Suddenly, Orochimaru frowned. Looking at Uchiha Tonan, who had a look of reluctance, on the ground, he said in an amused tone, “Not dead yet?”
Tonan coughed a mouthful of blood and weakly replied, “Orochimaru-sama, it seems you like the Sharingan very much.” His words made Orochimaru frown. Feeling uneasy, he asked, “What do you mean?”
Tonan, who was lying on the ground, raised his hand with difficulty. He pointed toward the deepest part of the laboratory. At the same time, a gentle and indifferent voice came from behind Orochimaru. “Orochimaru-sama, these ninjutsu you researched are very interesting. But they are a bit vicious.”
Orochimaru was startled. He felt a chill down his spine. He turned his head and looked in the direction ‘Tonan’ was pointing and he saw the gentle boy in gold-rimmed glasses sitting on the chair, reading a ninjutsu scroll spread open on his lap. Meanwhile, the corpse that was on the ground turned into white pigeons and flew away.
Orochimaru solemnly stared at him and asked with an unsightly look, “Was that also genjutsu? It seems your ocular power is stronger than I thought.”
Tonan ignored Orochimaru. He kept reading the scroll. The atmosphere became silent. The longer the silence, the more pressure in the air. Cold sweat appeared on Orochimaru’s forehead as he used his hand to brush off the long hair sticking to his face. He said with a stiff smile, “Tonan-kun, if you like these scrolls, I can give them to you.”
Hearing this, Tonan raised his head and adjusted his glasses. Shaking his head, he said, “I don’t accept undeserved emolument. Besides, you developed these after painstaking research. You poured so much sweat into this. How can I accept it? However, to prevent them from spreading out and harming the world, I’ll keep them for you temporarily, and hand them over to Sarutobi-sensei.”
Tonan sealed all the ninjutsu scrolls into one storage scroll and put it into his ninja bag. At this moment, Orochimaru looked completely morose, and threatened, “If you do this, only one of us will live.”
Tonan stood up leisurely and watched Orochimaru calmly, “I don’t know if only one of us will live or not but I know for sure that I’ll live. As for you, it’s difficult to say.”
Orochimaru was brimming with killing intent. His eyes emitted pallid radiance that could devour one’s soul. “Relying on Sharingan and the threefold genjutsu?”
Tonan shook his head lightly and warmly said, “No, no, no… you are one of the sannin who has shaken the Ninja World. Such offensive genjutsu can’t kill people. It can only destroy spirit and will. And as for the hypnotic genjutsu, you can easily detect it. Moreover, you are still in your prime. I never thought I’d be able to kill you.”
Orochimaru frowned hearing this, “Then what are you relying on?” A gentle smile played on Tonan’s lips as he said, “I rely on the same thing you do, my strength.”
Orochimaru’s eyes rose, looking furious, “You used a shadow clone to send a signal.”
Tonan nodded earnestly, “Yes, Orochimaru-sama, you’re done for. Unless you can get rid of me within twenty minutes, I’m going to Sarutobi-sensei to complain.”
Without waiting, Tonan made hand seals and slammed his palm on the ground.
“Earth Style – Earth Splitting Technique.”
Rumble… A crack appeared on the laboratory’s ceiling and the rocks split apart, revealing the cold moonlight outside. The moment the crack had appeared, Tonan jumped up and ran towards the top.
“You want to run away?” Orochimaru roared, quickly making hang signs, and slammed his hand on the ground.
Secret Art – Evil Snake Slithering.
A thick snake burst out from the ground and flew towards Tonan, who was in midair. Seeing the incoming giant snake, Tonan made hand signs with his right hand. Lightning flickered and condensed into a ball in his palm.
Orochimaru didn’t wait for Tonan to attack. He made more hand signs and launched ninjutsu, a step before him.
Secret Art – Evil Snake Explosion.
Boom! The giant snake exploded. The power of the flesh and blood was no less than dozens of explosive tags. The strong air current created by the explosion blew dust and smoke. It instantly became dark all around, and pieces of stones were hurled through the air.
The fierce winds also made the trees in the forest bend and emit cracking sounds. After the smoke and dust settled, Orochimaru appeared on a bare branch, and his snake eyes were focused on the center of the mayhem.
“Orochimaru-sama, are you looking for me?”
Orochimaru’s eyes shrunk, and he turned his head. Tonan had appeared behind him at some point. And with lightning flickering all over his body, the junior was already attacking him. However, this level of attack posed no threat to Orochimaru.
Tonan’s punch pierced through Orochimaru’s body, and it instantly turned into a cloud of white smoke. Orochimaru had used Shadow Clone Technique at some point to confuse Tonan. As for the real him, he had appeared in the distance.
After such a long battle, Orochimaru had placed Tonan on the same level as himself. He no longer underestimated him. At this moment, he looked very grim, “Can he wield this level of genjutsu? How can Sharingan be so powerful? Is this truly just the three tomoe or is his genjutsu talent too high?”
Orochimaru raised his eyebrows, and his face became paler. “He used poison in front of me. But it’s just an inferior poison, truly naïve…”
Bang!
A big smoke cloud mushroomed in the forest. Like fireworks blooming in the night sky, it enveloped the area within a radius of several meters. Blazing heat and strong winds spread in all directions from the epicenter. All plants and animals in that area were blasted into pieces, and the impact also uprooted the trees farther away.
Tonan had taken advantage of the time when Orochimaru had left the laboratory earlier to set up several hundred explosive tags in the ground. After about half a minute, the smoke and dust thinned, and things could be vaguely seen.
There was a big crater at the place where Orochimaru was standing just a moment ago. In the crater, there were many scorched giant snakes coiled up together.
