"Shinichi!"
Orochimaru's voice trembled with excitement as he raised his right hand and bit down hard on his thumb. "Give me... your body!"
Blood seeped from between his teeth. Ignoring it, he rapidly formed hand signs and slammed his palms onto the broken beam beneath him. "Summoning Technique!"
Poof!
A massive cloud of white smoke exploded with a low rumble, instantly shrouding half of the ruined viewing platform. From within the dust, a giant snake over forty meters long emerged.
"What's that noise now?" a Konoha chunin asked, looking up. His eyes widened as the smoke cleared to reveal the massive serpent.
"A summoned beast," a raspy voice spoke from the side. The speaker was a Konoha jonin in his forties. A veteran of the Third Shinobi World War, his expression was grave as he gazed at the purple scales. "It's Orochimaru's summon—Manda!"
Before he could finish, the white smoke was torn apart by a foul wind.
Hiss. Manda flicked its tongue, sensing Orochimaru standing on its head. "Orochimaru, what is this nonsense?" The serpent's slitted eyes narrowed slightly as it looked at the Magnet Wood Dragon, which was slightly smaller than itself. "Calling me to a place crawling with ants like this... you know the rules."
"The usual."
"Prepare a hundred live human sacrifices for me afterward," Manda demanded, opening its massive maw to reveal fangs as sharp as daggers. "One less... and I'll swallow you whole along with them."
Standing atop the snake's head, Orochimaru showed no sign of taking offense; instead, a crazed smile spread across his pale face.
"Sacrifices?" he repeated, his grin widening. "Manda, if you can help me achieve my goal..." He raised a hand, pointing across the ruins toward Tejima Shinichi, who stood calmly behind the Magnet Wood Dragon. "...forget a hundred. I'll give you a thousand!"
"Oh?" Manda's interest was piqued. For Orochimaru to offer such a price... this brat before him might actually be something special. "Interesting. However, for a thousand sacrifices, I'd like to see if you're actually worth that much, kid!"
With that, Manda's body suddenly arched.
Roar! Accompanied by a foul wind, his massive frame crushed through the ruins, its gaping maw lunging straight for Shinichi!
Facing this overwhelming strike of pure size and strength, Shinichi didn't even shift his footing. He simply focused his chakra. The Magnet Wood Dragon, shrouded in magnetic force, didn't retreat. Instead, it lunged forward, slamming head-on into Manda's snapping jaws.
Boom!
Wood and scales, Wood Release and an ancient summoned beast—the heads of the two behemoths collided with a massive thud. A visible circular shockwave exploded outward, blowing away all the unsettled dust and rubble. The deafening impact made the eardrums of the ninja below throb with pain.
Hiss! Manda let out a shriek of pain and startled fury. It hadn't expected this 'wooden worm' to not only meet its strike head-on, but to hit with such staggering force!
"A summoned beast..." Shinichi watched the struggle between the Magnet Wood Dragon and Manda, muttering to himself as if he had just remembered something. "You've reminded me."
He raised his right hand and bit his thumb. "Summoning Technique."
Poof. A milky-white giant beast, slightly larger than Manda, appeared. The slug of Shikkotsu Forest—Katsuya, had descended!
"Lord Shinichi," Katsuyu's gentle voice rang out, a sharp contrast to Manda's ferocity. "What do you need me to do?"
Katsuyu's gaze fell upon Manda, who was locked in a fierce battle with the Magnet Wood Dragon, and then shifted to the pale, slender figure perched atop Manda's head. "That is..." Her voice trailed off in surprise. "Orochimaru?"
Katsuyu glanced between Orochimaru and Shinichi, quickly processing the situation. "Lord Shinichi, the first time you summon me..." Her voice remained gentle, but it carried a hint of weight. "...is to face one of the Sannin, Orochimaru?"
"To be precise, the rogue ninja Orochimaru," Shinichi corrected. "However, Katsuyu, I don't need you to face him directly."
Katsuyu's tentacles swayed gently in confusion. Shinichi raised a hand, pointing toward the battlefield below. Several Konoha ninja were kneeling in pain, clutching arms corroded by toxins as a purple poisonous mist ate away at their flesh. Further away, the chaotic battle between Sunagakure and Konoha raged on, with shinobi constantly falling injured.
"Your primary mission is to heal those injured Konoha ninja." Shinichi didn't need Katsuyu's combat strength right now. In his contingency for the Konoha Crush, he had taken on the heavy responsibility of coordinating the battlefield's entire medical system.
"I understand!"
Katsuyu was silent for a moment before her massive form began to squirm. Her body dissolved and scattered in mid-air, splitting into thousands of palm-sized clones that rained down toward every corner of the battlefield below.
Each little slug landed on an injured Konoha ninja. Warm chakra began to flow, rapidly neutralizing the corrosive poison mist, repairing damaged tissue, and stopping the bleeding and pain. The screams of the severely injured gradually faded, and the lightly injured gripped their weapons once more.
This was Katsuyu's unrivaled utility on the battlefield.
Above the ruins, Shinichi finally stopped holding back.
"That's enough," he muttered to himself, bringing his hands to his chest. "It's time to end this farce."
The final seal was completed. His palms met softly.
Clap. The sound was incredibly light. But in the next instant—
"Wood Release: Wood Human Technique!"
Rumble! The ground across the entire battlefield exploded at once. With Shinichi at the epicenter, countless thick, dark brown logs—each as sturdy as a palace pillar—burst from the earth and shot upward. Wood chips flew, and the earth groaned.
In a mere moment, a wooden giant over fifty meters tall, composed entirely of the hardest ironwood, rose from the ground. The Wood Golem had reappeared!
Boom! The instant it took shape, the Wood Golem burst forward, its massive body moving with impossible speed as it crashed into the fight.
Manda had just whipped its tail to knock back the Magnet Wood Dragon when its slitted eyes caught a glimpse of the Wood Golem charging from below. The serpent's pupils contracted sharply. "What is that?!"
Its astonishment lasted only a fraction of a second. Standing atop its head, Orochimaru's expression shifted drastically as he shouted in alarm, "Manda, watch out!"
The warning had barely left his lips before the Wood Golem was already upon them. The fifty-meter giant lunged forward, its left hand spread wide as it clawed straight for Manda's head.
Thwack! The massive wooden hand clamped down, its fingers digging deep into Manda's tough purple scales. A crushing force slammed down from above, driving Manda's head straight into the ground.
Hiss! Manda roared in pain, twisting its neck frantically to break free. But the Wood Golem's grip was terrifyingly strong; the serpent's struggles only caused its scales to tear, blood gushing from between the wooden fingers.
The Wood Golem's right fist was already raised high.
Then it came crashing down.
Boom! The dull thud was so heavy it made everyone's hearts skip a beat. The punch landed squarely above Manda's snout, right between its eyes.
Awooo! Manda let out a shriek of extreme agony. It was no longer a snake's hiss, but the roar of a terrified beast!
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