Orochimaru suddenly felt that Danzō might have simply chosen the wrong approach back then.
However, none of that mattered anymore.
What mattered was that the fish had bitten the hook, and it had done so willingly.
"Let me see your strength."
More precisely, let me see the value of your cells.
The corners of Orochimaru's mouth curved upward as a sharp glint flashed through his eyes.
"Right now?"
Amamiya Rei asked without the slightest trace of suspicion, her tone sincere enough that one might believe she was genuinely worried about the noise waking the entire camp.
"Yes, right now."
Orochimaru could hardly restrain his anticipation, as his desire to witness Mokuton firsthand was already clawing its way to the surface.
Amamiya Rei was, of course, perfectly aware of why Orochimaru had set his sights on him, yet the more Orochimaru longed to see the power of Wood Release, the more Rei decided not to use it.
Since arriving in this world, Amamiya Rei had rarely been given opportunities to fight seriously against others, as Kakashi was one of the few who had ever exchanged blows with him, Uchiha Fugaku only focused on instructing him in ninjutsu, and Sarutobi Hiruzen would never truly fight him with intent.
Orochimaru, however, was different.
Orochimaru delighted in forcing a person to reveal everything they had, much like how he once treated Uchiha Sasuke.
Rei could not guarantee many things, but he was absolutely confident that he was far stronger than Sasuke had been at that time.
If that were the case, then Orochimaru would only grow more exhilarated the longer the fight dragged on, and Rei could finally take this chance to thoroughly test the results of his own training.
Orochimaru remained motionless, standing where he was, his excited pupils locked firmly onto Amamiya Rei.
Every subtle movement of his body radiated absolute confidence in his own strength.
Rei's judgment was correct.
Orochimaru truly was confident.
Even knowing that the young girl before him had inherited Mokuton, Orochimaru felt no sense of fear.
Wood Release was indeed a powerful kekkei genkai, but its true worth depended entirely on the one wielding it.
In the hands of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, Mokuton had been the foundation upon which villages were built and peace was sustained across the shinobi world.
In the hands of the girl before him, however, its offensive potential remained unknown, and it was certainly impossible to compare it to Senju Hashirama's.
When Amamiya Rei stepped forward, her speed made Orochimaru's eyes narrow slightly in surprise.
She was faster than expected.
Rei surged toward Orochimaru as though space itself had folded beneath her feet, her movement so abrupt it resembled shunshin.
The long blade at her waist flashed from its sheath, slicing through the air with a sharp, howling cry.
Orochimaru had not anticipated that Amamiya Rei would wield a sword.
Although Orochimaru himself was not a master of kenjutsu, even a cursory glance at Rei's stance was enough to tell that her fundamentals were solid.
The blade tore through the night wind and slashed toward Orochimaru's chest.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, his body twisting at an angle that defied common sense, bending like something without bones as he slipped past the strike.
Amamiya Rei had never expected to finish Orochimaru with a single slash, yet the manner in which Orochimaru evaded still sent a jolt through him, because while he had seen this flexibility countless times in anime, witnessing it in person was an entirely different matter.
That evasive movement was deeply unsettling.
Suppressing his revulsion, Rei rotated his wrist and brought the blade down toward Orochimaru's shoulder.
Once again, Orochimaru slid past the blade like a serpent made of water, evading effortlessly.
So she was still inexperienced, having only just begun learning kenjutsu.
Disappointment barely had time to form in Orochimaru's mind before Amamiya Rei's figure blurred, and an explosive force erupted from the blade.
Orochimaru's vision filled with afterimages resembling streaks of lightning.
"Thunder Breathing First Form: Thunderclap and Flash, Eightfold!"
Golden lightning flooded Orochimaru's surroundings, intertwining in a blinding lattice of light that swallowed his vision entirely.
Within the overwhelming brilliance, Amamiya Rei's presence became nearly impossible to track.
Even Orochimaru froze for a fraction of a second before realizing that the blade was already coming from behind him.
With a grotesque twist of his body, Orochimaru narrowly avoided the strike, as a massive python as thick as an arm burst forward, jaws wide, lunging toward Rei's arm.
The blade flashed again, severing the serpent cleanly in two.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A violent gale erupted from Rei's flank, hurling her body backward through the air, and in the next instant Orochimaru's figure appeared behind her, both arms transforming into enormous serpents that snapped toward Rei's shoulders.
"Thunder Breathing Seventh Form: Flaming Thunder God!"
Rei twisted midair, and in the blink of an eye her figure vanished from Orochimaru's sight.
A flicker of astonishment passed through Orochimaru's eyes.
This speed surpassed even the last burst.
The air screamed as it ruptured under unbearable pressure, like a golden thunder dragon carving its path through the sky.
In less than a heartbeat, two severed snake heads hit the ground.
The blade, however, continued closing in on Orochimaru.
The smile on Orochimaru's lips stretched wider and wider.
What a delightful surprise.
Amamiya Rei had given him far more than he ever expected.
He had assumed that Rei relied solely on Mokuton, yet not only was her swordsmanship impressive, but she had refined it to this degree in a single month, even creating unique techniques of her own.
A true genius.
Orochimaru's pupils gleamed brighter as he dodged the blade and lunged toward Rei with reckless abandon, as though he no longer cared about his own safety.
Amamiya Rei stared in silence.
He had known Orochimaru was unhinged, but not to this extent.
Still, even barehanded, Rei had his answer.
The blade slid back into its sheath.
At his feet, a crystalline silver-blue snowflake bloomed.
"Destructive Death: Compass Needle!"
Centered on himself, Rei expanded a snowflake-shaped formation across twelve directions.
Through this formation, he could sense the fighting spirit of his opponent, a peculiar energy emitted at the moment of attack.
Once activated, Rei's body responded like a compass needle drawn by invisible magnetism, naturally guiding his strikes toward the opponent's most lethal weak points.
At the same time, the enemy's movements became painfully clear in his perception.
Sensing this fighting spirit in advance allowed him, to a certain extent, to predict his opponent's actions.
For someone as sharp-minded as Rei, such prediction became almost effortless.
Naturally, if the opponent were equally sharp, the effectiveness of the technique would be diminished.
There was no doubt that Orochimaru was exceptionally sharp.
After exchanging more than ten blows, Orochimaru immediately sensed that something was wrong and leapt backward to widen the distance between them.
His gaze fixed strangely upon Amamiya Rei.
Every punch and every kick he had thrown had been intercepted.
Rather than Rei being impossibly fast, it felt as though she already knew exactly how Orochimaru would strike.
Of course, the foresight extended only a second or two ahead, because if Rei had known before the attack even began, this fight would have been entirely one-sided.
That was precisely why Orochimaru was so curious about how Rei was sensing his movements in advance.
If Amamiya Rei knew what Orochimaru was thinking, he would have answered without hesitation.
Bring meat, and I will trade you for it.
***
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