The sky shimmered with iridescent colors, and an upside-down, doll-like sun hung in the air, casting prismatic light over the land.
A spectrum of colors painted the ground in a surreal glow.
It would have seemed like a beautiful dream—
But Orochimaru felt nothing but dread.
Something was wrong.
He suspected he was trapped in an illusion, yet neither his chakra depletion nor his sense of touch aligned with the typical effects of a genjutsu.
Worse still—he had already tried dispelling every illusion he knew.
A chilling weakness crept over him.
It reminded him of Itachi.
Suddenly—
"Hahahahahaha"
A sickly, eerie laugh echoed through the space.
Orochimaru's pale, ghostly face twisted into an expression of unease.
By now, he had inexplicably "died" five times.
If not for his substitution technique, he might not have survived even this long.
"Hahaha!"
Out of nowhere, Sakiya appeared in midair—
She wielded a massive sledgehammer, nearly the size of a building, and brought it crashing down toward Orochimaru's head!
Reacting instantly, he opened his mouth wide—
A gleaming sword shot out, extending toward the incoming hammer at lightning speed.
The ground beneath his feet cracked violently, as if it had a will of its own, rolling backward and launching him tens of meters away.
His sword sliced through empty air.
But—
The sledgehammer shifted.
It distorted in the air, growing larger like a reflection in a warped mirror, stretching the distance between them—
Then it slammed directly into Orochimaru.
BOOM—
The sheer force buried him into the earth, shattering the ground upon impact. Chunks of stone and dirt exploded into the air, rising dozens of meters high.
Even Orochimaru, as resilient as he was, felt his internal organs wrench from the shock. His vision blurred. His head rang.
But—
It wasn't enough to kill him.
With a sudden leap, he burst from the cracked earth.
And just as he landed—
The shattered ground flickered—
Then instantly restored itself, as if nothing had ever happened.
Orochimaru wasn't surprised.
He had seen this kind of thing before.
If not for the sheer absurdity of the phenomena happening around him, he wouldn't have even considered the possibility of an illusion.
Suddenly, he felt something off beneath his feet.
Reacting instantly, he slashed downward with his sword—
But it hit nothing.
The blade passed straight through Sakiya, as if cutting through a phantom.
She glanced up at him, seemingly embarrassed at being caught—yet still crouched at his feet with a playful smirk.
Then, with a tiny match, she casually lit his pants on fire.
Orochimaru's pupils shrank.
It was happening again.
These weird, nonsensical attacks—they were the real danger.
If she had come at him with speed and brute force, he wouldn't have even flinched. He knew he could handle that kind of assault.
But this…
This tiny, seemingly harmless match?
This could kill him.
What unsettled him even more was that he couldn't touch her. Every attack he launched passed right through her like she wasn't even real. No matter where he moved, no matter how he dodged—Sakiya was always right there.
There was no escaping her.
Fine.
He didn't even bother dodging this time.
He simply let her light the match.
The small flame caught on his pants.
And just like that, Sakiya giggled, ran off, and vanished completely after three meters.
Orochimaru watched her disappear, unable to sense even the slightest trace of her presence.
Then he looked down.
The tiny flame flickered on his pants.
He reached out to extinguish it—but his hand passed through it like air.
He couldn't feel the flame.
Yet—his pants were really burning.
He could feel the heat from the scorched fabric. The charred edges of his clothing proved that the fire was real.
And in the next second—
The flames erupted.
A searing pain engulfed his entire body.
No hesitation!
He activated his substitution technique immediately!
And not a moment too soon.
Because within 0.1 seconds—
His entire body had turned to charred remains.
As Orochimaru emerged from his newly-formed body, his previous one had already crumbled to ashes.
At that moment, he finally admitted to himself—he couldn't figure out this strange technique.
A dry, hoarse chuckle escaped him as he spoke to the empty air.
"Impressive technique. You win."
With that, he suddenly activated a summoning seal.
Sakiya's expression changed instantly.
Bang!
Orochimaru's figure vanished from the battlefield.
Sakiya clenched her fists tightly.
"Damn it! I forgot this guy still has reverse summoning. No wonder he never called a summon before!"
As soon as he was gone, the distorted world around her began to return to normal, as if someone had wiped away a filter.
She leapt several times across the treetops, landing in a clearing.
There, her shadow clone stood watch over **Shikamaru, Chōji, and Ino—**all lying on the ground.
But now, their breathing had stabilized, and their faces had regained their color.
Thanks to the power of her red eye, Sakiya had helped purge the poison from their systems.
Their injuries hadn't been too severe—the real danger had been the snake venom.
Now, it was nearly gone.
Sakiya could sense Konoha's ANBU forces approaching quickly.
She took one last look at Ino, her gaze lingering for a moment.
Then—with a soft whoosh—she disappeared.
"We've found them!"
"Quick! There are wounded here!"
Meanwhile, Tsuchiya Tsukigami and Sakuragi were still standing by the deep crater that Sakiya had left.
They had been circling the pit, inspecting it from every angle.
Then—without warning—
A glowing magic circle suddenly appeared inside the crater.
And in the blink of an eye—
Everything changed.
Sakiya appeared at the center of the crater.
With one hand covering her left eye and the other raised—fingers spread wide, palm facing forward—she spoke.
"I have returned from the Infinite Dimensional Interface."
Silence filled the air.
Then, suddenly—
Sakuragi and Tsuchiya Tsukigami reacted with excitement.
"As expected from our leader!"
"That was amazing!"
"I thought you were going to prepare another ritual."
After their excitement settled, they asked eagerly:
"The Infinite Dimensional Plane—can we go there too?"
Sakiya, arms folded behind her back, answered in a calm voice:
"Not yet. Your current level is still too low. Our priority right now is to win this Trial of the Gods!"
"Then let's go, Chief!"
Sakiya leaped forward.
"Follow me! Let my Eyes of Death lead us to victory!"
"Right!"
Tsuchiya Tsukigami grinned and followed immediately.
Sakuragi, watching Sakiya's back, let out a small sigh before joining them.
Meanwhile, almost everyone in the Forest of Death had witnessed the massive explosion.
It was impossible to miss—such a large-scale detonation shook the entire area.
Sakuragi and Tsuchiya, of course, had heard about it.
But since the blast was far from their location, they hadn't been too concerned.
Now, the Chūnin Exam incident was nearing its conclusion.
Sasuke and Naruto, having escaped, escorted Sakura to the tower at the exam's endpoint.
On the way, they managed to intercept another team's scroll, securing their passage.
Inside the tower, Sasuke's team met the Third Hokage and reported the enemy they had encountered.
Naruto was also relieved to hear that Shikamaru's squad was unharmed.
After hearing their accounts, the Third Hokage's expression darkened.
There was no doubt—this was Orochimaru's doing.
His fists clenched as he muttered angrily:
"What a wicked man!"
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