Who are you calling a stable boy?!

The heavy Hiruko was actually kicked backward by this kick, crashing into trees with afterimages and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Itachi and Izumi did not stop for a moment, and immediately chased after them into the shadows.

Orochimaru, who had watched the two exchanges but had not made a move, narrowed his eyes slightly.

He recognized Itachi Uchiha and knew that Itachi was exceptionally strong.

But for some reason, Itachi's kick just now suddenly reminded him of Tsunade's monstrous strength...

Normally, he would indeed have the urge to investigate further.

But now—

"That saves a lot of trouble, don't you think?"

Orochimaru raised his head and looked up at the top of Kakuzu's head.

—Or rather, he was looking at Zheng Jing, who was lying on the branch of the tree.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Zheng Jing, the demon slayer. I am Orochimaru."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Jing jumped down and raised one palm.

"DOMO, Orochimaru = SAN, the demon slayer DESU."

After the greetings ended, Zheng Jing pursed his lips.

"Little snake, you do know how to greet people, but you're using a clone, so it's hard to say."

"Since you've already seen through me, Mr. Zheng Jing, why don't you guess where my true form is now?"

"Ok?"

Zheng Jing raised an eyebrow.

"Judging from your words, you're not afraid of me, Old Zheng, and don't dare to come?"

Orochimaru gave a sinister laugh.

"Mr. Zheng Jing, as far as I know, your brother, the bespectacled Shinigami Aizen, seems to have never actually fought anyone..."

Zheng Jing was taken aback upon hearing this.

Then, he stared at Orochimaru and gasped.

Chapter 199: When you're ready, death won't come for you (

In a hotel room, Aizen sat at the table, holding a book in one hand.

The dim lighting elongated and widened his shadow, pressing it against the light brown wall.

At first glance, it seemed as if some enormous and malevolent invisible force had silently infiltrated the guest room and was now standing behind Aizen, watching his unsuspecting figure.

"It seems you don't like knocking."

Aizen suddenly spoke up.

"Knocking on the window might also work."

"It was indeed my rudeness."

As Orochimaru's voice rang out, the lights in the guest room suddenly went out.

Then, the dim moonlight streaming in through the open window illuminated Orochimaru, who had somehow appeared behind Aizen.

With his back to Orochimaru, Aizen showed no intention of turning around.

He kept his eyes downcast, reading the book in his hands as he spoke: "The Shadow Clone Technique is indeed an interesting technique. No, I should say that the Shadow Clone Technique, Transformation Technique, and Substitution Technique, which you ninjas usually call the Three Body Techniques, are, in my opinion, far more interesting than those advanced ninjutsu that pursue destructive power."

"Don't you think so, Mr. Orochimaru?"

Gently closing the book, Aizen smiled and raised his eyes, gazing ahead with a clear purpose.

"...That's quite a unique perspective."

Realizing that Aizen wasn't bluffing him, but had genuinely noticed his true form, Orochimaru stopped hiding and revealed himself from the shadows.

"I don't deny that the Three Body Techniques are a fundamental skill that no ninja can neglect, but judging from what Aizen-sensei said, could it be that he has found some unprecedented new path in this fundamental skill?"

"Oh? Orochimaru-san is interested?"

“Of course, why don’t you come with me, Mr. Aizen, and have a good chat with me?”

As they were talking, Orochimaru moved.

The main body unleashed the Hidden Shadow Serpent Hand, while shadow clones simultaneously lunged at Aizen.

With this pincer attack, it seems Orochimaru is indeed aiming to capture Aizen alive.

Despite the venomous snakes in front and the strong winds behind, Aizen remained unfazed. He put the book "Laughing at the Jianghu" that Zheng Jing had given him back into his backpack. His body went from still to moving. As he sidestepped the snake's bite, his right hand caught the shadow clone's arm. With a quick grab and pull, he flipped the shadow clone over while kneeling, ready to throw it at Orochimaru.

But before Aizen could let go, the shadow clone suddenly disintegrated into a series of colorful venomous snakes, baring their tongues and fangs, and began to bite at Aizen.

With a light laugh, Aizen seemed to have anticipated this. He pulled his hands away and, with a few quick steps, retreated through the open window.

Orochimaru followed closely behind.

In the midst of their leaps, the two exchanged a few more blows, and with several short, muffled thuds, landed on the deserted street in the dead of night.

Good skills.

Staring at Aizen, who stood with his hands behind his back, Orochimaru couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He certainly wouldn't arbitrarily conclude that Aizen was a wise man who couldn't even kill a chicken, based solely on the intelligence sent back by his undercover agents.

Using Kakuzu as a decoy, Orochimaru lured Zheng Jing away with his shadow clones, even deceiving Sasori along with him. Orochimaru wanted to seize this opportunity to test Aizen's true strength.

Based on the intelligence relayed back by the undercover agents, Orochimaru deduced that Aizen and Zheng Jing were likely both "Outsiders".

Throughout the history of the ninja world, there have been some extraordinary individuals.

These extraordinary individuals are often neither ninjas nor samurai; their strength varies, and their methods are bizarre and varied.

But regardless of their strength or methods, these extraordinary individuals mostly share one characteristic: they come and go without a trace.

