"Elite Jonin, I suppose." Even so, he answered Ziyun's question.
In fact, Orochimaru didn't know whether he had reached Elite Jonin level himself. After all, he had never fought one, but vanity made him give that answer anyway.
"Is that so? Good..." A smile spread across Ziyun's lips.
Then his whole body transformed into a flash of lightning.
"Damn it!"
Orochimaru realized Ziyun intended to resist and immediately stabbed his Kunai into Ziyun's throat. But he saw the blade pass through Ziyun's neck, striking nothing.
"What... what kind of Ninjutsu is this? Is it the Hidden Cloud Village's version of the Hydrification Technique?"
Orochimaru was stunned. He hadn't known about this before coming here.
But Orochimaru quickly realized that this had to be a new Ninjutsu Ziyun had developed, one Konoha didn't know about yet!
Damn it. He was only ten years old, yet he kept coming up with new Ninjutsu. A genius like this was truly terrifying.
"I'm under no obligation to answer you. 10 Million Volt Thunderbird."
Transforming into lightning, Ziyun appeared ten meters away from Orochimaru and pointed his right hand into the air. A bolt of lightning flashed out with a hiss, rapidly expanding in midair before taking the form of a roaring Thunder Bird that swooped toward Orochimaru.
After training these past few days, his mastery of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had reached 52%. Ziyun could now use it freely without losing control as he had last time.
"A Lightning Release Ninjutsu without Hand Seals!" Orochimaru's slit pupils contracted as his hands rapidly formed seals.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
An earthen wall rose from the ground and collided with the Thunder Bird, only for the bird to blast a huge hole through it.
"It actually broke through Earth Release. What terrifying power."
Although Lightning Release had an advantage over Earth Release, the power of a Ninjutsu depended on the quality of its user's Chakra.
The intelligence he had received said that Ziyun had only recently graduated as a Genin, yet the Lightning Release he unleashed could already break through an Earth Style Wall created by an Elite Jonin like himself?
And that Lightning Release Ninjutsu without Hand Seals just now was undoubtedly another new technique invented by Ziyun.
Only two months had passed since Konoha last gathered intelligence on Yeyue Ziyun, yet he had come up with so many new Ninjutsu one after another. Such a rate of growth was truly terrifying.
This boy must not be allowed to live!
Countless thoughts flashed through Orochimaru's mind in an instant. He immediately decided that he had to kill Ziyun here and do it quickly. Otherwise, if he attracted Kumogakure's Anbu, escaping would not be easy.
At the same time, Ziyun's breathing grew heavier.
Unleashing a ten-million-volt lightning strike all at once had taken a considerable toll on his stamina.
It couldn't be helped. Ninjas' bodies were that fragile, and he was only ten, his body far from fully developed.
It looked like he had to defeat Orochimaru this time and obtain the Uzumaki Clan physique.
"Good chance! Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
Seeing this, Orochimaru's slit pupils flashed. He quickly formed Hand Seals and threw a giant Shuriken, which transformed into more than a dozen Shuriken. They flew in different directions, completely sealing off Ziyun's escape routes.
But to Orochimaru's surprise, Ziyun didn't even try to dodge. The Shuriken passed straight through his body and embedded themselves in the wall.
"What a bizarre Ninjutsu." Orochimaru ran his long, forked tongue around his lips, a trace of surprise flashing through his slit pupils.
It seemed unconventional methods were completely useless against Ziyun's Lightning Transformation Technique.
"There's a disturbance!"
"Konoha... Konoha sent an assassin!"
"Ziyun is in danger! Hurry and back him up!"
Meanwhile, the enormous commotion had also alerted the Kumogakure Anbu who had been standing guard outside the laboratory.
"Looks like I'll have to finish this quickly."
Hearing the Kumogakure Anbu, Orochimaru's slit pupils flashed with ruthlessness.
His original goal had been to capture Ziyun alive and imprison him in Konoha to research Ninjutsu for him.
But now it seemed Yeyue Ziyun was too great a threat. He had to kill him here.
"I was thinking the same thing. Let's end this quickly."
Ziyun also wanted to defeat Orochimaru as soon as possible. If he defeated Orochimaru with the Kumogakure Anbu's help, what if the system didn't count the mission as complete?
So Ziyun wanted to try to defeat Orochimaru using his own abilities.
During this real battle, Ziyun felt that his mastery of both Observation Haki and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had made considerable strides.
"Ninja Art: Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!"
"El Thor!"
Both sides unleashed their techniques at the same time, but Ziyun was clearly faster. After all, he didn't need Hand Seals to activate his fruit ability.
His wrist transformed into dazzling lightning. With a sweep of his hand, thunderclouds churned in the sky, and a thick bolt of lightning, as wide as ten people standing in a circle, descended from above.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit's [Divine Judgment] required Observation Haki to pinpoint the target before it could strike accurately.
