"Your Highness, please go to the tower; it's too dangerous to stay with me."
Anko quickly closed the distance with Orochimaru based on the Curse Mark's sensation, and after a short while, she saw Li Chuan suddenly appear beside her, immediately advising him.
She hadn't expected Li Chuan, the King, to follow her. If they encountered Orochimaru, wouldn't he just be an extra burden?
Aside from Kakashi, with whom he had fought, and Yamato, who was responsible for his protection and supervision, the other Ninja in the village, while knowing Li Chuan was the King of the Land of Fire, did not know his true strength.
However, thinking about it, what strength could a noble have? It was already quite surprising that he could keep up with her speed.
"Yamato went to the tower. This King came to see if I could help," Li Chuan replied with a warm expression.
Are you kidding? He had finally managed to shake off Yamato, who monitored him almost twenty-four hours a day. With such an opportunity to talk to Orochimaru, how could he give it up?
To be honest, it was not easy to escape Yamato's surveillance without being suspected at all.
Although he had Apparition for instant teleportation, Apparition had a characteristic when activated: it was not silent but accompanied by crackling sounds similar to firecrackers.
Yamato was always near him, even when he slept, he would be on the roof or in the tree outside the window, and he would immediately come to check at the slightest movement.
He also thought of using Shadow Clone, but Shadow Clone could only last a few minutes. It was fine for short tasks, but over a longer period, it would also be exposed.
The key was that the place he lived was the territory of the Sarutobi clan, next to the Hokage building, and not far from the Third Hokage's house. If any commotion were caused, others might not arrive, but the Third Hokage might arrive first.
"Your Highness, we're almost there. Hide behind me, and if anything goes wrong, escape first!"
Hearing the sound of battle roaring from ahead, Anko's expression tightened.
"No problem," Li Chuan replied with a smile, not refuting, and then fell a few steps behind Anko, following her.
Soon, they arrived at the source of the battle sounds.
There, a long-haired Ninja dressed in Grass Ninja attire stood on a large snake, looking down at Sasuke, while Sakura stood panting with a kunai behind Sasuke.
Naruto was already unconscious in a large tree near Sakura.
"Orochimaru!" Anko's eyes instantly blazed with fury when she saw the figure standing on the large snake.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Four long snakes emerged from her sleeves, viciously lunging towards Orochimaru.
Orochimaru showed a trace of surprise when he saw Anko appear, then shook his head with a smile:
"My dear subordinate, long time no see. You're so cold to your teacher the moment we meet."
He did not dodge the Ninjutsu Anko unleashed but allowed the four snakes to bite his limbs, pulling him in front of Anko.
"You are an S-Rank rogue Ninja, a wanted criminal. As your disciple, my mission is to personally end you."
Anko straddled Orochimaru, took out a kunai, and pinned her left hand and Orochimaru's left hand together to prevent him from forming hand signs. Then, she tightly clasped Orochimaru's right hand, using his hand to quickly form several hand signs.
"This hand sign, are you trying to take me down with you?" Orochimaru looked down at the hand sign Anko formed, a surprised expression on his face.
Anko, enduring the pain of her palm being pierced, showed a complex expression:
"That's right. You and I, let us die here together today."
Orochimaru was once her most trusted and admired teacher, but he had abandoned her and defected from the village, even erasing some of her memories before leaving.
Today, for Konoha's safety, she would die here with Orochimaru.
"But, in that case, it seems you're just committing suicide, and it won't serve any purpose."
Just then, a new Orochimaru emerged from the large tree in front of Anko, while the Orochimaru Anko had pinned with the kunai gradually melted and disappeared.
"How is that possible!" Anko's eyes showed disbelief, and she was about to immediately form hand signs to attack again, but suddenly felt a sharp pain from the Curse Mark on her shoulder. Her Chakra was instantly drained, and she knelt weakly on the tree trunk.
"As expected of Orochimaru, one of the Sannin."
Li Chuan rescued the unconscious Naruto and handed him to Sasuke and Sakura. When he turned around, he found that Anko had already lost her combat ability.
"Brother Chuan, what exactly is going on?"
Seeing Li Chuan appear there, Sakura and Sasuke felt relieved, but seeing their examiner, Anko, defeated by that Grass Genin in just a few breaths, their hearts tightened again.
Li Chuan stared at Orochimaru and quietly replied:
"This person is not a Ninja from Grass. He is the S-Rank rogue Ninja, Orochimaru. I'll hold him off for a bit. You guys take this opportunity to take Anko Jonin and escape to a safe place first."
"Your Highness, take them and escape quickly!"
Anko, kneeling on the tree trunk above, gritted her teeth, enduring the stinging pain from the Curse Mark, and shouted loudly to Li Chuan below.
She had completely lost her combat ability now, and it was basically an impossible task to expect Li Chuan and three Genin to defeat Orochimaru.
"Oh, no, that won't do. My experiment isn't finished yet. None of you can leave now."
Orochimaru did not kill Anko but pointed his hand towards Li Chuan and his group, commanding the giant snake to lunge towards Li Chuan.
His purpose for coming today was specifically to test Sasuke's potential, then implant the Curse Mark on him, and when his current body became unusable, he would take over Sasuke's body.
When he had not defected to Akatsuki, he was instantly defeated by Itachi's Sharingan, which sparked his strong interest in the Sharingan.
"Orochimaru, whether it works or not is not up to you!"
Li Chuan roared, directly activating his Second Form. His body rapidly expanded, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a muscular strongman over two meters tall. Then, with the enhancement of Chakra in his body, he punched the head of the attacking giant snake.
"Boom!"
With a loud bang, the giant snake's head was directly pierced by his punch, and it died instantly.
Facing Orochimaru, who possessed Shadow-level strength, Li Chuan dared not hold back, because he might die at Orochimaru's hands if he was not careful.
Anko was Orochimaru's only disciple, and he had some feelings for her. When he defected, it was to keep secrets, and the fact that he chose not to kill Anko directly but instead erased her memories shows this.
Sasuke was a reserve body, Naruto was the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki, and Sakura didn't even have the desire to kill, so they were all actually safe.
Only Li Chuan, the King, might be the least valuable in Orochimaru's eyes. If he could be killed, he probably wouldn't hesitate at all.
So, he immediately activated his Second Form, the muscular physique.
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