At the Sand Ninja front-line camp, Pakura wore a long glove on her right hand, carefully hiding her still-purplish skin.
Chisuke glanced at the glove, silently wondering what kind of potent poison Orochimaru had used. Even after two or three days of constant care, the Medical Ninja in the camp still couldn't completely purge it from her system.
However, the main Sand Ninja force would be arriving soon. Once Elder Chiyo treated her, she should be perfectly fine.
"According to our intelligence, Konoha reinforcements will arrive tomorrow. I have decided to launch a surprise night raid on the Konoha camp tonight. We must capture it before they reinforce!"
Pakura slammed the intelligence report onto the table, her mind made up.
Chisuke immediately nodded, echoing her enthusiasm. "We must capture it!"
In his heart, however, he was sighing. Teacher, how many times have you said that? If it could be taken, it would have been taken days ago. We wouldn't be sitting here waiting.
He had to admit, Orochimaru and the Ino-Shika-Chō trio were incredibly strong. Combined with their extensive, lethal trap networks, they had successfully repelled several Sand Ninja assaults.
But Chisuke had no choice. His teacher was far too stubborn to admit defeat, so he could only play along and accompany her into danger.
Sigh. Assisting Teacher in becoming the Kazekage is going to be a long, arduous task.
Pakura didn't know Chisuke's inner thoughts. Seeing him act so obediently and supportive, she didn't think twice and immediately began assigning personnel for the night raid.
The moonlight was dim, and the wind was silent—it was the perfect night for murder.
Looking out at the Konoha camp structures looming in the distance, Chisuke began rapidly weaving hand seals.
It's the middle of the night, time to get up and pee! "Flowing Sand Waterfall!"
A massive wave of yellow sand rolled across the earth, surging violently toward the Konoha camp. It crushed defensive structures and triggered countless traps along the perimeter.
Explosions echoed in the dark. Poison gas spread, and hidden weapons sprayed uselessly into the dunes. All of Konoha's meticulously laid traps were instantly buried beneath the desert wave.
Inside the Konoha camp, panicked figures darted about, desperately dodging the flowing sand.
Seeing that Chisuke had successfully forced open a gap in the defenses, Pakura signaled the Sand Ninja waiting behind her. "Attack!"
The shinobi surged forward, stepping over the shifting sands and charging directly into the Konoha camp.
At the center of the camp, Orochimaru stood calmly alongside the Ino-Shika-Chō trio. None of them looked surprised by the sudden assault.
"As expected. The Sand Ninja scouted our reinforcements arriving tomorrow, and they are making one final, desperate push to break us."
Although Shikaku Nara had perfectly anticipated this attack, he didn't feel smug. Instead, his expression was incredibly grim.
The problem was Chisuke. As a perfect Jinchūriki, the boy could maintain terrifying combat power for a terrifyingly long time. His continuous area-of-effect attacks had already caused heavy losses among the Konoha ranks.
Tonight, they might truly break.
While Shikaku only looked grim, Inoichi Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi looked like death warmed over.
They had been severely injured in a skirmish a few days prior and had only received emergency battlefield treatment. Their wounds hadn't healed, leaving their combat strength at a mere ten or twenty percent. They could only provide tactical support.
Currently, the only true powerhouse they could rely on was Orochimaru.
"Pakura and Chisuke. I can only hold off one of them," Orochimaru stated objectively, his voice smooth and calm. "The rest will have to rely on you to find a way to survive."
Hearing this, Shikaku gritted his teeth. "The Tailed Beast's endurance is too high. I need you to hold off the One-Tails Jinchūriki. I will find a way to stall Pakura."
Pakura's raw strength was certainly greater than Shikaku's, but compared to Chisuke's practically inexhaustible chakra reserves, she would eventually run out of steam.
Shikaku believed that by relying on his shadow jutsu and command artistry, he could delay her long enough for the dawn reinforcements to arrive.
Orochimaru glanced sideways at Shikaku. The corner of his mouth curved slightly, revealing a sinister, inscrutable smile.
Without another word, the Sannin blurred forward, charging directly into the Sand Ninja vanguard and instantly killing several enemies.
"Tasaka Chisuke!"
"Orochimaru!"
Hearing his name, Chisuke spotted the pale-skinned ninja carving through the crowd. Without hesitation, he triggered his complete Tailed Beast transformation.
Honestly, Chisuke was terrified of Orochimaru—especially those strange, grotesque forbidden jutsu. If he fell into one of the snake's traps, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Therefore, upon seeing him, Chisuke immediately unleashed his ultimate trump card.
