Chapter 140: Dragon Vein vs. Eight-Headed Serpent

Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Dragon Vein vs. Eight-Headed Serpent

A monster of such colossal proportions had already far exceeded the limits of what these few kids could even imagine.

As shock overwhelmed them, their bodies began trembling instinctively!

Haku asked in a shaky voice, "W-What... what in the world is that?"

Even Yamato, the oldest among them, was unable to answer Haku’s question.

After all, he was wondering the exact same thing himself, completely at a loss as to what he was looking at.

Jūgo stared intently at the enormous white eight-headed serpent in the distance and said uncertainly, "I can sense Lord Orochimaru’s presence coming from that monster."

"What!?"

Everyone cried out in shock.

Jūgo carefully sensed it again before confirming, "There’s definitely some of Lord Orochimaru’s presence within it."

Jūgo’s sensory ability was different from the sensory ninjutsu used by ordinary sensor-type ninja.

Instead, it was something far more primitive—an ability much closer to nature itself.

Therefore, what he relied upon when sensing others wasn’t the nature of their chakra, but rather their natural presence.

Kimimaro stared at the creature in disbelief.

"Could that... actually be Lord Orochimaru?"

Yamato stood up and said, "Whether or not that really is Lord Orochimaru, I believe Lord Orochimaru will never be defeated. But we need to move even farther away."

......

On the battlefield.

Hyuga Kagami looked up at the incomparably enormous white eight-headed serpent, his expression turning grim.

Obviously, this was one of Orochimaru’s strongest forbidden techniques—the Eight Branches Technique, a forbidden technique capable of rivaling a tailed beast.

In the original timeline, Orochimaru had once used this technique against Itachi, only to be effortlessly dealt with by Itachi’s Totsuka Sword. Orochimaru himself was even sucked into the sealing world within the Totsuka Blade.

But that battle alone couldn’t be used to say that the Eight Branches Technique was weak.

After all, Nagato, while in his Edo Tensei state and possessing nearly the full extent of his power, was strong enough to overwhelm Naruto and Killer B—two perfect jinchūriki—yet even he was still unable to resist the sealing power of the Totsuka Blade.

"Haa..."

Slowly exhaling, Hyuga Kagami raised his hands and began forming seals.

Since he couldn’t use Tenseigan Chakra Mode against Orochimaru, his only option was to draw upon the power of the Dragon Vein.

And so, Kagami gathered his thoughts, casting aside every distraction and eliminating every thought unrelated to the battle.

As the final hand seal fell into place, he shouted in a low voice:

"Dragon Vein Seal—Release!"

In an instant, Dragon Vein chakra erupted from his body!

The dense chakra transformed into a colossal bluish-purple dragon, coiling through the air above his head.

Among the eight enormous serpent heads opposite him, one suddenly opened its massive jaws, revealing the upper half of Orochimaru’s body.

At this moment, Orochimaru was completely drenched, his body covered in thick, sticky mucus, making him look like a newborn infant.

He stared at Hyuga Kagami, who had released the Dragon Vein Seal, then ran his long, slender tongue across his lips and said teasingly,

"My, my... So this is the Dragon Vein’s chakra? How utterly fascinating!"

Hyuga Kagami’s expression gradually returned to complete calm.

While vigilantly watching Orochimaru, he simultaneously kept a close eye on the Dragon Vein within his body.

The greatest flaw of an artificial tailed beast was its instability.

Even the Second Hokage had been unable to solve this problem, which was precisely why the village had ultimately shelved the Artificial Tailed Beast Project.

Therefore, ever since becoming the Dragon Vein’s jinchūriki, Hyuga Kagami had always treated the Dragon Vein inside him as nothing more than a "battery."

He had never directly commanded it in battle before.

Firstly, it was to conceal the existence of the Dragon Vein.

Secondly, it was to prevent the Dragon Vein from going berserk.

But now that things had reached this point, if Hyuga Kagami still refused to use the Dragon Vein’s power, Orochimaru would only become even more suspicious of him.

As more and more Dragon Vein chakra surged out from Hyuga Kagami’s body, the colossal bluish-purple dragon hovering above him rapidly expanded.

