Chapter 033: Facing the Tailed Beast Bomb

Carried by the howling wind, the myriad snakes twisted and coiled, latching onto the Eight-Tails in the blink of an eye, just as a python in the wild would devour a buffalo.

“So fast?”

Killer Bee was taken aback, all eight tentacles straining desperately to tear the serpents away from his body.

“A Jinchuriki, huh...” The myriad snakes let out an arrogant snort, tightening their coils even further. With a sudden, savage motion, the serpent’s jaws snapped wide and bit deeply into the Eight-Tails’ neck.

Boom, boom, boom...

The clash of these two titans shook the dense forest, a deafening sequence of explosions echoing throughout. Everywhere, shattered stones flew, trees splintered, and thick clouds of dust blotted out the sky.

For the moment, neither side could gain the upper hand.

A white serpent flicked its tongue, a human-like smile curling across its face. Orochimaru split his form into seven serpent heads, binding the Fourth Raikage, while the last head lunged at the Cloud shinobi hidden in the dense woods.

The serpent's body stretched dozens of meters. Sasuke Uchiha saw only a white blur flash past, and his opponent—a senior Cloud ninja—vanished before his eyes.

He halted his movement abruptly, instinctively glancing back just in time to witness a mangled, tattered body being spat out from the serpent's jaws.

A chill ran through Sasuke's heart. Just then, a short sword slashed at him while his attention wavered. Forcing aside his distractions, he threw himself toward his next opponent.

Yet, in his heart, he thought, how fortunate it was that such a monster was not their enemy.

“Damn it!” The Fourth Raikage’s body became a blade of lightning, blasting a gaping hole through one of the giant snakes. Still, there was no trace of satisfaction on his face.

For even as he pierced through, the wound on the serpent’s head began to contract and heal.

It seemed as if he was suppressing the Yamata-no-Orochi, but in reality, he was the one entangled, and Orochimaru still had the leisure to slaughter the Cloud shinobi in the forest.

The Fourth Raikage roared toward the dense woods, “Everyone, get away from here!”

The Cloud shinobi, hearing the order, broke free from their opponents and fled in a desperate rush toward the distance.

“Hiss... Hear my command—all Konoha shinobi, do not stray more than a hundred meters from me.” The white serpent's face bore a sly, sinister smile. “Ignore the fleeing Cloud shinobi.”

The Konoha forces, poised to pursue, instinctively halted. Realizing the sense in this, they thought: after all, they were the defenders; if the Cloud shinobi wanted to flee, let them.

Thus, the Konoha shinobi remained where they stood, faintly amused smiles on their faces as they watched the panicked retreat of their foes.

With their hands freed, some of the elite Uchiha—Sharingan tomoe swirling in their eyes—even attempted to support Orochimaru from afar. Though it was just an illusion cast from a distance, the Raikage’s movements were noticeably constrained, unable to fight with his usual reckless abandon.

“Damn, damn, damn!” The Fourth Raikage seethed with frustration. The Cloud shinobi who had just retreated now felt equally stifled, compelled to turn back and once again risk their lives fighting the Konoha shinobi.

There was no alternative—they could not simply watch as the Raikage was surrounded and slain by Konoha’s forces.

But with their minds burdened, they could not fight at their full strength. As their morale waned and Konoha pressed their advantage, the tide of battle began to shift in Konoha’s favor.

This was hardly surprising. The Konoha forces led by Orochimaru originated from the Uchiha Police Force, every one of them an elite among elites. The deepening night only favored the Sharingan’s power, not to mention Orochimaru himself presiding over the battlefield.

“We cannot continue like this.” Sensing the Cloud’s position worsening, the Fourth Raikage felt a sinking dread—he had never expected such a turn of events.

If this deadlock persisted, the Cloud would suffer catastrophic losses.

He bellowed, “Killer Bee, destroy Konoha’s fortress!”

That round, lamp-adorned structure, which Orochimaru had deliberately spared, still stood untouched. The makeshift barrier techniques were weak, but the collateral damage from the battle—just some shattered stone and broken wood—had not been enough to destroy it.

Killer Bee, hearing the Raikage’s command, sensed the urgency. Ignoring the biting serpents, he controlled the Eight-Tails to open its maw and began forming a Tailed Beast Ball.

“Not so fast!” The myriad snakes were not about to let him attack unchecked. The serpent’s body coiled around the ox-like head of the Eight-Tails.

Yet Killer Bee pressed on, not only refusing to stop but speeding up the formation of his attack. A massive surge of Yin-Yang chakra gathered before him, his posture declaring: “Interfere, and I’ll make the Tailed Beast Ball explode right here.”

Daunted by Killer Bee’s suicidal intent, the myriad snakes hesitated.

They had only answered Orochimaru’s summons for a share of the spoils, not to risk their lives—especially since Orochimaru was neither a disciple of Ryuchi Cave nor possessed any aptitude for Sage Arts.

It took some time for the Tailed Beast Ball to fully form, proof that Killer Bee, as the Eight-Tails’ Jinchuriki, was not yet as skilled as he would be in the future.

Nonetheless, a Tailed Beast Ball was still a Tailed Beast Ball—a highly condensed mass of chakra, roaring through the air toward the Yamata-no-Orochi.

And behind Orochimaru stood the “fortress.”

The Fourth Raikage leapt clear—no matter how tough he was, taking a Tailed Beast Ball head-on was no laughing matter.

But the Yamata-no-Orochi’s actions startled him. The serpent’s massive body moved to block the Tailed Beast Ball’s trajectory, as if intending to stop it with its own flesh.

“Could that fortress be real?” The thought flashed through the Fourth Raikage’s mind; he could think of no other reason for Orochimaru’s actions.

But was it really so? At the very least, Fugaku Uchiha knew the truth of the structure, and even he found Orochimaru’s behavior perplexing.

Amid the confusion of both sides, Orochimaru’s cold, serpentine eyes focused on the incoming Tailed Beast Ball.

His aim, of course, was not to protect a decoy fortress, but to prolong the battle.

The Raikage feared devastating losses and dared not press on—but Orochimaru did.

He did not fear casualties; as long as he could force the Cloud to end their war with Konoha, even if he had to fight until only one man remained standing, he would not stop.

Especially now, with the advantage finally within his grasp—how could he allow the war to end so easily?

With a turn of thought, the Yamata-no-Orochi shifted its body to the side. Just as everyone thought Orochimaru would abandon the fortress, one of the serpent’s heads slammed into the Tailed Beast Ball.

Like a whip striking a spinning top, the massive serpent collided with the sphere, deflecting its trajectory upward.

Boom...

The Tailed Beast Ball streaked over the fortress, exploding thunderously in the distant woods and shaking the earth.

Yet the fortress remained standing, though one of the serpent’s heads had been obliterated in exchange.

There was no relief among the Cloud shinobi, for before their eyes, the mangled wound began to bulge with new flesh. That severed head would soon regenerate.

“That bastard Orochimaru—when did he become so ruthless?” Even the myriad snakes, watching the spectacle, felt a cold shiver.

“No, he’s always been this ruthless—to others, and to himself.”

A sense of unease crept over the myriad snakes. After all, their inaction had just cost Orochimaru dearly.