Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

When he saw the inhumane scene inside through the parasitic insects, he immediately reported it to Tsunade.

When Tsunade learned of this, she did not make a fuss at first. Instead, she continued to have the Anbu secretly investigate Orochimaru. However, Orochimaru soon discovered that the Anbu were investigating him. He then defected without hesitation and released a large number of smoke bombs to confuse the Anbu and give him ample time to escape.

"How could this happen? How could he have become like this?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi slumped to the ground, speaking with a sorrowful expression.

Meanwhile, in the forests of the northern Land of Fire, Orochimaru, dressed in a black robe, was swiftly moving through the woods.

Suddenly, he stopped and turned around, watching a familiar white-haired ninja approach rapidly.

Chapter 321: Orochimaru and Jiraiya, the severed bond

"I never expected that the first person to find me would be you, you idiot, Jiraiya."

Orochimaru removed his hood, revealing a face covered in scales that didn't resemble a human's. He looked at the familiar face with a complex expression in front of him with his cold, ruthless golden snake eyes and sneered.

He had anticipated this kind of exposure experiment.

After all, he has been frequently leaving Konoha recently and has often tried to conceal it. Even his aura has gradually become inhuman. It would be very difficult for him not to be discovered by the ANBU ninjas whose noses are sharper than dogs.

He just didn't expect this day to come so soon, so soon that he wasn't even mentally prepared to leave Konoha.

Fortunately, he was a person who was good at planning ahead, and he had planned his escape route and made various preparations in advance if he was discovered.

According to his plan, once he was discovered, as long as he activated the contingency plans he had left in Konoha, even Kirito Tohsaka would need some time to find him quickly.

To his surprise, the first person to reach him was not Kirito Tohsaka, but Jiraiya, whom he usually couldn't get in touch with.

In his view, Jiraiya was just a fool who was lucky. He had mediocre talent and if he hadn't been lucky enough to be assigned to the same class as him and Tsunade during the scheduling, he would never have received guidance from the Third Hokage. Even if he had received guidance from the Third Hokage, his performance was always the worst, making him a true loser.

However, this guy's luck was truly extraordinary. An unexpected summoning jutsu allowed him to obtain Mount Myōboku, and he even signed a summoning contract with Mount Myōboku that countless ninjas could only envy. Later, he also obtained the complete Sage Mode inheritance.

After that, it was as if this guy had been given a cheat code, and his strength entered a phase of rapid improvement, making even him feel a little pressure.

But in the end, this guy was just a lucky idiot. Once his luck ran out and he didn't get any new opportunities, his strength improvement was just so-so.

Unlike him, who, with his outstanding talent and intellect, had already mastered the power of immortal arts and even glimpsed a glimmer of hope for immortality.

"Orochimaru, I told you long ago to be wary of the White Snake Sage. You're like this because of her, aren't you? Come back. As long as you come back, Tsunade will definitely find a way to get rid of that stinky snake's schemes. Even if Tsunade can't, Kirito will definitely find a way."

You are a hero of Konoha; they will never abandon you.

Jiraiya looked at his friend's monstrous appearance with both surprise and heartache, and offered words of comfort with incredibly complex emotions.

Before he arrived, he had already learned from Tsunade what Orochimaru had done. Although he was furious about it and wanted to kill Orochimaru at the time, when he chased after him, he hoped that his friend could repent and reform.

"Hehehe~, and then what? You'll spend your whole life in Konoha's prison."

Orochimaru found Jiraiya's naive words hilarious and burst into laughter.

Laughter spread through the forest, but there was not a trace of joy in it; only a growing, chilling murderous intent was spreading.

Orochimaru, do you really intend to betray Konoha?

As Jiraiya listened to Orochimaru's piercing laughter, his expression gradually turned cold, and he spoke with a heavy heart.

Every word revealed the complexity and heaviness in his heart at that moment.

"What do you think, you big idiot?"

Orochimaru replied ruthlessly.

The next moment, a gust of wind suddenly blew up, and a leaf blocked their view of each other.

In that instant, Jiraiya recalled the time when he was a child and was training with Orochimaru in Konoha under the Third Hokage. Orochimaru back then was much the same as he is now—intelligent, talented, and the kind of person Jiraiya had always wanted to catch up to.

Later, he encountered many things and gained many benefactors. Through unremitting efforts, he gradually caught up with his friend and even fought alongside him for a time.

But when he caught up with his friend, he found that the other person had changed and become completely unfamiliar.

Only today did he finally realize that his friend had completely deviated from the original path of the Will of Fire and gone astray.

"Clang!"

As the leaves fell to the ground, the two kunai collided instantly, sparks flying.

Their eyes met at close range.

At this moment, only coldness and murderous intent remained in their eyes.

They all knew that this was their fate as ninjas. Since they could not reach a consensus, they could only use their power to make the other party listen to their reasoning.

The two kunai separated upon contact, and the two retreated, then threw away the kunai in their hands, causing them to expand again in mid-air.

Then, both of them quickly completed the unsealing.

Orochimaru was the first to unleash his ninjutsu, and more than a dozen long white snakes shot out from his right sleeve, opening their fangs dripping with purple venom and biting at Jiraiya.

Secret Technique: Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!

Upon seeing this, Jiraiya quickly retreated and threw out a kunai wrapped with explosive tags.

