Unlike the battle at the Valley of the End, where he could only use the power of the Cursed Seal Level 2 preliminarily—which appeared very unpracticed and placed a huge burden on his body—the current Sasuke could already perfectly adapt to the form under the Cursed Seal Level 2 mode.
It was only a few months, but for a genius, it was enough. Not to mention the systematic and professional guidance from Orochimaru.
The current Sasuke Uchiha could be said to be several times stronger than he was a few months ago!
This further skyrocketing chakra.
Although still quite a distance from the Kage level...
It solidly broke the upper limit of ordinary Jonin.
Chilling aura, powerful chakra fluctuations.
"Secret Jutsu: Insect Rain!"
Ryoma Aburame's expression tightened. With a rapid wave of his arm, a massive swarm of insects swarmed up. Under Ryoma's control, they assaulted Sasuke's position fiercely.
A massive insect cloud blotting out the sky and sun.
This was a terrifying existence ordinary ninja dared not touch easily.
But Sasuke only sneered disdainfully.
Boom!
Chakra erupted directly.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!"
A posture of spreading wings and flying high.
Accompanied by the jutsu completed with rapid seal formation...
"Roar!"
A giant flame dragon soared into the sky. Ravaging space, instantly rising temperatures... it pounced fiercely toward the massive insect cloud covering the sky.
The two collided with a boom.
Hiss, hiss, hiss!!!
Flames burning to the extreme.
"Explode!"
Sasuke clapped his hands together, shouting deeply.
That fire dragon expanded instantly, then exploded rapidly. The fire spreading directly to the surroundings swallowed more than half of the parasitic insects.
Seizing this opportunity.
Sasuke flickered. With his speed soaring to the limit, closing the distance in one breath, he arrived at Ryoma's close range in the blink of an eye.
Clearly faster than before.
Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt!
And the azure lightning glow appearing abruptly on his right hand.
Made Ryoma's pupils contract abruptly in this moment.
So fast!?
He could only barely dodge.
Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt!
The flying lightning...
Scraped directly through the outer layer of clothing, stimulating the inner skin.
"!?"
A sensation of intense numbing pain transmitted up.
Changing Ryoma's expression involuntarily.
"Secret Jutsu: Insect Hurricane!"
Hands formed seals rapidly.
A large number of parasitic insects swarmed out from his body again, gathering rapidly, then rotating at high speed to drive up a hurricane.
Forcibly separating the space.
Neither could see the other.
But Sasuke's expression didn't change at all.
"Chidori Current!!!"
As if prepared long ago.
Chakra vented further, becoming berserk. The moment it bloomed in this space...
Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt!
Lightning flared.
The insect rain that hadn't fully formed...
Was forcibly blasted apart by Sasuke's Chidori lightning tide.
Immediately after.
He pressed down fiercely toward Ryoma's chest area.
This blatant killing intent.
In the blink of an eye.
Ryoma twisted forcefully, forcibly dodging his vitals again.
Bang!
A sideways posture.
While forcefully taking this Chidori hit and enduring the immense pain of the electric current, Ryoma summoned his parasitic insects rapidly again.
"Explode!"
Gathering in the upper position.
While a look of fierceness flowed in his pupils...
He controlled that group of parasitic insects to self-destruct directly.
Explosion at close range.
Even Sasuke's eyelids twitched uncontrollably in that moment. With a bow of his body, chakra exploded rapidly, and he retreated swiftly. It was certainly possible to forcefully kill Ryoma while tanking the damage.
But he would inevitably be dragged into it too.
Even though the Cursed Seal Level 2 mode was tougher, he was ultimately flesh and blood. More importantly, the people he brought were already completely suppressed by other Root members. Fighting until now, less than fifteen or twenty minutes...
Several of his men had died in battle.
If he got injured, the subsequent situation would be even harder to control.
Sasuke's judgment was clear and decisive. Retreating and pulling away was already very fast, but due to the overly close distance, he was still grazed by the explosion.
His clothes shattered directly, and scratch wounds burst open on his chest, thick blood spilling out.
If Sasuke was injured...
Ryoma Aburame, bearing a double blow, was in an even worse state.
