Hearing Sasori's words, Orochimaru's expression didn't change, but his eyes revealed a hint of killing intent.
As one of the Sannin of Konoha, he held a very high position in the ninja world. Although he acknowledged that Sasori was a ninja of his level, Sasori's arrogant words, as if he had control over his life, made Orochimaru very angry.
"Oh? Then I'd like to see your skills, Sasori of the Red Sand," Orochimaru said with a smile, licking his lips.
Since Sasori had come to him to practice, this was the perfect opportunity to test his new body's strength.
But the man with the unknown dōjutsu kekkei genkai beside him made Orochimaru very wary. It wasn't just because the man had the aura of a strong person. It was also because of the attitude that Sasori had shown towards him.
"Are you going to attack together, or one at a time?" Orochimaru probed. Although he was confident in his ability to deal with Sasori, if his opponent had another ninja who was at the same level as Sasori or even stronger, Orochimaru would only have one choice: to run away.
Sasori controlled Hiruko and took a few steps forward. He said slowly, "I'm enough."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Hiruko's mechanical tail, which resembled a scorpion's tail, suddenly stabbed towards Orochimaru in front of him. The tip of the tail shone with a black luster, clearly poisoned.
No one dared to underestimate the poison that Sasori made, including Orochimaru. Quickly dodging the attacking scorpion tail, Orochimaru charged towards Hiruko in front of him.
"Hiruko: Needle Eight Waves!"
Hiruko's mouth opened, and countless poisoned needles shot out like rain towards Orochimaru, who was charging towards him. But Orochimaru brought his two hands together, and his body became as soft as a snake.
Relying on his powerful snake-skin footwork, Orochimaru weaved through the dense needles like a snake. He dodged all the attacks without a scratch.
At this time, Sasori was about to retreat and avoid Orochimaru, who was about to charge in front of him. Suddenly, four brown pythons, as thick as a man's legs, burst out of the ground beneath Hiruko, tightly biting Hiruko, preventing Sasori from moving.
Orochimaru completed the hand seals for an Earth Release attack jutsu. Sharp earth spikes suddenly extended from the ground, completely piercing Hiruko.
Seeing Hiruko destroyed, Orochimaru didn't show any joy. He realized that he had only destroyed one of Sasori's sand clones.
In that instant, Sasori had retracted Hiruko into his storage scroll at lightning speed. At the same time, he created a sand clone to confuse Orochimaru, while he himself used a concealment technique to escape.
"As expected of Sasori of the Red Sand. He's not so easy to kill," Orochimaru turned around and looked at Sasori, who had revealed himself.
Although Sasori was actually in his thirties, he had made himself into a human puppet after escaping from Sunagakure. After his body became a puppet, he would no longer age and still retained his teenage appearance.
Looking at Orochimaru, Sasori also knew that he had to use his true strength. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to defeat him.
He took out a scroll with the character "three" written on it from his sleeve. With a puff of white smoke, a male human puppet with blue hair and a gray cloak appeared beside Sasori.
"This is..." Orochimaru's eyes flashed with a look of recollection. Suddenly, his snake pupils contracted sharply in shock.
"This is the Third Kazekage! I can't believe that the Third Great Ninja War was caused by you, Sasori of the Red Sand!"
The trigger of the Third Great Ninja War was the disappearance of the Third Kazekage. No one knew what had happened to the Third Kazekage until the end of the war. But now, seeing the Third Kazekage human puppet used by Sasori, everything was clear.
Soon, Orochimaru put away his surprised expression. Instead, he showed a very interested look. He licked his lips and said, "I've always wanted to study the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release."
Sasori said emotionlessly, "Then your chance has come." At this time, Sasori's voice had also changed to that of a young boy.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Orochimaru's right hand suddenly produced dozens of brown venomous snakes that charged towards Sasori and the Third Kazekage human puppet. At the same time, the Third Kazekage human puppet extended many mechanical arms from his right hand.
Two very similar techniques collided. The venomous snakes from Orochimaru were clearly far inferior in strength to the mechanical arms on the human puppet. They were instantly torn to shreds.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand!"
At this time, the Third Kazekage human puppet opened its jaw, and a large amount of black sand iron formed a dense sand iron rain that instantly enveloped Orochimaru's location.
Magnet Release and Iron Sand were the Third Kazekage's unique bloodline limits. The sand iron refined by the Third Kazekage using highly condensed chakra had a weight and destructive power far exceeding that of ordinary Sand Release jutsu. This was why the Third Kazekage was known as the strongest Kazekage.
Once invaded by sand iron, the target would not only be in extreme pain, but the Third Kazekage could also use the sand iron to influence the target's chakra, causing them to lose their fighting ability.
Faced with the Third Kazekage's powerful Magnet Release jutsu, Orochimaru didn't dare to be careless. He immediately used his signature defensive jutsu to block the attack.