Unable to trace its past, unable to find its future destination.

Orochimaru himself referred to these people collectively as "Outcasts".

He became aware of the existence of the Extraordinary Ones during World War III.

Then, Orochimaru began to consciously consult some ancient books and successfully found fragments of information about these extraordinary people in them.

Naturally, he then began planning to capture the "Outcast".

However, when he actually took action, Orochimaru realized that he still knew too little about these "Outsiders".

Although most of those extraordinary individuals were not as strong as him, they all possessed an unbelievable way of escaping, making them extremely difficult to capture alive.

Even if they are successfully captured, these extraordinary individuals will vanish without a trace in the blink of an eye if there is the slightest carelessness.

Moreover, after successfully capturing one of the superhumans, Orochimaru discovered that these superhumans were organized.

His capture operation aroused hostility from the outsiders towards Konoha, nearly causing Konoha to suffer several major setbacks in the Third Shinobi World War.

And what was gained in return for this, besides some wondrous knowledge, was—

"Mr. Aizen."

Orochimaru suddenly gave Aizen a sinister smile: "You and Mr. Zheng Jing are players from the courtyard, aren't you?"

"Oh?"

Aizen raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

—At that very moment, a large hole suddenly opened up in the ground behind him, and several powerful snakes spewed out, taking the opportunity to tightly wrap around Aizen's feet.

Immediately afterwards, a small snake emerged from the giant serpent's mouth and easily pierced Aizen's clothes and flesh with its tiny but sharp fangs.

These small snakes were specially bred by Orochimaru to capture superhumans. Their venom is not fatal, but it can cause hallucinations, and the hallucinogenic effect is extremely strong and takes effect very quickly.

Looking at Aizen, whose limbs were bound by the giant snakes and whose head was hanging low, Orochimaru's lips curled up.

Aizen's skills are indeed excellent.

Orochimaru estimated that if the ordinary Jonin from the great ninja village were to face Aizen, they would undoubtedly be defeated.

Looking across the ninja world, such skill is something to be proud of.

It is absolutely impossible to say that they were powerless to even kill a chicken.

Unfortunately, such strength was no match for Orochimaru.

It is even less comparable to the martial prowess of the monster assassin Zheng Jing.

As Orochi walked toward Aizen, he was calculating what to do next.

Successfully capturing Aizen alive was the best outcome he had anticipated.

Next, we'll see just how important Aizen is to Zheng Jing.

As for Sasori, Orochimaru had no intention of turning back to rescue him.

He had long been prepared to betray the organization, so naturally he wanted his partner, Scorpion, to play one last role.

My demands are few; I just want to hold off Zheng Jing and the others for a little while, until I can leave with Aizen.

"Om."

Suddenly, a soft sound was heard, and Orochimaru abruptly stopped in his tracks.

The giant snakes that had been entangled with Aizen, before the soft sound had even faded, all fell to the ground as they were cut into uniform pieces of flesh.

Then, in front of Orochimaru, Aizen reached out a hand and caught the falling Aizen.

"Is this the limit of the performance of the combat-type prosthetic body...? Not bad, but I believe that with Urahara-kun's talent, there is definitely room for improvement."

Ignoring Orochimaru's astonished expression, Aizen muttered a few words to himself before gently placing the battle-style artificial body on the ground.

"Substitution Technique?"

Orochimaru asked hesitantly.

At first glance, Aizen's performance just now was similar to his Orochi-ryu Substitution Technique.

"That's one way to think about it."

Aizen, dressed in his Shinigami uniform, pondered for a moment, then smiled and nodded.

At this moment, Orochimaru had the thought of retreating.

On one hand, he didn't think Sasori could hold off Zheng Jing for long; on the other hand, he really couldn't see through Aizen's move.

He would test Aizen's true strength by showing his real body, and he was already prepared to turn around and leave once he had done something wrong.

—But just as he was about to retreat, an astonishing pressure seized Orochimaru's body!

"Mr. Orochimaru, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Aizen's smile remained unchanged as he gently pushed the Kyoka Suigetsu sword from its sheath at his waist with his thumb.

"Since we're already here..."

Chapter 200: You think you can outnumber me, Old Zheng?

Flying needles, shuriken, broadsword, tail spikes—

In addition, Hiruko's ability to use Earth Release ninjutsu transformed this puppet camp, which Sasori used most often, into a humanoid fortress that was both offensive and defensive.

In most cases, he only needs to use Hiruko to defeat his opponent.

However, it is clear that the current battle is a special case.

"Boom!!"

With a dull thud, Hiruko was once again thrown backward uncontrollably, carving a trench several meters long in the ground before finally coming to a stop.

As soon as he regained his footing, through Hiruko's eyes, Sasori could clearly see the pair of Uchiha who had stood side by side and resumed their stances.

He wasn't without experience fighting against Uchiha clan ninjas.

In Sasori's mind, the Uchiha clan ninjas were not difficult to deal with.

Although the Sharingan is indeed a powerful bloodline limit that lives up to its reputation, most of its abilities are difficult to use against him.

In particular, the genjutsu ability, one of the Uchiha clan's signature skills, was almost ineffective against him, who had transformed himself into a human puppet.