The red-haired beauty walked with light steps, swaying her slender waist as she went.
"Are you getting used to it, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked with a smile, looking at the new body his assistant had taken over.
Kabuto Yakushi tucked a stray red hair behind his ear. "It feels great, Lord Orochimaru. The Uzumaki Clan's Chakra reserves are truly enormous. And there's a little girl named Karin; you could try her out next time you reincarnate."
"Hehehe." Orochimaru licked his lips with his long tongue. "The body will always decay, only the soul is eternal."
Kabuto Yakushi pointed to a row of tall medical instruments and asked, "Aren't you really going to move these? You've spent a lot of money on them."
"Money will come eventually. I can't be impolite by inviting Shinsei- kun over; I should prepare a gift for my guest." Orochimaru was completely unconcerned about everything around him.
"But Shinsei might not have the soul-restoring secret technique you need, Lord Orochimaru. Even if he did, he might not be willing to teach it to you!"
"What does it matter?" Orochimaru chuckled. "Kabuto, you need to have enough magnanimity to appreciate a genius!"
The five hid behind a Taiseki, and Shinsei used Ninjutsu to sense the surrounding situation.
"Something's not right." Shinsei frowned.
"What's wrong?" Kakashi lifted his Forehead Protector, revealing his red Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
"It's too quiet. This isn't how a normal ninja village should be." Shinsei shook his head slightly.
"Let's go in and take a look." Kakashi stretched out his palm and began to count down.
III.2...
"Wait," Shinsei interrupted, " Orochimaru is out!"
A man and a woman appeared on a small hill a hundred meters away.
One of them, dressed in a pale yellow kimono with a purple rope wrapped around his waist, was none other than Orochimaru, one of the former Konoha missing-nin.
Standing next to him was a tall, red-haired beauty wearing glasses, smiling at them.
Sasuke tensed up, and Kakashi quickly pressed down on his shoulder.
"It's been a long time, Shinsei- kun." Orochimaru said with a chuckle, looking at the crowd with his hands hanging down.
" Lord Orochimaru, it seems you were prepared for our arrival." Kakashi clasped his hands together, ready to form Hand Seals at any moment.
"Hehehehe, because I invited Shinsei- kun to be my guest." Orochimaru licked his lips, looking at Shinsei with eager eyes.
"Oh? Orochimaru is so hospitable? Then I can't be rude. Please come back to Konoha with us, Orochimaru." Shinsei said casually, but he was secretly on guard. He didn't know what Orochimaru was up to.
"I heard that Shinsei- kun is inquiring about Cloning Technique, and since I happen to be skilled in them, I'd like to invite Shinsei- kun to make a deal." Orochimaru said, glancing at Sasuke, "I didn't expect Sasuke-kun to come too. I'll also prepare a gift for you."
"Oh? What kind of deal?" Strictly speaking, Orochimaru isn't my enemy, although he once coveted my body.
Orochimaru opened his mouth wide and spat out a scroll and a glass bottle containing pills. "This contains knowledge about cloning, as well as a secret medicine to help Sasuke-kun obtain the power of the Cursed Seal. There is also a cloning device in the base."
"What does Orochimaru wish to exchange?" Shinsei asked with some curiosity.
" Shinsei- chan's control over Chakra is unparalleled in my life, and his soul power is so strong that I have never seen a human comparable to you. You must have developed a Ninjutsu to enhance soul power, and I want to learn about it." Orochimaru's gaze toward Shinsei grew increasingly eager, as if he were admiring a rare treasure.
Orochimaru has a good eye; meditation and cultivation can indeed improve one's mental strength and soul power, but how could he possibly entrust this to Orochimaru?
Shinsei suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a black beam of light.
Storm Release: Wave Severing!
The beam of light arrived instantly, cleaving Orochimaru in two.
Without the aid of hand seals, the preparation time is slow. I'm preparing my ultimate move, what is Orochimaru waiting for?
The red-haired beauty pushed up her glasses, which had no lenses, and smiled as she vanished into the ground.
The mound of earth next to Orochimaru's corpse broke open, and a huge snake emerged. The snake opened its massive mouth, and a wet, human figure crawled out from within.
" Shinsei- chan, you're really in a hurry!" Orochimaru chuckled. "Besides you, I've also invited other guests. I hope you all get along well. I'm really looking forward to seeing you again!"
A large bird entered Shinsei's sensing range, with two people sitting on its back.
Sasuke, his eyes bloodshot, stared at the two figures in black robes with red clouds atop the large bird that flew towards them, and his voice was filled with hatred. "Akatsuki!"
Damn it! There wasn't any conflict between us and Akatsuki before, but now that Sasuke is here, this battle is inevitable.
Shinsei unleashed another black beam of light, cleaving the re-emerging Orochimaru in two once more. He picked up the scroll that had fallen to the ground and tossed the glass medicine bottle to Sasuke.
A large white bird carried two people as it circled overhead. On the bird sat a young man with long golden hair, and behind him was a hunchbacked old man.
"Hey, are you guys here to capture Orochimaru too? Can you let us have him?" The blond youth poked his head out from the clay bird's back and shouted to the people below.
"You're from the Akatsuki, right? Then you must know where Uchiha Itachi is, right?" Sasuke's tone was icy.
Shinsei looked at the two figures in the sky. The blond youth must be Deidara, and the old man behind him must be Sasori of the Red Sands.
"You're Itachi's younger brother? Sasuke Uchiha, huh? Itachi would be so happy if we captured you and brought you back," Deidara said.
"Attack!" Hesitation only leads to more trouble. Shinsei quickly Hand Seals. "You deal with Deidara, I'll handle Sasori of the Red Sands."
As Shinsei completed the last seal, he exhaled a black beam of light from his mouth.
Storm Release: Wave Severing!
A black beam of light sliced the two people, along with the large white clay bird, in two, sending them plummeting to the ground.
The group rushed towards the direction where the fall had occurred; the Akatsuki members weren't so easily defeated.
Kakashi pulled a Senbon from his ninja tool pouch, held it in his hand, and warned, "Watch out for Orochimaru."
Countless tiny white spiders swarmed out of the forest. Shinsei, while Hand Seals, shouted, "Use Lightning Release!"
Hands crackling with lightning Chakra pressed against the ground, the lightning Chakra flowing across the earth. Large swarms of white spiders, upon touching the lightning, quickly lost their ability to move.
Countless small white birds flew out of the forest and swarmed towards the group.
Kakashi scatters his lightning-infused Senbon at the flock of white birds, but there are simply too many to shoot them all.
" Art is an Explosion! Drink!" Deidara shouted.
Shinsei formed a mudra and pressed it to the ground:
Water Release · Water Formation Wall!
The rotating wall of water tightly enveloped everyone.
The continuous, dense explosions blasted the water wall, sending water splashing everywhere.
Shinsei unleashed another black beam of light, the slender beam severing the surrounding trees at their roots as he rotated.
He Chakra and wasn't afraid to waste it, so he first cleared out a battlefield with a wide field of vision for himself.