Initially, Hagoromo was opposed to the idea of killing the snake. You can't just kill someone's pet on a whim, especially when that pet belongs to Orochimaru. You have to consider the owner before beating the dog—or in this case, the snake.
However, Manda possessed an incredibly vile personality. After crushing a building into rubble, it was now genuinely thrashing about with its massive, bloody maw, launching indiscriminate attacks.
At first, when it ate Hidden Mist ninjas, Hagoromo remained silent. Arguably, it was helping the Konoha ninjas, and he even felt a bit of appreciation for the giant purple snake.
Later, Manda casually swallowed a Konoha ninja whole. Hagoromo still didn't say anything, merely frowning and assuming it was friendly fire.
But then, Manda came slithering straight toward him! And the look in its eyes made it crystal clear: it viewed him solely as food!
So here lies the question: if he killed this thing, would Orochimaru have a problem with it?
Although the Summoning Beasts of the Sannin could speak human languages, the opponent clearly had no intention of having a civilized chat with Hagoromo... At the very least, shouldn't you consult the opinion of the person you're about to eat before eating them?
Using Manda to test out his newly acquired Samehada seemed highly appropriate no matter how he looked at it... Hagoromo considered it for a moment but ultimately decided against it. He wasn't accustomed to wielding Samehada yet.
However, he wasn't worried about the incoming Manda. He had plenty of thoughts on how to deal with giant Summoning Beasts. Plus, there was no need to capture it alive this time, so he could just maximize lethality. He wouldn't feel bad if he killed it.
Hagoromo jammed Samehada into the ground as the lightning around his body faded. He then reached into the ninja pouch on his back and began pulling out scrolls.
Should he just unleash a Reverse Four Symbols Sealing directly? No, that was too much. The main issue was the area of effect was too large, and this stronghold was packed with Konoha ninjas.
Using the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing would definitely obliterate Manda, but it would undoubtedly drag his own allies down with it... Thinking of this, Hagoromo moved his finger away from the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing scroll, shifted one slot to the right, and pulled out a different scroll.
He retrieved a scroll with a red cover. With a flick of his wrist, he unrolled a section of it, then swiped his right hand over the sealing formula bearing the character for "Sword."
A giant, shoulder-height shuriken materialized in his hand. He decided to try another round of the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu to test Manda's defense. However, considering the opponent's massive size, ordinary shuriken would just tickle it and be completely ineffective. Therefore, he decided to swap them out for size 6XL.
Manda reared its upper body back and lunged forward. This gave Hagoromo the perfect angle to launch the shuriken upward diagonally, ensuring he wouldn't accidentally hit any friendly ninjas.
With a target as massive as Manda, completely dodging a sudden, wide-area attack was impossible.
The continuous thwack-thwack-thwack of sharp blades biting into flesh rang out. Manda shrieked in mid-air, spraying a shower of blood.
The Shadow Shuriken attack was fleeting. To evade it, Manda had reared its body even higher. With a single sweep of its eyes, it instantly pinpointed the one who launched the attack.
Consequently, without a second thought, Manda swung its massive head down from a height of dozens of meters, aiming to smash Hagoromo flat.
"Hey, aren't you going to give yourself a concussion doing that?... And are you absolutely dead set on expanding the variety of my diet?"
Hagoromo muttered to himself.
This was just being ungrateful. You got hurt; couldn't you just obediently retreat to the summoning realm? Do you really have to fight to the death?
Unfortunately, Manda was a snake with a very strong personality. Due to severe endocrine disorders and a bad temper, it was incredibly prone to anger. How could it possibly accept taking a loss and retreating back to the Ryuchi Cave injured?
At the very least, it had to swallow the human who dared to injure it.
"I wonder how charcoal-grilled snake meat tastes. The high temperature kills parasites, and it gets crispy on the outside and tender on the inside..."
Looking up at Manda's plummeting head, Hagoromo rapidly retreated while busily carrying out a monologue. Meanwhile, his hands had already completed their signs.
BOOM!
Although it missed Hagoromo, the massive snake head slamming into the ground caused a tremor that made Hagoromo momentarily lose his footing.
But the hand signs he held remained rock steady.
Taking a deep breath, Hagoromo's chest and abdomen swelled exaggeratedly, much like a frigatebird during mating season.
Then, he blew a breath of fairy air directly at Manda's head, which was less than ten meters away... Though to be fair, this fairy air was a bit hot.
Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!
A roaring inferno directly engulfed the front half of Manda in a sea of fire.
Manda let out a shrill, agonizing shriek, then fell dead silent.
Within the flames, a struggling body could faintly be seen.
Did he kill it?
However, that was impossible. Hagoromo's standard Dragon Flame Bomb wasn't large enough to cover Manda's massive body; he was only roasting its head.
And "head" wasn't exactly accurate either. As the flames gradually dissipated, Hagoromo realized the only thing burning was a gigantic, shed snakeskin.
The shedding skill? It was indeed highly effective, but where had the real Manda gone?
While vigilantly searching for Manda, Hagoromo walked over to where he had planted Samehada.
Just as his right hand gripped Samehada's hilt, almost subconsciously, he swung it horizontally in front of him.
