Hello, I'm back. After thinking about it for a while, I decided that the fights, at least the important ones, will be in third person; that way I feel they'll be much more dynamic and you won't know what the protagonist will do, so I can throw in a surprise or two now and then.
That's all for now, so let's begin the chapter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Third-person POV.
Two kunai were thrown simultaneously, only to be nullified, and two people collided with other kunai in between.
Miyu stared seriously at the snake in front of her, while Orochimaru just smiled and looked at his opponent with intrigue.
"Come on, Miyu, don't disappoint me," Orochimaru commented, only for Miyu to snort and, puffing out her chest, spit out a water bullet without hand seals.
Had it been any other ninja, Orochimaru would have simply accepted the attack to deceive his enemy into thinking he was injured, but with Miyu, he decided not to take any chances. So, unnaturally, he bent his back to dodge the water bullet aimed at his face.
Quickly returning his body to its original state, he opened his mouth, and a sword with peculiar characteristics emerged coiled around his tongue.
Miyu deflected the sword with another kunai, only for the Sannin to seize the Kusanagi with his remaining hand and attempt to slash his opponent, forcing her to leap back.
At that moment, Orochimaru, using hand seals and with the Kusanagi no longer hindering him, exhaled and spat out several earth bullets. In response, Miyu did the same without hand seals to neutralize his attack.
Pulling further distance, Miyu formed a hand seal, and a kunai with explosive talisman bombs appeared in her hand, which she then threw.
Orochimaru reacted swiftly and, with a single hand seal, created a massive wall of earth that blocked the kunai, but the explosion was powerful enough to shatter it and create a shockwave that flung several masters backward toward Orochimaru, leaving them with burns.
The explosion created a smokescreen, from which Miyu emerged, kunai in hand. Orochimaru countered with the Kusanagi; they began exchanging blows, but the lawnmower blade was sharp enough to slice through the kunai.
In response, Miyu began dodging the sword and, amidst a strange movement by Orochimaru, managed to grab his hand and swiftly plunge the kunai she was holding into Orochimaru's neck.
But to her surprise, Orochimaru began to melt and change color; the attacker was actually a clay clone.
Suddenly, Orochimaru appeared behind Miyu with the Kusanagi pointed at her neck.
"Fufufu, what are you going to do with that?" Orochimaru asked mockingly, but Miyu only glanced at him sideways.
"Please tell me you're the real one," Miyu taunted, something Orochimaru didn't understand, but in an instant, Miyu exploded, creating a huge cloud of steam and smoke.
Orochimaru, half his body being destroyed by the steam, opened his mouth to release another half, then did it again, managing to escape the jutsu capable of evaporating any object, living or dead.
He gasped, having to use the technique repeatedly just to emerge unscathed, but suddenly two hands grabbed his feet, preventing him from being buried in the ground.
Behind him, Miyu emerged, smiling, and drew a kunai, but it was stopped by a snake that covered Orochimaru's head.
Seeing this, Miyu narrowed her eyes and drew another kunai, realizing she was running out of tools.
"Kukuku," Orochimaru's laughter echoed throughout the area, and then several snakes began to appear from various locations.
"Hmm, a trap," Miyu said upon seeing this, performing a quick Shunshin just as all the snakes attacked at once.
The moment she appeared atop a tree, Orochimaru attacked her with his sword, but she managed to leap forward, dodging the attack.
Orochimaru extended his hand, from which thousands of snakes emerged. Miyu responded by quickly forming hand seals to mimic his action, causing several tree branches to sprout and kill the snakes.
Miyu landed in another tree, only to see Orochimaru lunging at her, but in response, she simply formed a one-handed seal.
"Kai!" she declared.
At that moment, Orochimaru's feet exploded, halting his attack and causing him to fall to the ground.
From Orochimaru's half-destroyed body emerged another, completely unharmed, from his mouth, but its expression was no longer calm; instead, it looked more exhausted.
"Hey, Pedumaru, I think the battle area is pretty dirty. You don't mind if I clean it up, do you?" Miyu said, performing some hand seals. "Water Release: Water Blast, Wave Collision!" With that, she inflated her chest and expelled a large amount of water.
Orochimaru tried to escape, but the giant waves that swept everything away swept him away too. Trees, plants, animals—no one could escape the massive tsunami that flooded the entire forest.
