Chapter 141: The Vow in His Heart

Chapter 141: Chapter 141: The Vow in His Heart

One violet and one white, the two monsters chased each other through the forest, tangling and battling without pause. Wherever they went, enormous clouds of dust billowed into the air, leaving the forest utterly devastated in their wake!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

With a sweep of its tail, the bluish-violet dragon uprooted more than a dozen massive trees and hurled them toward the Eight-Headed Serpent!

Seven of the Eight-Headed Serpent’s heads opened their enormous maws and chewed every tree flying toward them into splinters. Meanwhile, the serpent head containing the upper half of Orochimaru’s body remained raised high in the distance.

Hidden inside the serpent’s mouth, Orochimaru had already regained his teasing, amused expression.

It was as though he had Hyuga Kagami completely in the palm of his hand.

Kagami immediately urged the Dragon Vein forward and charged!

In a single crossing—

amid the dust and debris filling the sky, half of a serpent head went flying through the air, spraying blood everywhere.

In that brief instant when the two monsters passed each other, the bluish-violet dragon had torn off another serpent head with a single bite. At the same time, the Eight-Headed Serpent’s remaining heads had ripped away a considerable amount of chakra from the bluish-violet dragon’s body.

As he soared through the air, Kagami curled his lips slightly.

Having grown accustomed to the effortless freedom of flight in Tenseigan Chakra Mode, being wrapped in Dragon Vein chakra and merely soaring through the air now felt unbearably awkward to Kagami.

And it wasn’t just awkward.

In terms of speed, it was nowhere near the flight speed he could achieve in Tenseigan Chakra Mode. So rather than calling it true "flight," describing it as "soaring" was much more accurate.

"Tch. We’ve entered the kind of battle he’s best at!"

Clicking his tongue, Kagami once again urged the Dragon Vein forward and tangled with the Eight-Headed Serpent.

This kind of drawn-out battle of attrition was precisely Orochimaru’s specialty. The terrifying regenerative ability of the Eight Branches Technique allowed the Eight-Headed Serpent to contend with even a tailed beast in close-quarters combat without being at a disadvantage.

So unless one possessed a decisive finishing move capable of ending the battle in a single blow, no matter who they were, facing Orochimaru’s Eight Branches Technique would give them an enormous headache.

The vicious struggle continued.

In only a short period of time, an entire stretch of forest had been almost completely devastated by the two monsters.

The two continued battling and pursuing each other, neither daring to divert their attention from the fight. It wasn’t until Kagami heard a faint cry for help that he noticed a small figure hanging from a tree branch not far away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced over and saw that it was a frail, delicate-looking child of about four or five years old.

Below the tree, Yamato had constructed a shield with Wood Release and was protecting two other children behind it.

Kagami’s figure flickered.

He soared over to the branch, lifted the child down from it, then descended in front of Yamato and the others.

Yamato hurriedly stepped forward and shouted, trying desperately to sound intimidating despite his fear,

"Wh-What are you trying to do?!"

By now, he already understood that the young man standing before him—someone only a few years older than himself—was an extraordinarily powerful ninja whose strength was comparable to Orochimaru’s!

Kimimaro and Jugo, who had been sheltered behind Yamato, rushed out as well and shouted in unison,

"Put Haku down!"

"Haku!?"

Kagami froze for a moment.

Then, tossing the child in his hands over to Yamato, he asked,

"Why didn’t you guys get farther away?"

Yamato could only feel helpless upon hearing this.

They had already done everything they could to avoid the battle, but both the speed at which the two monsters moved and the sheer range of destruction caused by their clash had far exceeded anything they could have imagined.

So even though they had tried to flee long ago, they had still ended up getting caught in the aftermath of the battle.

At that moment, the Eight-Headed Serpent caught up with them.

Orochimaru, hidden within one of its mouths, also noticed Yamato and the others.

Kagami said calmly,

"Orochimaru, you can’t do anything to me, and I can’t do anything to you either. Is there really any point in continuing such a pointless fight?"

