Chapter 264: Battle of Human Immortals, Cloud Thunder Mega Cannon!
At this moment—
Ryūchi Cave.
Somewhere deep within, a rhythmic wooden fish tapping echoed softly.
Beneath the grand entrance, atop a massive throne, a colossal white-scaled serpent lay coiled, its body slumped lazily against the chair's backrest. Its eyes were closed, immersed in deep slumber.
Suddenly, its golden serpent pupils snapped open!
This serpent was none other than the master of Ryūchi Cave—the White Snake Sage.
Narrowing its eyes, a gleam flashed through its golden pupils.
In the next instant, the visions it had perceived in its dreams—events it had been monitoring in the Shinobi World—were projected before it through a mental wave.
This was a unique ability of the White Snake Sage—recording past experiences and replaying them at will.
The technique was called—"Mystic Divine Radiance!"
A scene materialized in front of it—the moment Uchiha Ci was being extracted of his Tailed Beast by the Kohaku no Jōhei (Amber Purifying Pot).
Upon witnessing this,
"Hiss!" The White Snake Sage's pupils contracted sharply, its expression instantly darkening.
"That pawn… I had planned to nurture him until he awakened those eyes, then seize him. By then, I could use him to aid my ascent on the Dragon Transformation Path, obtaining a True Dragon's body. But…"
"This fool went and provoked an enemy he could never defeat, leading to his inevitable demise."
Its cold gaze lingered on Zero-Tails, whose body was already halfway extracted by the Amber Purifying Bottle. The White Snake Sage shook its head indifferently.
"Once a Jinchūriki has their Tailed Beast extracted… there's only one fate left—death."
"Even the Uzumaki Clan, with their Sage Bodies, could not resist this fate."
"However…"
"Fortunately, I had already prepared a contingency!"
The White Snake Sage's blood-red mouth curled into a sinister grin as it chuckled coldly.
"At this point, abandoning this pawn is the only option. I'll make use of his immortality and that artificial Tailed Beast to cultivate a soulless body for my own use. And conveniently, I can use that divine artifact to execute a flawless heist!"
"That way, I won't have to deal with that brat anymore. The Sharingan is troublesome—useless to devour, but a waste to discard."
"Then—"
With this thought, its golden pupils turned ice-cold, and in the next instant, its snake-like eyes gleamed with an eerie light!
"Sage Art: Distant Phantom Transmission!"
—
Meanwhile, in the Land of Lightning—Kumogakure.
Amidst the ruins of the collapsed Raikage Building,
Standing with arms crossed inside the mouth of the Yamata no Orochi, Orochimaru gazed coldly at the smoldering battlefield below, where smoke drifted through the night.
A group of trembling Kumogakure shinobi was desperately pushing a massive object forward, charging toward him.
The earlier surprise attack had left them devastated. Only now had Kumogakure managed to rally its forces for a counterattack.
However, with the village's main army, Third Raikage, and two Jinchūriki all absent, the defenses left behind were laughably weak in Orochimaru's eyes.
That said, exceptions existed in all matters.
"What… is that?"
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as he observed the colossal object being pushed forward by the Kumogakure forces.
It consisted of three enormous steel barrels, mounted together on a cylindrical frame. The structure was equipped with various recoil absorption mechanisms, elevation cranks, targeting devices, stabilizers, and other components, giving it an oddly aesthetic industrial design.
It resembled a newly emerging weapon in the shinobi world—the "cannon."
However, unlike conventional cannons, this one had a more sophisticated and polished appearance, its steel components seamlessly interlocked, exuding a strange sense of beauty.
But in Orochimaru's view, it was useless.
Cannon barrels that required manual aiming were utterly incapable of hitting a swift-moving shinobi.
Furthermore, the ammunition—explosive-tag shells—was too weak. It couldn't even breach the first of his Triple Rashōmon gates.
Orochimaru had briefly studied this direction, but after finding gunpowder inferior to Fire Release techniques, he quickly dismissed it.
