The number of snakes continued to grow. Suddenly, a snake in one of the four corners twisted violently, its body swelling uncontrollably as Orochimaru's half-human, half-serpentine form emerged from its belly.
"Ninja Art: Four Black Snakes Formation!"
A purple barrier rapidly spread from beneath the feet of Orochimaru's snake clones, linking together and expanding upward to envelop Makiya.
A deep purple poisonous mist filled the barrier, its peculiar stench making the air heavy and suffocating.
Makiya controlled his golden flames, shaping them into a spherical shield around his body to repel the highly corrosive mist.
"A barrier technique modified from the Four Violet Flames Formation?" Makiya approached the edge of the barrier, where a translucent purple wall divided the space, blurring the world outside.
As Makiya drew near, the barrier wall immediately unleashed purple flames to block any creature attempting to break through.
The Four Black Snakes Formation, an improvement upon the Four Violet Flames Formation, was significantly more powerful. In the original story's Konoha Crush plan, the Four Violet Flames Formation used by the Sound Four had been enough to trap Hiruzen Sarutobi—hailed as the strongest Hokage—leaving the ANBU and Jonin helpless.
Orochimaru had even summoned the Reanimated forms of the First and Second Hokage. Despite three Hokage clashing violently inside, the barrier had remained perfectly intact, a testament to its incredible strength.
Of course, that was also due to the incomplete nature of the Reanimation Jutsu. The Hashirama Senju summoned by Orochimaru had his strength greatly reduced; had he been at full power, the barrier would have shattered instantly.
Makiya released his golden flames, condensing them into two ten-meter-long flying swords that slammed into the purple wall. The purple fire and golden flames intermingled, causing the wall to shake violently as if it might break at any moment.
However, despite appearing to be on the verge of collapse, the barrier remained remarkably resilient. The ripples on its surface gradually smoothed out, returning to a calm state.
"Heh heh heh... Makiya-kun, you have nowhere left to run." That iconic, raspy voice echoed through the forest, seeming to come from every direction.
A clearing suddenly opened up amidst the sea of snakes in the surrounding woods. The earth exploded as a massive white figure burrowed out from underground.
The colossal Great White Snake made its grand entrance, its massive body like a white hill coiled upon the earth.
Its body was covered in white scales that shimmered with a cold, metallic luster. Each scale was enormous and sharp as a blade, reflecting a chilling white light like countless polished mirrors. Upon closer inspection, each individual scale transformed into a tiny white snake head, their crimson eyes glaring in every direction.
The snake's head was hideous and terrifying. Its triangular eyes were like two deep pools of flickering green ghost fire, revealing endless greed, cruelty, and a complete disregard for life. With its long black hair and familiar facial structure, the faint traces of Orochimaru were still visible.
"Makiya-kun, I heard you and Shisui are friends?" The Great White Snake approached the purple barrier and opened its massive maw. "You've heard of Shisui's exploits, haven't you? The Mangekyo Sharingan... what an intoxicating power. Makiya-kun, have you ever felt jealous in the dead of night? Have you ever felt resentment? Why wasn't that power yours?"
Inside the massive mouth, rows of sharp fangs hung like inverted swords, with foul-smelling slime dripping from between them. Orochimaru's manipulative words continued to flow: "...Become my subordinate, Makiya, and I will help you obtain the power of the Mangekyo!"
"Oh?" Makiya feigned interest, looking at Orochimaru with a look of feigned surprise. "Are you saying you have a way to let me awaken the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan?"
"Of course," Orochimaru promised confidently. "The proof of my success is at the address I gave you. That is one of my bases dedicated to the research of Kekkei Genkai, including the Sharingan..."
"
Orochimaru rambled on about his experiments, stalling for time as he waited for Makiya to exhaust his chakra or succumb to the poison.
After experiencing Makiya's genjutsu, Orochimaru had concluded that the reason his previous Sharingan evolution experiments had failed was likely due to the test subjects themselves.
Human constitutions varied wildly. The difference in talent between ninjas could be as vast as a chasm. Some people's eyes simply would not evolve, while others would trigger immediately under the right stimulus. Talent was a mysterious thing; lineage determined everything.
The more he researched the history and Kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha, the more Orochimaru felt that bloodline was paramount. He was a prime example—even as a world-renowned member of the Sannin, he had nearly been taken down by a single glance from a brat like Makiya. It felt as though his decades of cultivation had gone to the dogs.
To change his own lineage and escape death, Orochimaru had invented the Living Corpse Reincarnation, a soul-possession technique remarkably similar to the concept of spirit seizing in cultivation.
"Hiruko, it seems I've taken the lead this time..." Orochimaru chuckled darkly to himself as he watched Makiya being engulfed by the purple mist.
Hiruko was a classmate of Orochimaru's from their academy days. He, too, had suffered from his own mediocre talent and harbored a deep-seated envy of ninjas from Kekkei Genkai clans. He had secretly researched the Chimera Technique to steal talents, but once Hiruzen Sarutobi caught wind of it, he had sent the Sannin to hunt him down. Unfortunately, Hiruko had managed to escape.
In reality, Orochimaru and Hiruko had remained in contact, often discussing their research through secret letters. When Shisui's Mangekyo appeared, both researchers had set their sights on the Sharingan, secretly competing to see who could seize its power first.
"That's quite a pitch. I was almost moved."
Makiya's voice drifted from behind Orochimaru as a figure dressed in a white haori slowly floated to the snake's left side.
