Seeing Ohnoki land on the ground Orochimaru summoned his sword and rushed towards Ohnoki swinging the legendary Kusanagi sword.
Earth Style : Rock Fist Technique
CLANGGG !!!!
Although one of the sharpest swords in the world, it still couldn't pierced entirely through the rock armour on Ohnoki's hand. Ohnoki blocking the sword strike with one of his arm used his another arm to punch Orochimaru's waist.
Orochimaru Style : Soft Physique Modification
Unfortunately, Ohnoki's fist couldn't hit Orochimaru as he had twisted his waist in an impossible manner at the last moment.
Ten minutes Later
BOOMMM !!!!!
Finally after ten minutes of struggle Manda ultimately broke the Earth Golem to pieces. Then it disappeared back to Ryuchi Cave. Although taking care of this Rock Golem wasn't too much struggle for Manda but it admired the teaching of Kizaru from another world and it worked only for the amount it is paid. As Orochimaru's partner it knew his troublesome Kekkei Tota Dust Escape, so it wouldn't risk it's life for just a hundred human lives.
Ohnoki who was panting a little bit looked at the broken golem and then at the disappeared Manda and sighed a heave of relief. Fighting two Kage-level was exhausting him very quickly especially with his old age.
---
Outside the Battlefield
Itachi, Shisui, Sasuke and Kakuzu were sitting under a picnic umbrella drinking juices along with some snacks watching the battle with excitement. You don't get to watch Kage-level Ninjas fighting everyday.
Tens of meters away the Mirror Itachi and Mirror Shisui were sulking in despair. They were keeping guard against Ohnoki watching the battle intently so they couldn't join the fun of others.
" Big brother, do you think that old man will die in this battle ? " Sasuke asked Itachi after having a sip of orange juice.
" If this continues then he will definitely die. "
" Then why didn't he die in the Third Great Ninja war ? I heard that he fought with Orochimaru dozens of time if not hundred times in few years. " Hearing Itachi's reply Sasuke asked with confusion.
" Sasuke you have to understand that in war it's not that the commanders would fight to death, usually they will just hold each other back. If anyone of the leaders are injured they will just leave the battlefield with their allies waiting for themselves to be healed and just fight after healing. Orochimaru and Ohnoki in a battle, both have equal advantages, Ohnoki has high attack power but low stamina and Orochimaru has low attack power but high defence and stamina with his endless strange jutsu. In war, they will fight until their advantage and retreat in disadvantage. The even if Orochimaru has enough strength and Ohnoki is exhausted, he can't take Ohnoki down in front of the huge Iwagakure army thus, even after hundreds of battle unless something unexpected happens no winner will be decided.
Now, Ohnoki can't run away after his stamina is depleted and he will not conserve his stamina because in three hours he will have to face five more Kage-level making having more stamina useless. So he will try his best to take atleast Orochimaru down with his life, but even if he kills this Orochimaru, we can just revive another with cursed seals he had implanted on White Zetsu. So Ohnoki will lose his bet, ultimately dying id he doesn't what's our advice. "
Hearing Sasuke was impressed by Orochimaru's cockroach nature.
---
Battlefield
Summoning Jutsu : Ten Thousand Snakes
Orochimaru after pushing Ohnoki away with a kick lowered his body and then from his mouth thousand of snakes rushed out marxhing towards Ohnoki. Then from the mouth of the snakes swords flew towards Ohnoki.
" Orochimaru, you are still as disgusting as before. " Seeing Orochimaru's style of ' I spit snake, snake spits me, me spits me and snake spit snake ' was thoroughly disgusted.
Dust Style : Whatever ( I forgot the name — He only knows one jutsu )
Seeing Ohnoki obliterate all his snakes to nothingness Orochimaru eyes lit with excitement.
" Ohnoki, you can't kill me within three hours and even you know about this. How about we make a deal ? I will save you and even negotiate with Itachi about the terms though I already know the terms and you will give me your blood and little bit of flest along with all your research of Dust Release. How about this, do you accept. "
* Dream on, do you think I will trust a snake "
" Sigh, then I will have to break the promise to Deidara. "
" Why are talking so much, let fi—... Wait, what do you mean, promis with deidara ? "
" Well, after you left Iwagakure yesterday, our Akatsuki having heard of the reputable of Strongest genius of Iwagakure, extended the recruitment to him on the condition that we will help him escape Iwagakure without restricting his study of EXPLOISON and keep you alive. Now it seems we have to send the teacher and student on the way together. "
Hearing this Ohnoki was both touched and angered. Angered because Deidara went to join a terrorist organisation instead of repenting seriously and inherenting the position of Fourth Tsuchikage and touched because he still remembered his teacher. Then Ohnoki remembered Orochimaru's last sentence.
" Wait wait wait...we are civilized people, why are you talking about fighting and killing at every turn. What does Itachi want from me ? " Ohnoki asked with a smile
" Well, he wants your Iwagakure two Tailed beasts. Don't worry about the lives of two Jinchūriki, Itachi has a sealing Jutsu that prevents the Jinchūriki from dying because of lack of life force. Just give me your blood and research and I will reduce the two Tailed beast to one Tailed beast, how about this isn't it more beneficial to you..... I can also help you train Deidara to be the world's greatest terrori— ahem ahem, mercenary and when he is bored with this life, he can inherit the position of Tsuchikage. "
Ohnoki ignored the part of terrori— ahem ahem mercenary and thought of the terms Orochimaru spoke of. Previously he was ready to die because Iwagakure had a successor to fill gap because of his death but now since Deidara is kidnapped then Iwagakure will definitely go in decline. Although it will still possess two Jinchūriki with Kage-level strength but the village will not make them the Tsuchikage and these two will not listen to an Elite-jonin kage. And with the strength of these Uchiha if they really want to hunt these two, with the help of Akatsuki's intelligence and their strength it would be child's play since the two Jinchūriki liked to roam around dtge ninja world like Jiraiya. Thinking of these outcome which became worse the more he thinked Ohnoki started sweating.
