"Where did we end up?"
"Hm? There's even snow?"
"The northern countries?"
After the Flying Thunder God, Orochimaru looked at the snowflakes drifting across the sky and felt momentarily lost.
A place with snow could only be the northernmost Land of Frost, or perhaps an even more distant island nation at sea. Just where exactly had Gekko Chizan's Flying Thunder God sent them?
"With Snake Princess's chakra supporting me, I flew a bit farther."
"I'm really impressed by you as a person! Even if you're using my chakra, you should hold back a little! Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to come out and condense all that senjutsu chakra?"
The moment Gekko Chizan said he had only flown a bit farther, Tagitsuhime immediately launched into a furious rant.
Red light condensed into the form of a young girl. Tagitsuhime reached out, grabbed Gekko Chizan's cheeks on both sides, and pulled hard as she angrily scolded him:
"Where exactly are you trying to fly to?"
"Flying from the Land of Rivers to the Land of Frost—do you know how far that is?"
"You crossed several countries in between! You little brat! I'm telling you—"
Seeing that Tagitsuhime's spit was about to drown him, Gekko Chizan calmly raised his right hand and made a gesture of seven, but what came out of his mouth was:
"Six baskets of snakeberries..."
"Next time, if you want to fly even farther, my chakra will be enough. Even if you want to make a round trip, that's fine!"
The moment Tagitsuhime heard "six baskets of snakeberries," she immediately changed her tune. The anger on her face vanished, replaced by a flattering smile.
Seeing Tagitsuhime's practiced face-changing skills, Gekko Chizan burst out laughing.
"Hey, I'm talking about you guys—deal with what's in my stomach first."
"If he keeps stabbing like this, my stomach will be useless!"
Enduring the pain in his abdomen, Manda shifted his massive body, snow from the ground sticking all over him.
Only then did Gekko Chizan and Orochimaru remember that there was still someone they hadn't dealt with.
"Spit him out."
"Oh..."
Manda shot Gekko Chizan an aggrieved look, then forcefully put on a live performance of a real snake spitting out a person.
Though what came out could hardly be called a normal human.
"Damned snake!"
"Hm?"
Inside Manda's stomach, Sasori of the Red Sand was already on the verge of going berserk. Even though he now had a puppet body, the mucus inside the snake's belly still made him unbearably disgusted.
Now that he had been spat out, his first reaction was to cut down the snake in front of him.
The Third Kazekage puppet stood beside him. As chakra flowed into the puppet, sand iron appeared once more.
But when he clearly saw his surroundings, Sasori of the Red Sand became confused again.
Weren't they just in the Land of Rivers a moment ago? Why was everything now a vast expanse of white?
"Sasori, I really didn't expect this—you actually turned yourself into a puppet."
"Could it be that being a puppet is really better than being human?"
Gekko Chizan stood to the side, with Orochimaru right next to him. Master and disciple looked at the person in front of them—no, the puppet-person.
Just imagine it: a puppet body. Every movement clanking and creaking, requiring regular maintenance. How exhausting.
"Hmph! Nonsense! A snake-playing person like you—how could you ever understand the beauty of puppets!"
"Sand Iron Drizzle!"
With words failing and hatred overflowing, Sasori launched an attack without hesitation.
On the snow-white ground, dense black dots instantly appeared—utterly ruining the scenery.
"Am I wrong?"
"Turn into a puppet? Can you still eat?"
"You can't eat meat, you can't drink water, you can't eat snacks, you can't eat fish!"
"You've given up the most basic joys of survival. Poor little thing."
Sasori felt his head buzzing in pain. To shut up the chatterbox in front of him, more and more sand iron surged forth, forming a pitch-black mass.
Seeing Sasori throwing all his attacks at Gekko Chizan, Orochimaru immediately dodged to the side, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.
"Hey, sensei, that's not appropriate."
"I know exactly how you evaluated him."
"Let me think—oh right, this is what you said: turning your body into a puppet is completely a sign of mental illness."
"Once you become a puppet, there's no blood, no urine—you're not human at all."
Seeing Orochimaru's reaction, Gekko Chizan was instantly furious. But after a moment's thought, a new idea formed, and a stream of words poured out of his mouth.
Honestly, this was peak venomous tongue. Are these things that a mouth at thirty-six degrees Celsius is supposed to say?
Sasori of the Red Sand was driven completely mad by these words.
He shot a vicious glare at Orochimaru. The latter's eyes widened—he never expected his own disciple to stab him in the back like this.
"You'll die too, Orochimaru!"
"Uh... Chizan-kun, that's going too far."
But with the attacks already covering him, what else could he say?
He could only casually fling out countless long snakes to counterattack.
This time, without Nagato present, with Gekko Chizan and Orochimaru teaming up two-on-one, Sasori of the Red Sand felt an endless pressure bearing down on him.
Gekko Chizan's attacks were extremely simple. Crystal Release activated at will, turning everything around into crystal, then sending it all flying at Sasori of the Red Sand in one go.
Crystals and sand iron collided in midair, like the clash of black and white.
As for Orochimaru, it was even simpler. Just throwing snakes. One hand, both hands—if that wasn't enough, he'd just open his mouth and spit out snakes.
The core concept: snakes everywhere, from head to toe.
"Agh, this is such a pain. Can't you just behave yourself?"
"Water Release, Great Exploding Water Shockwave!"
Gekko Chizan was truly fed up. Without Chibaku Tensei holding things back, the sand iron just kept increasing.
In a burst of anger, Gekko Chizan leaped high into the air. His hands formed hand seals at lightning speed, and massive amounts of water poured from his mouth.
Like waves and tides, the torrent gave the surroundings a thorough cleansing.
Whether it was Sasori of the Red Sand, still attacking madly, or Orochimaru counterattacking, both stopped their movements and leaped high into the air.
The speed of the water flow was directly proportional to chakra consumption. With Tagitsuhime's support, Gekko Chizan's chakra reserves at this moment rivaled those of a tailed beast.
"This amount of chakra..."
"The power of senjutsu is terrifying..."
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed. The Water Release before him had completely surpassed the scope of ordinary ninjutsu. More importantly, supported by chakra, the sheer volume and coverage of water were absurd.
"Hmph! Just a puppet master—back then..."
"Enough talk. Come on! Let me shatter that pathetic confidence of yours!"
Landing on the water's surface, Gekko Chizan radiated incomparable confidence.
Sasori's expression grew grave. This Water Release hadn't been an attack, but it had fully revealed just how powerful Gekko Chizan truly was.