The violent splash of earth and shattered rocks should not have been enough to injure a monster like Orochimaru. His body was far tougher than any normal shinobi's. So when the debris flew up, Orochimaru barely reacted. He simply prepared to sweep the stones aside and continue forward.
But the instant his hand brushed against the suspended stones, his golden eyes narrowed.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Suddenly, every chunk of earth hovering in the air exploded, as if tiny explosive tags had been buried inside each of them. The blasts overlapped again and again, turning the entire cloud of debris into a storm of razor-sharp fragments.
The fragments shot forward like thousands of shotgun pellets. The air twisted under their speed, and the ground beneath trembled from the force.
Orochimaru reacted instantly—his instincts were honed on real battlefields. He knew this attack was dangerous.
But he did not dodge.
He let the storm of stone bullets slam into his body.
A heartbeat later, blood burst out, and the legendary Sannin was thrown backward like a broken doll. His body tumbled across the ground several times before finally lying motionless, face-down, in the dirt.
Uchiha Souji knew better than to celebrate.
There was no way Orochimaru—that slippery, terrifying man—would die from something like that. The man could shed his skin like a snake and crawl out fresh and unharmed.
Souji's Sharingan flicked to Kakashi, who lay unconscious nearby. Without hesitation, he grabbed Kakashi by the collar and dragged him away at full speed.
He didn't know if Kakashi was alive or dead…
but either way, Souji couldn't leave him.
And besides—if Kakashi survived but Souji failed to save him, that would be embarrassing.
As Souji sprinted, Kakashi jolted awake, coughing violently. A clot of blood spilled from his lips. His breathing was shallow, and he could barely lift his arms.
"Don't… worry about me," Kakashi whispered weakly. "Just go…"
"Shut up!" Souji barked without looking back.
He didn't know how long it would take for Orochimaru to crawl out of his discarded skin, but he knew it wouldn't be long. If they created enough distance now, maybe—just maybe—someone from Konoha would reach them in time.
But that tiny hope died the moment a monstrous sound echoed behind them.
"Guhhh…"
Orochimaru's supposedly dead body twitched.
Then, grotesquely, his mouth split open.
An arm slid out.
Covered in thick mucus.
Dripping.
Glittering like something freshly molted.
Souji felt his scalp tighten.
Orochimaru's jaw slowly unhinged further until it stretched a full 180 degrees, not like a human's mouth at all—more like a serpent opening wide to swallow prey.
A new head slowly pushed out of the old mouth.
Orochimaru's voice slithered through the air:
"I don't know how you figured it out… but if you abandon Kakashi, you might survive."
His tone was both gentle and ice-cold, the kind of contradiction that made the heart instinctively fear him.
"Stay, and you die. Come with me… perhaps I will spare him."
Orochimaru didn't care how Souji knew his molting trick.
Uchiha clansmen always had hidden knowledge.
And the Uchiha had been quietly resisting Konoha's leadership for years.
Naturally, they gathered intelligence—especially on high-level shinobi like Orochimaru.
Souji snarled and shoved Kakashi forward, putting a bit of distance between the two of them. Then he drew both swords again, his expression sharp and alert.
"I always thought Jiraiya-senpai is a terrible author… His books are barely suitable for children."
Orochimaru paused, staring at him with a strange expression.
What was this brat talking about at a time like this?
Before Orochimaru could answer, he continued crawling out of his old skin. The rest of his new body slid free with horrifying wet noises, like a snake shedding its husk.
"Actually," Souji continued with a smirk, "before Jiraiya-senpai became an adult writer, he used to write books full of ninja philosophy. His early work is quite inspiring. I liked it."
Orochimaru blinked.
This boy was bizarre.
He flicked the slime off his hands and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"You're really strange. I never imagined someone from the Uchiha clan could resemble that idiot Jiraiya in any way."
Without another word, Orochimaru's hands flew into a fast sequence of seals.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
A massive blast of air erupted from his mouth like a compressed cannon. Souji rolled aside just in time—but Orochimaru was already beside him, appearing with frightening speed.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Dozens of giant snakes shot out from Orochimaru's sleeves like a raging river.
Souji's eyes sharpened.
"Dragon Hammer Flash!"
He leapt high, twisting his waist, and brought both swords down in a brutal downward strike.
The impact shattered every single snake, sending fragments flying.
Using the recoil, Souji backflipped and landed again beside Kakashi, panting.
Too close.
One mistake and he would have lost his limbs to those snakes.
Orochimaru's grin widened.
"I'm growing more and more interested in you."
Before Souji could react—
A blade pierced straight through his back and out his chest.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
What…?
Slowly, painfully, he turned his head.
The Orochimaru he had been fighting…
…was already dissolving.
A Shadow Clone.
The real Orochimaru stood behind him, expression calm and cold.
"So you figured out my molting trick… but you assumed I came out when that skin split open." Orochimaru's voice was like a whisper of death. "But information can deceive. Sometimes knowing too much leads you straight into a trap."
He leaned close.
"Ninjas always live in deception."
Souji's breath trembled.
So that was it.
Orochimaru had created a Shadow Clone inside the old body before shedding.
The clone crawled out first to draw Souji's attention.
Meanwhile, the real Orochimaru slid out through the other side and silently positioned himself for a killing blow.
No complicated ninjutsu.
No legendary technique.
Just pure cunning.
The kind of cunning only a shinobi who survived countless real battles could possess.
Souji's knees weakened. His vision blurred. His mind started to fade into darkness.
No… not yet… I can't sleep…
His body felt unbearably heavy, as if gravity itself increased tenfold.
His spirit, once sharp as a blade, was now exhausted to the point of collapse.
But the battle was already decided.
Orochimaru watched him with cold indifference—as if Souji's life was nothing more than a passing study material.
Souji collapsed forward, blood dripping quietly onto the dirt.
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