Shukaku! See that creepy, sharp-faced weirdo? Use the Tailed Beast Ball on him! Hit him hard! Even if you can't blow him up, you have to smash him to a pulp!
Is it that annoying snake manipulator again? This time, this Lord absolutely won't let him off!
Over the past few days, Shukaku had been highly annoyed. Held back by Chisuke's physical limits, his power had been repeatedly blocked by Orochimaru. Following Chisuke's eager instructions, the massive tanuki directly began charging his ultimate attack.
"Tailed Beast Ball!"
Seeing the dense sphere of black-and-white chakra condensing, Orochimaru felt a headache coming on. He slammed his hands onto the earth.
"Summoning Technique: Triple Rashomon!"
Three colossal, demonic-faced gates erupted from the ground, bracing against the devastating impact of the Tailed Beast Ball.
The gates held, but Orochimaru's mood plummeted.
Shukaku's chakra was simply too vast; firing off ultimate moves was like drinking water for the beast. It was manageable for a short skirmish, but in a battle of attrition, Orochimaru knew he would be worn down and killed.
He had no idea what kind of advanced sealing method Suna was using to create such an unreasonably perfect Jinchūriki, but it explained why they had the sheer confidence to attack Konoha head-on.
Facing a rampaging Shukaku, ordinary Ninjutsu lost all meaning. Orochimaru bit his thumb, drawing blood.
"Summoning: Manda!"
A massive cloud of purple smoke erupted, and a colossal, purple-striped snake materialized. Manda raised his horned head, locked eyes with Shukaku, and his slitted pupils instantly contracted.
"Orochimaru! You actually summoned me to deal with this monster? You know the rules, pay up!"
Orochimaru wasted no words. "Buy me time! The Jinchūriki must be eliminated!"
Shukaku, seeing his first blast blocked by the gates, was already brewing a second Tailed Beast Ball.
Manda lunged with terrifying speed, wrapping his immense, scaled body around Shukaku's midsection and unhinging his jaws to bite directly at the spot where Chisuke was embedded.
"Damn bastard! How dare you interrupt this Lord?!"
Shukaku roared furiously as his attack was disrupted. He stretched out both massive, sandy arms, grabbing Manda directly by the head and attempting to suplex the giant snake into the bedrock.
"This is the moment."
Orochimaru leapt cleanly off Manda's head and launched himself toward Chisuke.
Chisuke had zero intention of engaging in close-quarters combat with the legendary Sannin. He immediately sank his physical body deeper inside Shukaku's protective sand armor.
Simultaneously, a massive arm made of compressed sand sprouted from the top of Shukaku's head, swiping through the air to grab the airborne Orochimaru.
"Summoning: Giant Snake!"
In mid-air, a large brown snake appeared out of thin air to take the blow. Orochimaru stepped lightly onto the falling snake's back, using the momentum to spring backward and land safely back on Manda's head.
Troublesome. Such a cautious brat, leaving absolutely no openings to exploit.
Do I really have to use a forbidden jutsu?
Looking at the colossal sand demon, Orochimaru's pale face shifted between grim frustration and cold calculation.
Honestly, as the Third Hokage's favored disciple, using a forbidden jutsu in a warzone wasn't a huge deal. Even a twisted technique like Edo Tensei, which played with life and death, wouldn't draw much criticism from the top brass if it secured victory.
However, Orochimaru had recently gone mad in his obsessive research, crossing the line by using actual Konoha shinobi for his human experiments.
He deeply feared that revealing his forbidden jutsu now would cause the perceptive Shikaku or the Hokage to connect his abilities to the string of missing Konoha ninja.
During this momentary hesitation, Shukaku relied on his overwhelming physical strength to successfully smash Manda onto the ground.
"Die for this Lord!"
Shukaku raised both hands, clenched them into a massive hammer-fist, and smashed down fiercely, fully intending to crush Manda's skull.
Crack!
Manda's head shattered—but it was hollow. Just an empty, shed snake skin.
Behind Shukaku, the earth suddenly erupted. The real Manda burst from the ground, using his maximum coiled strength to violently slam into the Tailed Beast's back.
Shukaku stumbled forward. Before he could regain his footing, Manda struck like lightning, sinking his fangs deep into Shukaku's sandy neck. With a violent twist, Manda tore a massive chunk of sand away, completely exposing Chisuke's body hidden within.
Damn it! I hid deep inside Shukaku's core, how could I still be ripped out?!
At that exact moment, Orochimaru shot out from inside Manda's open mouth like a bullet.
Drawing a massive fūma shuriken, the Sannin hurled it directly at the exposed Chisuke, his hands blurring into seals.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"