"Blue Rose Ice Release, Ten long spears!"
Ten huge spears, formed from ice, appeared.
The power of Blue Rose Ice Release is greater than Fuguki's Water Fang Bullet.
"Go!"
Immediately after,
"Blue Rose Ice Release: Entanglement!"
Biwa Juzo's appearance blocked Manda's charge.
Fuguki quickly got up from the ground.
"Juzo, thanks."
Yagura breathed a sigh of relief.
Orochimaru fought against his own clone while keeping an eye on Manda.
The Ice Spears hit and the powerful impact shattered Manda's scales.
And the freezing sensation displeased Manda greatly.
Meanwhile, the Ice Rose Entanglement reached Manda's body, its thorns and tendrils penetrating the gaps in Manda's scales.
"Another one..."
The change in situation irritated Manda.
"Orochimaru, this isn't what we agreed on!"
"I will double the offerings!"
Orochimaru knew Manda's temperament, so in this situation, he didn't want to waste time talking and gave Manda what it wanted.
Manda snorted coldly.
His gaze shifted back to Fuguki and Juzo.
"Hmph!"
"Just a couple of Mist Village ninjas. What difference does one more make?"
"Do you think you're my match now?"
Manda opened his massive mouth and roared angrily ahead.
A foul stench, tinged with decay, swept forward.
"Juzo, let me handle this."
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu!"
Fuguki raised his Water Dragon Possession high.
Using Water Dragon Possession allowed him to utilize existing water, saving a significant amount of chakra during ninjutsu.
To Fuguki, this was much more useful than Samehada.
Samehada required getting close to absorb chakra, whereas Water Dragon Possession saved his chakra consumption directly.
Fuguki felt Samehada was more passive.
A powerful stream of water spewed forth from Fuguki's mouth, heading straight towards Manda.
The water crashed heavily down.
Meanwhile, Yagura formed hand seals.
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave Jutsu!"
Both of them used large-scale Water Release techniques.
With such a volume of water and force of impact, they believed even Manda couldn't easily withstand it.
Moreover, this was just the prelude.
Juzo raised the Blue Rose Sword. "Blue Rose Ice Release: Ice Cone Field!"
He directly used the water created by Fuguki and Yagura, turning it into ice.
Sharp ice spikes emerged on the ground and they were extremely sharp.
The area within a radius of several hundred meters was completely transformed into rows of ice cones.
Similar to the original plot where Kimimaro, facing Gaara, used the Bone Forest, it was extremely similar.
"Puchi!"
"Puchi!"
"Puchi!"
Under such attacks, Manda's scales couldn't fully defend, and its huge body couldn't completely evade.
Several wounds suddenly appeared on Manda's body.
The power of the cold made Manda drowsy, as if wanting to hibernate.
But Manda was well aware that at this moment, it absolutely couldn't lower its responsiveness.
It forcibly moved despite its wounds.
"Hiss!"
Using intense pain to stimulate its reactions.
A large amount of blood flowed out, staining the ice spikes red on the icy surface.
In this battlefield, it appeared particularly enchanting.
Like shining red crystals.
Orochimaru's expression changed again.
Unlike before, this time Orochimaru wasn't so confident.
Juzo's appearance supplemented the lack of attack from Fuguki and Yagura.
Moreover, Ice Release had a natural restraining effect on snake-like creatures.
"One Yagura, plus two Zanpakuto."
Orochimaru's expression became somewhat serious.
"The abilities of these three people complement each other."
"Water Mirror Jutsu is also troublesome," Orochimaru thought to himself. "Could it be that I'll really lose?"
Yagura isn't weak, Juzo isn't weak, and neither is Fuguki. And Orochimaru, who hasn't been improving his combat abilities for a long time, has been focusing on research, his energy is scattered, and facing Yagura's trio, he really lacks confidence.
Konoha Ninjas seeing Manda injured couldn't help but panic.
"Did they really injure Manda so severely?"
"Is Biwa Juzo that strong?"
"Are the rumors true that Biwa Juzo repelled the Sand hero Yagura?"
"Could it be that Orochimaru-sama will lose?"
Orochimaru heard the nearby discussions of the Konoha Ninja and glanced over.
"Lose?"
"It's just that I don't have complete confidence in winning."
"Killing Manda is not an easy task."
Suddenly.
"Crack!"
The ground split open.
A huge figure emerged from the soil, directly lunging towards Juzo with its mouth wide open.
