Chapter 116: Planting the Curse MarkRobin nodded upon hearing this. Without the slightest hesitation, she turned and left immediately, while Orochimaru stared fixedly at Sasuke, ignoring her and letting her leave.Orochimaru's overall strength was undoubtedly greater than Sasuke's, and the variety of Ninjutsuhe possessed was extremely complex and diverse, which was precisely the point that countered Sasuke the most right now.However, this was no reason for Orochimaru to underestimate him. One had to admit that Sasuke's combat intelligence and talent were very strong; he was often able to formulate the most advantageous plan for himself in a short amount of time.If Orochimaru did not adopt a 100% serious attitude, it would not be strange for him to suffer a loss at Sasuke's hands if things went wrong. Furthermore, Orochimaru's current body was one he had temporarily seized, and overly intense combat could easily damage it.Sasuke struck first, hoping to gain some initiative. Knowing his opponent's strength was formidable, he went all out from the start, pushing his Sage Chakra to its absolute limit.He first threw three Kunai forward and then charged quickly under their cover. Orochimarueasily dodged the Kunai, but Sasuke's heavy fist followed immediately after.Orochimaru's reaction was quite swift; he crossed his arms to block the strike. However, the force of the punch was substantial, and he was knocked back two steps.Sasuke, pressing his advantage, unleashed a whip kick, slamming it hard into Orochimaru's waist. The latter had saliva knocked out of his mouth, and he extended his long tongue to stab at Sasuke.Sasuke couldn't dodge in time; although he barely lowered his head to avoid a fatal blow, a wound was still left on his cheek. Orochimaru only came to a stop after crashing through four large trees.After landing on the ground, Sasuke did not stop; he quickly formed hand seals with both hands, "Sage Art: Great Fireball Technique!" A massive fireball flew into the forest, instantly forming a sea of flames.However, Sasuke stared intently into the forest; he could feel that there was still an aura inside. Clearly, an attack of this level was not enough to kill his opponent.Sure enough, a figure walked out of the sea of flames—it was Orochimaru. He looked somewhat disheveled, and much of the human skin on his face had been burned away, revealing his true appearance.In reality, however, apart from that kick which had broken three of his ribs, there were no other injuries. Moreover, given his constitution, a few broken bones were not a problem at all.After this round of testing, Orochimaru realized that Sasuke was extremely strong in Taijutsu, but the lack of Ninjutsu limited his combat effectiveness.Sasuke was now like a heavily armored tank; his defense and strength were top-tier. Although his speed was not bad, it could only be considered above average. His advantages were very obvious, but his weaknesses were also easily discovered and exploited by enemies.Orochimaru decided to stop holding back. He extended his head and lunged toward Sasuke. This caught Sasuke by surprise, as this person's constitution seemed somewhat similar to Naruto's.Sasuke placed his hands above and below to hold back his opponent's head, while Orochimaruopened his mouth, and his tongue transformed into a snake that bit toward Sasuke's neck.Sasuke agilely dodged the attack, but after the snake missed, it quickly turned around, extended its body even further, and coiled around Sasuke's entire body.Although his movements were restricted, his hands were still firmly pushing against Orochimaru's head, preventing him from attacking. Now, the only thing he needed to guard against was the snake that had coiled around him.However, Orochimaru's body began to move. He formed hand seals and used Hidden Shadow Snake Hands to attack Sasuke. In his desperation, Sasuke could only gather a large amount of Sage Chakra within his body, attempting to break free from the restraints using this method.The Hidden Shadow Snake Hands were broken, and Orochimaru was almost unable to control him. Soon, Sasuke broke free from the restraints, and the snake binding him was shattered into several pieces.However, to his surprise, the lifeless snake head opened its mouth, and a brand-new Orochimaruslithered out, wet and slippery.Before Sasuke could see his true appearance clearly, Orochimaru quickly moved behind him and bit down on Sasuke's neck, leaving behind his curse mark.Instantly, Sasuke felt a strange energy surge into his body. Moreover, this energy was extremely domineering and completely opposite to the two streams of Chakra within his body.Especially compared to the Sage Chakra from Shikkotsu Forest; they were like mortal enemies. As soon as they met, they immediately entangled and fought, while his own Chakra seemed unable to interfere in the situation at all.His body felt as if a volcano had erupted; it was extremely unstable, and his internal organs had suffered damage. An indescribable pain instantly spread throughout his entire body.With a formidable enemy still watching covetously from the side, Sasuke struggled to keep himself conscious, controlling the Sage Chakra within his body to resist it.Originally, the Sage Chakra from Shikkotsu Forestwas much deeper than what Orochimaru had left in his body, but a lot had been used in the previous battle. Although it currently held the upper hand, it could not immediately finish off the intruder.Orochimaru bit his finger, used the Summoning Technique to summon two large snakes, and then smiled slightly. He controlled the snakes to attack Sasuke, while he himself vanished from the spot.Now, Sasuke had to split off a portion of his Chakrato deal with the two large snakes, and suddenly the two streams of Chakra within his body became evenly matched.The critical point was that he discovered this power's survival ability was also extremely strong. In such a short time, it had taken root within his body and had already begun to generate itself slowly.If he couldn't completely clear it out now, and gave it some time, it would likely stay in his body forever, just like the Sage Chakra from Shikkotsu Forest.But he had no other choice at this moment; he could only pin his hopes on the remaining Sage Chakra within his body, because he was currently finding it difficult even to deal with the two snakes in front of him.The intense pain made it impossible for him to focus, and he nearly lost his life to the snakes' mouths several times. Although he managed to dodge them in the end without disaster, he was left with many wounds on his body.If things continued like this, he feared that before the two streams of Chakra within his body could determine a winner, he would end up as snake excrement.Thinking of this, under his conscious guidance, the struggle between the two streams of Chakrawithin his body gradually became calmer. After a while, they seemed to receive Sasuke's will and stopped fighting.Then, they quickly divided into two sides at Sasuke's Dantian, much like the Chu-Han Border, each beginning a temporary truce.
