Orochimaru, who was called "senpai" by the Anbu attire-clad person in front of him, was visibly startled. Immediately after, he saw the figure rushing directly towards him.
He was so fast that Orochimaru couldn't help but become interested. Not in the Anbu's speed, but in his courage to face him directly.
Orochimaru wanted to test the Anbu's capabilities. He retreated his body, and his right hand violently flung towards Shinji.
Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!
Several long snakes emerged from Orochimaru's sleeves, hissing, and spitting out sharp blades that flew towards Shinji at a rapid pace.
Shinji, rapidly approaching, seemed to have anticipated this, and performed a side jump and stomped on the ground. He moved in a 'Z' shaped path, avoiding Orochimaru's Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.
Hmm?
Watching Shinji change direction so quickly, Orochimaru frowned and changed his attack direction again. He intended to stop Shinji's approaching steps.
Shinji, meanwhile, took out several shuriken from his ninja tool pouch and shot them out, his fingers moving irregularly.
The shuriken flew towards Orochimaru in a strange trajectory, cutting off the heads of several long snakes along the way.
"Oh? Chakra strings?"
Orochimaru watched the incoming shuriken with interest. He avoided them in an extremely strange posture, then spat out a kusanagi sword from his mouth, cutting the strings on the shuriken.
Shinji used this opportunity to arrive in front of Orochimaru, squatting down to perform a low sweep kick, attacking Orochimaru's lower body.
He then leaped up, striking Orochimaru's throat with his elbow, and as he landed, he spun around and delivered a back kick to Orochimaru's abdomen.
Orochimaru, after being subjected to Shinji's combo, finally reacted, crossing his arms to block the kick.
The next moment, countless snakes swarmed out from Orochimaru's sleeves.
Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!
Seeing the sky full of snakes attacking, Shinji could only use a roundhouse kick to shatter several of the approaching long snakes.
An opening!
Seeing the gap, Shinji condensed Chakra in his right hand and slammed it into the ground.
Boom!
The ground shattered from the impact, and countless stones blocked the path of the snake swarm.
As the stones fell, the snakes were crushed, splattering blood everywhere.
The rising dust obscured Orochimaru's vision.
Orochimaru, having lost his target, stopped his movements and slowly withdrew his jutsu, his golden vertical pupils vigilantly scanning his surroundings.
When the ground shattered, Shinji's figure had already disappeared from Orochimaru's sight.
And...
Rasengan!
Above Orochimaru, Shinji was diving headfirst, a deep blue blue spherical Chakra ball already gathered in his right palm. The air whistled sharply from the rotation of the Rasengan.
Using gravity to descend rapidly, Shinji slammed the Rasengan onto Orochimaru's crown.
The instant Shinji's Rasengan struck, Orochimaru opened his mouth, and a hand quickly emerged from it.
By the time the Rasengan finally hit, Orochimaru's entire body had already been expelled, rapidly fleeing into the distance.
Boom—
The Rasengan hit the snake skin and landed, raising a cloud of dust that spread for tens of meters.
Not far away, Orochimaru had just landed and regained his footing when the next second, several kunai carrying explosive tags, as if pre-targeted, shot towards him.
Bang... Bang....Bang...
A series of explosions rang out.
Orochimaru, who had jumped back, ignored the wounds from the explosive tags' aftermath, a fierce look flashing in his eyes.
Just as he was about to form hand signs, two figures burst out from the lingering smoke on either side of him, grabbing his hands. And from the smoke in front, another Shinji charged out in a Z-shaped advance.
A Rasengan had reformed in his hand, heading directly for Orochimaru's wide-open chest.
"Damn it..."
Seeing this, Orochimaru's eye twitched uncontrollably.
He twisted his neck, stretching it, and opened his mouth again. A kusanagi sword stabbed towards the Rasengan in Shinji's hand.
When the Rasengan collided with the kusanagi sword's blade, the golden glow of the contracting Rasengan immediately dispersed.
The next moment, a giant Rasengan pushed against the kusanagi sword's blade.
Seeing a Rasengan of such Chakra volume, Orochimaru's pupils sharply contracted, and the kusanagi sword in his mouth rapidly extended. He wanted to use this to create distance and avoid being hit by the Rasengan again.
Feeling the force from the Rasengan in his hand, the corner of Shinji's lips under his mask slightly curved.
Maintaining his current Chakra output, he used the force of Orochimaru's rapidly extending kusanagi sword. Then, he was propelled at an incredibly fast speed by the force of the kusanagi sword, flying through the dense forest at the border.
The Chakra in Shinji's hand dissipated, and he performed a backflip to avoid the kusanagi sword's blade.
Without the Rasengan pushing against it, the kusanagi sword thrust forward relentlessly.
Boom—
Looking at the kusanagi sword deeply embedded in the ground, Shinji looked up at Orochimaru, whose neck was stretched out like something from a horror movie.
Orochimaru's entire head floated in the air as Shinji waved his hand and said, "Senpai, I have felt your capabilities. I will not bother you here any longer."
After he finished speaking, Shinji's entire body burst apart.
Even from hundreds of meters away, Orochimaru clearly saw the smoke of the jutsu dissipating.
Shadow Clone...
So, this guy escaped as early as the first time he used Rasengan, then used explosive tags to create a smoke screen to obscure my vision?
As he thought, Orochimaru gradually retracted the kusanagi sword, his golden vertical pupils filled with malice.
As he reverted to his original form, Orochimaru's grin widened.
"Hehehe..."
Recalling the initial address of "senpai," Orochimaru murmured ominously, "So, old man, it seems you've taken on an extraordinary disciple at this twilight age."
From the very beginning, this Anbu seemed to understand his fighting style very well.
Almost every step, every move, was to force him to use the Orochimaru-style Body Replacement Jutsu and shed his skin, making him consume Chakra.
In the end, no matter what he did, that Anbu would have found a way to prevent him from casting jutsu, or seized the opportunity to strike his true body's heart, making him either forced to or unintentionally, create distance from him.
Only then did Orochimaru finally understand that the Anbu was the old man's new disciple.
From the very beginning, that Anbu never intended to fight him head-on. He was merely using the fight as a means to escape.
"Interesting. It seems some changes I'm unaware of have occurred in the village."
Saying this, Orochimaru once again extended his long tongue and licked his lips.
— — —
"Hoo... Hoo..."
By a small river, Shinji sat soaking wet on the bank, gasping for breath.
The moment the explosive tags had detonated, he had sent out Shadow Clones to distract Orochimaru, while he rapidly rushed and leaped into the nearest river.
As for why, it was to avoid Orochimaru's disgusting sensory methods.
His tongue collecting airborne particles for olfactory perception, and the thermal sensing of his snake swarm.