The moment Yūhi Rō announced the start of the match, Sasori suddenly pulled out a short scroll, black on one side and white on the other, from his wide black puppeteer's robe. With a "whoosh," he pulled it open with both hands, instantly forming several complex hand signs.
Poof—
A dense white smoke, about the height of a person, rose from the scroll. A wooden humanoid puppet with a square face, black hair, and a gray padded shoulder cloth, but possessing two legs and six arms, walked out of the smoke with a mechanical clack clack clack.
Poof—
Another puff of white smoke rose from the scroll, and another humanoid wooden puppet emerged. It also wore a gray padded shoulder cloth and had two legs and six arms, but its horse-like head sported two red horns!
Poof poof poof—
Three consecutive puffs of white smoke followed, resulting in a total of five humanoid puppets of varying shapes. They surrounded and protected Sasori in the center, like the most loyal bodyguards.
Sasori's five slender, well-maintained fingers let out thin, hard-to-detect, pale-blue chakra threads, which connected to the five puppets, manipulating and controlling them incessantly.
Orochimaru stood his ground, merely watching coldly, utterly unmoved, but emanating a thick sense of contempt.
Hiss hiss hiss—
Sasori flicked his hands, and the five humanoid puppets instantly seemed to be granted souls and life, darting toward Orochimaru like five black shadows.
Red Sand Secret Technique: Black Technique, Bitter Wastes!
The five rapidly moving puppets suddenly opened their mouths. As their internal mechanisms activated, five sharp kunai, one from each puppet's mouth, shot toward Orochimaru.
Red Sand Secret Technique: Black Technique, Six-Arm Poison Flow!
The five puppets, possessing a total of thirty limbs (two legs and six arms each), each abruptly split into four. From the black-flickering mechanisms inside, a flurry of over a hundred densely packed, sinister, phosphorescent green poison needles launched toward Orochimaru.
The stream of steel composed of these kunai and poison needles savagely sprayed toward Orochimaru.
Orochimaru, still motionless in his moonlight-white kimono, his arms hanging at his sides, didn't even form a single hand sign!
However, from the openings of his two wide sleeves, about fifty thick, arm-sized poison snakes suddenly slithered out, their fangs glinting with a blood-red light. Under Orochimaru's control, they charged in the opposite direction against the torrent of steel made up of kunai and poison needles.
Sasori, controlling the puppets from behind, saw Orochimaru's move and let out a laugh: He wants to use snakes to resist poison needles? Is this some kind of joke? It seems this Orochimaru is nothing special!
Thinking this, the resentful Sasori once again manipulated the puppets, launching dozens more phosphorescent green poison needles.
However, in the very next instant, Sasori's face changed drastically.
Under Orochimaru's meticulous control, as soon as the snakes were about to touch the poison needles and kunai, they suddenly twisted. The agile snakes slithered through the tiny gaps between the needles and kunai, their writhing bodies perfectly deflecting a single poison needle to the side.
The deflection of this first needle instantly triggered a chain reaction, like falling dominoes. The needles that it struck also changed their flight path and direction.
Following a clear sound of metallic clanking, the entire torrent of steel composed of poison needles and kunai instantly crumbled and disintegrated. Orochimaru only lost a few snakes that he couldn't control in time and couldn't pull back.
The remaining forty-plus snakes, having dealt with the poison needles, suddenly snapped open their vicious snake mouths, scattering wildly in all directions and shooting ferociously toward the five humanoid puppets from every angle.
The sudden, vicious wind of blades and poison needles instantly shredded and cut more than twenty of the approaching snakes. Crimson blood and serpentine flesh soaked the ground.
Orochimaru immediately recalled the remaining poison snakes. Then, he slowly began to walk toward Sasori, moving as if taking a leisurely stroll in a backyard garden.
Sasori, seeing Orochimaru's relaxed demeanor and his actions that treated the fight like a game, was enraged but didn't dare to be careless. Gritting his teeth, he once again wove hand signs to unseal his puppets.
Poof poof poof—
Five more explosive puffs of white smoke rose from Sasori's scroll. Five more humanoid puppets, each of a different design, emerged from the smoke, standing beside Sasori. The original five puppets also retreated.
Ten ice-cold, lifeless, and diverse humanoid puppets stood like soldiers to Sasori's left and right. Ten puppets were the limit Sasori could handle.
Three steps. Four steps!
Orochimaru continued his steady walk. Sasori's reflection was mirrored in Orochimaru's dark-golden eyes, as if he were watching a single struggling insect floating in a downpour.
Sasori flicked his fingers: Red Sand Secret Technique: Puppet Performance, Ten Machines Operation!
The ten puppets whirled and danced, blades snapping out from their hands. They transformed into black shadows, rushing toward Orochimaru to attack.
Orochimaru subtly tilted his body, dodging one puppet's thrust, then stepped back, evading ten poison needles shot from another puppet's mouth. His two palms slapped the ground, injecting chakra into his legs and feet. His two legs spun out a powerful, razor-sharp whirlwind of wood: "Snap, snap, snap—" The leg sweep instantly smashed and broke apart three of the puppets.
Orochimaru remained standing, continuing his walk forward: Five steps. Six steps!
The remaining seven puppets circled Orochimaru in a wide perimeter of about seven or eight meters. Their mechanisms began to activate, one by one.
Kunai with explosive tags attached, sharp wooden spikes, and phosphorescent green poison needles erupted from all directions, like an unending, roaring river, showering down on Orochimaru in the center.
Seven steps. Eight steps!
Orochimaru's hands rapidly wove several hand signs, and a dense wave of chakra fluctuation rose from his body!
Earth Release: Earth Dome!
The ground surrounding Orochimaru suddenly rose in four solid earthen walls, five to six meters tall, following a fierce roar, enclosing Orochimaru in the center.
Sizzle, sizzle, whoosh—
Poison needles, wooden spikes, and kunai were all embedded in the earthen wall. The explosions from the activated explosive tags shook the earthen dome violently, but it never crumbled or collapsed.
Nine steps. Ten steps!
The complex hand signs in Orochimaru's hands began to change again!
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