Manda's head burst out from the ground directly in front of him!
If Hagoromo hadn't blocked that strike, Manda would have scored a direct, crushing hit. Even with the block, the sheer kinetic force of the impact launched Hagoromo high into the air.
Fortunately, this allowed him to disperse the force. Although he was thrown very high and the impact left him slightly breathless, he suffered no major injuries.
In mid-air, Hagoromo raised the sword high above his head with both hands, preparing to unleash a slash on Manda, who was surging up after him. However, something bizarre happened. Just as he readied his stance, with a sudden poof, the Samehada in his hands completely vanished into thin air.
Samehada vanished? What the hell was going on?!
But Hagoromo had no time to dwell on it. Directly below him was Manda's gaping, cavernous maw.
Should he slice off half its mouth? No. With a shift in thought, Hagoromo abandoned all resistance and allowed himself to fall directly into the opponent's mouth.
Bypassing the rafter-thick forked tongue, Hagoromo raised his hand and unleashed a Chidori Sharp Spear. The crackling blade of lightning pierced straight through Manda's upper palate without any resistance, striking its left eye with pinpoint precision!
An eye is ultimately just a fragile water balloon that pops with a single poke. Could it possibly block the Chidori Sharp Spear?
It can't.
The agonizing scream nearly deafened Hagoromo inside Manda's mouth, and the violently thrashing body almost hurled him back out.
Hagoromo's impulsive nature showed itself in moments like this. Since the mission was complete and he was just sitting around anyway, if a snake wanted to eat him, he would ignore the Hidden Mist ninjas and focus entirely on killing the snake first.
Although fundamentally this snake belonged to the same side as he did, he didn't care.
Even Orochimaru's snake didn't have the right to be this picky an eater.
Therefore, Hagoromo didn't retreat; he advanced. Instead of taking the opportunity to escape, he charged deeper into Manda's body.
"This should be far enough, right?"
Once he estimated he was deep enough, he reached down, smeared his hand with blood from the wound on his waist, and rapidly wove hand signs.
Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!
From the outside, Manda's body suddenly and violently expanded, its girth instantly multiplying several times over.
Katsuyu had been summoned by Hagoromo from directly inside its body.
"Big Sister!" Hearing that respectful title and feeling the intense physical constriction, Katsuyu instantly understood what needed to be done.
If you asked which of the Three Great Sage Regions' Summoning Beasts had the most versatile and agile attacks, it would be the toads of Mount Myoboku. Regardless of the number of fingers, they at least had four limbs.
As for Katsuyu, she was a medical-type Summoning Beast, not specialized for combat... But that didn't mean she lacked offensive capabilities. One of her attacks was incredibly lethal.
A massive amount of highly corrosive acid was instantly secreted and forcefully expelled.
You want to eat people? Here, take a shot of this "Madam's Oral Liquid." Let's see who digests who first.
Manda was truly having a spectacularly bad day. There were some things it was simply destined not to be able to digest. Not only that, but amidst the intense burning sensation, the loud sizzling sounds, and the smoke generated by the corrosive slime, its stomach was completely burned through.
Although some things might look pale, tender, highly sanitary, and delicious, please be aware: you absolutely cannot eat whatever you want... Destroying the enemy from the inside was a very old trick. Why couldn't it have paid a little more attention?
With a squelching pop, Hagoromo felt he had seen the light of day again.
Unable to endure the corrosive attack any longer, Manda actively fled back to the summoning realm.
"Is it going to live?"
Hagoromo asked, sounding like he was muttering to himself, yet also asking Katsuyu. He hadn't expected the acid to have such a devastatingly strong effect; it was like pouring boiling oil onto a pile of snow.
"Hagoromo, were we just...?" Katsuyu didn't answer his question, instead asking one of her own.
"Inside Manda's stomach..."
Katsuyu: "..."
Did that mean she had unknowingly beaten Manda half to death—or perhaps fully to death?
"As for Manda, given the volume of the slime, it shouldn't be lethal... probably." Katsuyu wasn't entirely sure either. Burning through someone's stomach was a job she had never performed before, so she lacked experience and judgment.
"I also poked out one of its eyes earlier."
"..."
What else could Katsuyu possibly say?
Then, Hagoromo spoke in a highly regretful tone, "We can't guarantee its death? ...But since it returned to the Ryuchi Cave, why weren't we, who were inside its body, dragged along with it?"
Hagoromo's regret stemmed from losing the opportunity to take a tour of the Ryuchi Cave.
"First, because its stomach was already burned through, we couldn't technically be considered 'inside' its body anymore..."
"Second, due to the existence of my summoning contract, dragging us to the Ryuchi Cave would require a massive amount of chakra..."
"Third, it was fleeing for its life. There's no logic in bringing the enemy along when you're running away," Katsuyu explained.
"Fair enough..." Hagoromo had to admit Big Sister's logic was sound. But he then asked, "So here is the question: Where did my Samehada go?"
Why did Samehada suddenly vanish from his hands? Did it run away on its own? That was obviously impossible; if it could have escaped like that, it would have done so earlier. That sudden, abrupt disappearance felt much more like it had been forcefully summoned away by someone else.
But asking Katsuyu something like that... how could she possibly know?
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