The detonator had been ignited, and a massive explosion ensued.

More than a dozen long white snakes were blown to pieces.

However, just as the explosion ended, more than a dozen white snakes rushed through the thick fog of the explosion towards Jiraiya, who was hiding behind a large tree. They quickly and accurately wrapped around Jiraiya's hands and feet and bit him tightly.

"You're still as bad as before, Jiraiya. You don't actually think I'm as strong as you used to be, do you?"

Orochimaru gently pulled with his right hand, bringing Jiraiya, who was unable to move due to the snake venom injected into his body, to his front, and mocked him.

Jiraiya didn't speak, but his cold eyes once again revealed complexity, along with a hint of pity.

Orochimaru sensed this sliver of pity and flew into a rage. He kicked Jiraiya hard in the stomach, causing Jiraiya to spit out blood. With icy anger, he said, "At this point, you idiot, you dare to pity me? You have no sense of mortality."

As he spoke, he punched Jiraiya hard in the face again.

Punch after punch.

In no time, Jiraiya's face was slapped into a pig's head, but the pity in his eyes did not disappear; instead, it grew stronger, which fueled Orochimaru's lack of anger.

Why should we pity him?

This guy is about to die, why is he still showing such a disgusting look?

Orochimaru is a genius, and this guy is just a loser. What right does he have to pity him?

The one who should be pitied is this guy, right? He's all alone, just like him, and he's also a loser.

"Hehehe~, how ridiculous. I suddenly don't understand myself. Why am I wasting so much time talking to you here? It's over. Jiraiya, I will end the bond between you and me, and the bond between me and Konoha, right here and now."

Orochimaru quickly realized that he couldn't make Jiraiya stop showing that damned look, so he regained his composure and spoke with a cold and resolute tone.

He could never go back to Konoha.

He committed so many unforgivable crimes. Even with his numerous achievements and his unusual relationship with Tsunade, his best fate would be to have his cultivation destroyed and be imprisoned in Konoha Prison forever.

By then, Orochimaru's name would become a taboo in Konoha that could never be mentioned again.

On a brighter note, Orochimaru will eventually become a name on Konoha's memorial tablet.

Such an ending was undoubtedly unacceptable to Orochimaru. He still had countless mysteries of ninjutsu to explore, and he might even have endless time to squander, becoming the most powerful being in the world.

How could he possibly end his life in such a humiliating way?

Rather than that, he might as well leave Konoha, leave this place that confines him, and then freely complete his many unfinished studies in a wider world.

Therefore, he had to make a choice and personally cut off some of the things that bound his freedom.

Let's start with this big idiot in front of us.

From that moment on, the word "friend" would never exist in his vocabulary again.

Orochimaru opened his mouth, and a white snake crawled out of it. Then, he opened his mouth again and spat out a gleaming Kusanagi sword.

The Kusanagi sword wasn't heavy, but Orochimaru felt it weighed a ton in his hand. He slowly raised it and then pressed it against Jiraiya's heart.

"Die, Jiraiya!"

Orochimaru suddenly shouted with all his might.

He then forcefully stabbed the Kusanagi sword into Jiraiya's body.

The Kusanagi sword pierced Jiraiya's body with ease, emerging from his back.

But Orochimaru quickly realized something was wrong, because no blood was flowing from Jiraiya's heart.

In the blink of an eye, Jiraiya in front of him turned into a pool of brown mud.

This is Earth Release: Earth Clone!

At the same time, a scorching heat emanated from overhead, and a giant fireball radiating the chakra of Fire Release: Sage Mode descended from the sky.

Sage Art: Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet.

Upon seeing this, Orochimaru's expression changed drastically. He quickly released his hand seals and spat out a stream of water.

Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!

However, Orochimaru's water-style ninjutsu was no match for Jiraiya's fire-style ninjutsu enhanced by Sage Mode. The water was almost instantly evaporated, and the raging flames engulfed Orochimaru.

On the other side, Jiraiya, with a sage-like face on his face, stood on the trunk of a large tree, staring at the place below that was being engulfed by flames with a complicated expression.

Know yourself and know your enemy.

As a ninja who highly values ​​intelligence gathering, how could Jiraiya not have prepared and collected information about Orochimaru before his arrival?

In fact, Jiraiya had been continuously updating his information on Orochimaru.

Therefore, he was very clear that Orochimaru was a ninja skilled in using poison and was very confident in the poison he had developed.

He also knew that Orochimaru had always held him in contempt.

So he used this intelligence to set a trap.

He swallowed the antidote pill given to him by Tsunade beforehand, pretended to be captured by Orochimaru, and then used a pitying look to provoke Orochimaru and lower his guard. He then secretly gathered natural energy, used Earth Release: Earth Clone to take his place at the critical moment, and then entered Sage Mode to launch a surprise attack on Orochimaru with Sage Art: Fire Release.

Just as Orochimaru's strength has improved remarkably recently, Jiraiya has also been quite busy lately. Contrary to his original storyline of continuing to wander around after World War II, he has spent a long time at Mount Myōboku training in Sage Mode.

Perhaps due to the recent events that have changed his mindset, he made rapid progress in his cultivation of immortal arts and successfully entered Sage Mode on his own, becoming a true Sage of Mount Myōboku.

He never expected that his first use of Perfect Sage Mode would be on his friend.

The flames were quickly extinguished.