Hearing that soft, gentle voice, Akira found himself thinking that of the three great sage lands, Shikkotsu Forest really did have the best temperament.
Unlike the other two. Every creature over there acted like it owned the world.
Akira smiled and greeted Katsuyu in return.
Tsunade cut the pleasantries short. "All right, enough chatting. The battle's starting. Akira, you support me. Today I'm going to smash Orochimaru to pieces with my own hands!"
Akira nodded, though inwardly he was thinking, The outcome's already decided. If I step in too much, this turns into outright bullying.
On the battlefield, the three summons radiated terrifying killing intent at one another.
For a moment, the entire clearing sank into an eerie silence.
Then Manda's venomous gaze swept toward Katsuyu's side, and his slit pupil suddenly contracted to a pinprick. He screamed like he'd seen a ghost.
"What is that psycho doing over there?!"
Manda stared rigidly at Akira, who was standing on Katsuyu's back.
A horrifying thought flashed through his mind: If this brat calls out that one-eyed lunatic, I'm dead.
Throwing dignity to the wind, he roared across the battlefield, "Akira! What the hell are you doing with Tsunade?!"
The instant Manda bellowed that out, even Gamabunta froze, his huge eyes turning toward the seemingly unremarkable boy.
Katsuyu sounded baffled too. "Oh? Manda knows Akira-sama?"
Tsunade glanced at Akira and explained calmly, "Right, I forgot to mention it. Akira has a contract with Ryuchi Cave. His summon is a giant snake too."
Across the field, Orochimaru's snake-like eyes narrowed the moment he heard that. His hoarse voice carried a trace of surprise. "Manda, you know this boy?"
This time Manda didn't lash out. Instead, his tone turned unusually grave. "He's another Ryuchi Cave contractor. The important part is... his summon is Shinra. You know exactly how strong that maniac is, don't you?"
Orochimaru and Kabuto both went completely still.
Kabuto was shocked that Akira had managed to sign a contract with Ryuchi Cave at all.
Orochimaru was shocked that this boy had somehow tamed Shinra of all creatures.
Gamabunta, pipe clenched in his mouth, looked just as surprised. "So this kid signed with Ryuchi Cave at that age? Huh. That's interesting."
Feeling all eyes turn his way, Akira rubbed his nose helplessly and smiled. "Why's everyone staring at me? What, do you think three giant summons aren't enough? Want me to call in a fourth so we can make it a full card table?"
As he said that, his gaze shifted to Manda with open amusement.
In theory, thanks to the contract, Akira could summon Manda too, but he had never bothered because he thought the snake was too weak and far too troublesome.
The moment Manda saw that look in his eye, his head started shaking so hard it looked ready to rattle loose. "No! Absolutely not! You cannot let that brat summon Shinra! If he does, we're finished!"
"There's no way in hell I'm fighting that monster!"
Though shaken, Orochimaru still forced himself to think calmly. "Maybe Tsunade did something to slow him down. Or maybe he's under some kind of restriction. He hasn't used hand signs once since the fight started."
Manda still looked terrified. "I don't buy it. There's no way that kid's been thrown off that easily. Orochimaru, you have no idea how terrifying he really is! Even Shinra behaves himself in front of him. I am not picking a fight with that."
Orochimaru was left thoroughly stunned.
He had dealt with Manda for years, and this was the first time he had ever seen that arrogant snake act this cowardly.
The truth was, Manda had reasons to be afraid.
Back in Ryuchi Cave, Shinra had ground him into the dirt more than once, every time because Manda had shown Akira disrespect.
If Shinra hadn't decided to show mercy to his own kind, Manda would've been a stone statue by now.
Speed, strength, special abilities... Shinra outclassed him in every category.
Of course, Akira himself didn't know all those details. Most of the time he spent his days training or sleeping. The only reason he'd signed the contract in the first place was because he'd beaten Shinra into submission once.
Listening to all this, Jiraiya suddenly burst out laughing. "Hah! Orochimaru, looks like even your summon's gone soft! You've already lost this fight!"
Orochimaru's face turned ugly. Grinding his teeth, he snapped at Manda, "After this is over, I'll add three hundred more human sacrifices."
The instant Manda heard that number, his crimson tongue flicked out eagerly.
Three hundred people. That was no small temptation.
