Mamoru tilted his head back and spat out a blast of scorching fire, which in an instant condensed into a ferocious flaming dragon head, whistling toward the snake swarm with a deafening roar. Wherever the fire dragon passed, the air distorted from the high temperature.
The black snakes were all reduced to ashes. Even Orochimaru himself was swallowed by the flames, letting out a shrill scream.
"AAAAAAH—"
The flaming Orochimaru fell from the air, turning into a charred corpse on the ground with no further movement, only wisps of blue smoke rising from the blackened body.
Mamoru quickly leaped down from the branch, about to step forward and finish him off.
Crack!
The charred corpse suddenly split open, and a half-human, half-snake figure burst out from the shell. This form of Orochimaru kept a human upper body, while his lower body had turned into a winding snake torso.
This unexpected turn of events gave Mamoru a slight pause. He narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue inwardly.
He's not dead even like this? Then how do I fight him?
"Hiss... Hiss..."
Several times more black snakes than before surged from Orochimaru's sleeves, rushing toward Mamoru like a tide, leaving slimy trails on the ground.
However, half a meter away from Mamoru, the surging snake swarm hit an invisible barrier and could no longer advance a single inch.
"Hey, you're one of the Sannin after all." Mamoru said, maintaining the active Infinity as he mockingly arched an eyebrow. "Being this pestering is a bit unsightly, don't you think?"
"As long as I can achieve my goal, what does it matter how lowly the means are?" Orochimaru was unashamed, instead manipulating his snake hands with great interest to touch the invisible barrier.
Mamoru curled his lip. Morality was indeed something not worth mentioning in the eyes of the Sannin: a scientific madman, a pervert, and a degenerate gambler.
Mamas proposed with a smile, spreading his hands, "I say, neither of us can do anything to the other. How about we part ways here? I'll head to my tower, and you go on with your plan, how about it?"
The black snakes receded into his sleeves like a tide. Orochimaru stood five meters away, a terrifying smile still hanging on his face. His golden vertical pupils were locked tightly on the young man not far away, as if he were admiring a precious experimental specimen.
Seeing this expression, Mamoru knew in his heart that the other party would not let him go so easily. This old snake would definitely not rest until he had planted a Cursed Seal on him.
The battle erupted again in an instant.
Orochimaru's hands suddenly clasped together to form seals, his knuckles turning white from the force.
Mamoru, however, did not move a muscle. The Six Eyes had already seen through this as just a Paralysis Jutsu, a Ninjutsu of this level had no effect on him whatsoever. He didn't even knit his brows.
But Orochimaru clearly didn't think so. At such close range, he only needed to bind his opponent for even a single second, and that would be enough.
Orochimaru's mouth opened wide again to an incredible degree, and a strange snake holding a sharp sword in its mouth shot out from his throat. The blade instantly elongated, its tip pointing straight at Mamoru's face.
Without any surprise, the kusanagi sword was blocked by Infinity. No matter how much force Orochimaru applied, it could not advance even a fraction of an inch further.
Through the contact just now, Orochimaru had roughly guessed that this barrier was not an ordinary defensive Ninjutsu, but likely some kind of spatial ability. His snake hands had completely lost their sense of touch upon contacting the barrier.
With a wriggle and contraction of the snake body, Orochimaru's lower half transformed back into legs, and he landed lightly on the ground.
"This could go on forever... It seems it's not the time to save Chakra."
Mamoru stared at Orochimaru, who was retracting the kusanagi sword back into his stomach. He stepped forward, a ferocious curve rising at the corners of his lips.
"This is the first time I've used this move against an enemy."
"Hehehe... Then it truly is an honor."
Orochimaru leaped back more than ten meters, letting out a sinister laugh, his golden vertical pupils flashing with the light of anticipation.
"Come on, let me see something even more interesting."
"As you wish..."
Before his voice had even faded, visible Chakra erupted from all over Mamoru's body, its blue light exceptionally striking in the night.
In the blink of an eye, the pale blue Chakra expanded twofold, its color becoming increasingly deep and rich, like the color of the deep sea.
In the next second, countless cracks split the ground, and the violent Chakra doubled once more. The rubble on the ground was drawn by it, slowly rising and forming a small gravity field around him.
"The Third Gate, Gate of Life, Open!"
Boom!
The ground beneath Mamoru's feet exploded violently. Accompanied by a deafening roar, a violent air wave swept out in all directions, blowing the surrounding trees so hard they shook violently.
Just then, the outward-bursting Chakra suddenly retracted, finally condensing on the surface of his body into a thin but solid pale blue Chakra cloak, tightly wrapping around his frame.
Mamoru's black hair stood on end, and green energy faintly flowed within the pale blue Chakra. A suffocating sense of pressure enveloped the entire space, and even the distant chirping of insects came to an abrupt halt.
In an instant, Mamoru's form had changed drastically. His entire aura had undergone a world-shaking transformation, as if he had turned into an awakened ferocious beast.
This form was the Eight Inner Gates as modified by the Six Eyes—a form that would only be displayed in a perfect state without wasting a single shred of Chakra.
"Hahahahaha..."
A low, frantic laugh suddenly broke the silence of the forest.
Orochimaru looked at Mamoru, who was a completely different person from before. His golden vertical pupils contracted with excitement, and his whole body displayed a morbid euphoria.
He laughed so hard he leaned back and forth, his words becoming fragmented. "It's actually the Eight Inner Gates!? It... It's truly wonderful!"
"Now..."
Mamoru's figure appeared before Orochimaru in an instant, a chilling, ferocious smile on his face. "Can you still laugh?"
Before his voice had even faded, both his hands shot out. His left hand clamped onto Orochimaru's neck like an iron pincer, and his fingers suddenly tightened. Accompanied by the tooth-aching sound of bone cracking, that section of the neck was actually crushed by brute force.
At the same time, his right fingers snapped together, punching straight into the opponent's heart with the sound of breaking air. The violent force instantly pierced through the chest, leaving a gruesome bloody hole.
However, in that lightning-fast moment—
Bang!
The ground exploded violently, sending rubble flying.
Orochimaru's head actually burst out from underground, the cold, glinting kusanagi sword in his mouth like a poisonous snake's tongue, stabbing straight toward Mamoru's back.
It turned out he had already used a Body Shedding technique, diving underground under the cover of his shell just for this fatal strike.
Mamoru's figure flashed, narrowly avoiding the sword's edge. In the next second, he appeared at Orochimaru's side, grabbing the opponent's long neck with one hand, his fingers sinking deep into the flesh. He twisted his waist violently, his arm exploding with astonishing strength, dragging Orochimaru entirely out from underground.
Crash!
Accompanied by the loud sound of earth and stone crumbling, Orochimaru's extended neck was like a rope buried underground, being forcibly dragged out.
Mamoru swung his arm in a wide circle, tracing a tragic arc in the air before slamming him against the ground.
Boom!
Dust soared into the sky, and another human-shaped deep pit appeared abruptly.
Mamoru's offensive did not stop. He pressed forward, his knee pinning Orochimaru's chest firmly, his left hand pressing down on his head, while his right fist rained down like a storm. Every punch carried enormous power, causing the ground to vibrate continuously as the surrounding earth and stone flew everywhere under the violent impact.
But in just a few seconds, Mamoru suddenly stopped his punches and looked up, his sharp gaze sweeping to the side. Orochimaru had once again quietly escaped using Earth Release.