Chapter 153 145: The Combat Effectiveness of the Phantom Body Flicker Technique

Orochimaru did not reply, only offering a faint smile.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" × 2

By unspoken agreement, without any warning, both sides launched a sneak attack at the very first moment.

The master and student understood each other's character well; they didn't bother with the Seal of Reconciliation, instead making the same choice with remarkable tacit understanding.

The snakes twisted and strangled each other, surging everywhere.

The next instant, thousands of shuriken flew through the air.

The shuriken Shadow Clone invented by the Third Hokage was, in many instances, an excellent long-range opening move for cover and probing.

But this time, Uchiha Gen did not use the shuriken Manipulation Technique to counter it as he had before.

He had reviewed the situation after sparring with the Third Hokage.

While shuriken Manipulation was certainly refined, its controllability and unpredictability made it less simple and direct than the shuriken Shadow Clone in the heat of battle.

Once an opponent threw a shuriken and formed the hand seals, they could create a swarm of clone shuriken for cover and immediately proceed to their next move.

The true function of shuriken Manipulation was to cooperate with the Sharingan to seize openings during combat, pressuring the opponent and forcing them into one's own rhythm.

An Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall rose up, blocking the metal storm and leaving deep, pockmarked holes on its surface.

Immediately after, nine figures of Uchiha Gen flashed out from behind the earth wall, charging toward Orochimaru from both the left and right sides with swords drawn.

"They are all physical clones."

Orochimaru cautiously chose to retreat, forming seals with one hand while keeping the other ready for defense.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique."

Violent winds surged, condensing into blades of wind that swept toward the surroundings.

The earth churned, and trees and bushes were severed.

Among all the Uchiha Gens, the one in the center immediately formed hand seals and spewed flames, meeting the Wind Release head-on.

The next second, a giant gray python erupted from the ground, biting down on the fire-breathing Uchiha Gen.

However, this Uchiha Gen suddenly turned into smoke and dissipated, while the other clones had already rushed to Orochimaru, swinging their blades to strike.

"Uchiha Style: Sword Leap Flame!"

The blade wreathed in fire struck, but Orochimaru opened his mouth to spit out a snake, tearing toward Uchiha Gen, while his body twisted at an eerie angle just like a snake, dodging the blades thrust by the other Uchiha Gens.

The snake head was severed, but new pythons quickly appeared.

Orochimaru also pulled a long, ancient Kusanagi sword from the mouth of a python with a gaping maw, engaging in close-quarters combat with Uchiha.

He did not simply clash head-on with Uchiha Gen; instead, after testing a few moves, he decisively retreated.

"Although they are all physical, they are essentially the same person. At most, he mixes in one Shadow Clone to coordinate. It is only because his burst speed with the Body Flicker Technique is fast, and he uses the Sharingan's genjutsu to mask the traces of his movement, that others cannot capture his position, creating the illusion of fighting multiple people simultaneously."

After a brief exchange, Orochimaru had roughly deduced part of the principle behind the Phantom Body Flicker Technique.

"Since that's the case, I'll just use large-scale Ninjutsu for continuous bombardment to limit his movement."

An endless swarm of snakes surged out at this moment.

Many Snakes Array!

An overwhelming, dense swarm of snakes!

"How will you deal with this situation?"

Orochimaru watched the lightning and firelight constantly flashing within the snake swarm, smiling leisurely.

"Tsk, troublesome."

Uchiha Gen decapitated a giant snake attacking him, used the Body Flicker Technique to dodge a venomous snake flying from behind, switched to another clone, and spewed a raging fire, clearing the swarm of snakes in front of him.

But almost at the same moment, lightning snakes cast by Orochimaru from afar shot over, forcing him to shift his position again.

He now had two choices.

One was to force a burst, break through the snake swarm and the layers of Ninjutsu attacks, and go directly for Orochimaru himself.

Not to mention how high a price that would cost to achieve, Orochimaru himself was certainly not weak in close-quarters combat.

If he were to really go head-to-head, he wasn't as fierce as the Third Hokage, and could even be considered weak among all Kage-level Experts.

But playing hard was never Orochimaru's style.

He walked the other extreme—soft to the extreme, slippery as an eel, not relying solely on Taijutsu, and possessing extremely strong evasion, self-preservation, and damage-resistance capabilities.

No matter how fierce you are in close combat, unless you are strong enough to form an absolute crush, or happen to have an absolute counter in terms of abilities, it is very difficult to take him down in a melee. Instead, you might be ambushed by some unexpected, underhanded trick at any moment.

In this era where super Kage-level combat power and the Mangekyo Sharingan had not yet appeared, and Orochimaru had not yet weakened his soul due to Living Corpse Reincarnation, such a person almost did not exist.

Uchiha Gen's frontal combat power was still worlds apart from that level. Want to take down Orochimaru directly in close-quarters combat?

It would be good enough not to be taken down in return.

Moreover, what he was testing in this battle was not whether he could beat Orochimaru, but merely to see how much self-preservation ability he had against a Kage-level Expert using his newly mastered Phantom Body Flicker Technique.

Charge?

Charge my foot; just run!

As another Phantom Clone shattered, Uchiha Gen mobilized his ocular power again, created a new Phantom Clone, and then retreated in a certain direction without hesitation.

At the same time, his other Phantom Clones also ran in different directions.

"Separating to retreat, with such a long distance, you might not necessarily have the ability to switch your main body's position among the clones."

Orochimaru stared at the Phantom Clones retreating to the edge of the battlefield, crossed his fingers, created a Shadow Clone, and attacked with both hands.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!" × 2

Bullet-like wind projectiles whistled through the air. Each of Uchiha Gen's Shadow Clones made different movements, dodging the wind projectiles just in time, but their movements were also restricted.

The swarm of snakes took the opportunity to attack. Some clones were too far from the main body and had to be submerged by the dense venomous snakes.

Only two directions were exceptions.

"One main body, one Shadow Clone."

Orochimaru stood amidst the snake swarm, eyes fixed on one of the Uchiha Gens who had changed position and was charging toward him. He immediately judged that this was a Shadow Clone coming to stall him.

Thus, the Shadow Clone he had previously created leaped forward to intercept Uchiha Gen's Shadow Clone, while the main body led thousands of venomous snakes to pursue Uchiha Gen's main body.

"You're chasing me, huh."

Uchiha Gen looked back at the scalp-numbing scene behind him, threw a few Kunai with exploding tags attached to the ends behind him, which exploded, temporarily intercepting the snake swarm.

Ocular power brewed in his Sharingan again.

In just a moment, several Phantom Clones reappeared by Uchiha Gen's side.