At night, the town was as lively as ever.
Tsunade was gambling, and each chip she threw out caused a stir.
Shizune was worried. She had won 1.2 million ryo, but had already lost a third of it. Where was the promised moderation?
Kakashi and Tenzo were writing mission reports and planning their next moves.
Satoshi, carrying his short sword, was wandering outside after dinner.
As he reached a quiet street, he slowly stopped. He clearly saw a pair of snake eyes in the shadows, staring intently at him.
Just a glance, and he could feel the dangerous aura emanating from him.
Satoshi's slender fingers lightly rested on the hilt of his sword, and he asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"
A hoarse, unpleasant laugh answered him. "Uchiha brat, haven't you been looking for me?"
"You're Orochimaru."
Satoshi put on an astonished expression. "You were the one who ordered the masked man to invade Konoha."
Orochimaru extended his long tongue, licking his lips, and looked at Satoshi with an expression that said he was looking at an idiot.
"Uchiha brat, your brain really isn't working well. If I wanted to invade Konoha, would you still be alive to talk to me now?"
[As Hokage, one must eliminate all possible threats to the village.]
[New Mission: Defeat the rogue ninja Orochimaru and obtain the secret about the masked man from him.]
Orochimaru tapped his head. He naturally wouldn't miss this rare opportunity to catch Satoshi alone.
He suddenly opened his mouth, and a slender white snake shot out. Even stranger, the small snake opened its mouth, spitting out a sharp Kusanagi sword.
It appeared!
I spit snake, snake spits sword.
A cold glint flashed in Satoshi's eyes. His short sword instantly unsheathed, and his figure vanished from the spot.
Crack!
A white light flashed, and the sharp blade sliced through the white snake's head.
Orochimaru quickly formed hand signs.
Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!
In an instant, countless venomous snakes, like a black tide, surged towards Satoshi, covering everything.
Water Release: Water Dragon Biting Explosion!
The entire street instantly transformed into a vast expanse of water.
Surging waves covered the ground beneath Orochimaru's feet, and the water level rose sharply, submerging half of his body in the blink of an eye. Beneath the turbulent water, a vortex appeared out of nowhere, possessing immense suction.
Orochimaru had no choice but to concentrate Chakra at his feet, barely managing to stabilize himself.
As for the countless small snakes, they had already been diced into bits by numerous tiny water blades.
Satoshi stood atop the colossal Water Dragon, looking down at Orochimaru.
"No matter who you are, as long as you threaten the village's safety, you will not be spared."
A sense of powerlessness rose in Orochimaru's heart.
Protecting Konoha? Listen, is that something you Uchiha should be saying?
Does the Uchiha clan have a tradition of protecting the village?
Above the Water Dragon, Satoshi slowly raised one hand, then abruptly clenched his five fingers into a fist.
As he formed the hand signs, the water level surged. The raging current instantly submerged Orochimaru completely. Countless sharp water blades cut into his body.
Satoshi could even clearly hear the sound of flesh being torn, and Orochimaru's distorted, high-pitched wails.
Just as Satoshi relaxed, with a rumble, a massive creature suddenly burst out of the ground.
Orochimaru stood atop a purple giant snake, looking somewhat disheveled.
"Foolish Orochimaru, did you summon me just to be your meat shield?!" Manda let out a deafening roar.
Orochimaru said, "This situation is special. Help me defeat this little guy in front of me, and I will offer a hundred people as sacrifices."
Hearing this, Manda felt satisfied.
He carefully scrutinized the enemy before him, then sneered. "Orochimaru, have you really become so weak that you can't even defeat a stinky brat now?"
Orochimaru wanted to say something but swallowed it back.
Just pretend. Even though Satoshi is just an eleven-year-old brat, his mastery of Water Release has long surpassed his peers. Even in Konoha, few could compare to him.
Moreover...
What made Orochimaru feel a bit strange was Satoshi's Chakra. Why did it seem inexhaustible?
Maintaining such a massive Ninjutsu, yet he hadn't even broken a few drops of sweat. This kid must be hiding some secret.
"Go, Manda!"
"Shut up! I don't need you to tell me what to do."
Manda opened his gaping maw, and with a foul stench, he swallowed Satoshi whole.
"Alright, Orochimaru, when are the sacrifices..."
"No!"
Orochimaru's pupils constricted. The Water Release had not dissipated.
Manda, that idiot, hadn't even bitten anything substantial.
Before he finished speaking, with a splash, Satoshi's figure, like a ghost, emerged from the water beneath Mandara's side, breaking through the waves.
He gripped his short sword, its blade wrapped in a torrent, and plunged it fiercely into Manda's purple scales.
"Hiss!"
Manda cried out in pain, frantically thrashing his massive body, stirring up monstrous waves.
Satoshi, having landed a blow, vanished, leaving several explosive tags in Manda's wound.
"Damn brat, if you're so brave, come out of the water!" Manda roared, churning the water into a frenzy.
"Your grandpa is here!"
Satoshi's voice once again rang out beside Manda's gigantic head. This time, his short sword precisely pierced his lantern-like right eye.
He lightly tapped the hilt with his toe, forming a jutsu sign.
"Hmph!"
"Art is an explosion!"
Boom... Boom...
The explosive tags detonated one after another with violent force.
The explosions' fire and shockwaves surged, tearing Manda's massive body to pieces, leaving it charred and bloody. Finally, like a collapsing mountain of flesh, he lied limp in the gradually receding pool of water.
Satoshi wiped the blood foam from his forehead and used the tip of his sword to pick up Orochimaru, who had been blown into pieces.
"You should be dead now, right?"
He flicked his wrist, shaking the blood from his short sword, and it clanged back into its sheath.
Just as he took a step, a cold, slimy sensation instantly wrapped around his upper body.
"Damn it!"
Several white snakes, like tough ropes, tightly constricted his arms and torso.
Orochimaru emerged from the shadows of some corner, covered in slime. He was disheveled but carried a sickening excitement.
"A perfect body, now it belongs to me."
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with greedy, fanatical light, and his long tongue licked his lips.
"Foolish Orochimaru, when did you get the illusion that I was under your control?" Satoshi's voice sounded from behind Orochimaru, sending a chill down his spine.
He suddenly looked down, only to realize that there was no Uchiha bound there. What was tightly entangled by the tough giant snakes was, in fact, himself.
Orochimaru's voice was filled with doubt. "Tsk, your Genjutsu has reached such a level."
Satoshi chuckled, the three tomoe in his eyes spinning rapidly. "Die, trash that threatens Konoha."
Satoshi drew his sword again, and the water surface seemed to be pulled by something, churning restlessly.
He held his sword, and the residual water, like a living thing, rapidly converged, wrapped, and compressed along the blade. Finally, it condensed into an immense, chillingly sharp, azure blue giant water blade.
"Go to hell, trash!"
Satoshi roared, and the five-meter-long giant water blade tore through the air. With the momentum to cut through anything, it cleaved down onto the bound Orochimaru.
[Orochimaru is cunning by nature, ordinary ninjas find it difficult to find a way to completely kill him.]
[Mission progress updated: Killing Orochimaru in progress.]
"Tsk."
Satoshi looked at Orochimaru's remains, cleanly split in half by the water blade, and curled his lips.
This guy really can survive. Even if you killed all the aliens this way, you still couldn't kill him.
However, Satoshi still collected Orochimaru's body, sealing it into a scroll. After all, this was his accomplishment, right?
And at this moment, his two companions and Tsunade slowly arrived.
Satoshi grinned widely. "Tsunade-sama, I won this time."