Flying backward.
Bang!
Smashing heavily onto the ground behind, creating a human-shaped crater directly. Ryoma coughed up a clump of crimson blood. His clothes were tattered, and his aura weakened significantly, less than one-third of his prime.
"Cough, cough..."
This development clearly exceeded previous expectations.
Ryoma truly hadn't expected a mere 12 or 13-year-old boy to possess such strength.
Is this Orochimaru's curse mark? Truly an ominous and evil thing.
Ryoma stood up again, took a deep breath, calmed his heart, and looked at Sasuke, who seemed completely shrouded in darkness, with an incredibly apprehensive expression, thinking silently.
This was no longer an existence he could deal with alone.
Ryoma wasn't a pedantic person.
"Ken, Shen!"
He shouted loudly.
Whoosh
Whoosh!
On the other two sides.
Two figures quickly broke away from the previous battle group, speeding toward the location of Ryoma and Sasuke, outflanking from two angles.
One appeared extremely sharp.
One appeared extremely chilly.
Judging purely by aura, these two also had Jonin-level strength.
Whoosh
One person quickly took out a special sealing scroll from his chest. With a shake of his single hand, accompanied by a light shout...
"Release!"
A cloud of white smoke appeared out of nowhere.
The next second.
A giant Fuma Shuriken appeared directly in the hand of this Root member codenamed "Ken."
On the other side.
The Root member codenamed "Shen" also formed seals rapidly.
"Wind Style: Great Vacuum Sphere."
Pincer attack from both sides!
Facing this chilling killing intent coming head-on...
Sasuke looked indifferent, not putting the attacks of these two in his eyes at all.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
Rapidly leaping up.
Easily dodging Ken's attack from the low altitude, forming seals synchronously.
With a grip of a single hand...
Numerous small fireballs spewed rapidly from his mouth.
Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh
Scattering, refracting at angles.
Meeting those cyan spheres head-on.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Not only suppressing the expended cyan spheres but also borrowing the wind to further heighten the flame's power...
Pouncing fiercely toward Ken, who was also charging forward strongly.
Snap!
Perfect timing for the counter.
Ingenious choice of jutsu.
Most importantly, the intensity of chakra easily suppressing the opponent by a notch. Within sight, the scorching wave could be felt blatantly.
Ken's expression tightened.
Wanting to evade, but it was already a bit too late.
Bang!
Several fireballs from the Phoenix Sage Fire bombarded Ken fiercely. The fire spread instantly.
"Ah!?"
Falling to the ground, Ken couldn't control himself and let out miserable screams.
"Ken!?"
Shen in the front saw this, his face changing drastically.
"Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!"
Seals formed immediately.
Splash, splash, splash!
From above.
The manifested water wave, under this Root member's intentional control, washed over Ken gently.
Hiss, hiss, hiss!
Water extinguishes fire.
Thanks to Shen's quick reaction.
Forcibly extinguishing most of the fire's power...
Saved Ken's life.
But the gap blatantly exposed by rescuing his teammate was decisively seized by Sasuke.
Whoosh!
From a pressing-down angle.
A green longsword was taken out directly.
Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt!
Lightning flared, spreading rapidly up the blade.
Assaulting straight toward Shen's chest area. Chilling aura, fierce offensive. In the blink of an eye, the sword edge arrived at close range.
"!?"
Shen's pupils contracted abruptly. Obviously too late to react.
"Secret Jutsu: Insect Sphere Wall!"
From the front angle.
Ryoma's deep voice sounded.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
A massive insect cloud flew in rapidly, forming an insect wall directly, blocking Sasuke's attack.
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
Lightning seeped in.
A smell of scorching permeated the air.
Seeing the defense still unbroken...
Sasuke's eyes turned cold.
"Chidori Current!"
Massive chakra erupted recklessly.
Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt!!
Expanding lightning python.
Rumble!!
Accompanied by the roaring sound that erupted.
Crash!
This insect wall was forcibly blasted through by Sasuke.
But the opportunity to attack was missed.
Shen at close range had long pulled away to a safe distance, looking at Sasuke's location with lingering fear.
