From Danmachi to God of Ninja

Chapter 80: Chapter 80

"Hm? Kiriya-sama and Orochimaru-sama knew each other before?"

That was the first thought that came to Hizashi’s mind when he heard their exchange.

But very quickly, he noticed something was wrong.

’Why does every word between these two feel like it’s packed with explosive?’

In fact, it was not just Hizashi. Hyūga Takashi and the other Konoha shinobi also sensed something strange.

The atmosphere immediately grew tense.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

Suddenly, Orochimaru moved with frightening speed.

His right arm turned into a poisonous snake and shot toward Kiriya like lightning, biting into his neck.

Σ(°△°|||)_ x N.

The shinobi were stunned.

One by one, their eyes nearly popped out of their heads.

’Bad guy!’

The fire in Guy’s heart shot up with a whoosh.

That was the savior of him, his father, and his friends. Even if the other party was one of the Sannin, he could not just—

Almost instinctively, he lifted his leg, ready to send a flying kick straight at Orochimaru, but Genma and Ebisu hurriedly grabbed him and pinned him down.

They did not know what was going on either, but there was one thing they understood very clearly.

Attacking the commander in the middle of a military camp?

Even if Guy had a hundred heads, it would not be enough to cut off.

They were worried about Kiriya too, but they had confidence in his strength.

’What’s happening? Why did Orochimaru-sama attack Kiriya-sama?’

That was what Hizashi and the shinobi Kiriya had saved were thinking.

’Could this guy be an impostor? A spy?’

That was what Hyūga Takashi and many of Orochimaru’s subordinates were thinking.

In their minds, since Orochimaru had made a move, Kiriya should be subdued quickly, and then everything would become clear.

The strength Orochimaru had displayed in the past had already created that kind of habit in their thinking.

But soon, the situation changed again.

Kiriya, who had been bitten by the poisonous snake, stood completely still as his skin rapidly transformed into wrinkled bark.

"Oh? Wood Release: Substitution? What a quick reactions!"

Orochimaru praised him lightly and was just about to retract the snake biting Kiriya when his expression changed.

Pchh!

A wooden spike suddenly emerged from the snake’s head.

Then came the endless sound of flesh being torn apart.

Pchh, pchh, pchh!

Starting from the head, wooden spikes rapidly burst from all over the snake’s body, turning it into a hedgehog.

The growth even spread quickly toward Orochimaru’s main body, turning that body into something like a cactus as well.

"Orochimaru-sama!" x N.

His subordinate shinobi cried out in alarm, instinctively preparing to form hand seals and attack Kiriya.

"Hehehe. So this is the Wood Release you awakened? You’ve developed it quite well."

The sudden voice made the Konoha shinobi freeze midway through forming their seals.

They turned toward the source of the sound.

From the ground, a figure slowly emerged.

It was Orochimaru.

As for the one Kiriya had turned into a cactus, it quickly collapsed into a puddle of mud on the ground.

Clearly, the one that had attacked Kiriya earlier had only been an earth clone.

’As expected of Orochimaru-sama.’

Hyūga Takashi and the others sighed inwardly.

They thought this sudden battle would end there, but unexpectedly, Kiriya’s figure suddenly appeared behind Orochimaru.

The sword in his hand flashed from its sheath, cutting out a cold arc of light.

With a soft slash, Orochimaru’s head flew into the air.

Kiriya’s hands quickly formed seals, and he fired a Fire Release: Flame Bullet at Orochimaru’s airborne head, burning it to ash.

The entire sequence happened in the blink of an eye.

Before anyone else could even react, Orochimaru’s head had already been burned into gray dust!

For a moment, everyone’s mind went blank.

’So fast!’

Asuma happened to wake up at that moment and just happened to see the scene.

"Orochimaru-sama... is dead?"

"That Kiriya... is a traitor?"

The moment that thought appeared, every shinobi under Orochimaru’s command drew their weapons against Kiriya.

Kiriya, however, did not look disturbed in the slightest.

He only watched Orochimaru calmly.

"Stop pretending. That level of attack isn’t enough to kill you."

Orochimaru was probably one of the most durable characters in the entire Naruto world.

He had been blasted away by Tsunade’s monstrous strength, stabbed by Sasuke’s Chidori Sharp Spear, burned by Itachi’s Amaterasu, and even sealed by the Totsuka Blade, yet none of that had truly finished him off.

Kiriya did not believe that two casual moves from him would be enough to kill the number one cockroach of the shinobi world.

"Bastard! How dare you disrespect Oroch-...!"

Kiriya’s words completely enraged the surrounding shinobi.

Just as they were about to draw their blades and rush him, Orochimaru’s headless corpse suddenly twitched.

From the severed neck, a head emerged.

Then came the neck, the torso, the arms...

Finally, an entire body crawled out.

As Orochimaru’s new body appeared, the original headless corpse quickly went limp and fell to the ground, like a thin layer of shed snakeskin.

"What... what the hell is this?"

The shinobi were full of questions.

Orochimaru-style Body Replacement Technique, a crystallization of biological science and ninjutsu, was not something they could understand.

Naturally, Orochimaru had no intention of explaining it to them.

He simply looked at Kiriya.

There was not a trace of anger or blame in his eyes. Instead, there was appreciation and satisfaction.

"What a beautiful swordsmanship! I never expected you to grow into such an outstanding shinobi, Kiriya-kun."

"People do change after a few days apart."

Kiriya chuckled.

"After receiving such a great favor from you, I’ve been thinking every moment about how to repay you properly."

His words were polite from beginning to end, but Hizashi and the others felt a bone-deep chill run through them.

Kiriya... It seemed he really did want to kill Orochimaru.

"Hehehe. It seems I won’t be able to satisfy you unless I let you enjoy yourself today."

Orochimaru stood with his hands behind his back and spoke calmly.

"Don’t you want to see it too?" Kiriya asked expressionlessly. "Just how far I’ve grown?"

From the moment he accepted Konoha’s transfer order, Kiriya had known this fight was unavoidable.

He also knew that his current strength was still far from its peak, and facing an old fox like Orochimaru carried too many variables.

But he had come anyway.

For no other reason than to clear the frustration in his chest.

When his previous self had no strength, he had been played in Orochimaru’s palm and had no power to retaliate.

Now he had strength.

If he still refused to take revenge, then what the hell had he gone through all of this for?

What had he gotten stronger for?

Even if various reasons prevented him from killing Orochimaru, he could at least vent his anger.

Otherwise, he would feel terrible. Keeping all of that bottled up would twist him out of shape.

Feeling Kiriya’s battle intent rising higher and higher, Orochimaru chuckled and turned to Hizashi and the others.

"Take everyone back to camp and rest. I will take Kiriya for a little exercise."

"Orochimaru-sama..."

Hizashi’s face filled with concern, but before he could continue, Orochimaru raised a hand and stopped him.

"Don’t worry. It is only a friendly spar. Nothing will happen."

"Exactly, exactly. It’s wartime right now. I won’t really do anything to Orochimaru."

Kiriya added a sentence of his own, making everyone’s faces darken.

So did that mean if it were peacetime, you would completely scatter Orochimaru-sama ashes?

Logically, a teenage boy saying he wanted to kill Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, should have sounded like pure fantasy.

But after everything they had just seen, they had no choice but to admit...

There might actually be the tiniest possibility.

"Let’s go."

After giving a few brief instructions, Orochimaru turned to leave and Kiriya followed after him.

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