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Before Orochimaru's voice had even finished echoing through the trees, two thick serpents shot out from his sleeves—one left, one right—striking straight for Roshi's ankles atop the giant snake's corpse.
But the moment the snakes came within reach—
The corpse beneath Roshi erupted.
The wooden spikes that had pierced through the dead summon suddenly grew again, multiplying like living thorns. New branches burst upward at blistering speed, coiling around the snakes before they could recoil.
The sharpened wooden thorns twisted and drilled forward, stabbing straight into the soft flesh inside the snakes' open maws.
The two serpents convulsed violently—then dropped to the ground like shredded rope, lifeless and punctured all along their bodies.
Orochimaru's initial probe had failed.
Yet rather than irritation, his golden eyes gleamed hotter, brighter—hungry.
So this was the living Wood Release he had always dreamed of acquiring.
Without warning, Orochimaru's body distorted—his legs melding into a single tail that propelled him like a gliding snake along the ground.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
His sleeves bulged grotesquely, and a dozen venomous snakes shot out simultaneously, weaving through the gaps between the rising roots, striking at Roshi's vital points from angles nearly impossible to guard against.
His speed—combined with the unnatural flexibility of his modified body—made his movements slippery and unpredictable, as though he had shed the shape of a human altogether.
Roshi allowed himself a brief spark of admiration.
In versatility, Orochimaru truly had no weak points… except his complete inability to handle Mangekyō Genjutsu.
Roshi formed the Snake seal and lightly tapped his heels against the wood beneath him, body lifting into a clean backward arc that carried him out of the thickest part of the snakes' assault.
At once, the ground quaked.
Dark brown roots—thicker and more violent than before—burst from the earth, smashing down on the attacking snakes and splintering them mid-strike.
And they did not stop.
Those ferocious roots surged onward, converging on Orochimaru like a living net intent on skewering him from every direction.
Orochimaru twisted and contorted, slipping through impossibly narrow gaps—even as those gaps shrank with every heartbeat.
The cage of Wood Release was closing.
Then he saw an opening.
Orochimaru vaulted upward, body snapping into a serpentine curl mid-air. His jaw unhinged—
and from the depths of his throat, a small snake slithered out.
The snake opened its mouth.
A sword emerged.
The blade extended instantly, lengthening as it shot toward Roshi—
The Kusanagi Sword.
Roshi landed atop a thick, rising root that formed a natural platform beneath him. Facing a sword renowned as the sharpest in the world, he did not dodge.
He merely raised a hand.
Vines surged forth—dense, braided, reinforced by chakra. They coiled together into a thick, spiraling barrier before him.
Kusanagi's tip pierced the vine shield—but only the outer layer.
Instantly, the vines snapped shut from three angles, wrapping tightly around the blade and its lengthened extension. The sword shuddered, stripped of momentum, held fast in midair like prey caught in a trap.
Roshi lowered his stance, gathering natural energy—Sage Mode only seconds away—when suddenly, Orochimaru froze.
All snakes retracted.
The extended Kusanagi blade swiftly slithered back into its carrier snake, which retreated into his throat.
Orochimaru leapt back, widening the distance between them, his expression subtly shifting.
"Heh… heh heh… My apologies." Orochimaru brushed the dust from his robe as if nothing unusual had happened. "Think of that as a little warm-up before our actual cooperation begins. Naturally, I had to verify the… quality of my future collaborator."
Roshi didn't so much as blink. His hands remained locked in the seal, the forest of living trees around him was held in a restrained but ready state.
Orochimaru's voice grew velvety, almost reverent.
"You haven't merely contained the Hashirama cells… You've completely mastered them. You've reproduced the true, long-lost essence of Wood Release."
He slowly raised both hands in a wordless gesture of surrender.
"And for someone who possesses such power, the little 'collection methods' I used earlier… clearly no longer apply. Nor would they bring me the results I seek."
In truth, summoning Manda in the face of this Wood Release would only make the boss snake dispel himself and slither as far away as possible. Kusanagi's failure only confirmed that Orochimaru would need to resort to more drastic forbidden jutsu—jutsu he hadn't prepared for in this unexpected encounter.
And so, he pivoted smoothly to another strategy.
"Then, Roshi-kun…"
"To demonstrate my sincerity—"
Orochimaru tilted his head back and opened his jaws unnaturally wide.
A scroll slid out from deep within, slick with saliva, landing on the ground.
"These are my accumulated findings on Hashirama cells—characteristics, behavioral patterns, several curious experiments with promising results." He smiled thinly. "As the one who currently understands Hashirama cells best, I trust this will be… useful for further refining your abilities."
His reptilian eyes appraised Roshi with renewed interest.
This young man was not just strong—he was perceptive. He quickly sensed the threat to the Uchiha squad and moved immediately. He remained unnervingly calm before an S-rank criminal who had slaughtered Kage-level opponents.
And beyond that—with Tsunade rising in the Village hierarchy, and Roshi as her shadow…
He was worth far more alive and cooperative than dissected.
Orochimaru flicked the scroll with a finger, letting it roll a short distance toward Roshi.
"Consider it compensation, Roshi-kun. I dirtied your clothes, and interrupted your little vacation."
His smile widened, filled with unsettling enthusiasm.
"If you wish to… explore deeper topics, the scroll contains a special marker. Use it, and it will guide you to a temporary contact point."
There was nothing more to say.
Orochimaru's lower body dissolved as he slipped backward into the forest. His silhouette merged with the shadows, then vanished completely into the darkness of the trees.
Silence returned.
Roshi stared at the scroll lying in the dirt.
Then he frowned slightly.
It came out of Orochimaru's mouth. Covered in spit. Tch…
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