"Pfft-"
Orochimaru's real body turned into a mass of sticky mud and collapsed in Kenya's hands.
All that remained was a battered Earth Clone, which fell limply into the rubble.
The real Orochimaru had already used Earth Release to burrow dozens of meters underground and was fleeing frantically into the distance like a startled rat.
Kenya brushed the dirt off his hands and curled his lip.
"He sure ran fast."
He did not give chase.
A slippery eel like Orochimaru had countless ways to stay alive. If he was truly determined to escape, Kenya, who had yet to master the advanced applications of Observation Haki, might not actually be able to catch him beneath the seabed.
Besides, he had already achieved his goal for today.
With nothing but pure physical strength, he had taught this member of the Konoha Sannin a harsh lesson, showing him who the real daddy of these waters was.
"Uncle, are you all right?"
Haku jumped off the little fishing boat and hurried over to Kenya across the gravel on the beach.
As he looked at the devastated rocky shore and the venomous snakes whose bodies had been shattered by the shock waves, his eyes filled with awe.
"What could possibly happen to me? Just a little exercise to help digest my meal."
Kenya stretched, his joints crackling like beans popping.
Just then, a cargo ship flying the flag of the Iron Fist Chamber of Commerce emerged from the mist and docked steadily by the shore.
Kato Yosuke jumped off the ship in a frantic rush with a squad of chamber guards.
"Boss! Are you all right? I heard a huge explosion over here and brought some men over right away!"
Yosuke pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose and ran breathlessly up to Kenya, his eyes full of worry.
"Yosuke, you're just in time."
Kenya pointed to the beach on the other side of the rocky shore.
"I was playing with a big mud eel just now. He ran off in such a hurry that he seems to have left a few things behind. Take the men over and have a look. Haul away anything useful."
Yosuke looked in the direction Kenya was pointing and froze.
There, among the reefs along the beach, sat a strangely shaped black submarine.
The entire vessel was built from an unknown metal, with a streamlined design and a vicious-looking snakehead emblem carved into its bow.
Clearly, this was Orochimaru's custom vessel for secretly traveling out to sea and lying in wait.
"Is... is that Orochimaru's ship?"
Yosuke sucked in a breath.
Only moments ago, he had been worried that attracting Orochimaru's attention would spell utter disaster for the chamber of commerce.
Yet his boss had not only emerged completely unscathed, but even captured the other man's ship?
His combat prowess was simply absurd beyond belief.
"Go see what goodies are inside. That guy's a scientist, so he should have quite a stash."
Kenya waved a hand.
Haku immediately volunteered and jumped aboard the black submarine with several guards.
They carefully opened the cabin hatch, and a powerful smell of chemicals hit them in the face.
The space inside the cabin was much larger than they had imagined.
It was practically a small mobile laboratory.
Haku and the guards made a circuit of the interior and soon came running out, their faces full of shock.
"U-Uncle!"
Haku was carrying several sealed glass jars containing strange organs and plants immersed in liquid.
His voice trembled slightly with excitement.
"The cabin is packed with all kinds of advanced research equipment! There are also lots of rare medicinal ingredients and poison samples I can't even name!"
"A lot of the equipment looks a hundred times more precise than the best instruments in the Land of Waves hospital!"
At Haku's report, Kato Yosuke's eyes instantly lit up with a merchant's shrewd gleam.
"Boss, these are priceless treasures!"
Yosuke rubbed his hands excitedly.
"As the Shinobi World's foremost scientist, Orochimaru uses experimental equipment that isn't available for sale anywhere on the market. If we auctioned these things on the black market, they would absolutely fetch an astronomical sum!"
Kenya rubbed his chin, walked over to the precision instruments they had carried out, and gave them a couple of casual kicks.
"Sell them? Why not keep them for ourselves?"
With a sweeping gesture, he made his decision with boundless gusto.
"Haul every last piece of this scrap metal back! Don't leave so much as a single screw behind! It all belongs to the Iron Fist Chamber of Commerce!"
"We'll build an infirmary at the deserted island base, too. Use these instruments for Zabuza's fracture rehabilitation, or to give the boys checkups."
Fracture rehabilitation for Zabuza?
With Orochimaru's most advanced research equipment?!
At those words, both Yosuke and Haku could not help silently griping.
What an utter waste of precious treasures!
Still, since these were the boss's orders, they naturally dared not object.
"Yes, Boss! I'll get people moving it right away!"
Yosuke excitedly directed the guards as they worked like ants moving their nest.
The expensive instruments, rare medicinal ingredients, and even the special surgical scalpels used for experiments inside Orochimaru's submarine-
They looted them all, carrying every last item onto the Iron Fist Chamber of Commerce's cargo ship.
Watching the instruments Orochimaru normally treasured being tossed roughly into the cargo hold by the chamber guards,
Kenya was in a wonderful mood.
Getting a villain's entire stash for free felt unbelievably good.
Meanwhile.
Far away, in a secret base beneath the Land of Fire.
Inside a dim laboratory.
Orochimaru leaned weakly against an operating table, coughing up great mouthfuls of blood.
His face was as white as paper, and his signature long tongue hung limply from his mouth.
"Cough, cough... damn you, Senju Kenya..."
Orochimaru clutched his neck, which had nearly been snapped by the impact, his eyes filled with venomous resentment and profound fear.
He had never imagined.
That a capture operation he had assumed would be effortless.
Would subject him to the most savage beating of his life.
That man was nothing but a monster wearing human skin!
His absurd brute strength, his bizarre black hardened defense, and the terrifying destructive power that could blast apart even a giant summoned snake with a single punch.
All of it had completely overturned Orochimaru's understanding of Ninjutsu and strength.
"My ship... the rare medicinal ingredients I just collected..."
Orochimaru coughed up blood, trembling with heartache.
He had fled for his life in such a hurry that he had not even had time to retrieve the submarine full of vital laboratory equipment.
That was the mobile laboratory he had spent years painstakingly assembling through immense effort!
Now, that damned crude brute had reaped all the benefits!
Orochimaru's heart bled.
He swore that once he developed a more perfect vessel for reincarnation, he would make that brat pay a terrible price!
However.
Just as Orochimaru was raging helplessly in his underground base, agonizing over the loss of his assets.
On the deserted island's beach, Kenya was supervising his men as they moved the spoils.
A crisp notification suddenly sounded in his mind without warning.