Chapter 138: Manda

Chapter 138: Chapter 138: Manda

The natural energy contained within the Dragon Vein’s chakra had caused Hyuga Kagami no end of headaches, but it had also granted him an unexpected degree of self-healing ability.

Thanks to that, he was immune to many weaker toxins. As long as he didn’t inhale a large quantity directly into his respiratory system, even poisons personally concocted by Orochimaru could do little to him now that he was the Dragon Vein’s jinchūriki.

Orochimaru’s expression gradually turned cold.

A moment later, his brows furrowed slightly.

Seeing this, Kagami said calmly, "You can feel it already? That’s the paralytic toxin I synthesized. I didn’t embarrass you with my work, did I?"

Orochimaru replied in his hoarse voice, "Heh, not a bad little toy!"

On the surface, Orochimaru acted as though he didn’t care at all.

But in reality, the paralytic toxin Kagami had coated Kusanagimaru’s blade with was causing his body quite a bit of trouble.

Although it wasn’t enough to completely paralyze him, he could clearly feel a faint numbness spreading through every place where Kagami’s sword had struck him.

Just then, twisted wooden stakes suddenly burst from beneath the ground, winding around Kagami and binding him tightly.

Immediately afterward, Yamato leaped out from the shadows and landed in front of Orochimaru, shielding him behind his body.

"Lord Orochimaru, are you all right?"

In Yamato’s mind, dealing with Hyuga Kagami should have been effortless for Orochimaru.

Yet he had never expected that after such an intense battle, not only had Orochimaru failed to quickly subdue Kagami, but judging from his appearance, he even seemed to have suffered some injuries.

If anything...

Orochimaru appeared to be at a slight disadvantage.

Kagami, meanwhile, made no attempt to struggle. Instead, he carefully felt out the restraining effects of Wood Release.

In terms of binding power alone, even a weakened version of Wood Release like Yamato’s surpassed many Earth Style techniques cast by elite jōnin.

What surprised Kagami even more was that the Wood Release wasn’t merely absorbing his chakra—it even seemed to have a faint suppressive effect on the Dragon Vein’s chakra.

"So this is Wood Release...?"

Even Yamato’s Wood Release, weakened by who knew how many times compared to the original, could produce such an effect.

Just imagining how powerful the First Hokage had been at his peak, combining Sage Arts with Wood Release, was enough to make Kagami feel that dealing with him would have been an absolute nightmare.

After experiencing the effects of Wood Release for a moment, Kagami poured Tenseigan chakra into Kusanagimaru.

With a light flick of his sword wrist—

Shhk!

The wooden stakes binding him were cleanly severed all at once.

Yamato froze.

"This...!?"

Kagami curled his lips.

"Your Wood Release is still far inferior to the First Hokage’s. Stand down. This has nothing to do with you."

Yamato’s body possessed enormous research value, something Kagami himself valued greatly.

So he had absolutely no intention of accidentally killing Yamato because he went a little too far.

Yamato was about to form another series of hand seals and unleash Wood Release again when Orochimaru suddenly reached out from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Yamato turned around in confusion.

"Lord Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru gave Kagami a sinister smile.

Then, without saying a single word, he grabbed Yamato and disappeared with him into the dark underground passageway.

Almost at the exact same moment—

The more than twenty shinobi who had been lying in wait throughout the underground tunnels...

all made their move at once.

"Fire Style: Earthfire Dragon Bullet!"

"Earth Style: Piercing Earth Spears!"

Kagami’s gaze sharpened.

With a flicker of his body, he dodged more than a dozen earthen spears stabbing toward him. At the same time, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a raging torrent of flames surging straight toward him!

With a quick sweep of his Tenseigan, Kagami immediately spotted a structural weakness in one of the tunnel’s rock walls.

While twisting through the air, he casually hurled Kusanagimaru.

Bang!

The blade struck the weak point with perfect precision.

