The blue dragon scales tightly covered the slender body like armor.
Thick dragon horns and razor-sharp teeth radiated the ferocity and majesty of a Dragon King.
At this moment, Simu was the undisputed overlord of the sky!
Orochimaru licked his lips, not bothering to hide the greed in his snake-like eyes.
"What a perfect body..."
Simu felt his disgusting gaze and frowned in disdain.
His body was like a bottomless black hole, greedily absorbing all the natural energy in the surrounding air.
A series of black markings began to appear across his fierce dragon head.
As Simu's Sage Mode mastery deepened, his appearance increasingly resembled that of Hashirama after entering Sage Mode.
Natural energy fused with the chakra in Simu's massive dragon body, forming celestial chakra similar to the Toad Sage's.
"Sage Art: Sea of Flame!"
Scorching flames fell from the sky like a torrential downpour.
The brilliant blaze reflected off the clouds, making it seem as though the heavens themselves were ablaze.
The intense heat spread rapidly through the air, igniting the forest below in an instant.
"This feeling… it's Sage Chakra," said Manda solemnly.
After all, he was born in Ryūchi Cave, one of the three great sacred sites.
He was no stranger to senjutsu.
Even within Ryūchi Cave, a powerful sage like Simu was extremely rare.
Furthermore, ever since Simu entered this form, Manda felt a deep, primal fear—like facing a natural predator.
He began to regret accepting this mission.
It wouldn't be easy to complete.
Otherwise... he'd die!
Faced with the overwhelming downpour of flame, Orochimaru stood atop Manda's head and quickly formed hand seals before pressing his palm to the snake's skull.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
Manda opened his massive jaws.
A raging water dragon surged from his maw, crashing into the falling inferno.
This water dragon was many times larger than the standard version of the technique.
As soon as flame met water, steam exploded outward, obscuring Orochimaru and Manda from view.
"Orochimaru, this kid's using senjutsu. Normal Water Style won't cut it," Manda said gravely.
The massive water dragon fought against the flames, but was quickly vaporized and vanished into steam.
Only a small portion of the firestorm had been dispersed.
This is the difference between senjutsu and regular ninjutsu.
Senjutsu chakra was vastly superior to normal chakra.
To counter it, one had to expend an even greater amount of chakra.
Even though Orochimaru had used Manda's enormous body to unleash the jutsu, it still wasn't nearly enough.
Orochimaru had a large chakra reserve, yes—but compared to the being in the sky, he had to calculate his usage with absolute precision. There was no room for waste.
He made a quick decision. Taking advantage of the dense steam, he had Manda dive underground.
But Simu's Observation Haki was far too sharp. There was no way he'd let Orochimaru escape so easily.
"So, you want to save chakra?"
Simu opened his fearsome dragon jaws, a brilliant laser forming inside his mouth.
"Sage Art: Yasakani no Magatama!"
Countless golden light bullets rained down like a divine storm.
Each dazzling bead of light tore through the earth with terrifying force.
With the help of his Observation Haki, Simu precisely targeted Orochimaru's subterranean location.
"Damn it, how did he track us underground?!" Manda roared, writhing deeper into the earth.
From time to time, a golden light bullet would explode dangerously close.
Orochimaru's snake-like eyes narrowed coldly. "They say he possesses a powerful sensory technique, capable of covering a wide area and even predicting an enemy's next move."
Manda cursed.
"What kind of monster is this guy? He has Light Release, can turn into a dragon, uses sage techniques, sensory ninjutsu, physical attacks—what can't he do?!"
Just as Orochimaru was about to respond, his expression suddenly changed.
"Careful. A big one is coming!"
The golden barrage had already reduced the terrain to ruins.
Simu's eyes flashed with golden light. He inhaled sharply, compressing the surrounding air into a glowing high-pressure sphere.
Under his control, the orb began to spin violently.
"Sage Art: Thousand-Rend Tornado!"
The instant the sphere left Simu's jaws, it exploded into a massive tornado.
The surrounding wind was drawn in, and the cyclone spun like a pair of deadly scythes.
The enormous tornado looked like a divine spear piercing from the heavens straight toward the earth!
Boom!!
The raging whirlwind smashed into the ground, tearing it apart as it tunneled in the direction of Manda.
Orochimaru spun around, hands moving rapidly.
"Earth Style: Rock Mountain Technique!"
The ground shook violently.
Deep beneath the surface, the stone layers suddenly surged upward, forming a towering rock barrier between Manda and the incoming lance.
