บท 44: Chapter 43
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Orochimaru was familiar with Ebizō, primarily through Danzō. Both men were deeply involved in their village's intelligence operations and had crossed paths multiple times.
According to Danzō, Ebizō was a man whose strength was comparable to his own.
"Orochimaru-kun, would you consider turning back?"
Ebizō, dressed in a loose robe, his head wrapped in bandages, stood with his hands tucked into the wide sleeves of his garment.
Orochimaru didn't respond immediately. Instead, he surveyed the number of opponents—only a dozen or so visible, though the actual number hidden in the forest was unknown.
On their side, however, there were several hundred ninja.
Despite the numerical advantage, Orochimaru knew that the Sand ninja before him were likely all elite fighters.
Still, even with their numbers, his side held the upper hand in terms of skilled fighters.
But if the enemy focused on targeting the younger, weaker ninja, they could potentially reduce his forces by as much as thirty percent.
Such a loss would have significant repercussions on the upcoming conflict in the Land of Rain.
However…
"And what if I refuse?"
Orochimaru pulled out a handful of shuriken, ready to engage at any moment.
"Then you'll only be able to leave with a portion of your forces."
Ebizō opened his hands, revealing two scrolls. As he unfurled them, smoke billowed out, and ten black puppets appeared by his side.
The Black Ten Puppets—a replica of the legendary puppeteer Monzaemon's creations.
Ebizō's intentions were clear: he aimed to weaken the forces Konoha could deploy to the Land of Rain, where they were currently on the defensive.
With no further words needed, Orochimaru hurled his shuriken and began forming hand seals.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
A multitude of shuriken rained down, covering the sky and rushing toward the Sand ninja.
The Sand ninja quickly deployed their puppets as shields, while others used trees and ninjutsu to block the onslaught of shuriken.
Suddenly, a voice from the Konoha ninja forces rang out with a battle cry.
"Attack!"
The battle erupted instantly.
Ebizō didn't immediately join the fray but instead focused on the ground beneath him with his sunken eyes.
Orochimaru emerged from the earth, Kusanagi sword in hand.
A bull-headed puppet swiftly intercepted, crossing its arms to deflect the blade's trajectory.
Orochimaru tilted his head slightly and extended his hand.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
His arm transformed into a mass of snakes that slithered past the bull-headed puppet, aiming directly at Ebizō.
Ebizō quickly leaped to another tree, putting distance between himself and Orochimaru while evading the snake attack.
With deft movements, he manipulated the chakra strings attached to his ten puppets, launching a relentless assault.
Orochimaru, like a snake, slithered and dodged, weaving between the puppets' attacks. Whenever he tried to close in on Ebizō, the latter would skillfully pull away.
As time passed, Ebizō began to sense that something was amiss.
He glanced at the battlefield and noticed a green figure that was overwhelming the Sand ninja forces.
This figure's physical prowess was dismantling puppets with a single touch, sending opponents flying before they could even unleash their jutsu.
At the same time, another Orochimaru was wreaking havoc among the Sand ninja, having summoned a massive purple snake.
"A shadow clone?"
Ebizō quickly turned his attention back to the Orochimaru before him.
"Care to guess?" Orochimaru smiled mysteriously, once again attempting to close the gap between them, only for Ebizō to maintain his distance.
One of the puppets fired a barrage of shuriken that pierced through Orochimaru, revealing the snakes writhing beneath his clothing.
But this confirmed to Ebizō that the Orochimaru in front of him was not a clone.
Yet, when he looked at the Orochimaru in the distance, summoning a massive purple snake that was tearing through the Sand ninja ranks, he realized that was the real one too.
He couldn't discern which was the true Orochimaru.
Recognizing the unfavorable situation, one of Ebizō's puppets emitted a high-pitched sound.
"Genjutsu: Mirage Sound!"
Instantly, most of the Konoha ninja were caught in the genjutsu, attacking trees as if they were enemies. Only a few elite ninja remained unaffected, including Orochimaru and Might Duy.
The other Sand ninja quickly retreated into the depths of the forest, vanishing at an incredible speed.
Might Duy had no intention of pursuing them, and the remaining Konoha ninja realized who their true target was.
They quickly formed a circle around Ebizō and Orochimaru.
The second Orochimaru and his summoned giant snake dissolved into smoke and vanished, confirming to Ebizō that the Orochimaru before him was indeed the real one.
"A new shadow clone technique," Ebizō muttered, his expression growing serious. This clone could fight with the same strength as the original—a troublesome technique.
"Now it's just you," Orochimaru said with a smile, offering no further explanation.
Inwardly, he couldn't help but marvel at the utility of the jutsu Jin had provided him.
By converting chakra into yin and yang attributes and using a sealing and unsealing technique to continuously cycle chakra, the jutsu could absorb the chakra released by enemy techniques.
When used by a shadow clone, it ensured the clone never ran out of chakra. When used by the original, it could ensure an almost infinite supply of chakra, increasing with the number of enemies.
It was a powerful technique for group battles.
And it had even more effects—enemy detection, illusion confusion.
One jutsu with three functions—something Orochimaru would never have conceived on his own.
He was beginning to wish he could crack open Jin's head and see what was inside.
Ebizō sighed deeply, glancing at Orochimaru.
He also took note of the fact that the number of Konoha ninja had hardly diminished.
His mission had failed.
He hadn't expected Orochimaru to have such a versatile clone technique.
Nor had he expected to encounter a man as formidable as the one in the green jumpsuit with the bushy beard.
At least they had managed to gather two crucial pieces of information.
"We'll meet again," Ebizō said calmly.
With a puff of smoke, he vanished.
"Orochimaru-sama," one of the Konoha ninja called out.
They all awaited his orders—should they pursue the Sand ninja who had just fled?
"We're heading to the Land of Rain," Orochimaru replied, his expression darkening.
The Land of Rain was currently in a defensive position, primarily focused on tracking the movements of other village's ninja.
Though several enemies had been detected, they had been eliminated by Konoha's ROOT operatives.
The area was primarily guarded by ROOT, making it unlikely that elite ninja like these would be able to slip through.
The only places he lacked concrete intelligence on were the Land of Rivers, where Sakumo Hatake was stationed, and the battlefield under Jiraiya's command.
These Sand ninja must have come from the Land of Rivers.
He began to worry about what might have happened there.
Although Sakumo was strong, Orochimaru didn't think of him as an ideal commander.
The defensive line hadn't collapsed—if it had, Orochimaru would have heard by now—but something must have happened that could shift the course of the war.
(End of Chapter)
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