Gradually, its enormous body grew until it was actually comparable in size to the Eight-Headed Serpent standing opposite it!

And enveloped by the Dragon Vein’s chakra, Hyuga Kagami’s body slowly began floating into the air.

Controlling the Dragon Vein was essentially no different from commanding a tailed beast in battle.

Hyuga Kagami didn’t need to draw the Dragon Vein’s chakra into his own chakra network to perform ninjutsu.

All he needed to do was issue commands to the Dragon Vein Source and have the Dragon Vein itself fight for him.

Therefore, no matter how much Dragon Vein chakra he unleashed, he didn’t have to worry about the natural energy invading his body.

The only thing he needed to pay attention to was making sure the Dragon Vein didn’t go berserk.

And just like that, the two colossal monsters faced each other from across the battlefield.

Every time the bluish-purple dragon grew larger, Orochimaru’s expression became a little more solemn.

By the time the bluish-purple dragon had expanded until it was roughly the same size as the Eight-Headed Serpent, every trace of Orochimaru’s earlier amusement had disappeared.

In its place was unmistakable wariness!

Orochimaru said coldly, "Kagami, let me experience the power of your artificial tailed beast for myself!"

As soon as he finished speaking, all eight heads of the Eight-Headed Serpent lunged forward like gigantic war hammers, smashing toward Hyuga Kagami’s bluish-purple dragon!

Whoooosh—!

The eight serpent heads, each as massive as a small hill, struck with terrifying speed.

The violent winds generated by their movements alone were comparable to several A-rank Wind Release ninjutsu unleashed at once!

As the Eight-Headed Serpent launched its assault, a tremendous gale immediately swept through the forest.

The wind was so fierce that entire swaths of trees were ripped out by their roots!

Floating in midair with the support of the Dragon Vein’s chakra, Hyuga Kagami’s pupils contracted slightly.

His expression darkened as he drove the Dragon Vein’s chakra with all his strength, sending the colossal dragon straight toward the Eight-Headed Serpent!

In the next instant—

The pure-white Eight-Headed Serpent and the enormous bluish-purple chakra dragon crashed into each other and became locked in a ferocious struggle!

This was, in the truest sense, a battle between two monsters!

The sheer scale of the destruction far surpassed even Manda’s earlier rampage through the forest.

With just a few rolls and collisions, enormous stretches of forest were completely flattened!

Like an octopus, the Eight-Headed Serpent wrapped itself around the bluish-purple dragon, its eight heads viciously tearing and biting into the dragon’s body.

The bluish-purple dragon retaliated by clamping its jaws around one of the serpent heads—

And ripping it clean off!

Pssh—!

An enormous torrent of blood immediately erupted from the severed neck.

Like a rain of blood, it poured down over the forest below!

Yet it wasn’t long before the serpent head that had been torn off by the bluish-purple dragon grew back once again.

At first glance, it looked almost completely identical to how it had been before.

If not for the thick stench of blood still lingering in the air, the scene of its head being torn off moments earlier might have seemed like nothing more than an illusion.

Orochimaru laughed.

"Kagami, why aren’t you using its physical body? You should have created a vessel for your artificial tailed beast, shouldn’t you?"

Hyuga Kagami gave no answer.

His expression remained grim as he continued driving the Dragon Vein into battle.

From the very beginning of its design, Hyuga Kagami had never intended to use the Dragon Vein for combat.

As a result, when he had shaped its physical form, the Dragon Vein’s appearance had ended up looking somewhat... ridiculous.

That was one of the reasons he wasn’t particularly willing to bring out the Dragon Vein’s physical body in battle.

But there was an even more important reason.

He didn’t want the Dragon Vein’s Purple Clay vessel to be damaged during the fight and risk causing the Dragon Vein to go berserk.

A bluish-purple dragon formed purely from Dragon Vein chakra was indeed at somewhat of a disadvantage when grappling with the Eight-Headed Serpent’s physical body.

But lacking a physical body wasn’t entirely a disadvantage either.

At the very least, when it came to agility—

his bluish-purple dragon had a slight edge over the Eight-Headed Serpent...