The Hurricane Lance crashed into the stone mountain shield.
The spinning winds sheared against the rocks, striking sparks with every impact.
Chunks of stone flew and dust filled the air.
The tornado pierced straight through the earth, leaving behind a massive gaping crater.
High above, the dragon floating in the sky raised an eyebrow slightly.
He hadn't expected such a solid earth formation to be hidden beneath this forest.
"As expected of a Sannin… Truly terrifying."
Simu spoke casually.
Even though he was far away, his voice echoed powerfully.
A glowing light appeared in his mouth.
Then it rapidly brightened, expanded, split, fused, and expanded again.
In the end, it hovered in mid-air like a second sun, illuminating the entire forest as if it were daytime.
"Sage Art: Great Core Jade!"
Orochimaru gasped for breath after casting that massive Earth-Style technique.
Just as he was about to distance himself from Manda—
—the blinding light fell from the sky.
"Th-That's...!"
Orochimaru's pupils narrowed.
He wasn't unfamiliar with this technique—it was the same one Simu had used to kill the Third Kazekage.
He gave Manda a complicated glance.
"Run!"
"What a terrifying brat…"
If Manda had still been thinking about whether or not Simu could be killed before, now there was only one thought left in his mind—get away!
The glowing sphere dropped onto the rocky mountain.
BOOM!
The violent shockwaves nearly ruptured their eardrums.
The extreme heat instantly melted the rock formation, and the powerful explosion blasted molten debris in every direction.
A hollow crater hundreds of meters across was carved deep into the ground.
Then, the land above began to cave in as if struck by a massive earthquake.
At the moment the terrain collapsed, Simu transformed into his seven-meter-tall human-beast form.
With his monstrous, freakish physique, he charged through the scorching heat and descended into the ground.
Using the cover of the rock formation, Orochimaru and Manda narrowly escaped.
"Damn brat! You actually burned my tail!"
Manda cursed.
The range of Simu's attack had been far too vast.
Even though Manda and Orochimaru had started retreating early, they were still caught in the blast.
As a result, most of Manda's tail had turned to charcoal.
If Orochimaru hadn't offered enough incentives, Manda would've ditched him a long time ago.
But just as they were catching their breath—
—a massive aura descended.
Overwhelming Conqueror's Haki exploded into dark red lightning, surging along the hardened Eight-Span Staff.
It smashed through the ground and brought Simu directly in front of Manda.
"You brat—"
Just as Manda opened his mouth, his expression froze.
Simu stood before him, holding a small glowing sphere in his palm, glimmering like a firefly.
He grinned as he began returning to his adult form.
"Gentlemen, how about watching some fireworks?"
He opened his hand. The tiny light expanded rapidly under Manda's and Orochimaru's horrified gazes.
Of course, this version of Simu was only a clone—and it immediately dissipated into a puff of white smoke.
The glowing sphere expanded fast.
Manda immediately tried to cancel the summoning and escape.
But—
"W-What's going on?!"
Under the intense glare, Manda turned toward Orochimaru, his eyes filled with panic and confusion.
But in that moment, Orochimaru's body transformed into a white serpent and slithered straight into Manda's open mouth.
Manda didn't even have time to react.
The searing light swallowed everything.
Once again, the earth trembled and collapsed violently.
It wasn't until nearly twenty minutes later that the area finally calmed down.
The extreme heat had melted everything, including the bedrock.
What remained was just a charred wasteland.
A blackened, coke-like mass suddenly trembled.
"What terrifying power…"
A sharp sword pierced through the remains of the corpse's abdomen.
Orochimaru squeezed out of the wound.
Because the intense heat had dried up all of Manda's bodily fluids, Orochimaru's appearance wasn't as grotesque this time.
"Don't mess with that brat… He's too dangerous."
Orochimaru muttered, still shaken.
Thankfully, he had made alterations to the summoning contract with Manda.
That was the only reason Manda was forced to help at a critical moment.
Even so, the stubborn serpent still bore the brunt of the damage.
As for stealing Simu's body… Orochimaru realized that might need to be a long-term plan.
First, he needed to survive this.
With that in mind, the Pale Snake made a decision.
He didn't dare use ninjutsu, and instead slipped away through a narrow passage formed between the collapsed rocks.
But he hadn't gone more than a few hundred meters before a mocking voice rang out—
"Mr. Orochimaru, where are you going?"
Simu stood at the exit of the passage, hands in his pockets, smiling at him.
"Didn't you want to take my body?"
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