The snakes of Ryuchi Cave generally had an appetite for that sort of thing. Aside from the odd exceptions like Aoda and the freak that was Shinra, who could say no to a feast like that?
Especially Manda. He was a pure carnivore in the ugliest sense of the word.
Faced with that kind of reward, Manda instantly tossed all his fear of Shinra straight out the window.
He roared, "That's your promise! If you don't pay up, I'll swallow you too!"
Orochimaru gave a cold smile. "As long as you kill the two on the other side."
Watching all this, Akira shook his head and muttered, "For a meal, he'll gamble with his life without a second thought."
Katsuyu gently offered some explanation. "Of the three sage lands, Ryuchi Cave is definitely the bloodiest. Human-eating isn't unusual there."
"Still, most of the great snakes only eat those who fail the trials. A case like Manda, who does it purely for pleasure, is relatively rare."
Akira nodded. "Makes sense. Failing sage training never ends well. At Mount Myoboku, you turn into stone. At Ryuchi Cave, you wind up as snake waste. By the way, what happens if someone fails in Shikkotsu Forest?"
Katsuyu paused, seeming to think about it, then answered slowly, "They become part of my body. They merge with me forever."
Akira blinked in understanding. "That explains why you're so massive. So you've basically absorbed countless fallen pioneers."
Tsunade finally snapped. Veins bulged at her temple. "Enough! Is this really the time for a research symposium? Get ready!"
Akira pulled himself back to the fight and looked toward Orochimaru, frowning slightly. "Honestly, I could take Orochimaru out by myself. The problem is that disgusting curse-mark revival setup of his. He's like an immortal cockroach."
Tsunade clearly agreed. "Exactly. He twisted himself into something less than human in his obsession with immortality."
By then, Manda had been completely overtaken by greed. His slit pupils locked onto Akira, clearly intending to strike first and eliminate the threat.
Feeling that foul killing intent roll toward him, Akira let out a light laugh. "Looks like that rotten snake wants to start with me."
Katsuyu immediately declared, "Don't worry, Akira-sama. I'll protect you!"
Clearly, the innocent slug hadn't picked up on the sarcasm in his tone.
The atmosphere on the battlefield turned bizarre. Akira, who technically belonged to Ryuchi Cave's side of the ninja contract system, had somehow become Manda's top priority target.
Then Manda moved.
His giant body lashed forward like a bolt of purple lightning.
"Kill that troublesome brat first!"
He talked like he planned to hit Gamabunta first, but his body told the truth. He launched straight at Akira.
Gamabunta reacted fast enough, yanking out his massive short sword and swinging it across to intercept.
But Manda was too cunning. Using the terrain, he twisted and slithered around the blow with impossible speed, and Gamabunta's strike missed entirely.
In terms of raw matchups, Gamabunta was actually at a disadvantage against Manda. Snakes were simply more agile by nature.
Katsuyu might not have been built for direct combat, but her predictive instincts were excellent. She opened her mouth and sprayed a mass of highly concentrated acid.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
The corrosive liquid hit rock and sent out an ear-piercing hiss.
But Manda used a giant boulder for cover, then launched himself like a spring and coiled tightly around Katsuyu's massive body.
A moment later, that huge bloodstained maw lunged straight for Akira atop Katsuyu's back.
Tsunade's eyes sharpened instantly, and she leapt clear.
Akira moved even faster. His whole body turned into a flash of lightning and vanished on the spot.
Crunch!
Manda bit down on nothing, his fangs clashing hard enough to throw sparks.
Katsuyu, on the other hand, took the full brunt of it. Her soft body was distorted horribly under the pressure of Manda's constriction.
Bang!
Unable to withstand the force, Katsuyu burst apart into countless smaller slugs that scattered across the ground.
But that was what made Katsuyu so terrifying. Unless she was vaporized in an instant, she simply would not die.
Akira, who had already reappeared atop a nearby rock, looked down at the rapidly reforming Katsuyu and teased, "Katsuyu, I've got to admit, your combat ability really leaves something to be desired."
The smaller slugs all spoke in guilty little voices. "I'm sorry, Akira-sama. Fighting really isn't my strength…"
Akira waved it off. "It's fine. Everyone has their own specialty."
At the same time, Tsunade had already used the opening to leap onto Manda's head. With monstrous strength bursting through her muscles, she brought one brutal punch crashing down at Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru! Die!"
