After wrapping up his training, Natsume Yō finally exhaled a long breath and dispelled the Shadow Clones.
Bang!Bang!Bang!
Six clones vanished in smoke. The backlash hit him all at once—memories and experiences crashing into his skull like a tidal wave. Yō staggered and collapsed to the ground, sucking in a sharp breath.
"Damn… using clones to train is definitely not something normal people can handle."
But Yō wasn't "normal." He'd already endured two rounds of system experience downloads, his body accustomed to that splitting, bursting ache. Plus, his chakra reserves were monstrous for his age, enough to let him brute-force it.
Anyone else? They'd be a corpse by now.
What Yō didn't know was that less than a hundred meters away, someone had been watching.
A man cloaked in shadows. Cold, serpentine.
叮!System Alert: Malicious intent detected—Orochimaru! Host is about to enter extreme danger!Mission issued: Escape his clutches!Reward: +50 XP, +100 gold, 1 lottery chance!
The notification made Yō's blood run cold.
And then—
"Splendid. Absolutely splendid."
The voice was smooth, magnetic… yet drenched in malice. Yō snapped his head around.
He saw him.
Long black hair flowing in the night breeze, golden slit-pupil eyes glimmering with predatory hunger. Purple eye markings stretched down his cheeks, pale skin gleamed ghostly white, blue-green magatama earrings swayed with each step.
The very image of Orochimaru.
"Little brat," the Sannin drawled, lips curling in a chilling smile, "to possess such power at your age… across the entire shinobi world, you're a rarity. All the more reason you'll make a perfect experimental subject."
Yō's pulse spiked. Orochimaru had already begun human research at this stage—even if not yet fully consumed by obsession. But it wouldn't be long.
"Doton: Yomi Marsh!"
The ground beneath Yō liquefied into a deadly swamp before he could react. Chakra empty, body drained, he was sucked downward fast.
"Tch—exchange! Holy Recovery Potion!"
He refused to die as some test sample. The potion slammed into his system, refilling his chakra in a rush.
"Kenjutsu: Blade of Wind!"
His short blade whistled through the air, embedding deep into a nearby tree. Chakra-thread steel wire snapped taut as Yō yanked himself free from the mire, tearing out of the swamp with a gasp.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
No pause—five venomous serpents burst from Orochimaru's sleeve, snapping at him with fetid maws. Yō's scalp tingled, skin crawling with raw terror.
Boom!
A log exploded into splinters. Substitution Jutsu. In the blink of an eye, Yō reappeared behind Orochimaru, blade wreathed in wind chakra. Wind Step + Wind Sword! His strike flashed like lightning, impossible to track—
Shhk!
His blade pierced clean through—yet the body dissolved into sludge. Muddy Substitution, Orochimaru's twisted signature technique.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
The snake Sannin emerged from the earth, seals already complete. A straight jet of roaring flame ripped through the night, slicing the air with blistering heat, aimed square at Yō.
"Wind Step!"
Jaw clenched, Yō pushed his body past its limits. At the instant the flames were about to swallow him whole—he vanished, slipping past the inferno by a hair's breadth.