, was now utterly bloodless.
"This... what is this power?!"
Before this power, the chakra inside him was as insignificant as a speck of dust in a gale.
Even its normal circulation had become sluggish.
This wasn't chakra!
This was a terrifying energy of a higher dimension, more fundamental and more unreasonable!
As one of the Shinobi World's foremost scientists, Orochimaru...
For the first time, he felt his entire framework of understanding being mercilessly torn apart and trampled by a tyrannical force!
Shengu Xuan looked at Orochimaru's expression, as though he had seen a ghost.
The curve of his lips widened.
"An interesting expression."
"It seems you've gained some understanding of the gap between us."
"Well, then."
"As punishment for interrupting my show, I'll send you on your way with this."
Shengu Xuan spread his fingers.
In his palm, a tiny point of dark red light, condensed to the utmost, abruptly lit up!
Dragon Talisman!
Explosive Divine Authority!
The moment that point of light appeared, the surrounding air seemed to ignite.
It crackled as though unable to bear the strain.
Orochimaru's serpentine pupils instantly contracted to pinpoints.
A warning of death from the depths of his soul made every cell in his body scream wildly!
Run!
I have to run!
Without hesitation, he formed hand seals at a speed beyond his limits!
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
"Summoning Technique: Rashomon!"
Boom!
An immensely thick earthen wall rose from the ground.
Immediately afterward, a massive iron gate carved with a hideous demon's face descended from the sky.
It slammed down in front of the earthen wall, forming two layers of defense!
Having done all this, Orochimaru did not pause for a moment.
His body instantly softened.
Like a boneless snake, he burrowed underground!
He would escape using the Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique, his specialty!
Yet Shengu Xuan merely gave a scornful chuckle.
"Too slow."
The dark red point of light in his palm suddenly erupted!
There was no earth-shattering roar.
Only a faint popping sound, as though space itself were being torn apart.
A dark red beam of energy, only as thick as an arm, shot from Shengu Xuan's palm!
The destructive energy within it was enough to make any Kage Level expert's scalp prickle!
Boom-crack!
A simplified version of the ultimate defense Orochimaru took such pride in, Triple Rashomon.
That single Rashomon gate was as fragile as a sheet of window paper before the dark red beam!
The iron gate carved with a hideous demon's face failed to stop it for even an instant.
It was pierced straight through, melted, and vaporized!
The thick earthen wall behind it fared no better than butter beneath a hot knife.
It was pierced through instantly!
The destructive beam continued without losing momentum.
It blasted straight into the ground Orochimaru had just burrowed into!
Rumble!
The next second, an earth-shattering explosion erupted!
Centered on the beam's point of impact...
The ground across a radius of several hundred meters abruptly collapsed!
Then a massive shock wave laden with dirt, rubble, and tree roots...
Mixed with dark red flames of destruction and surged into the sky!
The entire Forest of Death shuddered violently from the explosion!
The firelight from the blast even broke through the thick clouds.
It dyed the sky over half of Konoha an ominous dark red!
The dust and smoke cleared.
The once-dense primeval forest had become a massive crater!
It was over three hundred meters in diameter, its bottom lost from sight!
All the material along the crater's edge had taken on a strange, glassy appearance.
Thick black smoke still billowed from it.
Shengu Xuan slowly lowered his hand.
He remained as languid as ever, both hands in his pockets.
As though that devastating strike had been no more than a casual flick of cigarette ash.
He glanced at the bottomless crater.
Then he looked at Naruto and Sasuke, who lay nearby, having completely lost consciousness.
He gave a bored yawn.
"Tch, missed his vitals?"
"What tenacious vitality. Just like a cockroach."
Shengu Xuan's gaze settled on an inconspicuous corner along the crater's edge.
The ground there began to writhe.
A hand covered in dirt and blood shakily reached out from underground.
Then a bedraggled figure crawled out of the earth.
It was Orochimaru!
Not a trace of his bearing as one of the Sannin remained.
His entire body was charred black.
His Grass Ninja outfit had been reduced to ragged strips.
The left half of his body was a bloody mess, with even the bones exposed.
His left arm was gone.
Black smoke still hissed from the wound.
"Cough... cough, cough..."
Orochimaru coughed violently.
Each cough brought up mouthfuls of blood and fragments of internal organs.
He raised his head.
With his sole remaining eye, he stared fixedly at the unscathed Shengu Xuan.
His gaze was filled with unprecedented fear and shock.
And a trace of morbid fervor!
Orochimaru's voice rasped like two sheets of sandpaper rubbing together.
"Just now... what was that?"
"That power... that pure destruction..."
"It was practically... divine punishment!"
In that instant, he had felt himself only a hair's breadth from death.
If he hadn't paid a price at the last moment...
Sacrificing an arm and half his body to forcibly twist his vital core aside...
He would have been reduced to ashes along with this forest!
Shengu Xuan shook his head.
"Divine punishment?"
"No, no, no."
"That was just my most ordinary basic attack."
"It didn't even count as a warm-up."
"Pfft!"
Hearing this, Orochimaru could no longer hold back.
He spat out another mouthful of blood!
A basic attack?!
An attack powerful enough to instantly destroy a small ninja village was just a basic attack?!
This guy...
This monster named Shengu Xuan...
What on earth was he?!
Orochimaru forced himself to his feet.
"It seems..."
"Ninjutsu of this level alone can't do you any harm."
At the stump of his severed arm, flesh writhed strangely.
A brand-new, pale arm actually grew back!
Through his research into Hashirama cells and his own Soft Body Modification...
He had developed this ability to regenerate at super speed!
A flicker of interest crossed Shengu Xuan's eyes.
"Oh?"
"Not bad, that recovery ability."
"Now this is fun."
"If you died too easily, it would be far too boring."
A trace of madness flashed through Orochimaru's eyes.
"Fun?"
"Brat, you've succeeded in piquing my interest!"
"I admit your power is immense, beyond anything I imagined!"
"But battle isn't merely a contest of strength!"
Orochimaru abruptly pressed his palms together!
"Let me show you my most prized collection!"
"Summoning Technique: Many Snakes Formation!"
As Orochimaru pressed his palm against the ground...
The ground beneath his feet instantly turned into a black summoning formula.
And it spread in every direction at an astonishing speed!
Hiss, hiss, hiss!
Countless scalp-prickling hisses rose from every direction!
The ground, tree trunks, clumps of grass...
Countless venomous snakes of varying sizes and colors poured from every corner like a tide!
Densely packed and endless!
They flicked their scarlet forked tongues.
They stared fixedly at Shengu Xuan with those icy, slit-pupiled eyes.
They formed an inescapable ring around him!
Orochimaru let out a deranged laugh.
"I'll study every last secret of yours until I understand them completely!"
Shengu Xuan looked at the mass of snakes, enough to kill someone with trypophobia on the spot.
Yet the expression on his face did not change at all.
He merely frowned with some distaste.
Shengu Xuan extended his right hand, held his index and middle fingers together, and lightly swept them across the sky.
"Making up for a lack of quality with quantity?"
"What a stupid, primitive tactic."
"But since you like playing with summons, I'll play along."
The corners of Shengu Xuan's mouth curled into a smile that terrified Orochimaru out of his wits.
"Come forth, my servants."
"Let me show you."
"What a true... legion is!"
The instant those words fell, the shadow beneath Shengu Xuan's feet suddenly began to boil violently!
Before you continue