But giving Orochimaru dust release research notes and his blood and flesh digs at the core inheritance of Iwagakure. Either way, Iwagakure is going to suffer losses. Previously he thought that Itachi would demand Gold and supplies which he wasn't willing but now he wa very much willing to give that.
" Orochimaru, you also know the importance of a tailed beast to a village, even if I die there will definitely be someone to take my position in the future but a tailed beast isn't replaceable. Giving a tailed beast to save my life, I would rather die than to bear this infamy. "
" Ohnoki, it's not just you who has lost a tailed beast. Look at Takigakure which lost Seven tails, the Kumogakure will also loose it's tailed beast, Konoha's Jinchūriki is Itachi's brother and now lives in the Uchiha clan. Everyone will lose one so it will not effect the strength of Iwagakure compared to other villages. "
Hearing the list of tailed beasts the Uchiha clan has acquired or will acquire, the more Ohnoki listened the more he became unwilling to die leaving Iwagakure's future in those unreliable hands.
" Aren't you afraid the entire Ninja world would join forces against you all ? "
" Heh, who do you think will win, Uchiha Madara or the entire world ? " Orochimaru hearing Ohnoki's question questioned with a sneer.
" You....." Hearing Orochimaru's question Ohnoki became speechless. He personally knew the terror of Uchiha Madara, that despairing power, the pressure of those cursed eyes. Previously after the humiliation unee Madara, he and his master searched all the information of Madara and found a rumour from the Senju clan.
It was said that Madara had lost against Hashirama and even his brother was nearly killed by Madara. After the Death of his brother Izuna Uchiha, Madara gouged his brother's eyes and absorbed the power of Mangekyo Sharingan and unlocked even deeper power.
In the past few decades although a few people have awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan they weren't as strong as Madara, so Ohnoki later concluded that this rumour of Madara is true. But, Itachi has multiple options to awaken that forbidden power, this is also the reason he is trying to take Itachi down as soon as possible but now it seems it's already too late.
Orochimaru on the other hand didn't know the internal monologue of Ohnoki, he just asked this question because of his recent success in Impure World Reincarnation jutsu. Previously it didn't possess enough strength to act as a combatant but with his wisdom and research now the person can inherit 5-10 % of the previous strength. Orochimaru is sure that in the future he can definitely make that 100 % strength and then he can revive Madara, so he just asked this question.
" Ohnoki, I can take Deidara as my disciple. This is my last concession. "
Just then Itachi who was outside the barrier teleported in and said to Ohnoki.
" Okay, but Kumogakure has to pay more. Also, Deidara will wear a mask the whole time he is working in your organization. " Seeing Itachi come in Ohnoki confirmed his guees. Orochimaru speaking and everything else was Itachi's plan, but he didn't mind.
He is also gambling, gambling whether with the Master-Disciple bond, the Uchiha clan will not harm Iwagakure and even help it or whether with this the Uchiha clan will gain control over Iwagakure. But at the end of the day, he just doesn't possess enough strength to take the Uchiha clan down.
" Happy Co-operation " Itachi hearing Ohnoki's reply smiled in satisfaction and extended his hands. Ohnoki shook his hands and smiled wryly.
BOOM !!
After shaking hands Itachi exploded into cloud of smoke and another Itachi appeared. Seeing this Ohnoki cursed the old fox but still pretended not to notice anything.
---
Author's Note
Hello everyone,
I wanted to get your reaction to this chapter — not really about the content itself, but more about the tone, language, grammar, and overall writing style.
Unlike my previous novel, where I relied heavily on AI, this time I've been using it much less. Usually, my process is to first write a raw version of the chapter on my own, and then use AI tools ( Free Chatgpt Version) to correct grammar, smoothen the tone, and make it more polished. This approach had been working well for the past few months, but recently I feel like the quality of those tools hasn't been as consistent for me. It might be because I'm using the free version and not a premium one. ( I think it's because Ai is getting expensive and freebies are over )
So for this chapter, I decided to write everything on my own without using AI for editing — just writing and revising it myself. Because of that, I wanted to ask: are you okay with the current tone and writing style? Or would you prefer the more polished (even if slightly robotic) tone that comes with AI editing?
I'd really appreciate your honest feedback on this.
Also, I wanted to share something a bit personal about my situation. After this current work, I'm planning to start an original novel. One of the main reasons for that is honestly financial.
This year, I'll be applying to universities. I wasn't able to secure a spot in the top government institutions with lower fees, but I can get into a good private university — the issue is that the fees are quite high. Since I'm planning to pursue law, this becomes an important factor.
Sometimes I feel a bit guilty, thinking that if I had focused more on studies instead of spending so much time reading and writing novels earlier, maybe I could have scored better. But well, that's in the past now.
So I've been thinking — during college, I can continue writing novels in my free time. I'm not very into sports or outdoor activities ( I do like Chess — 1800 + Rating in Lichess ), so I'll likely have one to two hours daily that I can dedicate to writing. If I can turn that into something meaningful and maybe even earn some money from it, it would help reduce my financial burden and also give me a sense of independence.
Writing is something I genuinely enjoy, and being able to support even a part of my college expenses through it would mean a lot to me.
So I'd really like your suggestions — both about the writing style of this chapter and about this plan moving forward.
Thank you for reading and supporting me.
---
Also, if anyone feels like sponsoring me a few hundred million dollars, feel free to contact me. I will say no three times — you'll just have to insist a fourth time, and I definitely won't say no then.