Before Orochimaru could even complete a hand sign, Tsunade's punch smashed into him and hurled him through the air. Half his face was practically torn apart.
He'd barely started extending his neck to bite at Tsunade when she followed up with a kick that nearly blew his head off entirely.
At that point, the battlefield had descended into utter chaos.
Manda had failed to kill Akira, so he turned and began tearing into Gamabunta instead.
Gamabunta had a blade in hand, but Manda's relentless, vicious style forced him steadily backward.
Tsunade, for her part, had Orochimaru on the defensive, but his body had been altered into something so unnaturally flexible and slippery that no matter how hard she struck, it felt like punching a bundle of cotton with needles hidden inside.
Then, at the exact moment Orochimaru's grotesquely stretched neck shot forward and his venomous fangs were about to sink into Tsunade's throat—
Crackle!
A sharp burst of electricity ripped through the air.
A streak of blue-white lightning flashed into existence, and Akira appeared instantly at Tsunade's side.
He was wrapped in violent electricity from head to toe. With one sweep of his arm, he unleashed:
"Lightning Style: Thunder Net!"
Boom!
A lattice of high-voltage current spread open in an instant and dropped directly over Orochimaru's lunging head.
This wasn't some minor jutsu. This was S-rank Lightning Style.
Orochimaru didn't even have time to scream. His entire head blackened and smoked at once, shriveling back like a charred gourd.
The terrible current raced through the rest of his body. He convulsed violently and nearly fell off Manda's head altogether.
Feeling the disturbance above him, Manda immediately began whipping his head around in a frenzy, trying to throw the two "fleas" off.
Akira reacted faster than thought. He wrapped one arm around Tsunade's waist, turned into lightning again, and vanished.
The next instant, the two of them landed safely atop Katsuyu's reassembled back.
Still recovering from the close call, Tsunade looked at the boy beside her, her expression complicated. "That Lightning Style jutsu just now... what was it?"
Akira let go of her, patted the wrinkles from his clothes, and answered calmly, "Something I developed myself. It's called Thunder Net. Basically a defensive evolved form of Chidori."
Tsunade sucked in a breath. "Thunder Net? That chakra control alone has to be S-rank, minimum."
Akira shrugged and grinned. "Something like that. Back in the Forest of Death, that's the jutsu I used together with Flying Raijin to kill Orochimaru once."
"Too bad his life force's tougher than a cockroach's. He still didn't stay dead."
Tsunade stared at him as though he'd started speaking another language. "You really have killed Orochimaru before? I thought you were exaggerating!"
Akira looked innocent. "I never exaggerate. There's really no need."
He took another look at the battle and frowned. "All right, catching up's over. Katsuyu really isn't built for this, and Gamabunta's about to fold too. I guess I'll call someone."
Across the battlefield, Gamabunta was already trapped tightly in Manda's coils, and it looked like his bones might start snapping at any moment.
Between Orochimaru's promise of three hundred sacrifices, Manda's blood-frenzied greed, and the fact that both Gamabunta and Katsuyu were in poor condition, the fight had tipped heavily to one side.
As soon as he finished speaking, Akira leapt off Katsuyu's back and landed in an open patch of ground dozens of yards away.
Tsunade watched his back with a tight frown. "What exactly is he about to summon?"
Katsuyu, on the other hand, seemed quite sure. "It should be Shinya."
Tsunade blinked. "Shinra? Is he that strong? I've never even heard the name."
There was a hint of fear in Katsuyu's voice. "Very strong. In Ryuchi Cave, he's a far more terrifying existence than Manda. His temper is even worse too."
"I honestly don't know how Akira-sama ever managed to subdue a creature like that."
While she was speaking, Akira had already finished his hand signs and slammed his palm to the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
BOOM!!!
This time, the smoke cloud was even denser than the combined summoning smoke from the other three had been.
Feeling that familiar violent presence rising inside it, Katsuyu immediately warned, "He's here! Tsunade-hime, be careful! Shinra's venom can petrify someone instantly. Don't get too close!"
Then the dust began to clear.
ROOOOAR!!!
A heaven-shaking roar tore through the sky, carrying enough savage force to make every living creature present shiver on instinct.
There, in the center of the battlefield, appeared a giant one-eyed serpent, crimson from head to tail.