Orochimaru glanced at Yamato and the others, who were now right beside Kagami. He pondered thoughtfully for a moment before smiling.

"Kagami, your artificial tailed beast has truly broadened my horizons."

Kagami replied evenly,

"Orochimaru, you not only saved my life, you also taught and guided me. I won’t forget any of that. So you and I shouldn’t be enemies."

Orochimaru licked his lips.

"With a disciple like you, it seems I haven’t fallen too far behind that fellow Jiraiya after all!"

With that, Orochimaru released the Eight Branches Technique.

After this confrontation, Orochimaru felt that he had more or less figured out the extent of Kagami’s abilities.

In his eyes, Kagami had indeed grown strong enough to cooperate with him as an equal—but not yet strong enough to pose a genuine threat to him.

Simply put—

Orochimaru still believed Kagami was someone he could keep under control!

Seeing Orochimaru release the Eight Branches Technique, Kagami quickly sealed the Dragon Vein back inside his body.

During the fierce battle just now, the Dragon Vein had teetered on the verge of going berserk several times.

This wasn’t because the Dragon Vein Source was rejecting Kagami. Rather, the sheer amount of chakra contained within the Dragon Vein was simply too enormous. The moment he used its power without restraint, it would constantly hover on the brink of running rampant.

So on the surface, Kagami looked like a perfectly legitimate jinchūriki, seemingly having suffered little consumption even after such an intense battle.

But in reality, he had repeatedly drawn upon the Tenseigan chakra within his body to suppress the Dragon Vein whenever it approached the verge of going berserk.

He was already nearly at his limit.

If the battle had continued, Kagami was certain that he would have been the first one unable to hold out.

Looking over the devastated forest, which had been reduced to a complete mess, then glancing at the perfectly composed Orochimaru, Kagami couldn’t help thinking,

"As expected, when dealing with Orochimaru, genjutsu really is the way to go!"

The facts before him once again proved it.

Against Orochimaru, both ninjutsu and taijutsu were exhausting and time-consuming choices.

Only genjutsu was truly effective.

This also made Kagami think of Itachi.

The greatest difference between Itachi and the other Uchiha was that he never underestimated his opponent, nor would he ever enter a battle unprepared.

Even Shisui was slightly inferior to him in this regard.

After all, in the original timeline, Shisui had once let his guard down and ended up having one of his eyes stolen by Danzo.

At that moment, Orochimaru began walking out of the forest. As he walked, he casually asked,

"You came all this way specifically to see me. I assume there’s something important you need?"

Kagami chuckled and followed after him.

"There are indeed some matters concerning my experiments that require your assistance."

Yamato and the other children stared after them in complete bewilderment.

Just moments ago, Kagami and Orochimaru had been fighting as though they wanted to kill each other.

Yet in the blink of an eye, the two were now walking away side by side, chatting and laughing as though nothing had happened.

Haku said, still shaken by what had just happened,

"I really thought I was going to die just now..."

Jugo, meanwhile, asked curiously,

"Just who is he?"

Yamato explained,

"His name is Hyuga Kagami. He’s a Konoha ninja, and it seems he’s also one of Lord Orochimaru’s disciples."

"So he’s Lord Orochimaru’s disciple!"

Kimimaro’s eyes remained firmly fixed on Kagami’s receding figure.

Deep within his heart, he silently swore,

"Hyuga Kagami... one day, I will definitely surpass you.

"Lord Orochimaru’s eyes will belong to me alone!"

After finally recovering from the shock, Yamato looked over the others and asked,

"None of you are hurt, right?"

...

Meanwhile, on Kagami’s side, after exchanging a few words with Orochimaru, he asked,

"You’ve met Hiruko recently, haven’t you?"

Orochimaru immediately stopped in his tracks.

His gaze sharpened like lightning as he stared directly at Kagami.

"How do you know that?"

Kagami spread his hands innocently.

"Hiruko has always been on the village’s wanted list. As a member of the ANBU, naturally I’ve been keeping an eye on any information concerning him."