Ziyun also wanted to make the most of this hard-won battle to improve his combat experience and mastery, and see whether he could combine Observation Haki with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Only then did Orochimaru barely finish forming his seals and crouch down toward the ground.
"A gigantic bolt of lightning from the sky. Is this that S-rank Ninjutsu?"
Then, as the thunder roared overhead, Orochimaru felt a powerful sense of danger.
His instincts as an Elite Jonin told him that if this bolt struck him head-on, he would probably die here.
In a flash of thought, Orochimaru decisively canceled the Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes, quickly formed Hand Seals, and tried to escape using a Reverse Summoning Technique he had prepared in advance.
"Don't even think about running!"
His Observation Haki detected Orochimaru's movements. With a thought from Ziyun, the lightning swiftly descended!
Boom!
[Divine Judgment] came crashing down in the blink of an eye, blasting a huge crater into the ground where Orochimaru stood, like a nuclear explosion.
"Ziyun! Are you all right?"
"Quick... hurry and back him up!"
After the heavenly lightning exploded, the Kumogakure Anbu outside the laboratory arrived at the scene one after another, only to find that aside from a huge crater, Yeyue Ziyun was the only one left there.
"Ziyun, where's the intruder?"
The Kumogakure Anbu rushed forward, and their leader, an Anbu Captain, walked up to Ziyun and asked with concern.
Failing to detect the intruder had been a dereliction of their duty. But when they saw that Ziyun had suffered no visible injuries and only looked somewhat exhausted, the Kumogakure Anbu breathed a sigh of relief.
If Ziyun had been injured, his time as Anbu Captain would have been over.
"He's already gone."
Ziyun's Observation Haki could no longer sense Orochimaru's presence. Presumably, he had escaped.
But Orochimaru must have been badly injured. Before he left, Ziyun's Observation Haki had sensed a sudden, substantial drop in Orochimaru's Chakra the instant the lightning struck.
"Where's the intruder? Where is he?! We have to catch him this time!"
Just then, the Third Raikage, having heard the news, arrived with the Hidden Cloud Village's sensory ninja unit to provide support.
"Uncle Raikage, the intruder has already escaped. There's no need to keep looking," Ziyun said to the Third Raikage.
"Damn it! Those bastards got away again! If I find out who did this, I'll make them pay!"
Hearing this, the Third Raikage could no longer contain his explosive temper. He smashed a wall apart with one furious punch to vent his anger!
This wasn't the first sneak attack, but every time, they had been unable to find any real evidence, leaving them no way to seek justice from the culprit behind it.
It left the Third Raikage with nowhere to vent his anger, and he felt terribly frustrated.
"I'm sorry, Lord Raikage. This subordinate was derelict in his duty. I failed to detect the intruder beforehand and nearly caused an irreparable loss. I willingly accept punishment."
Just then, the Anbu Captain came over, dropped to one knee, and asked the Third Raikage to punish him.
"Good that you know it. You'll forfeit two months' allowance and be demoted to vice captain!" the Third Raikage said, looking down at the Anbu Captain.
"Yes!" The Kumogakure Anbu Captain had no objection to the punishment. On the contrary, he breathed a sigh of relief.
The Third Raikage had originally intended to strip him of his position as captain, but after seeing that Ziyun was unhurt, he changed his mind.
"Uncle Raikage, it's not really his fault. This intruder was no ordinary person," Ziyun said, stepping forward to explain on the Anbu Captain's behalf.
"Hmm? Ziyun, do you know who the intruder was?"
The Third Raikage raised an eyebrow as he asked.
"Yes. I saw his face. It was Konoha's genius ninja, Orochimaru."
"Orochimaru?!"
The Third Raikage narrowed his eyes slightly. Orochimaru was no small name.
As the personal disciple of the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, he had long been known as Konoha's number one genius.
Orochimaru was now considered a promising candidate to become the Fourth Hokage, both within Konoha Village and across the Shinobi World.
The Kumogakure Anbu standing nearby froze as well. So the intruder this time had been Orochimaru? No wonder they hadn't detected any trace of him.
Konoha had actually sent a genius like Orochimaru to assassinate Ziyun, a newly graduated Genin. It was truly shameless.
"Are you sure it was Orochimaru, Ziyun?" the Third Raikage asked in disbelief.
Orochimaru was at the level of an Elite Jonin, yet from the look of Ziyun, he was completely unharmed. The Third Raikage found it hard to believe that he could face Orochimaru and come away without a scratch.
After all, Ziyun was still a newly graduated Genin, while Orochimaru had surely reached Elite Jonin level.
"Yes. I saw him clearly. There's no way I mistook him for someone else," Ziyun said with certainty.
After receiving his confirmation, the Third Raikage nodded. He had a rough idea why Ziyun had emerged unharmed.