I am the new Hokage of Konoha.

Orochimaru moved with incredible speed, constantly dodging the thorns that came at him.

Seeing his ninjutsu easily broken, he remained outwardly calm, but inwardly grew increasingly anxious.

In the midst of his busy schedule, he took a moment to look up. The once clear sky was now covered by a vast expanse of lush tree canopy. Unbeknownst to him, he had already entered the Wood Release: Tree World.

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

A massive fire dragon spewed from Orochimaru's mouth, engulfing the trees that had already come very close, and its residual power continued to spread in all directions.

Soon, a fire broke out in the forest.

Orochimaru was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he suddenly saw the raging fire visibly extinguished, and the trees that had been burned earlier were sprouting new buds at an alarming rate.

In just a few breaths, the small patch of forest that he had just destroyed with his fire jutsu regenerated, and its thick branches continued to strangle him from all directions.

Obviously, if Wood Release were so easily countered by Fire Release, it wouldn't be called the number one bloodline limit in the ninja world.

"We can't go on like this. We must escape the range of the Tree World Descent spell."

Sharp splinters grazed his face, tearing his skin and flesh open, and Orochimaru, bleeding profusely, didn't even blink.

After determining the direction, he burst out at top speed and fled.

Not far away, Yun Ting, who had the entire forest as his eyes and ears, was alerted and quickly and consciously manipulated the surrounding trees to strangle him with a more reasonable tactic.

Suddenly, Orochimaru faced even greater danger.

Countless thick tree branches came crashing down from all directions: in front, behind, left, right, above, and underground.

Even if some are cut off, more keep coming back, leaving one feeling only despair.

After barely managing to hold on for a while, Orochimaru finally couldn't dodge in time and his right leg was tightly wrapped by a thick branch.

This is just the beginning.

Soon, even more trees surged in, binding his body tightly in layers.

He felt all his organs being squeezed inward by the immense force, and sharp wooden thorns were penetrating deeper into his body.

Orochimaru suddenly opened his mouth wide.

Orochimaru-style Substitution Technique.

Pfft!

A pale, damp arm emerged from the mouth first, and soon, the newborn Orochimaru crawled out of the tattered old womb.

Looking at the thorny tree that had gathered on the old tire and taken shape from its flesh and blood.

Orochimaru took a deep breath, bit his finger until it bled, and slammed his hand on the ground, saying:

"Spiritual communication!"

Chapter Thirty: Ten Thousand Snakes

boom!

A huge plume of white smoke rose within the forest created by Wood Release.

Amidst the deafening crash of rows of trees being toppled and crushed, Orochimaru summoned a colossal serpent with purple stripes.

"Hey, Orochimaru! I'm sleeping! Why did you summon me at this hour? To appease my anger, you'd better prepare 100, no! 200 living people as sacrifices afterward!" Orochimaru's true summoning beast, Manda from Ryuchi Cave, said impatiently.

Orochimaru replied nonchalantly, "I'd be happy with 200 or even 500 people, as long as we can get through this."

Manda exclaimed happily, "Haha! It seems Orochimaru, you've run into big trouble! Let me see, a little brat. Huh? He's even wearing the Hokage robe! Orochimaru, have you defected? Interesting! Very interesting! I've never tasted a Hokage before! Today I'll have my turn!"

"We mustn't underestimate this young Hokage," Orochimaru warned, then fell silent.

He was well aware of Manda's wicked nature.

Once I reveal that my opponent possesses Wood Release, the latter will likely flee immediately if things turn sour.

That won't work!

He summoned Mandalas so that the other party would be caught in the crossfire.

On the other side, when Yun Ting saw Orochimaru summon a giant snake that was a hundred meters long and extremely arrogant, he knew that this guy was Manda.

So what if they are huge? Wood Release is the type of opponent that it fears the least.

Yun Ting clapped his hands together, and a vast number of trees rapidly extended around the myriad snakes, transforming into a giant net that covered them.

"Huh? What's this?" Before Wanshe's arrogance had subsided, it saw the surrounding forest seem to come alive, rushing towards it relentlessly.

Rumble!

The next second, the earth shook violently.

Regardless of what happened, the battle-hardened Manda first activated its incredibly tough serpentine body, crushing the surrounding trees one by one.

Although it doesn't know ninjutsu, its enormous size and incredible speed make it a formidable opponent for most people, except for Kage-level ninjas.

This is why Orochimaru was able to tolerate the other party's arrogant and haughty personality.

"Manda, get out of this forest immediately!" Orochimaru, standing atop the former's head, warned.