After several minutes, the water began to recede slowly, revealing Orochimaru clinging to a tree, spitting out the water he had swallowed when it collided with the very tree he was holding onto.
"Typical Konoha, all tree hugs," a mocking voice rang out, its source unknown to Orochimaru until he glanced up at the sky, his eyes widening to see Miyu flying in a rather ungainly pose.
Before Orochimaru could say anything, Miyu launched several shuriken, then formed hand seals and unleashed flames that engulfed the ninja tools.
Her opponent could only react quickly and move.
"That technique, and the previous one, you've been stealing from somewhere else," Orochimaru said, somewhat annoyed.
"Kosuke taught me the Uchiha clan technique several years ago, while the Light Rock technique, well, I stole that when I invaded Iwa during the war. Or have you forgotten I did that?"
"Kukuku, no, that's not it. I just thought you'd use jutsu of your element, like water, earth, or wood, not from other clans or villages," Orochimaru said.
"Hmm, if you want, I can do another Uchiha clan trick," Miyu announced, holding the ground as she performed a series of hand seals. "Fire Release: Magnificent Fire Destruction."
A massive amount of fire erupted from Miyu's mouth, concentrating in a single point. Orochimaru wasted no time, biting his finger and drawing blood.
"Summoning Jutsu: Double Rashōmon," he announced, slamming his fist on the ground, creating two gates with demonic faces.
The first gate was destroyed by the blazing fire, while the second managed to remain standing.
Miyu finished the jutsu and stared intently, forming a hand seal.
Orochimaru was panting, already exhausted from this fight. He hadn't performed many jutsu, but "switching" his body consumed a lot of chakra, and he'd done it several times already. Unlike Miyu, he didn't have the kind of chakra reserves he possessed at the level of a tailed beast.
"I have to find an opening to escape," he told himself; otherwise, he'd only feel a sense of danger.
I glanced at the top of the Rashomon to see Miyu ready with her hand seals.
"Fire Release: Fireball, Dragon Flame!" she announced, unleashing a dragon-shaped stream of fire from her mouth that hurtled toward her.
The attack hit its target, but instead of burning a saw, it only scorched a wooden log.
Miyu squinted at the forest, only to be met with an explosion. Seeing this, she vanished into smoke, revealing herself to be a shadow clone.
Elsewhere, Orochimaru could be seen dodging dozens of Miyu clones that exploded upon attack, forcing him to perform a body swap.
A Miyu approached at high speed. Orochimaru tried to destroy her before she exploded, but to his surprise, she didn't explode before the cut. Instead, she dodged and swiftly slapped Orochimaru's arm.
The Snake Sannin, seeing this, opened his eyes in horror, and before he could react, a swirling ball of chakra slammed into his side.
"Rasengan," Miyu called out the name of the technique.
Orochimaru's doubled-over body opened its mouth, only to reveal another, more tired and pale than usual.
"I copied Minato's tactic; it's too useful not to use," Miyu remarked mockingly.
Orochimaru glanced at her for a moment, then looked around, noticing that several chakra bundles still surrounded her, unsure if they were normal or explosive.
The snake man was in a bind; his chakra was running out. Having all the chakra natures was useless to him, since his opponent also possessed them, negating that advantage. The summoned snakes could be quickly neutralized with Wood Release, and his more specialized techniques wouldn't do him much good.
"Kukuku, I wonder if we can come to an agreement," the Sannin suggested.
"I have no interest in making any deals with any pedophiles," she replied, causing her opponent to frown, since she didn't know where the term "pedophile" came from, as she had never done anything strange to one other than use them as guinea pigs for experiments.
"That's a shame," said the snake, throwing several smoke bombs to the ground.
"DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!" roared Miyu to her clones, who nodded.
...
After hours of repetition, they finally reached the border between the Land of Fire, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Waterfall.
Orochimaru stopped to catch his breath. He had used a vast amount of chakra to destroy, distract, and distance himself from Miyu, employing various jutsu, both elemental and non-elemental.
A few seconds later, Miyu appeared not far from Orochimaru.
In response, the Snake Sannin clapped his hands on the ground, and several snakes emerged. Miyu then performed four quick Naso hand seals.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Spear," she said, her entire arm engulfed in lightning, and with a swift movement, she severed the heads of all the snakes.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet," Orochimaru said, spitting out a blast of fire.
