"Hiss! It hurts so much! This is a kind of pain that spreads from the inside out."
"Hng! There's poison too—hey, you puppet guy, are you a hedgehog or what!"
Manda was in pain, but still kept charging forward. The huge snake pupils were filled with irritation, and he even started spinning in place.
He just wanted to make Sasori of the Red Sand give up.
Unfortunately, Sasori of the Red Sand was already nothing more than a puppet. His body and limbs couldn't feel pain at all.
No matter how hard Manda struggled, no matter what tricks he tried, it was all useless.
Not to mention that massive boulders were still raining down from the sky without pause.
"Boom!"
Manda barely dodged a falling boulder—was this really a rock? It was practically a small mountain!
"Manda, come back!"
Just as Manda was scrambling around, Orochimaru spoke and told him to return. After all, with such a huge body, not coming over to act as a shield would be a complete waste.
But who was Manda? His snake brain worked just fine. The moment Orochimaru opened his mouth, he knew exactly what the man was thinking.
"Damn it, Orochimaru! Don't think I don't know what you're planning!"
"I—"
"Manda, come. Over here."
Before his angry roar could finish, another voice rang out. In Manda's vision, there was a smiling face. That smile—even more terrifying than a devil.
The body that had been fleeing immediately stopped, then sharply changed direction and charged straight toward Gekko Chizan.
Seeing this, Orochimaru was completely speechless, glaring viciously at Manda.
"This bastard. Clearly my summoning beast, yet he won't listen to me and listens to you instead."
"Tch… looks like I'll have to change to another summoning beast in the future."
At Orochimaru's resentment, Gekko Chizan burst out laughing. After all, even though both he and Orochimaru used snake summoning beasts—
Their status in Ryūchi Cave was completely different.
"Relax. If it really doesn't work, we can just switch."
"I actually think Danzo's summoning beast might be pretty good."
Gekko Chizan didn't know why Danzo suddenly came to mind. That old man had recently been cursed by him into staying indoors, so he had almost forgotten about him.
Hmph. Back then, scheming against him in secret—this debt would be repaid sooner or later.
"Danzo's summoning beast?"
Orochimaru thought about it for a moment. Danzo's summoning beast might be a secret to others
But to him, it was perfectly clear. After all, Orochimaru and Danzo had quite a lot of dealings back then. They knew each other's cards well. A mere summoning beast wasn't hard to figure out.
"Forget it. An unscientific creature like that—still not as good as Manda."
Well, that was a straight rejection.
Seeing more and more rocks falling, Gekko Chizan grabbed Orochimaru's arm and directly activated Flying Thunder God, disappearing. When they reappeared, they were already on top of Manda's head.
"Hm? What's going on? You marked me?"
Manda had still been rushing along, but now he was completely dumbfounded.
Hearing this, Gekko Chizan chuckled and shook his head. He hadn't marked Manda at all—he simply raised his hand and beckoned lightly.
A transparent little bird landed on his hand, and on the crystal bird's body was an extremely eye-catching formula:
Daddy's here.
"A Crystal Release coordinate?"
"Fast moves, but what now?"
"Keep fighting? Or leave?"
Orochimaru looked at the massive stones still falling like crazy from the sky, his expression not easing at all. The situation was still very serious.
And there was also Sasori of the Red Sand inside Manda's stomach—another troublesome issue.
"Leave. Of course we leave. And we're taking that trash Sasori with us."
"We only disgusted him a few times with snakes—was it really necessary to hold such deep hatred toward us master and disciple?"
"Tagitsuhime, chakra borrowing?"
In front of the Rinnegan and Black Zetsu, Gekko Chizan had no intention of using Chōmei's chakra. That way, if he wanted to teleport over a long distance while carrying a Manda—
He could only borrow Tagitsuhime's power.
"Oh, fine. Three baskets of snakeberries!"
"It's all because of you that I didn't get to eat my snakeberries. When we get back, they'll definitely have been divided up already!"
Tagitsuhime complained unhappily while injecting her chakra into Gekko Chizan's body.
Hearing about snakeberries, Manda's eyes also lit up. Those fruits really were delicious. Forgetting even the pain in his abdomen, he directly spoke to Orochimaru:
"Orochimaru, I don't want sacrifices anymore. Change them all to snakeberries."
"One basket of snakeberries each time. I guarantee I'll definitely behave and listen to your orders."
Gekko Chizan: Oh?
Orochimaru: …
Tagitsuhime widened her eyes.
"Little Manda, who do you think you are? When this Snake Princess appears, I only ask for three baskets of snakeberries. Jinlin and the others only ask for one basket."
"A little fellow like you dares to ask for a whole basket?"
Manda was instantly stunned… wasn't he just asking for one basket of snakeberries?
How did that offend her? Thinking about his status and treatment in Ryūchi Cave—
Without thinking, Manda immediately changed his tune:
"Half a basket! Half a basket is enough for me!"
Seeing this, Gekko Chizan almost burst out laughing. Good grief—Manda was getting more and more hilarious.
As for Orochimaru, he said nothing at all. He had already made up his mind to look for another summoning beast when he got back.
Too embarrassing. Way too embarrassing.
Amid Gekko Chizan's loud laughter, Flying Thunder God activated.
Nagato and Black Zetsu watched as the two men and one snake disappeared directly before their eyes, taking Sasori of the Red Sand from inside Manda's stomach with them.
"..."
"Damn it! Where did they run off to!"
"Zetsu! Find them! I'm going to kill those two bastards!"
Having lost his target, Nagato grew even more furious. Right now, the only thought in his mind was to kill Chizan and kill Orochimaru.
The existence of this master-and-disciple pair was the greatest evil to Nagato.
"Carrying such a huge snake and still activating Flying Thunder God?"
"Where did all that chakra come from?"
Black Zetsu's voice carried a trace of doubt, but soon White Zetsu on the other side answered his question.
"Aren't there sages from Ryūchi Cave with him?"
"Sage chakra can be shared, right?"
Hearing this, Black Zetsu was momentarily stunned. That's right—how could Gekko Chizan, who possessed sage chakra, ever run into a situation where he lacked chakra?
Sigh. The Three Great Sacred Lands were also stumbling blocks.
"Nagato, enough. Stop venting and prepare to go back."
"Our operation here was obstructed. Let's hope Madara's side goes a bit more smoothly."
They had split into two groups for this operation, aiming to recruit some fairly strong ninja into the organization to improve its overall structure.
But now… sigh. An unlucky start.
"Damn it! To hell with this!"
"If Madara's side also fails, why don't we just attack Konoha directly?"
"Can't we just grab the Nine-Tails outright?!"
Nagato was completely speaking without thinking now. Rage had burned away all of his reason.