"What?!" A look of shock appeared on Orochimaru's hideous face. He quickly looked back inside the purple barrier. The dense mist still filled the area, but the sphere of flames that had been resisting the poison had vanished.
"Was that... a genjutsu? How is that possible? I made sure not to look into your eyes!"
"Who told you an Uchiha's genjutsu can only be cast through the eyes?" Makiya reached out and placed a hand on the snake's head, feeling its cold, slimy texture.
"I see." Orochimaru realized it instantly. Before he had even used his jutsu, his gaze had been drawn to the golden flames on Makiya's body. The shimmering heat had created a dreamlike distortion. At the time, he had simply thought Makiya was wasting chakra.
Now, Orochimaru had a rude awakening. He realized that genjutsu could actually be hidden within the flames themselves. He had been played, and he had no one to blame but himself.
Makiya's palm began to heat up as golden flames erupted around him. His tone was teasing. "Besides, Orochimaru, you're not thinking clearly. If I kill you, all those research results will belong to me anyway."
A sea of golden fire surged around Makiya like a tidal wave, spinning rapidly in a clockwise direction. The ground began to crack as geysers of golden flame erupted from below. The fire spread and expanded at an incredible speed, transforming the area into a vast inferno a thousand meters wide within seconds.
The sea of fire pinned itself to the ground in a perfect circle, the blinding golden flames swirling into a massive vortex. The air distorted and crackled from the heat, and the entire space seemed to wail in agony.
Orochimaru's expression shifted drastically. The chakra Makiya was emitting was too immense. The scale of this fire sea far exceeded his range of perception, and his surrounding snake swarm was instantly incinerated.
"How can he be this strong at his age? This level of chakra... it's unscientific!"
The specter of death loomed over him. In this moment, Orochimaru was no different from any of the ninjas he had personally killed in the past. His survival instincts kicked in, driving him to do whatever it took to stay alive.
His snake maw snapped shut on the Makiya before him, only to find he had bitten a mouthful of flames. His pink esophagus was instantly scorched black.
"I cannot die here!"
The Great White Snake's body twisted rapidly, its thick tail coiling around its torso to protect its most vital part—the head—from the staggering heat radiating from all directions.
Orochimaru's human half emerged from the snake's mouth. He immediately bit his hand and slammed his palm onto the ground, deploying a massive summoning array.
"Summoning: Quintuple Rashomon!"
Chakra surged violently as the ground trembled. Five massive black shadows emitting an ancient, evil aura rose slowly from the earth, their cold energy momentarily dampening the heat.
The five iron gates shielded the Great White Snake, but the fire was everywhere. The black surfaces of the Rashomon gates began to glow red. Under the intense heat of the golden flames, the demonic faces on the gates even began to show signs of melting.
Disregarding his blood loss, Orochimaru drew yet another summoning array with his blood. Massive figures appeared within the sea of fire.
"Summoning: Giant Snake"
"Summoning: Giant Snake"
"Summoning: Giant Snake"
Three giant pythons appeared above Orochimaru, their thick bodies serving as shields against the encroaching fire. The moment they appeared, they were scorched to death by the high-temperature flames, unable to even unsummon themselves to return home and recover.
The charred remains only bought him a few moments. Orochimaru needed to activate a secret technique. Gritting his teeth, he pressed his blood-soaked hand onto the scalding, magma-like ground once more.
"Summoning: Manda!"
Boom!
A massive purple snake nearly a hundred meters long crashed onto the earth. Scalding magma splashed everywhere as the weight of its body caused a minor earthquake. The impact even caused a temporary lull in the swirling golden fire vortex.
"Orochimaru, this time I want two hundred... wait, what kind of fire is this? Where the hell are we? Where did you send me, Orochimaru?! Roar!"
Manda was Orochimaru's most powerful summoning beast and a symbol of the Sannin's might, equal in stature to Tsunade's Katsuyu and Jiraiya's Gamabunta. However, Manda was inherently evil; every time he was summoned, he demanded Orochimaru provide one hundred live sacrifices, a truly cruel practice.
"Roar! Orochimaru, you damn bastard, I'm going to kill you for this!"
The moment Manda appeared, he realized something was wrong. The surrounding sea of fire made his eyes throb, and the high temperature was constantly baking the slime off his skin. He could even smell a peculiar scent of roasted meat coming from beneath him.
Looking down, he saw his fellow kin, scorched black and clearly having already returned to the embrace of the White Snake Sage in Ryuchi Cave.
Manda was naturally cruel and cunning. Sensing that the golden flames were like a natural disaster, he had no intention of resisting. He immediately prepared to unsummon himself and return home.
However, Orochimaru had anticipated this. The moment Manda was summoned, he used genjutsu to disrupt the snake's movements, causing the golden flames to latch onto Manda's purple-black skin. The giant snake thrashed in agony.
In the nick of time, Manda used a shedding technique, performing it several times in quick succession. His massive, thick skins slowly melted into the fire. Greatly reduced in size and severely weakened, Manda finally found an opening to unsummon himself and vanish.
"Orochimaru, you just wait!" Manda's voice echoed through the layers of skin and flesh into Orochimaru's ears.
"Manda, your sacrifice was worth it. My secret technique is nearly complete." Orochimaru's lips curled into a dark smile. "Don't worry. If I survive this, I'll find a small nation for you to devour to your heart's content."
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