Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Upon entering the store, Shisui, who habitually observed his surroundings, noticed that the little boy had already extracted chakra from his body. Judging by the amount, even Shisui had to sincerely praise him as a genius. As for the other person... Shisui sensed danger and a slight sense of familiarity.

However, the person hadn't shown any malice towards Shisui when he entered the store.

Shisui, who has never liked causing trouble, did not intend to provoke the other party. It was just a pity that the other party did not seem to think so. After enduring for a long time, he finally revealed his deep malice.

"Shisui-kun, I saw you when you joined the Anbu! You've already forgotten me?"

The man, who had his back to Shisui, twisted his neck 180 degrees, revealing a pale face devoid of any color. His snake-like, golden, vertical pupils held a mixture of excitement and cruel killing intent. Purple eyeshadow extended to the sides of his nose, and two azure, magatama-shaped earrings swayed gently in his ears.

This man—

Orochimaru?!

Shisui's expression became very serious.

I never expected to run into Orochimaru, the highest-ranking rogue ninja wanted by the village, here... It's hard to say whether this is good or bad luck. When I chose to join the Anbu, Orochimaru hadn't defected yet, so I had met Orochimaru a few times. It's normal that I feel familiar with him but can't remember him for a moment.

"what are you doing here?"

Shisui's eyes turned bloodshot as he stared intently at Orochimaru.

"Is it strange that a rogue ninja like me wanders around? On the contrary, it's you, Shisui-kun, what are you doing here? This isn't Konoha, nor is it the Land of Fire. What are you looking for in a place like this?" Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, making no attempt to hide the curiosity on his face.

Although he defected and left Konoha,

But as one of the once-famous Sannin.

Orochimaru had enough followers in the village to provide him with information, and he also had Danzo as a collaborator. It can be said that even after leaving the village, he still knew the situation in the village very well, until his partner Danzo suddenly fell, and later even his teacher Hiruzen Sarutobi was overthrown from the position of Hokage.

This series of unexpected and exciting events drew Orochimaru's attention to the Uchiha clan, which had been gradually declining.

In particular, when he saw the information brought by the followers in the village mentioning a "deep crimson skull-shaped giant," Orochimaru recalled the records about the Uchiha clan that he had seen in the notes left behind by the Second Hokage, which mentioned terms such as "Mangekyou Sharingan" and "Susanoo."

Unfortunately, no one in the Uchiha clan had awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan at that time, and the three-tomoe Jonin of the Uchiha clan were quite troublesome, so it would be very troublesome if something really happened.

Orochimaru had no choice but to put aside his investigation into the 'Mangekyou Sharingan' and temporarily shelve it, planning to continue the research when the time was right. However, he never expected that the opportunity would come so quickly. Uchiha Sogen could be said to have demonstrated the power of the 'Susanoo' supernatural ability in front of everyone.

Orochimaru, who received the intelligence, was in the Land of Water at the time. Just as he was preparing to return to the Land of Fire, more intelligence came that Uchiha Munen was leading the Konoha army in a major battle against the Kirigakure ninja on the eastern border. So Orochimaru did not rush to leave the Land of Water and continued to search for the two corpses according to the map.

then,

He received news once again that Uchiha Sogen had arrived in the Land of Water and was heading to Kirigakure.

Just then, Orochimaru finally dug out the two corpses from which some usable flesh tissue could still be extracted, along with several strange ninja tools. With nothing else to delay him, Orochimaru headed towards Kirigakure, intending to personally witness whether the Mangekyou Sharingan of the Uchiha clan was as powerful as the Second Hokage described in his notes.

Who would have thought that before he had gone very far, when he was still a considerable distance from Kirigakure,

It was here that they ran into another Uchiha.

"This has nothing to do with you, Orochimaru. You should think about how you're going to repent for your crimes when you're in Konoha's prison!"

Shisui pushed back his chair, stood up, drew the small katana he carried on his back, and assumed a fighting stance.

If it weren't Orochimaru standing in front of him, but a rogue ninja from Kirigakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, or Kumogakure, he probably wouldn't have bothered to get involved. But since Orochimaru is a rogue ninja from Konoha, his personality wouldn't allow him to pretend he didn't know what was going on.

and,

Orochimaru clearly wasn't planning to let Shisui go either. Before fighting Uchiha Mugen, he wanted to have a match with another Jonin from the Uchiha clan with three tomoe level eyes. This would not only allow him to relive his memories of sparring with the Uchiha, but if he was lucky, he might even get a pair of three tomoe level Sharingan eyes.

"Do you repent?"

Orochimaru smiled mockingly, "That kind of thing means nothing to me, Shisui-kun, so please give me your eyes right here!"

