Gradually, as a result of Orochimaru's roaming and surprise attacks, localized victories in one small skirmish after another began to expand like cancerous cells, spreading to the surrounding battles. Little by little, the minor successes accumulated into a greater advantage, causing the scales of victory to shift precariously, now slowly tipping toward the Konoha side.
Some of the Suna ninja began to notice Orochimaru's actions and repeatedly dispatched squads to intercept and kill him.
Orochimaru keenly sensed the Suna ninja's change in tactics. He took off his weighted vest, further increasing his speed. With his rich combat experience, a look of contemptuous coldness hung on his face. When he encountered an interception squad with inferior strength, he would instantly pounce, like a wolf among sheep, and annihilate them. If it was a stronger Suna squad, Orochimaru would be as elusive as a slippery loach, appearing erratically, occasionally showing his fangs to bite at stragglers in the Suna ranks before immediately withdrawing.
Orochimaru's repeated harassment and attacks not only failed to produce significant results for the Suna squads but also caused them heavy casualties in a short time. Furthermore, the skirmishes where Suna ninja were pulled away to intercept Orochimaru were immediately and completely suppressed by Konoha, with Suna ninja constantly being defeated and killed.
His dark-golden snake eyes swept over the last surviving Suna Chūnin in an interception squad—a man who was pale-faced, shaky on his feet, and darting his eyes around in fear. Orochimaru gave a sinister smile, clamped the blood-soaked kunai between his teeth, and made hand seals with both hands.
Wind Release: Wind Cutter!
In the blink of an eye, an invisible, scythe-shaped wind blade, about a meter long, condensed in the air. Under Orochimaru's masterful ninjutsu control, it silently bypassed the fighting ninja and flew toward the Suna Chūnin's back!
As the wind blade flew out, Orochimaru gripped the kunai he had held in his mouth, a light, disdainful smile on his lips. He charged forward.
Pshh!—
The Suna Chūnin, whose alertness was greatly diminished by fear, had his arm cleanly severed by the invisible wind blade Orochimaru had launched. If he hadn't suddenly snapped awake at the last moment, the Suna Chūnin would have been instantly killed!
However, Orochimaru didn't let him live for long. Holding the kunai, he transformed into the black shadow of the Grim Reaper, charging forward in a breath. Facing the Suna ninja's painful wails, he ruthlessly plunged the kunai into his neck!
A fountain of blood erupted. The head, with eyes still wide in terror, spun into the air, tracing a parabola before dropping heavily to the ground.
The dead, lifeless eyes stared blankly at Orochimaru, who was once again stirring up waves of bloody carnage!
Fifteen minutes later, Orochimaru, breathing lightly and with several new cuts on his body, stood quietly atop a slightly elevated sand dune. His dark-golden eyes, cold and indifferent like the eyes of a god, looked down on the entire battlefield, taking in the full scope of the situation.
As Orochimaru expected, after his period of roaming and assassinations, the entire Genin and Chūnin level of the battle had been completely transformed. Konoha's victory was only a matter of time.
Seeing this sight, Orochimaru smiled proudly and cast his bloodthirsty gaze toward the vast, open Jōnin battlefield on the other side, which was far more perilous, heart-stopping, and loud.
The brothers Aokita and Aokino were indeed an asset, being telepathically coordinated Anbu Jōnin who had worked together for years.
The ninjutsu they used, though not high-ranking, had extremely fast activation speeds. The jutsu launched by the two brothers either formed combination ninjutsu with multiplied power or created incredibly swift pincer attacks.
Facing three Suna Jōnin, they fought brilliantly, even subtly gaining the upper hand over the Suna ninja!
Orochimaru then looked at Uchiha Tomosuke's battle. He was a core member of the Uchiha clan who had activated the three-tomoe Sharingan, possessing terrifying Kage-candidate level strength.
Having preliminarily mastered Extreme Fire Release, his Fire Release ninjutsu, streaked with a dazzling white light, was astonishingly powerful and difficult to extinguish. Every Fire Release attack forced the three Suna Jōnin to expend several times the chakra Tomosuke used just to block it.
Furthermore, as the three-tomoe blood-red Sharingan spun rapidly, various subtle Genjutsu were silently unleashed, repeatedly putting the three Suna Jōnin in dangerous situations!
However, the battle involving Hyūga Harano made Orochimaru frown. The two Suna Jōnin had quickly exploited Harano's weakness in a short time, keenly sensing the range of his combat effectiveness. They were now constantly "kiting" him, keeping their distance and attacking with ninjutsu.
Harano, after all, was at an age where his ninja strength was on the decline. Facing the ninjutsu of the Suna Jōnin, his Hyūga Gentle Fist could only rely on waves of fist energy and his Rotation defense to passively hold them off. His attempts to quickly close the distance were repeatedly forced back by the two Suna ninja, making the fight look extremely difficult for him.
However, upon closer inspection, Orochimaru keenly noticed a hint of profound calculation in Harano's eyes. He cursed the "old fox" under his breath, his mind constantly turning over his options.
Orochimaru then glanced at Sarutobi's battle in the distance: overwhelming sand waves, deafening earth-shattering roars, winds shooting skyward, blinding flashes of fire...
Orochimaru shook his head. Although he couldn't clearly see the details of Sarutobi's fight, he knew that a battle of that caliber was not something he, currently only at elite Chūnin strength, could influence.
He shifted his focus back to the Jōnin battles. His dark-golden eyes continuously absorbed every detail of the fighting, rapidly analyzing and judging the situation in his mind. After a few breaths, his eyes lit up. His entire body blurred into a faint afterimage, moving with the speed of smoke, like a ghost.
Orochimaru took a wide detour, rapidly moving toward Hyūga Harano's battle.
As his figure flickered, Orochimaru quickly made hand seals!
Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!
More than ten fire-red fireballs, each the size of a millstone, carrying strong fiery winds, attacked the two Suna Jōnin.
Harada was a middle-aged Suna Jōnin who had also survived the First Great Ninja War, making his combat experience considerable. In a short time, he and his comrade had seized on the weakness of the Konoha ninja before them—who was incredibly strong in close combat but seemed weary at long range. They were preparing to finish him off with ninjutsu.
Unexpectedly, masses of high-temperature flames struck from the side.
Harada turned to see that an elite Chūnin was harassing them recklessly. Furious, he roused the chakra throughout his body and, using the advantageous dune terrain, fiercely launched a powerful A-rank ninjutsu!
Sand Release: Sand Spear Rain!
A colossal amount of chakra was injected by Harada into the sand dune beneath his feet. The dune, spanning tens of meters, immediately churned, rising into the air to condense into dozens of yellow sand spears, each several meters long and as thick as an adult's arm. They shot toward Orochimaru with an ear-splitting whistling sound!
Hyūga Harano, who had been playing the "pig eating the tiger" by passively defending, instantly seized the perfect opportunity. His body blurred into a white shadow, his speed increasing by more than double as he lunged toward the two Suna ninja.
On the other side, Orochimaru watched the dozens of sand spears shoot toward him with furious momentum. He bit his hands, drawing blood, and a brilliant light suddenly burst forth from his dark-golden eyes. Pure chakra continuously gathered in his hands as he formed a series of hand seals, then slammed his hands heavily onto the ground!
Summoning: First-Tier Rashōmon, RISE!
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