"Who are you?" Shinsei's expression was icy, his voice more serious than ever before.
Hashihime also quickly pulled shuriken from her ninja tool pouch, holding them crosswise in both hands as she stared coldly at the newcomer.
Sai set the brush in his hand on his scroll, hiding behind a large tree and peeking out.
"Hehehe... I have long heard that Konoha has produced a young genius. Your reputation precedes you, Shinsei-kun, so I came especially to meet you." The woman's hoarse, peculiar voice was not unpleasant. It had a strange rhythm, yet possessed an indescribably unusual charm. That charm had nothing to do with being male or female; rather, it had the power to inspire trust.
"You know my name, but you won't tell me who you are. How am I supposed to trust you?" Shinsei did not want any contact with Orochimaru. That was because of the gap in their strength. They were not equals in strength. In another two years, Shinsei would have been quite willing to make friends with Orochimaru; after all, he had plenty of good things. But right now, Shinsei did not want to put his life in someone else's hands.
"Hehehe." The woman licked the corner of her mouth with her long tongue. "You will find out who I am in time, Shinsei-kun. I heard Konoha has not been kind to you, and that you even suffered a teammate's betrayal recently. I once went through the same thing."
"Oh? Were you betrayed by a teammate too?" Shinsei spoke, his expression still serious. If Orochimaru did not attack outright, Shinsei did not want to start a fight either.
"Hehe." The woman approached step by step along a branch extending from the large tree. "He was the very teacher who taught me!"
His teacher? Did he mean the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi? He betrayed Orochimaru? Shinsei quickly searched his memories. The betrayal Orochimaru mentioned should be about the human experiments, right? Or did he mean the selection of the Fourth Hokage? Had Hiruzen Sarutobi made Orochimaru some promise in all this?
Though Orochimaru's words could not be trusted completely, what he said was possible. In selecting the Fourth Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi had passed over the Konoha Sannin and chosen Minato Namikaze of the younger generation instead. Then there were Konoha's experiments with Hashirama Cells. What role Hiruzen Sarutobi had played in all this was probably known only to those on the inside. But Shinsei did not believe the Third was truly as innocent as the propaganda claimed. After all, one of Danzo's arms was now the result of experiments with Hashirama Senju's cells, and it was even embedded with the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan.
Shinsei simply did not believe it. With something so conspicuous, was Hiruzen Sarutobi really blind, unable to see anything? Yamato, another product of experiments with Hashirama Senju's cells, was currently working under Hiruzen Sarutobi himself.
After living in Konoha for so many years, he had long since stopped believing the propaganda that every bad thing was done by those below, while those above knew nothing and were as innocent as white lotuses.
"Don't come any closer. I won't be able to stop myself from attacking!" Watching the woman approach step by step, Shinsei gave a stern warning. With someone as dangerous as Orochimaru, it was best to keep their conversation at a distance.
The woman walked toward Shinsei one step at a time, unhurried.
"Do you know which clan you belong to, Shinsei-kun?" The woman's hoarse voice was as composed as her footsteps.
"No. What's it to you?" Of course Shinsei knew he had the Senju bloodline, but there were two other Konoha ninja beside him! Hashihime was fine, but the other was unquestionably a spy. Was he supposed to discuss Konoha's dark history, wait for them to report it, and then be given a hard time even if he was not silenced?
"Hehehe, you don't know, Shinsei-kun? You belong to the Senju of the Forest, one of Konoha's two founding clans. But where can you find anyone from the Senju Clan in Konoha now?" The woman's laughter was as rough as gravel.
Thud!
A shuriken embedded itself beside the woman's feet.
"I'm saying this one last time! Come any closer and I'll attack!" Shinsei watched Orochimaru coldly, thinking that this fight was probably unavoidable. It was all because he was not strong enough. If he had overwhelming strength, he would have attacked the first time his warning went unheeded. Why would he need to warn him twice?
"It seems you do know about your bloodline, Shinsei-kun. Hehehe, then I need say no more." The woman continued forward, speaking unhurriedly. "I came to visit you this time because I wanted to give you a gift, Shinsei-kun, and see whether you have the capacity to accept it."
Fuck! The moment Shinsei heard that, he knew what Orochimaru's gift was. Sure enough, his earlier worries had come true. He wanted to put a Cursed Seal on Shinsei's body.
He did not want that ugly Cursed Seal at all. It was a byproduct of Orochimaru's research into Senjutsu. Although it could use natural energy, it fell far short of Sage Mode in both potential and its use of natural energy.
Besides, Shinsei had already laid out his future path. He did not even think much of the Shinobi World's Sage Mode, intending instead to develop a Senjutsu cultivation system suited to humans. His meditation had already begun to show results, and his future path was dimly within sight. He did not want some bullshit Cursed Seal disrupting it. Besides, anything Orochimaru gave him would hardly come with good intentions. Shinsei's body was far more suitable for reincarnation than Sasuke Uchiha's was now.
No use thinking any further. I'll have to fight him!
Shinsei formed hand seals, pushing hard against the tree trunk with both feet as he rapidly retreated to open up the distance, completing two seals in an instant.
Water Release: Great Water Shockwave!
An enormous volume of water formed from chakra gushed from Shinsei's mouth. Trees as thick as the mouth of a bowl snapped under the tremendous force of the flood, leaving only the great trees that took several people to encircle.
In terms of killing power, aside from those used by the very best ninja, Water Release Ninjutsu always fell a notch short of other ninjutsu. In environments without water, it also demanded greater chakra reserves from the ninja. Without enormous reserves of chakra, Water Release ninja always found themselves in an awkward position.
Fortunately, Shinsei's chakra reserves were relatively high among ninja. Previously, he had possessed around five Kakashis' worth of chakra, and after returning from the Land of Waves and successfully reaching foundation establishment, his reserves had nearly doubled. His main body now had close to ten Kakashis' worth of chakra. Reserves of this magnitude were already approaching Kage level, though he still did not know what the standard for Kage-level chakra reserves was.
Shinsei landed on the water's surface and, not daring to delay, continued forming hand seals. Against Orochimaru, there was no need to probe. He went straight to full strength.
The woman landed on the water and began running with her hands behind her back.
"You two go first! I'll hold him off. Staying here won't help!" Shinsei did not forget to shout to his teammates. Against an enemy like Orochimaru, numbers of ninja below Jonin were of little use. They would be better off going to raise the alarm.
The woman vanished in a flash. When she appeared again, she was already behind Shinsei, stretching out her neck and opening her mouth to bite down.
So fast!
Shinsei had not yet finished his hand seals and could only stop. He extended two fingers of his right hand and slashed behind him.
Water Release chakra rapidly extended from his fingers, giving off a buzzing hum as it spun at high speed.
This was precisely the seal-less Water Release Ninjutsu Shinsei had developed.
Water Release: Water Sword!
The Water Sword flashed past, severing the newcomer's elongated neck along with her head and sending them falling into the water.
Shinsei did not dare let up. He did not believe Orochimaru would die so easily, and continued forming hand seals.
Water Release: Kirin!
The water on the ground rapidly gathered, enveloping Shinsei's body to form a thirty-meter-tall Water Kirin!