Chapter 188: To Avenge and to Pay with a Life
"Third," he said, not to the other two, but to the real bodies. The memory of the Shadow Clones had just returned, and the three sentences fit together perfectly.
Orochimaru's face suddenly darkened.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Shadow—"
BOOM!
The next moment, he was sent flying, embedded in the stone wall of the cave.
"Hidden what?"
But he had bought a little time, enough for Jiraiya to use his jutsu.
"Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Bind!"
He summoned the stomach of the great toad of Mount Myoboku. A pink, fleshy wall grew at a frantic pace, and the entire cave was soon enveloped.
But it was only enough for one jutsu. The next moment, a fist was in his face.
So fast! As a ninjutsu-type, his casting speed was not slow. But if Orochimaru hadn't bought him that one second with his own body, he wouldn't have even been able to finish the first jutsu.
All he could do was to gather his chakra for defense. The next moment, an overwhelming force struck him, and his tall body was also sent flying. But when he hit the fleshy wall, he disappeared into it. Orochimaru also dissolved into the wall.
Dana looked at the constantly undulating fleshy walls, a frown on his face. The two of them had merged with the wall. Even his "pulse" vision had lost track of them.
"What a strange ninjutsu."
He clapped his hands together. "Lightning Release: Overclocked Thunder Severing Wave!"
If the mountain is enveloped, I'll just cut through the mountain.
The night sky of the island was lit up, and a beam of light swept upwards, cutting the small, uninhabited mountain in two.
Orochimaru and Jiraiya, hidden in the fleshy wall, broke into a cold sweat. Though it wasn't difficult for ninja of their level to destroy a small mountain, the sheer power of the attack had shaken them. It was an unstoppable force.
Sure enough, after cutting the mountain in two, and seeing that the fleshy wall had not disappeared, he fired another, and another, and another. The mountain was not just being cut, it was being cut to pieces.
The poor toad of Mount Myoboku. Its stomach had been cut into dozens of pieces. He wondered if it would be affected.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru, hidden in the wall, were lucky not to have been cut in half on the spot.
Slowly, most of the fleshy wall disappeared. It seemed the toad's digestive organ had a damage limit. The remaining few pieces, still enveloping chunks of rock, he could just break one by one.
"Ninja Art: Great Thunder Rasengan!"
A spinning ball of pale blue lightning. He went after the remaining pieces, one by one. They were large enough to hide a person. They were actually just chunks of the mountain, covered in flesh. Under the Great Thunder Rasengan, they were all reduced to dust.
And at the fourth piece, a pair of hands, at the perfect moment, shot out from the wall and grabbed his hand.
"Got you!" Orochimaru's voice came from within.
"Got you," he said, grabbing his hands.
Orochimaru was shocked. His hands turned into two giant snakes. "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
But the moment the two snakes appeared, he grabbed them by the neck and, with a slight squeeze, they went limp.
Orochimaru quickly used the opening to drop down, trying to create some distance between them.
But he, holding the dead snakes, pulled him back and kicked him.
But the feeling was wrong. It was like kicking a rubber ball.
"Ninja Art: Ten Thousand Snakes Formation."
In mid-air, Orochimaru spat out a large number of small snakes, which flew towards him.
"Lightning Release: Overclocked False Darkness!"
Countless bolts of lightning appeared, and the snakes were all electrocuted, falling from the sky like rain.
He frowned. "Is that how you use your summoning jutsu?"
He sincerely hoped that among the well-done little snakes, there were none that he had fed.
They had been fighting for a while now, but Jiraiya, since he had merged with the fleshy wall, had not reappeared.
"I almost forgot," Orochimaru sneered. "You're also a contractor of Ryuchi Cave."
"Not going to pretend anymore?" he said with a smile.
Orochimaru realized he was still using his disguise. But the enemy he was facing now was not one he could afford to be distracted by. If he didn't use all his tricks, he would die.
"You'd better keep pretending."
What did he mean by that?
And then, he disappeared from his sight. When he reappeared, he was right in front of him.
A massive boom. A heavy blow to his abdomen, and he was sent flying like a meteor, skipping across the surface of the sea.
If it hadn't been for his soft body modification, that one blow would have taken him out of the fight.
After tumbling for a few weeks, he finally righted himself and, barely managing to stand, he gasped, "Wait! The Daimyo is—!"
Another massive boom. He was skipping across the water again.
"Dammit! Aren't you afraid—!"
He was sent flying, but this time, he couldn't maintain his form. He tumbled across the surface of the sea.
"Don't you dare—!" he tried to say.
"Don't be so—!"
On the sea, he was like a rubber ball, and Dana was the playful child.
"You killed our men?!"
"You stole our Communication Snail?!"
"You're playing games with me?!"
Finally, he was sent flying back to the island. He hit a rock and finally stopped skipping, instead becoming embedded in the rubble.
"Agh!"
A large amount of blood poured from his mouth, staining his chest. Even with his soft body modification, he was seriously injured. The damned Purple Moon Demon was playing with him, hitting him in the same spot, with the same force, every single time.
Dana slowly walked across the water.
"I told you I wasn't here for the Daimyo," he said. "You didn't believe me, did you? I'm here to kill you."
This was perhaps the greatest surprise of the night.
Their hostage was on this very island.
And yet, their opponent didn't care at all. He hadn't even asked about him.
What was the difference between kidnapping him and kidnapping a side of pork?
Was the Daimyo so unimportant in his eyes?
Orochimaru's mind was reeling.
But he knew that if Jiraiya didn't come out soon, he would be in a bad way.
He had to make one last, desperate attempt.
"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"
A massive puff of white smoke, and a colossal creature, far larger than any of the other snakes, appeared.
The signature triangular head. Its name was Manda.
"Orochimaru," it hissed, "you've disturbed my rest again. Next time, I want fifty sacrifices."
Dana looked at the great snake, both familiar and unfamiliar. It was a little smaller than he had imagined. Perhaps it had not yet reached its full size.
Manda, though it was complaining about sacrifices, was staring intently at the enemy.
And when the smoke had cleared and it saw Dana's face, it froze.
Wait a minute, it thought, the aura of this guy... he's also a contractor of Ryuchi Cave. Is he that guy?
This is trouble. A fight between two contractors. If I hurt this guy, Ichikishimahime will have my head.
"Your name is Manda, right?" he said, looking at it. "Do you really eat a few dozen people every time you're summoned?"
His tone was casual, but Manda suddenly felt that this was a very dangerous question.
"Uh... not really," it said. "I just say that. I just say that."
"Good," he said with a nod. "Then I won't kill you. I have no desire to be on bad terms with Ryuchi Cave for now. I'll find you a friend to play with."
"What do you mean?"
"Lightning Release: Thunder Dragon."
A massive thunder dragon, a few sizes larger than the current Manda, appeared and charged at it.
Manda was stunned. And then it quickly discovered that it was no match for it.
The illusory dragon and the physical snake coiled together and tumbled away.
"Wait! What is this thing?! Let me go!" Manda was being carried away, dizzy and confused.
After Manda was gone, the panting Orochimaru was revealed, sitting on the ground.
Dana slowly walked up to him and, squatting down, patted his face, just as he had in the training ground in Asuka Castle.
"I had wanted to just develop in peace for a few years," he said, "get married, have a few kids. But you had to come and provoke the Cloud. I don't know the rules in the other villages, but in the Cloud, my dad taught me from a young age: if you kill one of us, all of us will come for you, to avenge, and to pay with a life."
Orochimaru couldn't help but remember the words of the two young Cloud ninja in the valley, just before they had died.