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Ch. 116: The Sannins: Fire is the Solution
🕑 Added 2024-10-01 17:07:55 +0000 UTCIn the forest, snakes burst from Orochimaru's sleeves, rushing furiously towards Jiraiya and Tsunade.
Same old tricks, eh, Orochimaru? Let's see how sharp your fangs have grown, Jiraiya assessed the attack.
This was a summoning jutsu, where powerful snakes shot out from his sleeves. These snakes, each possessing independent intelligence, could either launch synchronized attacks or target different opponents simultaneously.
Because they were once comrades, Jiraiya and Tsunade were fully aware of how to counter this technique: no matter what, they couldn't allow the snakes to bind their bodies. They had to eliminate them while they were still in mid-air.
Thus, Tsunade's chakra scalpel slashed continuously in front of her, and with every swing, the snakes were sliced off cleanly and disappeared.
Although the attack didn't succeed, Orochimaru's face showed no disappointment. He kept smiling, watching Tsunade, who was fiercely swinging her arms. His smile hid his true intentions, a fact not lost on his ally.
Damn it.
"What game are you playing at, snake?" Sasori muttered under his breath, too low for the others to hear.
He glanced at Orochimaru, noticing his expression. He could tell that Orochimaru didn't want to reveal too many of his cards in this battle, just like himself. Both were using relatively mild ninjutsus to attack their enemies.
But at this rate, there was no way they could defeat them. The battle's intensity increased, with attacks flying from both sides, yet something felt off.
They're holding back. But why? Jiraiya observed, his experienced eye catching the subtle restraint in their opponents' movements.
Then, a sudden change occurred.
Tsunade unexpectedly let her guard down, allowing one of Orochimaru's snake limbs to wrap around her body.
"Tsunade!"
Still used his hair to bind Sasori's puppet tail, he couldn't move. Yet, he had been keeping an eye on Tsunade's situation. The snake coiled tightly around her waist.
Before the snake could attack her, she caught its jaws with one hand, preventing it from opening. At the same time, she grabbed its body with her other hand.
"Oh!"
With a roar, Tsunade pulled the snake like a rope, dragging Orochimaru toward her. The sudden reversal caught everyone off guard. His body stretched like a rubber band being pulled.
Damn it! He realized it too late.
When it came to pure physical strength, Orochimaru was considered the weakest, and Tsunade was the strongest. This fact was about to be painfully demonstrated.
Before his body even collided with Tsunade's, her fist was ready to deliver a blow.
Bang!
Her powerful punch hit Orochimaru's face, leaving a fist-shaped imprint as his face deformed from the impact.
Immediately after, his body was sent flying back to his original position. But in a matter of seconds, Orochimaru had been pulled forward by Tsunade again, only to be punched and sent back a second time. The speed of the exchange left even Jiraiya impressed.
However, his landing spot was different this time—he crashed directly into Sasori, and the two collided heavily, being knocked back a short distance before stopping.
Sasori's puppet tail, in turn, was freed from Jiraiya's technique. But he was not pleased. Instead, he cursed Orochimaru harshly.
"I really want to kill you right now."
His words were full of genuine hatred, but Orochimaru paid no mind. He slowly stood up and looked at Jiraiya and Tsunade, his calculating gaze assessing the situation.
He now understood that neither he nor Sasori wanted to reveal their true identities or strongest techniques in this battle against them.
Moreover, the two of them didn't work well together. Although they had completed many missions as a duo, one of them would always do the work while the other watched from a distance—they had never actually fought in sync.
Under these conditions, even though they were individually strong, together they were less than the sum of their parts. Against two Sannins, they didn't stand a chance.
Reevaluating the situation, Orochimaru decided it wasn't worth continuing. Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with one hand, he pulled out the scroll containing the sealed mural.
"You're after this, aren't you?" He held up the scroll, his voice calm despite the beating he'd just received.
"You can have it."
He threw the scroll with all his strength in another direction, then turned and ran deeper into the forest. Sasori glared at him, who had unhesitatingly chosen to flee, then shot an angry glance at Jiraiya before following Orochimaru.
Seeing them retreat, Jiraiya was about to give chase. Recovering the scroll was important, but he was more intent on confronting Orochimaru and asking him why he had left the village.
Just then, a loud noise from behind stopped him in his tracks. It was the sound of rocks collapsing, coming from the direction of Orochimaru's lab.
Anko and Shizune!
Tsunade quickly rushed towards the cave.
Jiraiya hesitated, but he decided to let them go. He retrieved the scroll, then hurried after Tsunade to find out what had happened at the lab.
---
"What's going on with him?"
"I don't know."
Inside the lab, Heiji's body was convulsing, as if something inside him was trying to break free from his skin.
"Heiji-san?" Shizune stepped forward cautiously.
There was no response from under the sheet. Instead, his body convulsed more violently, and the sheet was flung off, revealing his new form.
What lay underneath was no longer recognizable as a human body. His skin had turned a caramelized color, as though his entire body had been scorched by fire.
"Heiji-san!"
Although his appearance was grotesque, his body still retained a vaguely human form. As a medical ninja, Shizune instinctively moved forward to see if there was any way to help.
But just then, Heiji's body underwent another terrifying transformation. The change was so sudden, and so alien.
Spikes suddenly erupted from his skin, and along the surface of these spikes, large, gaping mouths formed. The metamorphosis was accompanied by a sickening sound of tearing flesh and cracking bones.