Now, seeing Kumogakure pushing this oversized contraption toward him, he simply shook his head and rasped,
"For a village of shinobi to rely on such crude external tools… Kumogakure, how pathetic."
Just as he was about to command his serpents forward to end this farce,
—an issue arose with the Yamata no Jutsu, his incomplete S-rank forbidden technique.
Its core function—regeneration—glitched slightly, causing a minor disruption in the giant serpent's movement.
At the same time, Orochimaru sensed that a Curse Mark he had planted thousands of miles away had been triggered.
"So… the failsafe I stitched into Uchiha Ci's Zero-Tails is now active."
Orochimaru furrowed his brows.
"The results of my experiments with the stolen 'Body Revival Jutsu' are still lacking. I don't have enough materials to further refine it."
"I need to find Shinnō and extract the original technique from him."
With that thought, Orochimaru shook his head and bit his finger, swiftly forming hand seals before pressing his palm into the air.
"Summoning Jutsu: Triple Rashōmon!"
A hoarse incantation fell—
And in an instant, three colossal Rashōmon gates erupted from the ground!
Triple Rashōmon—a derivative of First Hokage Hashirama's Fivefold Rashōmon, was an absolute defensive formation designed to absorb and nullify attacks.
The first gate endured the impact.
The second gate weakened the force.
The third gate dispersed the pressure.
By the time any attack reached the summoner, its power would have drastically diminished!
Against a mere "cannon" that couldn't even breach a single gate, Orochimaru deploying Triple Rashōmon was already giving Kumogakure far more credit than it deserved.
Standing safely behind the gates, he ignored the cries of despair echoing from the battlefield and closed his eyes, focusing on sensing the situation thousands of miles away.
The Curse Mark—known as the "Curse Mark Implantation Technique"—contained fragments of his soul.
This was why he could monitor events remotely.
Much like a Shadow Clone returning its memories upon dispersal—but far more advanced.
Soon, Orochimaru's brow arched slightly.
"The seal on the First Hokage's necklace inside Zero-Tails… has been broken."
"So… the White Snake Sage has made its move."
"Realizing the situation has turned dire, it intends to escape with its prize?"
"Heh…"
Orochimaru smirked coldly.
"A so-called Sage, acting like a panicked fool."
He had long anticipated this.
Back when Uchiha Ci first learned "Sage Art: Distant Phantom Transmission", he had secretly informed Orochimaru of the technique through Uchiha clan channels.
Yet, Orochimaru never responded—because he had already set a trap!
Fate never gives gifts without expecting something in return.
From the moment Uchiha Ci accepted the White Snake Sage's power, he had unknowingly been marked.
Orochimaru had detected this foreign influence within the Curse Mark, and thus, he had prepared a countermeasure:
—implanting Hashirama's cells into Zero-Tails and embedding the First Hokage's necklace!
And now—
"Heh… trying to run? Did you ask for my permission?"
Orochimaru's golden serpent eyes snapped open. His voice turned chillingly hoarse—
Raising his left hand, he swiftly formed a hand seal.
Upon his palm, a single "Zero" symbol surfaced!
This was—
"Hokage-Style Sixty-Year-Old Technique — Kakuan Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands!"
—
Yet, before he could act,
A blinding golden beam of energy erupted from Kumogakure's formation!
Dozens of shinobi collapsed into shriveled husks as their chakra was devoured by the Chakra Mega Cannon.
BOOOOM!!!
A blast imbued with the rage, will, and desperate resolve of Kumogakure—
Tore through the night!
CRASH! One Rashōmon gate shattered.
CRASH! The second gate followed.
CRASH! The third gate exploded into debris!
Orochimaru's smirk froze.
His pupils contracted violently.
He turned, horrified, toward the massive golden beam that had just obliterated three Rashōmon gates—
And continued forward, disintegrating two of the Yamata no Orochi's heads in its wake!
"W-What the hell is that!?"
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