"Yes… this is the power. I will obtain it sooner or later."
Orochimaru's snake-like pupils fixed greedily on Ash, who stood calmly after activating Susanoo. The desire in his gaze was impossible to hide.
"It's over."
The moment Ash's voice fell, a black bow and arrow formed by Amaterasu shot forth from the ancient Mangekyō pattern.
The arrow tore through the air—so fast that there was no time to react.
"So fast… there's no way to dodge it! Magnet Release—Absolute Defense!"
The Fourth Kazekage shouted in alarm as his hands rapidly formed seals. In an instant, golden sand wrapped around his body from all directions, forming a defense with no blind spots.
BOOM!!!!!
"Ugh—AHHH!!"
The Kazekage had believed his Absolute Defense would at least block the attack.
Instead, the Amaterasu arrow pierced straight through, shattering the sand barrier and driving cleanly into his left shoulder.
"What—?!"
Black flames erupted violently from the arrowhead. No matter how desperately he tried, the inextinguishable flames refused to die out, burning both flesh and chakra alike.
"…Ah, right. I forgot about that."
Ash glanced at the writhing Kazekage, then sighed lightly.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Sasori won't be interested in a damaged body anyway."
He had originally planned to leave the corpse intact for puppet conversion—but that was no longer possible.
"As expected of the God of Slaughter of the shinobi world…"
Orochimaru murmured hoarsely as he watched the Fourth Kazekage slowly burn to death under Amaterasu. A bead of cold sweat slid down his cheek.
"To defeat a village's Kage in fewer than ten moves…"
At that moment—
"Hiss—"
A small blue python slid out from Orochimaru's sleeve. In a flash, it wrapped around the Kazekage's neck and twisted sharply, severing his head.
The snake didn't stop there.
It peeled the entire facial skin cleanly off, preserving it perfectly.
Naturally, this was to create a human skin mask, allowing Orochimaru to disguise himself using advanced transformation techniques. With this, he could manipulate Sunagakure and use it as disposable cannon fodder.
"Since things here are settled, I'll head back to Konoha first."
Ash turned away, space distorting faintly around him.
"By the time you arrive with Sunagakure's forces, the Chūnin Exams should be about to begin."
"I understand," Orochimaru replied, gripping the peeled face carefully.
"Space–time ninjutsu truly is terrifying, Ash-kun."
"Hmph."
Ash snorted coldly.
The next instant, his figure vanished into a swirling distortion of space and time.
After Ash disappeared—
"Lord Orochimaru, why didn't we kill him together?"
Kimimaro spoke coldly, clearly displeased with Ash's dismissive attitude.
"Kimimaro," Orochimaru said calmly, shaking his head,
"you underestimate him."
"That man is known as a slayer of gods in the shinobi world.
A dōjutsu capable of controlling the Nine-Tails… Even now, I have no intention of provoking him."
He didn't say it aloud, but the truth lingered heavily in his mind—
If reincarnation were possible, Ash's body would have been his ideal vessel.
Unfortunately, the gap in power was simply too vast.
Kimimaro fell silent.
Behind Orochimaru, Kabuto wore a faint, knowing smile.
Orochimaru didn't notice.
Meanwhile—
Ash continued leaping through space, his thoughts racing.
"According to the original course of events… Orochimaru will kill the Third Hokage, and Konoha will suffer heavy losses."
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"Let me add some fuel to that fire."
Ash's space–time movement lacked fixed coordinates. Each jump could only send him up to five kilometers away.
So far, he had only established spatial anchors within the Akatsuki, as well as on Konan and White Zetsu, allowing chakra consumption to be partially stabilized.
Even with his massive chakra reserves, repeated long-range teleportation was not something he could abuse freely.
This was equivalent to jumping from one end of the world to another—
the chakra cost was naturally enormous.
Otherwise, Minato Namikaze, who also mastered space–time ninjutsu, would have wiped out every major hidden village during the Third Shinobi War.
It wasn't an issue of chakra quantity.
Short-range teleportation consumed little chakra and was highly practical—but it was slower.
True long-distance jumps, however…
Those were a different matter entirely.
"I've already witnessed the Sharingan and the Rinnegan through the Three Great Dōjutsu.
There's no way the Byakugan is limited to just that much."
Thinking back to the Hyūga Clan of Konoha, Ash couldn't help but feel something was off.
Among the Three Great Dōjutsu, whether it was the Sharingan or the Rinnegan, both possessed terrifying abilities that made even Kage-level shinobi wary. Yet the Byakugan seemed unusually quiet by comparison—its abilities appearing limited to enhanced vision and the ability to see chakra pathways and tenketsu.
That imbalance didn't make sense.
As Ash continued teleporting through space, nearly two hours passed before he finally arrived at the forest on the outskirts of Konoha.
Two hours might not sound long—but during that time, Ash never stopped using intermittent five-kilometer space–time jumps.
The accumulated distance was enormous. Even an elite shinobi force would need several days to cover the same ground through conventional movement.
"So that's the barrier…"
Ash narrowed his eyes.
The massive barrier technique enveloping Konoha was clearly reflected within his Sharingan.
"If I didn't have Kamui-level perception, this really would be troublesome."
"There are still five days before the Chūnin Exams begin," Ash muttered.
"It's better not to attract attention right now."
There was a hidden safe point he could use within the village. If Konoha detected his presence too early, the Chūnin Exams would be immediately canceled, disrupting his plans entirely.
After making his decision, Ash slowly sank into the ground, slipping past Konoha's defenses without triggering any alarms.
Moments later, he emerged near Ichiraku Ramen.
Once inside, Ash discreetly made a familiar hand sign toward Teuchi.
Teuchi's eyes flickered in understanding.
"Ayame," he said calmly to his daughter,
"please watch the shop today. I'm not feeling very well."
"If it gets too busy, just close early."
Ayame nodded without question, already used to such situations.
(End of Chapter)
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