"Wind Release: Air Current," Miyu replied, creating a gust of wind that abruptly halted her enemy's fire technique.
This created another stalemate. Orochimaru fervently believed he could defeat Miyu in kenjutsu, and he wasn't far from the truth, but there was a problem: her strikes were capable of destroying anything, and medical ninjutsu, when used correctly, could cause him to automatically lose. Therefore, he didn't want to get close to her.
"Let's finish this, you snake with strange tastes," Miyu declared, hissing loudly.
Before Orochimaru could reply, a scroll was tossed out. As it landed between them, it opened, revealing several seals.
This put the Sannin on alert, as he hadn't seen her carry it, which could only mean one thing.
"Release," Miyu said with a hand seal, and an icy blizzard erupted from the scroll, freezing the entire area.
Orochimaru closed his eyes, but with each passing second, his body grew colder and his movements more clumsy.
As quickly as he could, he spat out the Kusanagi and turned to strike Miyu, but she easily stopped his blow, twisted his wrist, forcing him to drop the sword, and delivered a punch to his chest that shattered his ribs, lungs, stomach, trachea, and heart. It sent him flying into several trees.
The temporary snowstorm subsided.
The mouth of Orochimaru's corpse opened to release another unharmed person, but this Orochimaru had to kneel on one knee to breathe properly.
He looked at his opponent, who was steaming as she examined the kusanagi now in her hands.
"Well, let's continue," she announced, launching herself into battle.
Intent on retrieving his sword, he threw it at her. The fight was incredibly evenly matched in both taijutsu and kenjutsu.
But Miyu made a mistake, allowing a swift movement from Orochimaru to strike her arm, forcing her to drop the sword. It returned to Orochimaru's hand, but in response, she struck him, sending him flying several meters back.
"Thank you very much for returning my sword," Orochimaru mocked.
"No, thank you for stopping right there," Miyu replied, beginning to perform several quick hand seals.
Before Orochimaru could enter, a chain hidden in the ground appeared and wrapped around the Sannin, immobilizing him.
He glanced at the chain only to see that it bore a Flying Thunder God Seal, and in a split second, Miyu appeared at his side.
"Chakra Seal," she announced, sealing Orochimaru's chakra before punching him, shattering his jaw.
At that moment, the chains loosened, causing the chakra-deprived and stunned Sannin to collapse to the ground.
In the darkness of the forest, two clones appeared, holding the chains, before vanishing.
"I didn't need to use Wood Release, because if I had, this would have been too easy," Miyu laughed as she placed a foot on Orochimaru's chest and stomped down hard. The sound of cracking ribs echoed as the Sannin spat blood from his broken mouth. "You can leave now."
As she said that, six ANBU appeared around Miyu.
"Yes, my lady," they said.
Orochimaru looked at this with bewilderment.
"The answer is that you were always here, just far away; when I whistled, it was the call for you to approach the battle." With that said, she looked at one with pale blond hair. "Number 5."
"At your command, my lady," said Number 5.
"Extract all the vital and fair information you know from him; omit nothing."
"Immediately," she replied, moving closer to Orochimaru's head, while he was powerless to react.
Seeing this, Miyu lowered her guard slightly, not caring who was watching, so she didn't notice a person resembling a Venus flytrap observing everything from afar, slowly disappearing into a tree.
...
At the entrance to Konoha that night, the two gatekeepers could be seen almost dozing off, only to feel a powerful surge of chakra that jolted them awake.
At that moment, several ninja and some patrolling ANBU approached, but instead of observing the supposed threat, they simply stared straight ahead, their eyes wide open.
On their way to the village, Miyu could be seen dragging Orochimaru by the hair without any care.
When she reached within a few steps of the gatekeepers, Miyu carelessly threw Orochimaru at them.
"I was lurking around the outskirts of Konoha and I ran into him, so I neutralized him and brought the rogue back," she said, brushing the strands of Orochimaru's hair from her hand.
She entered the village, ignoring everyone's stares, and then proceeded to destroy the Snake Sannin from head to toe, covering him in seals. I'm just sending a message to everyone here: never think badly of Miss Miyu.