"Rashōmon!"
A giant gate engraved with the face of an evil spirit rose from the ground, blocking Orochimaru.
With a loud bang, the mechanical arms and sand iron rain from the Third Kazekage human puppet hit Rashōmon. Rashōmon held on for a moment before being knocked down by the powerful attack.
But this time was enough for Orochimaru to dodge Sasori's attack. After using Rashōmon to block Sasori's firepower, Orochimaru went around behind Rashōmon to Sasori's side. He quickly formed hand seals, and his body transformed into dozens of snow-white pythons, as thick as a man's arm, and attacked Sasori.
"There's something wrong with this technique!" Pain, who was watching from the side, immediately noticed the hidden killing move in Orochimaru's technique through his Rinnegan.
But Sasori, who was facing Orochimaru, didn't have such dōjutsu. He didn't notice the trap hidden in Orochimaru's technique.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Barrier!"
After the Third Kazekage human puppet flew into the sky, a large amount of black sand iron flew out of its body, forming countless sand iron spikes that extended continuously, covering the entire area.
But to Sasori's surprise, the white snakes that Orochimaru had transformed into seemed to have no physical form. They passed through the sand iron barrier.
At this time, it was too late to dodge. Dozens of white snakes swarmed forward and bit Sasori's body. The parts of Sasori that were bitten began to freeze until his entire body was completely covered in ice and snow, eventually forming a giant block of ice.
The jutsu that Orochimaru used was called "Genrō Serpent Substitute." It was a clone jutsu that combined genjutsu with elemental chakra, which he had researched with Yusuke. But Yusuke's clones were crows, while Orochimaru's were snakes.
This clone jutsu was very strange because it had no physical form. It could usually give the first enemy who encountered it a huge setback. And if the enemy couldn't discover the true principle of this jutsu, they would be helpless against it.
"It's a genjutsu clone combined with Ice Release! I've never heard of Orochimaru having Ice Release abilities," Pain, who was watching from the side, still had an emotionless expression, but he was very puzzled. He had also never heard of Orochimaru having the Ice Release bloodline limit.
Pain had no idea that Orochimaru was no longer using his original body. He had used a forbidden technique to take over the body of a young ninja with the Ice Release bloodline limit.
At this time, Orochimaru's body walked out of the giant block of ice that had sealed Sasori. He was very confident that his Ice Release had controlled Sasori's true body.
He was about to take the Third Kazekage human puppet, which was suspended in mid-air, when he suddenly saw the human puppet spit out a sand iron spear from its mouth, stabbing towards him. Orochimaru quickly dodged, but he was also filled with doubt.
"The ice block definitely contains Sasori's real body. The Third Kazekage human puppet shouldn't have a controller anymore. Why is it still moving?" Orochimaru thought to himself, carefully observing his surroundings.
"There!" Suddenly, Orochimaru noticed a figure in a black robe hiding behind a large tree, using chakra threads to control the Third Kazekage human puppet.
It turned out that when Sasori was frozen by Orochimaru, he had released a new puppet body when he realized he couldn't escape. At the same time, the "Core of Reincarnation" that contained his soul had separated from his original body and attached itself to the new puppet body.
"Sasori, I'll take care of this."
Pain stopped Sasori, who was about to attack again, and prepared to defeat Orochimaru himself.
In this brief exchange, Orochimaru had the upper hand. In Pain's view, Sasori alone wouldn't have much chance of defeating Orochimaru.
"Tch~"
Hearing Pain's words, Sasori rolled his eyes and said nothing more. Orochimaru turned to look at Pain, who was beside him.
Suddenly, without warning, Orochimaru's body quickly stretched, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of Pain.
"These eyes, I'll take them!"
Although Orochimaru didn't know that Pain's eyes were the Rinnegan, he instinctively felt that these eyes he had never seen before were not simple.
Looking at Orochimaru, who was full of excitement, Pain remained cold.
"Shinra Tensei."
With a giant impact, Orochimaru was knocked away. But because Orochimaru's body had been modified to be soft, this impact-type attack didn't cause much damage.
Looking at Orochimaru, who was sprawled out in the distance, still dazed, Pain slowly extended his right hand.
"Banshō Ten'in."
Under the influence of Pain's "Banshō Ten'in" ability, Orochimaru felt a powerful gravitational force pulling him back in the opposite direction from where he had just flown.
But Orochimaru was a veteran of countless battles. His reaction time was beyond normal. He immediately took countermeasures.
Quickly forming hand seals, Orochimaru cast "Uwabami Serpent" again. His body transformed into dozens of white pythons that bit towards Pain, who was constantly approaching.
Looking at the dozens of white snakes viciously biting towards him, Pain remained calm. A slender black rod extended from his left sleeve.
"Die!"
Behind the dozens of white snakes, Orochimaru's ferocious face seemed to appear.