This Root member truly hadn't expected Sasuke to be strong to this degree.
Is this really just a teenage boy!?
The Uchiha bloodline.
Is truly terrifying!
"Don't face him head-on. Stall him, consume his chakra!"
Ryoma Aburame, who had also adjusted himself, flashed to a close position, speaking solemnly in a deep voice.
"Yes, Lord Ryoma."
"Yes!"
Shen, and Ken who had also barely pulled himself together, responded synchronously. The three joining hands might not necessarily lose to Sasuke, but that would also require bearing unnecessary risks. The current situation was in their favor. Even if Shen and Ken came to support him, the remaining Root members could still steadily suppress Orochimaru's other subordinates. As long as those people were dealt with cleanly, besieging Sasuke at the end would pose no problem at all!
Ryoma's judgment was very correct.
Ken and Shen also fully agreed with their captain's order.
Whoosh
Whoosh
Whoosh
Immediately pulling away in position and distance.
"Lightning Style!"
"Water Style!"
"Secret Jutsu!"
A three-sided pincer attack!
Coordinated attacks, advancing and retreating together.
They wouldn't easily launch a close-range strong attack again.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
For a moment.
Sasuke hadn't realized the seriousness of the problem.
Clang!
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
Amidst constantly flashing positions, various jutsu bombardments, and collisions of ninja tools, he failed to close in to a fatal distance.
This made Sasuke feel a bit irritable.
Even due to the opponent's tacit coordinated attacks...
Squelch!
A moment of carelessness.
His right arm was grazed by the Fuma Shuriken.
Blood splattered accordingly.
The pain transmitted to his nerves made Sasuke frown slightly.
"Ah!?"
Thud!
And just at that moment, while being forced back temporarily by the joint attack of the three again, he subconsciously glanced back and saw another one of the subordinates he brought being brazenly killed, falling into a pool of blood.
Only then was Sasuke startled.
Unknowingly.
More than half of the dozen subordinates he brought were dead or injured.
While those Root members had only paid the price of two deaths.
If this rhythm continued...
At most in another twenty or thirty minutes, this batch of people he brought would all die in battle. And his own chakra consumption was also terrifying—successive use of Fire Style and Lightning Style jutsu, plus the load of the Cursed Seal Level 2 mode.
If he still couldn't find a breakthrough...
Defeat would be his only outcome!
"Bastards!"
At this point.
If Sasuke still couldn't understand Ryoma Aburame's plan opposite him, it wouldn't be a problem of inexperience, but a major problem of water in the brain.
The current situation was already very obvious.
Sasuke knew clearly he couldn't drag it out.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Biting his finger directly.
Massive chakra surged out.
Poof!
The moment a huge cloud of white smoke appeared out of nowhere.
"Hmph! Not Orochimaru? It's you, brat!? You dare summon me, the great Manda!?"
A gigantic purple snake, fully hundreds of meters long and towering over 50 meters when upright, appeared instantly on the scene.
"!? This is Orochimaru's summon beast!?"
As one of the Sannin formerly boasted by the Hidden Leaf Village, Orochimaru's summon beast was a household name in the Leaf.
Ryoma was Orochimaru's former comrade; he could recognize at a glance that this giant snake was a terrifying existence possessing strength almost comparable to the Five Kage.
Of course, outsiders didn't know.
This giant snake was the most rebellious one in Ryuchi Cave, or at least one of them—the summon beast Manda!
Let alone the current Sasuke.
Even for Orochimaru, commanding Manda in battle was very difficult.
Unlike the summon beasts of Jiraiya and Tsunade, which would definitely accompany their contractors to fight to the end, Manda was the type who would actively cancel the summoning contract and leave immediately if things looked bad. And fighting required offerings!
Otherwise, Lord Manda wouldn't deign to fight for humans!
"One hundred sacrifices. And you can devour the people here as you please."
Sasuke stood on top of Manda's head, speaking with a look of indifference. As tentatively Orochimaru's disciple, and having inherited the Ryuchi Cave summoning contract from Orochimaru, this wasn't his first time summoning Manda. He knew Manda's personality very well.