At first, when it came to killing a snake, Hagoromo was actually reluctant.
After all, you couldn't just kill something because you felt like it.
That snake was Orochimaru's summon—
and even beating a dog required looking at its owner first.
But Manda was a summon with an absolutely atrocious temperament.
After crushing a building flat, it began indiscriminate slaughter with its gaping maw.
At first, it was eating Kirigakure ninja.
Hagoromo said nothing—if anything, that counted as helping Konoha.
He even found himself appreciating the purple-scaled monster a little.
Then Manda casually swallowed a Konoha ninja.
Hagoromo still didn't say anything.
He merely frowned, assuming it was an accident.
But then—
Manda turned and charged straight at him.
And that gaze—
there was no doubt about it.
He was on the menu.
So here was the real question:
If he killed this thing…
would Orochimaru have objections?
The Sannin's summons could speak, sure—but Manda clearly had no interest in civilized negotiation.
At the very least, shouldn't you ask the person being eaten for consent first?
Testing his newly acquired Samehada on Manda sounded tempting…
but Hagoromo reconsidered.
He still wasn't used to the sword.
That said, he wasn't worried.
Against massive summons, he actually had experience.
And since there was no need to capture it alive—
maximum lethality was the way to go.
Killing it wouldn't even be painful emotionally.
Hagoromo drove Samehada into the ground and dispersed the lightning around his body.
Then he reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out a scroll.
Four Violet Flames Formation?
No—too brutal.
The blast radius was enormous, and Konoha ninja were packed all around the base.
Using that would take allies with it.
His fingers slid off that scroll and moved one slot over.
A red-covered scroll.
He snapped it open partially and brushed his hand over the sealing formula marked with the character "Sword."
A giant shuriken, as tall as his shoulders, appeared in his hand.
If he was going to test Manda's defenses, ordinary shuriken would be like tickling.
So he chose a 6XL-sized option.
Manda reared up, its massive body rising at an angle that allowed Hagoromo to throw upward without risking friendly fire.
Hand seals flashed.
A dense storm of Shadow Shuriken tore through the air at an oblique angle.
With Manda's sheer size, dodging completely was impossible.
Thud—thud—thud!
The sound of blades biting into flesh rang out as Manda shrieked, blood spraying through the mist.
The attack ended in an instant.
To evade further strikes, Manda lifted its body even higher—
and with a single sweep of its eyes, it locked onto the culprit.
From dozens of meters above, Manda's massive head slammed straight down toward Hagoromo.
"Hey… won't that give you a concussion?" Hagoromo muttered.
"And really—do you have to expand my dietary options?"
This thing truly didn't know when to quit.
After getting injured, retreating back to Ryūchi Cave was an option—
but Manda wasn't that kind of snake.
With its unstable temperament and nonexistent self-control, it would never leave without swallowing the human who dared injure it.
"Grilled snake meat… high heat kills parasites, crispy outside, tender inside…"
While muttering culinary evaluations, Hagoromo retreated rapidly.
At the same time, his hand seals were already complete.
Boom!
Manda's head smashed into the ground where Hagoromo had been moments earlier, shaking the earth violently.
Hagoromo's footing wobbled—but his hands never faltered.
He inhaled deeply, his torso swelling like a frigatebird in mating season.
Then—
He exhaled a breath of "immortal vapor."
Hot, admittedly.
Fire Release: Dragon Flame Bomb!
A roaring inferno engulfed Manda's upper body.
A piercing scream echoed—then fell silent.
Flames churned as something massive writhed within.
Was it dead?
Of course not.
Hagoromo hadn't boosted the technique, and Manda's body was far too large.
Only its head had been burned.
And when the flames faded—
What remained was a giant shed skin, still burning.
Molting?
Effective—but where did Manda go?
Hagoromo cautiously scanned his surroundings while moving toward Samehada.
The instant his hand closed around the sword's handle, he reflexively raised it horizontally.
The ground in front of him exploded.
Manda's head burst out from below!
If Hagoromo hadn't blocked instinctively, he would've taken the full impact.
Even so, the collision hurled him into the air.
It was actually better this way—the force was dispersed.
Though the impact stole his breath and sent him flying high, nothing vital was damaged.
Midair, Hagoromo raised Samehada overhead with both hands, preparing to bring it down in a decisive slash.
Then—
Poof.
Samehada vanished.
Gone.
Completely.
What?!
There was no time to think.
Below him was Manda's gaping maw.
Cut its jaw in half?
No.
Hagoromo abandoned resistance entirely—
and let himself fall straight into its mouth.
Slipping past the thick, pillar-like tongue, he thrust his hand forward.
Chidori Spear!
A blade of lightning pierced clean through Manda's upper palate and struck its left eye with pinpoint precision.
An eyeball was nothing more than a fragile water sac.
Could it block Chidori?
Not a chance.
Manda's agonized shriek nearly knocked Hagoromo unconscious.
Its violently thrashing body almost flung him back out.
But Hagoromo's recklessness shone at moments like this.
The mission was already complete.
If a snake wanted to eat him, then fine—
he'd kill the snake first.
Whether it was technically an ally didn't matter.
Orochimaru's snake had no right to be so picky.
Instead of escaping, Hagoromo charged deeper inside Manda.
"About here… should be good."
Judging the position, he smeared blood from his waist wound onto his hand and formed seals.
Summoning Technique!
From the outside, Manda's body suddenly swelled grotesquely, thickening several times over.
Katsuyu was summoned—
directly inside Manda.
"Big Sister," Hagoromo called.
The constricting pressure alone told Katsuyu exactly what was happening.
Among the Three Great Summons, if one asked which had the most varied attacks, it was the toads of Mount Myōboku.
They had limbs, after all.
Katsuyu was a medical summon—not combat-focused.
But that didn't mean she lacked offensive capability.
She had one attack that was extremely vicious.
A massive amount of highly corrosive acid was secreted and released instantly.
You wanted to eat a human?
Fine.
Have some supplemental digestive fluid.
Let's see who digests whom.
Manda had truly drawn the short straw.
Some things simply weren't meant to be eaten.
In searing heat, sizzling sounds, and clouds of corrosive vapor—
Manda's body was burned through from the inside.
Soft, pale things often looked clean and delicious—
but some things absolutely should not be eaten casually.
Internal destruction was nothing new.
Why did no one ever learn?
Boom.
Hagoromo found himself back under open skies.
Unable to withstand the corrosion, Manda fled back to Ryūchi Cave on its own.
"…Does it still have a chance of surviving?" Hagoromo asked, half to himself, half to Katsuyu.
He hadn't expected the acid to be that effective.
It was like pouring molten oil onto snow.
"About Manda…" Katsuyu hesitated.
"That amount of acid shouldn't be fatal… probably."
She lacked experience melting giant snakes from the inside.
"Oh. I also stabbed one of its eyes out."
"…."
What was there to say?
Hagoromo sighed regretfully.
"So I can't be sure it's dead, huh…
But then—why weren't we taken to Ryūchi Cave along with it?"
He sounded genuinely disappointed.
Katsuyu explained patiently:
"First, its body was already burned through, so we weren't technically inside it anymore."
"Second, due to my summoning contract, pulling us to Ryūchi Cave would require enormous chakra."
"And lastly—
it was retreating."
"There's no reason to bring enemies along when fleeing."
"…Fair enough," Hagoromo admitted.
Then he frowned.
"Which raises another question."
"Where did my Samehada go?"
It hadn't escaped on its own—that made no sense.
If it could do that, it would've done so long ago.
The way it vanished felt more like—
It had been summoned away.
But asking Katsuyu about that was pointless.
She wouldn't know either.
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