When he saw the weird smile on Fūma Ichirō's face, Orochimaru's first reaction was, 'Do I act now?'
He originally wanted to find a better opportunity to strike, but judging from Fūma Ichirō's expression, the other party was clearly prepared. No, it seemed more than just prepared!
Soon, Orochimaru made up his mind. While secretly preparing the Shinjutsu 'Marking', he prepared to activate 'Claw Marks'.
As long as the Shinjutsu 'Marking' could successfully mark Fūma Ichirō, his Shinjutsu 'Claw Marks' would hit with 100% accuracy. And once 'Claw Marks' attached to Fūma Ichirō's body, it meant he won this battle!
"I'm here to notify you that there's another test later!"
Ready to strike, Orochimaru took a step forward, smiling as he walked towards Fūma Ichirō, trying to close the distance between them.
Fūma Ichirō remained standing quietly in place, maintaining that weird smile on his face.
"This guy..."
Orochimaru felt somewhat uneasy in his heart, but the arrow was on the string and had to be released. So when the distance between the two closed to about ten meters, he abruptly activated the Shinjutsu 'Marking'.
Swish...
Instantly, a dazzling streak of chakra shot out from Orochimaru's body, attacking Fūma Ichirō.
Undoubtedly, only by being hit by this dazzling chakra would one be successfully marked by the Shinjutsu 'Marking'. That was why Orochimaru had to close the distance with Fūma Ichirō, because at the 'Six Paths Level', dodging 'Marking' wasn't something difficult to achieve.
However, in the next instant, Orochimaru's expression froze.
He was shocked to find that facing the Shinjutsu 'Marking' he activated, Fūma Ichirō didn't dodge or evade but took it head-on.
Amidst his confusion, Orochimaru then activated the Shinjutsu 'Claw Marks'.
Because his Shinjutsu 'Marking' had successfully marked Fūma Ichirō, the 'Claw Marks' he released hit the target without any suspense.
Immediately after, Orochimaru quickly inserted his hand into the 'Claw Marks' on his own body, then reached out from the 'Claw Marks' on Fūma Ichirō's body, swiftly choking Fūma Ichirō's neck, and simultaneously activated the Shinjutsu 'Absorption'.
After doing all this, Orochimaru felt greatly assured. His gaze then refocused on Fūma Ichirō's face, thinking to himself: "I want to see what exactly you're playing at!"
Fūma Ichirō still stood quietly, but he wiped the smile off his face, opened his mouth, and silently mouthed a word to Orochimaru.
"!?"
Orochimaru's expression changed drastically.
Although Fūma Ichirō didn't make a sound, at such a close distance, just by reading lips, he could recognize what Fūma Ichirō said.
And Fūma Ichirō just said one word: 'Hurry'!
"He... he is urging me?! Does he know what I'm going to do? But why doesn't he resist?"
In an instant, countless thoughts and guesses flooded Orochimaru's mind.
But no matter how surprised he was, 'Absorption' had already been activated, so Orochimaru could only brace himself and continue.
Perhaps because Fūma Ichirō offered no resistance at all, the absorption was exceptionally smooth this time. In just three to five minutes, Orochimaru absorbed the Shinjutsu 'Premonition' from Fūma Ichirō.
Correct!
The Shinjutsu Fūma Ichirō awakened was exactly a kind of Shinjutsu with predictive ability as guessed by Naruto and Sasuke.
However, the name of this Shinjutsu was 'Premonition', and its effect was to 'sense' all attacks that were about to cause negative effects on himself.
"It's actually such a Shinjutsu!"
After understanding the ability of the Shinjutsu 'Premonition', even Orochimaru himself clicked his tongue. But now was not the time to dwell on the Shinjutsu's effect; he had to dispose of Fūma Ichirō immediately.
But just as Orochimaru prepared to silence him, Fūma Ichirō suddenly put a finger to his lips, signaling Orochimaru to keep it secret!
Orochimaru was stunned and hesitated.
Fūma Ichirō smiled and shook his head at Orochimaru, seemingly reminding Orochimaru not to be impulsive.
Orochimaru could endure no longer and shouted: "What exactly do you know?"
Fūma Ichirō gently pointed to the 'Claw Marks' Orochimaru left on him, then shook his head at Orochimaru again.
Orochimaru thought for a moment and withdrew the 'Claw Marks' left on Fūma Ichirō.
He wasn't afraid of Fūma Ichirō playing tricks. Firstly, his Shinjutsu 'Marking' had already successfully marked Fūma Ichirō. As long as he wished, he could release 'Claw Marks' onto Fūma Ichirō anytime. Secondly, he had now absorbed Fūma Ichirō's Shinjutsu, so the opponent posed little threat to him.
On Fūma Ichirō's side, after Orochimaru withdrew the 'Claw Marks', he turned and left as if nothing had happened.
Watching Fūma Ichirō's retreating figure, Orochimaru was somewhat confused.
Fūma Ichirō's actions were just too weird. Judging others by himself, no one would willingly hand over their Shinjutsu!
"Damn it, it seems there really is a big problem with the ritual!"
Orochimaru's face turned ugly. Even the Shinjutsu he just obtained didn't seem so sweet anymore.
As one of the high-ranking members of the Research Institute, Orochimaru was among the top few in the Shinobi World in terms of both technology and vision. So the scene just now, once thought deeply, instantly made him shudder!
Because a normal person wouldn't do such a thing. So Fūma Ichirō was abnormal, very abnormal.
For a moment, Orochimaru even doubted whether the soul in Fūma Ichirō's shell was Fūma Ichirō himself.
A moment later, Delta came to Amado's office and reported to Amado about Orochimaru following Fūma Ichirō into the underground rest area.
Amado put down the work at hand and asked: "What did they do in the rest area?"
Delta shook her head: "Not clear. Orochimaru didn't follow Fūma Ichirō into the underground lounge in the end."
Amado frowned: "What do you mean?"
Delta spread her hands: "How would I know? Maybe they met in the passage leading to the underground rest area and chatted for a bit. Or maybe Orochimaru changed his mind halfway and didn't contact Fūma Ichirō. Anyway, there's no surveillance in the passage, so it's hard to investigate clearly what exactly happened now."
Amado asked: "Are there any traces of a fight?"
"No!" Delta shook her head and added: "Neither on their bodies nor inside the passage are there traces of fighting."
Amado pondered: "Is that so..."
Seeing this, Delta asked: "If you want to know what exactly they did in the passage, why not call Eida? Her 'Senrigan' should be able to see it!"
Amado hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Call her over!"