The smoking pipe in Gamabunta's mouth moved slightly as he thought. Suddenly, he opened his wide mouth, and a long tongue shot out.
In mid-air, the tongue instantly transformed into ink-black chains, with a heart-pounding aura enveloping them.
"This is the Soul-Snaring Chain..."
Gamabunta explained: "If hit, this chain can paralyze opponents and pull out their souls. Besides that, this technique ignores Genjutsu. Since most of the toad clan's sensory perception is in the tongue, if encountering someone skilled in Genjutsu like Itachi, this Soul-Snaring Chain will be its natural counter."
Jiraiya felt happy. This was truly good news, as it would provide a great power enhancement effect for both him and Naruto. In the future, they wouldn't need to fear if facing illusion-based attacks.
"This Gold List is truly terrifying!"
Jiraiya stared toward the sky.
That golden scroll still continued announcing rankings. The golden vertical eyes in the sky stared at earth coldly, without the slightest emotion.
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[Rank 17: Manda]
[Origin World: Naruto World]
[Description: Orochimaru's summoning animal. First generation Manda living in Ryuchi Cave. Possesses giant body size, cunning and cruel personality, and very strong attack power.]
[Growth Potential: 5 Stars]
[Domestication Value: 2 Stars]
[Gold List Reward: Nine Lives of Snake Heads (Grows eight additional heads, where each head equals one life. When facing deadly crisis, it can sacrifice one head to ward off attacks. Called 'Nine Lives', but actually has eight additional lives. When one head is sacrificed, it will enter Stealth mode for three minutes; cannot be found but also cannot attack—if attacking, Stealth mode is immediately canceled.)]
At this time, Orochimaru's group was resting in a valley.
The giant snake body coiled beside them suddenly stood upright. A beam of golden light fell and was swallowed whole by Manda.
"Just as I thought, you'll definitely enter this Myriad Beasts List!" Orochimaru's lips curved into a smile he had predicted beforehand.
After all, if Gamabunta entered, it didn't make sense if Manda didn't have qualifications.
Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi, and the others stared at Manda with curiosity.
The snake's body began mutating after swallowing the golden light. Layers of scaled skin began peeling from its head, and inch by inch that old skin separated as its body trembled violently. From within emerged Manda's figure that was slightly slimmer.
However, what was more terrifying was that at Manda's neck area, eight small heads began wriggling out from behind the flesh. Those heads grew forcibly with remnants of meat fibers and slime—a very disgusting sight. The eight heads continued growing until the size of the original head, hissing their tongues in all directions. A total of eighteen blood-red eyes stared sharply at Orochimaru's group with dangerous flashes.
"This is similar to Yamata no Orochi in legend!" Kisame stroked his chin while observing Manda's new form.
Itachi nodded in agreement: "Indeed very similar. It seems its power has increased far greater."
One of Manda's heads made a human voice: "Orochimaru, the human offerings you promised me must be increased tenfold. I need time to adapt—I'll come back to collect later!"
After speaking, smoke puffs exploded around it, and Manda disappeared.
The corners of Orochimaru's mouth twitched. This Manda was increasingly difficult to serve; usually he already had to prepare 100 human lives, now asking for tenfold increase.
He began thinking whether he should seek an opportunity to completely subjugate it. Current Orochimaru had the power for that, but Manda was very arrogant and difficult to tame, especially now it had nine lives.
"It seems the eight additional heads don't have consciousness. Whether because they truly can't have brains or because the process wasn't perfect!" Shisui pointed out the crucial point.
Orochimaru also realized it. Except for the center head, the other eight heads had empty gazes. Though having beastly instincts, they clearly didn't have their own consciousness.
"Not only that!" Sasuke suddenly spoke up. "Through Eye of Benevolence, I saw that the real Manda only has one attribute, but these eight new heads have energy fluctuations with different attributes. Meaning, if Manda can use Ninjutsu, it can launch several different elemental attacks simultaneously."
"What?!" Everyone was shocked.
Orochimaru stared at where Manda disappeared with full contemplation.
If true as Sasuke said, then Manda's significance for him would be far greater. Perhaps he could do many things through that snake. It's just that Manda had no hands and feet, so couldn't form Ninjutsu seals like Gamabunta.
"Perhaps, there's another way..." After learning this, Orochimaru's cunning thoughts became active again. He was a scientist; for him, the impossible could become possible.
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[Rank 16: Elder Centipede]
[Origin World: One Punch Man World]
[Description: Monster Association member, one of the important executives. Its true form is a very large centipede with layered old person faces on its head. Evil, terrifying, and has strong destructive desire. Once lost fighting against former number one hero Blast, but managed to escape by molting.]
[Growth Potential: 7 Stars]
[Domestication Value: 1 Star]
[Gold List Reward: Devil's Mask (After wearing this mask, it can hide its true form and transform into a human without reducing original combat power. Can perform partial transformation to true form. Evil power increases 300%; the denser the evil aura around it, the stronger the power generated.)]
Monster Association Headquarters.
Elder Centipede who was crawling in a special room suddenly opened its old eyelids.
A beam of golden light solidified before it, then shattered into a distorted evil mask.
"Gold List reward... I didn't expect I could also obtain it!" Elder Centipede was very happy.
Its old face approached, and the mask seemed alive, directly attaching perfectly and covering its entire face.
Elder Centipede's giant body began being covered by strange tadpole-like symbols that rapidly crawled over its entire body.
Its true form drastically shrank. Black symbols solidified, and Elder Centipede's body finally transformed into an old man wearing a black suit.
The old man appeared sinister, with a thin dried body, and held a strange black staff that curved like tree branches.
"Is this what a human body feels like... a very strange body structure..."