Late at night.
Mirai Uchiha headed back toward the Konoha camp, somewhat disappointed.
He had spent the entire day without finding a suitable Cloud ninja team to target.
Those warlike ninja teams seemed to have all withdrawn into their camps.
"Have I gone too far lately?" Mirai mused silently.
Perhaps he had killed too many Cloud ninja recently, so it was highly likely that Cloud would stop sending ninja teams to harass Konoha as before until they figured out countermeasures.
After all... suffering dozens of ninja casualties daily, including several jonin among them—no village could afford such losses.
As Mirai was thinking, dozens of poisonous snakes rapidly coiled around his body and viciously sank their fangs into him.
Caw... caw... caw...
Mirai's body transformed into dozens of Puppet: Corpse Crows, scattering in all directions.
At the same time, a massive fireball fell from the sky, consuming all the snakes.
Smelling the scent of burnt flesh gradually dispersing in the air, Mirai turned his gaze toward the nearby forest. "Orochimaru, come out."
"Not bad at all, Mirai-kun," Orochimaru chuckled, stepping out from the shadows. Under the moonlight, his unnaturally pale face made no effort to conceal his murderous intent.
"What do you want?"
Mirai asked coolly as he looked at Orochimaru.
"I just have one question for you, Mirai-kun." Seeing that Mirai remained unaffected, Orochimaru retracted his killing intent.
"According to my intelligence reports, these past few days Cloud has suffered heavy losses among their ninja, and now they've even retreated into hiding."
"But from investigating other raid teams I've sent out, although they achieved some success, combined they eliminated fewer than a hundred in total."
"Such losses are practically negligible for Cloud—it's unlikely such a figure alone could convince A to make this current decision."
Orochimaru calmly presented his theory. "Considering everything, this sudden change must be somehow connected to you, Mirai-kun."
Mirai raised an eyebrow. "So?"
"So?" Orochimaru's eerie vertically slit pupils gleamed. "So let me see exactly how you accomplished something like this."
[Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!]
Orochimaru's arm transformed into dozens of snakes, opening their blood-red mouths and rushing toward Mirai.
[Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!]
The sharp wind blades sliced every snake cleanly in half.
Immediately afterward, Mirai's hands formed seals continuously.
[Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction!]
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A blazing sea of fire surged forward, consuming everything in its path. Mirai Uchiha swiftly withdrew.
Where he had once stood, Orochimaru burst from the ground with a Grass Katana in his mouth.
[Clang!]
Mirai drew his blade to block Orochimaru's attack, and the two quickly engaged in fierce combat.
"Mirai-kun, you truly keep surprising me."
Orochimaru gazed at Mirai's triple-comma Sharingan, curiosity evident on his face.
Whether it was ninjutsu or taijutsu, this teenager displayed exceptional skill—facing him head-on without showing any disadvantage whatsoever.
Could such abilities truly belong to a boy who had only graduated from the Ninja Academy a year ago?
Recalling the first time he met Mirai Uchiha, Orochimaru couldn't help but feel nostalgic.
Back then, even though Mirai had defeated Kakashi Hatake, he still seemed quite inexperienced in Orochimaru's eyes.
Who could have imagined that in just one year, Mirai would reach such a level!
"Orochimaru, let's end this today."
Mirai swung his sword, forcing Orochimaru back. "There's no point in continuing this fight."
Upon hearing Mirai's words, Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and wet his lips. "Mirai-kun, are you implying I'm not even worthy of seeing your trump card?"
"How arrogant..."
As the Third Hokage's former disciple, Orochimaru hadn't heard such words from anyone in a long time since establishing his own reputation.
[Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!]
Orochimaru fell to the ground, and thousands of venomous snakes crawled out from his mouth, quickly surrounding Mirai within a radius of dozens of meters.
"Mirai-kun, these snakes are all highly poisonous. A single bite could cost you your life."
"Whether you live or die depends entirely on yourself."
Hardly had Orochimaru finished speaking when the snakes on the ground lunged simultaneously at Mirai.
Knowing Orochimaru's nature, Mirai realized he wouldn't back down unless dealt a serious blow.
Mirai gave a slight hum of disdain before hurling his long katana straight at Orochimaru at the last possible moment.
"Is that all?" Seeing the incoming blade, Orochimaru effortlessly dodged aside.
Expecting Mirai to reveal some secret trump technique, he was disappointed that even at a critical moment like this, Mirai couldn't even manage a single effective strike.
Disappointed, Orochimaru shook his head and released the Summoning Technique of the Ten Thousand Snakes.
But in the next instant, Orochimaru's pupils suddenly contracted.
The Mirai Uchiha who should have been lying helpless on the ground, easy prey, had actually vanished!
A primal sense of danger surged from the depths of his being.
Having frequently faced near-death experiences, Orochimaru instinctively sensed the presence of death.
[Rasengan!]
*Boom!*
Orochimaru's body was sent flying, crashing through several massive trees before slamming into the ground.
"That was way too close... I nearly bought it back there..."
A new body slithered out of his mouth. Orochimaru stared at the Mirai Uchiha standing before him, still shaken.
If he hadn't used the Substitution Jutsu at the last moment, that attack might have killed him outright.
But…
How had Mirai Uchiha, who should have been swallowed by Manda, silently appeared behind him?
Orochimaru's gaze unconsciously shifted to the long katana lodged in the tree trunk where he had stood moments ago, and shock gradually crept across his face.
"Could it be…"
[Chidori!]
*Pftk!*
A mouthful of blood spurted out. Orochimaru stared in disbelief at the heart pierced by Mirai Uchiha.
As a disciple of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Orochimaru was well-versed in many of Konoha's kinjutsu.
Mirai had definitely employed the Flying Thunder God technique.
Only that kind of spatial movement could escape his perception and appear beside him without warning.
But...
Orochimaru wasn't trying to figure out how Mirai had learned the Flying Thunder God—a forbidden jutsu sealed in the Scroll of Seals—but was instead focused on a different question.
If Mirai had used his own weapon—the long katana—as a marker during his first use of the Flying Thunder God, then how had he suddenly appeared beside him this time without one?
"Orochimaru, you've seen my trump card. Whether you can survive or not now depends entirely on your own ability."
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