Rows of sharp, bone-white teeth contrasted sharply with the darkness within the mouths, giving the spikes a sacrilegious appearance, as though they were totems of darkness and evil. Each mouth seemed to gnash and snap, hungry for something unseen.
Are these things inside my body too?
As Anko and Shizune stood in shock, Heiji's body underwent its next transformation. From the mouths on the spiked cones, more spikes began to emerge, extending from the original mouths. What started as only a dozen spikes quickly multiplied into hundreds.
These new spikes also had dark, gaping mouths, which, in turn, produced more spikes. In just a few breaths, a dense thicket of black spikes surrounded his body, and the thicket continued to expand.
"Run!"
Realizing the danger, Shizune grabbed Anko, and sprinted out of the cave. As they reached the mountainside, the thorny black spikes were already creeping toward the cave entrance. These spikes were so hard that they could easily pierce the solid mountain rock.
Just moments after they escaped the cave, the entire structure collapsed under the growing pressure of the spikes, sending up a cloud of dust that obscured the view.
However, before the dust settled, yet another spike jutted out from the ruins. The crumbling rocks couldn't stop the expansion of the black spikes, which continued to emerge from every crack, growing outward with an insatiable hunger.
As the spikes encountered small plants growing on the mountainside, the mouths devoured them instantly, causing the spikes to grow even faster. More and more black spikes emerged from the collapsing cave, and Shizune hurriedly carried Anko down the mountain at top speed.
"We have to warn the others," she said as they ran. "This thing could devour the whole forest!"
Fortunately, the spikes grew slower than they could run, so even a normal person could easily outrun them, let alone a trained ninja like Shizune. However, these spikes seemed to have no growth limit.
Every time they consumed a plant, their growth accelerated. Fortunately, the mountain was mostly barren, with few plants. But at the base of the mountain was a vast forest full of vegetation.
"If it reaches those trees..." Anko whispered.
As Shizune and Anko helplessly observed the ever-growing black spikes, Tsunade and Jiraiya finally arrived.
"What's going on?" Tsunade asked urgently.
Shizune pointed to the mountain in a daze. Tsunade and Jiraiya looked up to see a large black thicket of spikes growing halfway up the previously barren mountain. The black spikes were cascading down like a waterfall, spreading toward the forest below.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Tsunade quickly asked, "Where's Heiji?"
Shizune's dazed expression gave no answer, but when Tsunade saw Anko behind her, she understood what had happened. She quickly pulled Jiraiya aside.
"These things are called Shoggoths. Orochimaru captured them from the Land of Snow. They're amorphous creatures that have lost their restraint and are reverting to their natural state of growth and consumption. If they reach the forest, where organic matter is abundant, it will be disastrous."
Jiraiya didn't fully understand what Shoggoths were, but he could tell that the situation was dire.
"Do you have a plan?" he asked.
"Try using Fire Release. It might work against them."
"Got it! Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Jiraiya quickly formed hand seals, and his mouth swelled to an incredible size. In the next second, he spewed out a massive fireball toward the approaching black spikes. The fireball hit the thicket of spikes, creating a huge, burning gap in the black mass. However, new spikes quickly grew from the edges, filling in the gap.
"Fire Release works! But we need to destroy all of them at once, or they'll keep regenerating."
"Leave it to me. You two back off," Jiraiya said confidently. Fire Release was his specialty, and he wasn't about to let this abomination spread any further.
Burning such a vast area, including the collapsed cave, was beyond his abilities alone. He knew he needed something more powerful, something on a bigger scale.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
He bit his thumb as he performed the summoning. A giant toad appeared, standing tall like a small mountain. Jiraiya leapt atop its head, his white hair whipping in the wind as he surveyed the scene below.
"Gamabunta, let's team up and burn all the black spikes on this mountain!" he called out.
"Got it!"
As Jiraiya formed hand seals, the toad's belly swelled, producing oil that it spewed across the mountain's black thicket. Then, he unleashed a burst of flame.
"Fire Style: Toad Flame Bomb!"
The technique worked by igniting the toad's oil with his fire, producing a powerful blaze. The toad covered the entire mountain in oil, and Jiraiya's flames set it all ablaze, engulfing the Shoggoths in a massive inferno.
The mountain erupted into a sea of flames, the heat so intense that it drove animals fleeing from the nearby forest. The glow of the fire was visible for miles.
Screams, almost human-like, echoed from the burning black spikes—thousands of mouths shrieking in unison, as if tens of thousands of living beings were being burned alive. The horrific sounds reverberated through the forest.
The screams caught even Orochimaru's attention as he fled. Though he couldn't see what had happened, he could guess. He paused in his escape, turning back to look at the glow on the horizon.
He had always known Heiji's transformation would end in failure. The power of the curse mark was difficult even for a ninja to control, let alone a normal person. So, Orochimaru hadn't protected Heiji's brain with a curse mark; he simply placed it inside a Shoggoth. Under his control, the Shoggoth's natural tendencies were suppressed, but once freed, they devoured Heiji's brain, turning him into a mere puppet.
In the end, Heiji had always been destined to be a sacrifice.
The massive fire on the mountain eventually died down, leaving behind a scorched, blackened landscape. Jiraiya's flames, fueled by the toad's oil, had burned every last Shoggoth, even their source deep within the collapsed cave. As he jumped down from the toad, he sighed in relief.
"It's finally over."
"No," Tsunade said.
"This might just be the beginning..."