[Chapter 136 Bird Clone Technique and Snake Clone Technique]

"Interesting! You don't want to fight here?" Orochimaru watched as Shisui used the Body Flicker Technique to escape outside the shop, a cold smile appearing on his lips. However, when his pupils turned and he noticed the extra stack of bills on the table by the shop entrance, which was more than enough, his golden vertical pupils narrowed slightly.

If it were just the speed of the Instantaneous Movement Technique, he wouldn't even consider it a threat.

However, he was still able to leave money for the meal while using the Body Flicker Technique. Orochimaru knew that Uchiha Shisui's mastery of the Body Flicker Technique was already above his own. The Uchiha clan... those old guys were all useless trash. He didn't expect these young people to be so capable.

Unfortunately, even the fastest teleportation technique has limitations in distance and range.

In other words, he didn't want to drag Kimimaro into the chaos of battle; otherwise, he would have intervened immediately. This was a superior vessel that he had painstakingly found, and he would be heartbroken if it were accidentally damaged in the battle. Such excellent vessels are not easy to find!

"Kimimaro, don't get too close later."

Orochimaru gave a few instructions to the boy who was beside him.

The next battle is against Uchiha Shisui, and it's foreseeable that this fight won't end easily. Even if Orochimaru doesn't believe Uchiha Shisui can escape his grasp, the Uchiha clan's Sharingan and Fire Release techniques are indeed formidable. Add to that Shisui's demonstrated Body Flicker Technique, and the message from his subordinates in Konoha reminding him to take care, which mentioned Shisui's previous fight with Aburame Ryuma ending in a draw—

It doesn't matter how much they verbally scorn them, but they never let their guard down.

As Danzo's most trusted assistant, Orochimaru, who had spent some time in Danzo's 'Root' organization, knew very well how powerful Ryoma Aburame was; he was a strong opponent that Orochimaru also needed to be careful of.

"Lord Orochimaru, I will be careful."

The white-haired boy nodded seriously. He followed Orochimaru out of the shop. The long street was still sparsely populated, so he immediately spotted the figure in the black trench coat. Uchiha Shisui was walking towards the end of the street.

This is a town located by the sea.

The coastline is at the end of the long street.

Under a gloomy sky, a cold wind howled, and icy tides surged in from the distant deep sea, crashing against the rocks and creating white sprays. A series of muffled thunderous booms echoed through the air, then dissipated with the sea breeze and waves.

A somber atmosphere pervaded the world.

Uchiha Shisui stood on a reef, holding a small katana. His black trench coat fluttered in the wind, and his crimson eyes held a rare, high fighting spirit. Because of the series of messy events that had happened before, he was still feeling depressed.

However, they were facing Orochimaru, a traitor to Konoha.

He found that he no longer needed to think about those messy things; all he needed to do was fight with all his might. In Zhi Shui's view, this was the simplest thing. And to be honest, he hadn't encountered an opponent who could make him go all out in a long time. A long-lost fighting spirit surged in his chest, and his boiling blood made him impatient.

"Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, shouldn't disappoint me, right?"

As Shisui lightly traced the blade, he looked at Orochimaru, who had come into view, and couldn't help but think of him.

"Crack!"

The vertical wind blade sliced ​​through the reef beneath Shisui's feet. The solid reef, which had withstood the pounding of the tides for thousands of years, was as fragile as a biscuit in front of the wind blade. However, Shisui, who was standing on the reef, had already disappeared without a trace. The terrifying blow did not even touch the hem of Shisui's clothes.

Only the ink-black feathers of crows fluttered down, swirling and dancing in the wind.

More than ten crows gathered together and transformed into human form. Shi Shui then reappeared in human form and stood on another reef.

This is the Bird Clone Technique, a special clone technique developed by Shisui. It requires the cooperation of his summoning beast, the crow, to be used. Compared to the Shadow Clone Technique, it is more energy-efficient and more powerful than the Water Clone Technique. It has a high degree of mobility and can freely gather and disperse. The Bird Clone Technique also has a good level of resilience, and ordinary attacks cannot defeat it.

"A special clone technique that summons beasts? It's somewhat similar to my Snake Clone Technique." As the most outstanding and eccentric scientist since the Second Hokage, Orochimaru thirsted for the mysteries and power of ninjutsu and harbored immense curiosity about things unknown to him.

This trip to Kirigakure was driven by curiosity; I wanted to witness the power of the so-called Mangekyou Sharingan.

He saw through Shisui's clone technique at a glance.

"If this is a clone technique, then where is the real body?" Orochimaru smiled, not rushing to deal with Shisui's clones. After quickly surveying the surrounding environment, he found that there were no other obstacles on the beach except for a few coconut trees.