In an instant, accompanied by a thunderous rumble, the entire rock wall collapsed, falling directly between Kagami and the incoming flames and blocking the Fire Style technique.

The moment Kagami landed from his tumble—

Two black shadows lunged toward him, accompanied by flashes of cold steel!

Kagami merely tilted his head aside, effortlessly avoiding the gleaming blades in their hands.

Then his Gentle Fist struck second—

but landed first!

Like punching a pair of sandbags, Kagami sent both figures flying with two swift blows.

Afterward, he casually dusted the dirt from his clothes.

Glancing toward Kusanagimaru, which had fallen some distance away, Kagami lightly curled his hand.

In an instant, Kusanagimaru rose into the air as though it possessed a mind of its own and flew straight back into his grasp.

Swish!

With a casual swing of his sword, Kagami sliced through the rock wall and stepped into another underground passage.

Inside this tunnel, two black-clad shinobi stood ahead of him—

and another two stood behind.

The four of them stared intently at Kagami, their gazes icy cold.

There wasn’t even the slightest trace of fear in their expressions.

Clatter, clatter...

At that moment, one of the black-clad shinobi pulled out a length of iron chain.

The sound of the metal links striking against one another echoed continuously through the silent passageway.

Kagami said nothing.

He simply raised his hand—

and beckoned at them.

The black-clad shinobi holding the chain shouted,

"Attack!"

At his command, the other three black-clad shinobi launched themselves forward as well.

Some wielded swords, while others held kunai. Judging from their weapons and movements, all four seemed to specialize in taijutsu.

Kagami had no interest in wasting time with them.

The instant they rushed him, he unleashed—

’Revolving Heaven Blade!’

Unlike the first time he had used Revolving Heaven Blade, this version was not only far more stable, but its chakra consumption was also drastically lower than that immature first attempt.

The four black-clad shinobi were like four carrots thrown straight into a blender.

In the blink of an eye—

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

More than a dozen sword strikes tore into them, sending all four crashing away.

Even the weapons in their hands weren’t spared.

Against Kusanagimaru, infused with Tenseigan chakra, their swords, kunai, and chains were sliced apart one after another, reduced to shattered fragments!

Above ground, outside the underground base.

Orochimaru stood with his arms folded across his chest, watching the underground base with great interest as muffled explosions and rumbles occasionally echoed from beneath the earth.

Before long—

BOOM!

With a tremendous crash, the stone gate at the entrance to the underground base shattered into several pieces, scattering rubble across the ground.

From within the ruined entrance...

a lone figure slowly walked out.

Orochimaru stared at Kagami as he slowly emerged from the underground base and smiled.

"Looks like those useless fools didn’t cause you much trouble."

Kagami replied evenly,

"Orochimaru, continuing our cooperation will benefit both of us."

Orochimaru’s lips stretched into a wide grin.

"Then I’ll have to confirm whether you’re actually qualified to cooperate with me!"

Kagami glanced at the underground base, which was already half-destroyed.

"Was that not enough?"

"What came before was merely an appetizer!"

With a chuckle, Orochimaru slowly bit his finger, then rapidly formed a series of hand seals.

"Summoning Technique!"

Poof—!

An enormous cloud of white smoke erupted across the area.

Kagami could even feel the ground beneath his feet trembling slightly.

Then, from within the smoke, a deep voice rumbled out.

"Hey, Orochimaru! I’ve told you before—don’t summon me whenever you damn well please!"

Orochimaru’s hoarse voice immediately came from within the smoke.

"This time is different. Don’t worry. Your sacrifices will be provided afterward."

As the smoke gradually dispersed, an enormous purple serpent was revealed, coiled before Kagami like a towering mountain.

Kagami recognized it with a single glance.

"Manda!"

This massive purple serpent was none other than Orochimaru’s strongest summoned beast—

Manda, one of the great serpent lords of Ryūchi Cave!