Chapter 31: Iron Earth vs. Orochimaru – Unhealing Wound and Desperate Retreat
As the kinetic energy continued to pour out, Iron Earth was sent flying backward, crashing heavily to the ground.
His expression changed dramatically, filled with shock and confusion.
Originally, he had thought his technique could easily shatter Orochimaru's sword—and even inflict counter-damage. But reality had slapped him hard, making him realize his judgment was wrong.
What stunned Iron Earth was that Orochimaru's treasured sword was so sharp it could actually break through his thousand-tempered body and the peak-level defense granted by Earth Spear Technique.
By all experience, Earth Spear Technique's hardening also came with the drawback of reduced mobility. Logically, only Lightning Release ninjutsu with nature transformation should counter it. There shouldn't exist any other ninjutsu capable of breaking Earth Spear!
Yet today, Orochimaru's single slash had shattered his defense!
This situation completely exceeded his expectations—but it ended here!
"Just a cutting wound—watch me seal this arm injury immediately!" Iron Earth instantly channeled chakra to try closing the 20 cm gash on his arm.
To his shock, the small wound he could normally seal effortlessly with chakra now bled like an opened floodgate.
While Iron Earth desperately tried to heal, Orochimaru didn't stop. He relentlessly swung Kirikabe Ichimonji, unleashing the Konoha-style swordsmanship he had long since mastered to perfection.
With no other choice, Iron Earth formed seals—Earth Release: Earth Ball Technique! He created a massive earth sphere to temporarily encase himself.
Orochimaru looked at the earth ball but made no attempt to destroy it.
Instead, he continued ordering Manda to devastate Iwa's formation, while he casually selected and cut down any nearby unlucky targets.
Inside the earth ball, Iron Earth discovered he couldn't use chakra or simple wound treatment to stop the bleeding. He could only rely on Earth Spear Technique to completely harden that section of skin.
Even so, blood still slowly seeped out.
But he had no choice—he had to get out and deal with Orochimaru. Otherwise, Orochimaru and his summoned beast would inflict catastrophic damage on Iwa's forces.
Having made up his mind, Iron Earth emerged from the earth ball. Seeing Orochimaru bullying Iwa's chūnin, he immediately charged in.
Iron Earth spat a small stone from his mouth. The stone rapidly grew in mid-air into a solid cannonball hurtling toward Orochimaru.
This was Iwa's signature technique: Earth Release: Rock Cannon Technique.
Orochimaru naturally wouldn't be hit so easily—he dodged the attack with ease.
In ninja battles, ninjutsu was usually deployed at precise moments—not like mages spamming spells at each other. Using ninjutsu recklessly without proper timing was simply wasting chakra!
Of course, this was the fighting style of most ordinary Kage-level and below ninjas. Only monsters like Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama could afford to spam ninjutsu at each other!
"Finally willing to come out of your dirt ball?" Orochimaru mocked.
This time, Iron Earth suppressed his previously explosive temper and fought Orochimaru with calm restraint!
He now prioritized ninjutsu over taijutsu—a significant reduction in his combat effectiveness, but he had no weapon capable of clashing directly with Orochimaru's blade. That continuous-bleeding trait was simply too disgusting.
Facing an opponent relying mainly on ninjutsu, Orochimaru felt no fear. In fact, this played to his strengths.
Orochimaru's positioning was more that of a ninjutsu-specialist ninja. Unfortunately, Iron Earth's defense was airtight—Orochimaru's snake-based secret techniques had almost no opening.
Though both rarely engaged in pure taijutsu, clashes were unavoidable.
Iron Earth had learned that Orochimaru's ordinary slashes couldn't inflict wide wounds—only when the blade glowed black was it absolutely necessary to dodge.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!" Orochimaru formed seals and exhaled a massive fire dragon toward Iron Earth.
With no alternative, Iron Earth used "Earth Release: Earth Shore Return (C-rank)" —slamming his hands to the ground, flipping up a massive stone slab to block the incoming physical attack.
Unfortunately, this technique couldn't fully stop the Great Dragon Fire. He was blasted backward by the technique.
By now, he was nearing total exhaustion. The massive wound on his arm continued bleeding steadily. Forced into taijutsu exchanges with Orochimaru, he inevitably accumulated more small cuts across his body.
He was still using hardening to seal those minor wounds—constantly draining chakra.
If not for his high proficiency, he couldn't have maintained Earth Spear hardening while fighting and casting other ninjutsu simultaneously.
Moreover, abandoning his physical advantage to play ninjutsu with Orochimaru left him looking quite miserable in that domain.
As more and more blood flowed, his stamina and chakra reserves dropped rapidly.
Iron Earth looked at the battlefield situation and his heart sank. His side had fallen completely into disadvantage.
That damn Manda was rampaging with its bloody maw, devouring Iwa ninjas across the field.
And he himself couldn't defeat the man in front of him. He knew if this continued, they would soon be crushed by Orochimaru. At that point, the Iwa forces on the battlefield would face total annihilation.
No good ending!
Gritting his teeth, Iron Earth finally made the call. He shouted across the battlefield to his Iwa ninjas: "Retreat! Retreat!" His voice carried helplessness and unwillingness, but he knew preserving strength was their only chance to fight another day.
The Iwa ninjas heard the order and began withdrawing. Though reluctant, they understood the current situation was hopeless. They could only temporarily abandon the fight and seek another opportunity.
As the Iwa forces retreated, the battlefield descended into chaos.
Orochimaru naturally wouldn't let them escape so easily. He commanded Konoha's ninjas: "Full pursuit! Hunt down every Iwa ninja!"
He himself locked onto the Iwa commander—Iron Earth. Killing him would make this battle a perfect victory.
Realizing retreat wouldn't be easy, the Iwa ninjas went berserk with Earth Release ninjutsu.
Especially Earth Release: Rock Cannon Technique—used en masse by Iwa forces. This prevented Konoha from immediate pursuit; they were forced to defend with ninjutsu first.
Some Konoha ninjas couldn't dodge the barrage and were taken out instantly!
Orochimaru naturally understood the situation. But this was war!
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