"Damn Orochimaru, what kind of opponent have you provoked?" Manda may be arrogant, but he's not stupid.

After a brief exchange, it realized something was wrong. Although it cursed Orochimaru inwardly, it still slithered outwards as instructed.

Seeing this, Yun Ting naturally wouldn't agree.

Soon, increasingly dense Wood Release attacks came from all directions towards Manda.

Even as the latter continues to destroy it, there is still a constant stream of trees that relentlessly entwine around it, leaving no gap untouched.

"This is... Wood Release?"

Feeling his strength waning, Manda finally realized that the one attacking him was the once-famous Wood Release, who had disappeared decades ago.

"Damn Orochimaru! You..." Manda, who resented Orochimaru for making him deal with such an opponent, was about to curse him when he suddenly realized that Orochimaru had disappeared.

It turned out that, taking advantage of the fact that most of the power of the Tree World Descent technique was currently focused on Manda, Orochimaru seized this opportunity to quickly retreat.

This was a plan he had already devised.

The summoned monstrous snakes were his discarded pawns, which he had placed in the open as a shield.

'With Manda's abilities, he should be able to hold out long enough for me to leave.'

Ignoring the curses emanating from Manda behind him, Orochimaru calculated in his mind as he fled out of the forest at top speed.

At this point, although there were still trees blocking the way, their quantity and quality had decreased significantly compared to before.

"almost!"

Seeing the faintly appearing bright light ahead, Orochimaru breathed a sigh of relief.

On the other side, Wanshe, who had been passively restraining most of Yunting's power, was in a very bad situation.

Even though it possessed incredible strength and broke free from the Wood Release's bindings time and time again, it eventually ran out of power.

Finally, facing the branches and trees that heavily enveloped his massive body, the immobile Manda endured the pain and roared with extreme resentment, "Orochimaru, you just wait! I will never let you get away with this!" before turning into a wisp of white smoke and slinking back to Ryuchi Cave with heavy injuries.

The unexpected incident that caused a deep grudge between Manda and Orochimaru led Yunting to glance at the place where Manda had disappeared before turning his gaze to Orochimaru, who was on the verge of escape.

At this point, it was too late to stop or deal with it.

It seems we need to come up with a new approach.

With this thought in mind, Yun Ting clasped his hands together again, forming a seal different from the previous one.

Meanwhile, two kilometers away.

At this moment, a large group of people are rushing towards the battlefield where Yun Ting and Orochimaru are fighting.

Apart from Hyuga Tokuma, who joined midway to guide them, almost all of them are now very famous Jonin or ninja clan leaders in Konoha.

Examples include Fugaku Uchiha, Hiashi Hyuga, the contemporary Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Shiki Aburame, Kurenai Yuhi, Minato Namikaze, and so on.

These people were summoned by Fugaku Uchiha.

Of course, the latter's influence might not be that great, but if we take into account the influence of the Fourth Hokage, Yun Ting, and the sudden defection of Orochimaru, all these factors combined to make them set off together.

"Orochimaru before... sigh, why would Orochimaru do something like this?"

On the way, Minato Namikaze frowned and sighed.

As Jiraiya's disciple, he felt terrible after learning that his teacher's fellow disciples had defected.

Putting aside the enormous negative impact of one of the legendary Sannin's defection on Konoha, his teacher, despite his usually jovial exterior, must have been deeply heartbroken upon hearing the news.

Faced with Minato Namikaze's remarks, the others in his group remained silent.

The former might have simply assumed that these people were out there to hunt down Orochimaru, but the others, especially the ninja clan leaders who were better informed, sensed something was amiss after learning that the Third Hokage had already set off and the Fourth Hokage was following closely behind, and had asked them to go with him.

What's more, it was Uchiha Fugaku who invited them to travel together.

When did the Uchiha clan and the Fourth Hokage become so close?

Wasn't it said that the two had a bad relationship?

Furthermore, I learned from Hyuga Tokuma that the Fourth Hokage is hunting Orochimaru.

Intelligent people in the group, such as Nara Shikaku, immediately made even more connections.

What about the third generation?

He should have gone to find Orochimaru first!

Did the latter escape?

That shouldn't be happening!

Nara Shikaku frowned deeply.

However, no matter how they thought about it, he and many others in his team now understood that the real purpose of their arrival was probably not to change anything, but to be spectators and witness the major events that were about to happen!

Just as everyone was deep in thought, a faint sound suddenly came from afar.

Although the sound was very faint due to the distance, everyone present was a Jonin, so they could easily pick it up.

"Blind eyes!"

Hiashi Hyuga's pure Byakugan eyes were bulging with veins.