That is,

"Underground?"

Orochimaru extended his thumb, put it in his mouth, and bit down.

With a crisp sound, blood stained his teeth and fingers. Orochimaru, seemingly oblivious to the pain of biting his finger, slammed his hands on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"

Dozens of brown snakes, each as thick as a house, were summoned.

Manda is too arrogant and savage. Orochimaru generally doesn't like to summon Manda to fight unless it's against a target of similar size, such as a tailed beast, or a summoning beast like Jiraiya or Tsunade. It's not that he's heartbroken about a hundred sacrifices, but he simply finds it too troublesome.

In comparison, these obedient and numerous snakes are much more useful.

Standing on the head of a giant snake,

Orochimaru watched as the scattered snakes flattened the nearby trees. Those that could burrow had already dug large holes in the sand and crawled inside, clearly intending to force Uchiha Shisui, who was hiding underground, out. Back when he was fighting against the Iwa ninja, he had done this kind of thing many times before, digging up rats. He was very familiar with this method.

"As expected of the Three Ninjas."

The still water that emerged from underground exclaimed in admiration.

His true form was indeed hidden underground, preparing to launch a surprise attack. However, Orochimaru first used his terrifyingly powerful Wind Release technique to expose his Bird Clone Technique, and then used these giant snakes to force him to break free from underground. He was unable to fight while using Earth Release stealth techniques.

However, the defeat in the initial contact did not dampen Shisui's fighting spirit at all. On the contrary, the stronger Orochimaru appeared, the more intense the fighting spirit in his eyes became, and the higher his fighting spirit rose.

That's exactly how it should be!

If the renowned Sannin didn't have real skills, wouldn't that be disappointing?

Shisui leaped from the ground and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear directly on the back of the giant snake. He wielded a small katana and charged directly at Orochimaru, who was standing on the snake's head. If he were to deal with these giant snakes one by one... unless he used Susanoo, ordinary ninjutsu would be quite troublesome.

Moreover, Shisui's greatest strength lies in fighting against humans.

The Instantaneous Movement Technique is most effective in close-quarters combat within a small area.

He has basically never used Susanoo except for that one time when he tested it. Compared to Sogen, who used Susanoo repeatedly and almost turned it into a routine method, Shisui, who was reminded, protected the secret of Shisui's awakening of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

This time,

Unless absolutely necessary, Shisui does not intend to use this power.

"Are you out yet?"

Orochimaru's hoarse voice carried a hint of mockery as he watched Shisui rushing towards him along the back of a long snake. He simply raised his hand and waved it, and more than a dozen long snakes with their mouths wide open and sharp fangs showing suddenly sprang out from his wide sleeves and surged towards the charging Shisui.

This is a secret technique called [Hidden Shadow Serpent Hands].

It is a special ninjutsu developed by Orochimaru by combining summoning techniques.

These dark brown snakes that sprang from Orochimaru's sleeves were different individuals. They possessed mature intelligence and a clear division of labor, each responsible for different functions such as intimidation, restraint, capture, and biting. A single attack could be described as a multi-hit combo. Ordinary opponents, faced with this dazzling array of attacks, would often be flustered and at a loss for how to deal with it, barely managing to launch any decent counterattacks before being either captured alive or bitten to death by the swarm of snakes.

But the one opposing Orochimaru today isn't some incompetent nobody.

【Uchiha Style: Gale Sword】

Facing the dozen or so long snakes, Shisui neither dodged nor evaded, charging forward head-on. His crimson eyes swirled with tomoe, clearly seeing the movements of each snake and even predicting their next attack trajectory. Then, with a swift movement, he slashed down with his small katana, wreathed in whistling wind blades.

next second,

Blood splattered everywhere.

With lightning speed, Shisui's blade severed all thirteen snake heads. The flying snake heads and gushing blood were reflected in his scarlet eyes, which were filled with fighting spirit. At the same time, his left hand formed a hand seal. Just as the snake blood was about to smear Shisui's face, he disappeared like a bubble or a phantom.

Soon, another human head appeared among the snake heads that hadn't yet been pulled down by gravity. It had pale skin, purple eyeshadow, and blue magatama-shaped earrings hanging from its ears... This was clearly Orochimaru's head.

Shisui stood behind Orochimaru.

Gripping his katana tightly and maintaining his sheathed stance, he had just used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind Orochimaru and easily severed Orochimaru's head with a single strike! The ease with which Orochimaru was devastating, leaving Shisui with a sense of indescribable disappointment. Was this the kind of weakling the legendary Sannin were?

but,