Its sheer size, those brutal scales, that hellish pressure rolling off it, even Tsunade took half a step backward.
"What terrifying presence... This thing feels even more frightening than some tailed beasts," she murmured.
And atop that enormous one-eyed head, arms folded over his chest, stood Akira.
Manda, who had been in the middle of strangling Gamabunta, froze.
He felt that soul-deep pressure from behind him and instantly understood what had appeared.
With a whip of his tail, he knocked Gamabunta away and spun around to face the red monster before him.
He let out a tentative hiss.
Shinra's single eye opened slowly. He looked down at Manda with open contempt. "What are you screeching for? You're annoying."
That pressure was suffocating enough that even Orochimaru, still standing on Manda's head, felt his chest tighten.
"So... this is Shinya? Akira really uses him as a mount?"
Shinra ignored Manda. Instead, he tilted his head slightly and addressed Akira on top of him. "Akira. Why'd you call me out? Spit it out already."
Akira didn't get annoyed. He just pointed toward the other side. "The Three Sannin are having a reunion, and the table was one player short. That purple snake's been awfully full of himself, taking on two at once and still holding the advantage. I found it irritating."
Shinra followed the direction of Akira's finger and fixed his eye on Manda.
At once, something dangerous entered his gaze.
"Manda. Didn't I warn you before? When you're out in the world, don't pick fights with Akira."
Manda was enraged by the commanding tone, and partly for the sake of pride, he forced himself to roar back. "Who says I have to listen to you? Don't get too arrogant, Shinra! Today's outcome is still up in the air!"
At first, Shinra had been willing to settle things by intimidation alone.
But now Manda had the audacity to talk back.
A blood-red glint flickered through Shinra's lone eye, though his voice turned eerily calm.
"Akira, looks like words won't do it. This idiot needs to be disciplined."
Akira nodded. "Make it quick."
"Understood."
The instant the words landed, Shinra's enormous body became a streak of scarlet lightning and vanished from sight.
Too fast.
Compared to the speed Manda had shown earlier, Shinra was on an entirely different level. He moved so fast he left afterimages behind.
Before Manda could even react, Shinra's thick body had already wrapped around him like a steel trap.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of bones compressing echoed horribly through the clearing.
ROOOAAR!!!
Manda shrieked in agony, thrashing desperately, but in the face of Shinra's overwhelming physical strength, he might as well have been a worm caught in a fist.
In just one exchange, the outcome was decided.
Shinra hadn't even bothered using his signature petrifying venom. He had crushed Manda through raw force alone.
Gamabunta and Katsuyu stared from the side, eyes nearly bulging out.
That was Manda.
The very same Manda who had been overpowering the both of them.
And he couldn't survive even one move against Shinra?
Watching it happen, Orochimaru and Kabuto both felt their hearts drop into their stomachs.
What was left to fight with now?
The two men exchanged one glance, understood each other completely, and activated Body Flicker without a word, escaping as fast as they could.
Seeing his boss flee, Manda knew that if he didn't run now, he was going to end up as snake stew. Forcing himself through the damage Shinra had done, he broke the summoning contract and vanished in a puff of smoke back to Ryuchi Cave.
Orochimaru had run.
Manda had run.
Shinra turned his head and asked Akira, "Anything else? If not, I'm going back to sleep."
Akira smiled slightly. "Good work. Head back."
Poof.
Shinra also dissolved into white smoke, disappearing as though he had never been there.
The battlefield instantly fell silent, save for the sound of wind crossing the ground.
Gamabunta slid his short sword back into its sheath and asked Jiraiya in utter disbelief, "Hey, Jiraiya... what exactly is that kid? Even a monster like that listens to him without question?"
Jiraiya let out a bitter laugh. "They earned that relationship the hard way. I wanted him to sign with Mount Myoboku at first. Instead, he turned around and beat Ryuchi Cave into submission."
"Don't let his age fool you. The kid's already mastered Sage Mode from Ryuchi Cave, and not just Sage Mode. Perfect Sage Mode."
Gamabunta couldn't help muttering, "Good thing he didn't learn from you. A seedling like that under your influence would've gone crooked in no time."
Tsunade dismissed Katsuyu, then walked over to Akira and looked him up and down as though she were staring at an alien lifeform.
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