Orochimaru watched Mamoru leisurely. "Once your Chakra is depleted, this perfect vessel will be mine..."
For this young man, he was even willing to temporarily set aside his original plan.
"In a perfectly good Chunin Exams, I didn't run into many Genin, but instead faced off against a Kage-level first. Talk about luck." Mamoru whispered, slowly opening his right hand.
A Rasengan began to condense in his palm, the pale blue Chakra spinning rapidly. Immediately after, crimson Chakra flowed into it like water, and the Rasengan's color gradually shifted to a fiery red.
As more red Chakra was injected, the surrounding air began to distort, and heat waves radiated in all directions.
The snakes pressed against Infinity struggled violently, and the smell of burning spread.
As the seconds ticked by, the sphere of Chakra became like a lit lamp, emitting an increasingly brilliant light from the inside out.
Finally, a fireball resembling a miniature sun blazed in Mamoru's palm.
"What is that?!"
Orochimaru's whole body shook as he stared intently at that "miniature sun," the feverish obsession in his eyes nearly overflowing.
Mamoru said nonchalantly, "Don't make such a fuss. This is just the minimum output."
With that, he hurled the "miniature sun" into the air and shouted, "Taste this and don't you dare die!"
The world suddenly brightened. Everything was swallowed by the crimson light. In an instant, all things evaporated.
Boom!!!
The delayed explosion thundered through the entire Forest of Death, clearly audible even to the residents of Konoha.
The earth trembled violently, and dust soared into the sky.
As the dust gradually cleared, a bowl-shaped crater over a hundred meters in diameter was revealed.
Mamoru stood perfectly intact at the bottom of the pit, looking around—not a single snake, nor even a whole leaf, could be found.
The edges of the crater were filled with fallen, burning trees, like a scroll depicting hell.
Crack... Crack...
A strange cracking sound suddenly came from the distance.
Mamoru narrowed his eyes and saw a large, charred, long object writhing in the crater.
"No way..." He muttered.
With a burst, Orochimaru actually tore his way out of that charred husk.
The sound of viscous liquid dripping was nauseating, and Mamoru couldn't help but get goosebumps.
"Heh heh heh..."
Orochimaru let out a strange laugh as he slowly crawled out of the charred shell.
He stepped onto the scorched earth, a hideous and triumphant smile appearing on his face. "That was dangerous. Fortunately, I hid in its belly at the last moment."
He stared at Mamoru sinisterly. "Now, your Chakra should be nearly exhausted, shouldn't it? Where else can you run?"
Mamoru suddenly understood—Orochimaru had the giant snake swallow him at the last second, using its body as a shield.
"As expected of the legendary Sannin." Mamoru shrugged and gave Orochimaru two thumbs up. "I give up. I really can't beat you right now."
Orochimaru stood silently. Although he didn't understand the intent behind the boy's gesture, he was in full control and didn't panic at all.
Mamoru locked eyes with Orochimaru for a few seconds, then his face suddenly shifted into an exaggerated expression of terror as he smirked cheekily. "Can't win, so I'm outta here!"
In the next instant, his figure appeared high above the crater.
"What?!"
Orochimaru's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly opened his mouth and spat out a snake's head, the kusanagi sword shooting toward the air like a bolt of lightning.
"Bye-bye!"
Mamoru's figure flickered several times in the air, vanishing into the horizon in the blink of an eye. The kusanagi sword couldn't even touch a corner of his clothes.
"That wasn't the Body Flicker Technique at all!" Orochimaru realized, a surge of intense regret welling up inside him.
"Damn it!"
His angry roar echoed through the forest for a long time.
After completely shaking off the pursuit, Mamoru curled his lips sarcastically.
He casually locked onto a set of coordinates on the route to the Central Tower and activated his teleportation again.
The next second, he appeared high in the air and began a free fall.
—
Deep within the Forest of Death, in a rare forest clearing, the sunlight filtered through layers of foliage, casting mottled and swaying shadows.
Two teams were in a silent standoff. The air seemed frozen, thick with the tension of an impending clash. One side consisted of three ninjas from Amegakure, each carrying six uniquely shaped bamboo umbrellas on their backs. The Amegakure emblem on their bamboo hats flickered in and out of sight in the shifting light.
The Ame ninja standing in the center was exceptionally tall and burly, the hem of his black cloak swaying gently in the forest breeze. A somewhat worn bandage was wrapped around his forehead, and two hideous scars on his face were particularly striking, especially the one tearing from his right eye down to his jaw. Although the flesh had long since healed, the tightly closed, sunken eye socket spoke silently of the light that this wound had once stolen.
To his right stood a short, stout ninja whose round belly stretched his grey-and-black jumpsuit tight, making him look like a bipedal grey weasel.
The one on the left was so ordinary he was almost unnoticeable: same attire, average build, and a blurry face with no features that would allow anyone to easily pick him out of a crowd.
"Hey, brats." The tall Ame ninja in the center grinned, revealing uneven teeth as he spoke in a coarse, arrogant voice. "It seems you Sunagakure brats are tired of living..."
He deliberately drawled his words with undisguised contempt. "To dare seek us out proactively, truly the height of stupidity."
Opposite them, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro stood as still as sand sculptures. Not a trace of emotion could be seen on their faces, only a cold hostility spread silently.
The dead silence of the scene made the tall Ame ninja increasingly impatient. A vein on his temple throbbed slightly as he raised his voice to shout again, "What? Scared stiff? Or do you just not want your lives anymore?!"
"Stop talking."
Gaara crossed his arms over his chest and slowly took a few steps forward. His footsteps on the soft fallen leaves made almost no sound. His expression was terrifyingly calm, and his tone was as flat as if he were stating a fact that had nothing to do with him.
"Let's just start, Ame ninja uncle."
That nonchalant "uncle" was like a needle, stabbing deep into the Ame ninja's pride. Being so dismissed by a mere youth, his face instantly turned ashen, and the fury in his chest nearly erupted.
Kankuro spoke up at the right moment, his voice kept very low, carrying obvious concern, "Gaara, shouldn't we figure out the situation before we act? If the scroll they have is the same as ours, won't this be for nothing? Why engage in pointless conflict?"
"So what?" Gaara interrupted impatiently.
His tone didn't fluctuate at all, yet it carried a chill that seeped into the marrow. "I'm going to kill... everyone I see..."
Just as the killing intent reached its breaking point, both sides of the standoff simultaneously snapped their heads up, looking toward the sky fragmented by branches and leaves.
"Something's coming." Kankuro whispered warily, his fingers hidden under his wide black robe already quietly pressing against the puppet on his back.
Temari subtly shifted her stance, her slender fingers gripping the handle of the Giant Folding Fan on her back. Her knuckles turned slightly white from the force of her grip.