"Juzo!"
Yagura and Fuguki shouted loudly, but it was already too late.
Juzo had already been bitten by Manda.
What Manda hated the most was Fuguki, but what it feared the most was Juzo. Therefore, it decided to deal with Juzo first.
With a bite, Manda revealed a smile.
But suddenly, it felt its mouth becoming extremely cold.
At the critical moment, Juzo used an ice-freezing jutsu on himself, freezing his entire body.
He had used this technique before when facing Pakura.
Now, for Juzo, it was the best defensive method. Not only did he freeze himself, but he also created sharp spikes around the Ice Block.
This made it impossible for Manda to crush or even swallow the Ice Block.
But the people outside couldn't see it.
The Hidden Mist Ninjas immediately became worried.
"Juzo-sama!"
"Juzo-sama was swallowed by Manda!"
"Is Juzo-sama okay?"
Yagura and Fuguki glanced at each other.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu."
Meanwhile, Fuguki used Water Dragon Possession to control the water scattered on the Ice Block, mixed with Manda's blood, turning it into controllable, rapidly spinning currents.
Konoha's ninjas cheered excitedly.
"Biwa Juzo is dead!"
"Konoha will win!"
Even Orochimaru, along with them, relaxed a bit.
At this moment, everyone also saw what Manda had done.
But when Yagura and the others launched their strongest attacks, Manda chose to molt.
Leaving its outer skin on the ground.
And its own figure submerged into the ground.
In this way, it evaded the strongest attacks of Yagura and the other two.
At the same time, it created an opportunity for a sneak attack.
Regardless of Manda's temperament, in terms of intelligence, it was indeed not inferior to humans.
"Voluntary molting?"
"Manda has this ability?"
Fuguki and Yagura's attacks fell, but without Juzo, their combined attack wasn't enough to inflict substantial damage on Manda, making it difficult.
Fuguki gritted his teeth.
He slashed his palm using Water Dragon Possession.
"Fuguki?"
Fuguki looked at Yagura and explained, "This is another ability of Water Dragon Possession!"
Blood flowed out.
In front of Fuguki, it gathered and formed.
Different from water.
When controlling water, Fuguki could only maintain it as a flow, either increasing its cohesion or making its rotation speed faster.
But by controlling the blood in front of him, it could transform into a blade-like existence.
"Deadly Blood Blades!"
After such intense battles and the loss of so much blood, Fuguki's condition became extremely poor.
Even his breath became weak.
However, the Deadly Blood Blade controlled by Fuguki emitted an extremely dangerous aura.
Orochimaru and Manda both sensed it.
"What is that?"
"Go!"
Fuguki pointed towards Manda.
The blood blades instantly approached.
"Ding!"
"Ding!"
"Ding!"
Continuously stabbing towards Manda.
Orochimaru's eyes flickered.
"Turning blood into blades?"
"Is it a Secret Jutsu?"
"Or is it the ability of that Zanpakuto?"
With Juzo in its mouth and facing the attack of Fuguki's Deadly Blood Blades, Manda felt annoyed. Its earlier voluntary molting was also a considerable burden for Manda.
"Damn it!"
"These Mist Ninjas are really troublesome!"
"None of them are strong individually, but when they come together, it really annoys me!"
"I'll swallow all of you!"
With the appearance of the Deadly Blood Blades, the momentum of the Mist Ninjas side rose again.
"Fuguki Senpai is too strong!"
"He actually suppressed Manda!"
"That's Manda we're talking about!"
"Using blood as a blade!"
"This is the power of Fuguki Senpai with Zanpakuto!"
"This is Zanpakuto!"
"This is the Shinigami Squad!"
"Attack!"
Orochimaru squinted.
"At this rate, it will be a mutually destructive outcome."
"Fuguki Suikazan, Yagura Karatachi and Biwa Juzo are heavily injured in exchange for Manda getting heavily injured. But, that's fine"
Orochimaru didn't care at all about Manda's injury.
Manda regarded Orichimaru's summoning as a business deal, so naturally Orochimaru wouldn't care about Manda's life either.
"That's settled then."
"With Manda heavily injured, I'll trade it for killing Yagura Karatachi and the other two."
"This is a profitable deal."
Orochimaru calculated in his mind.
However, no one noticed that at this moment, a figure quietly approached Manda from behind.
A young man.
By the time Kisame came to support, Juzo had already been swallowed by Manda.
After observing the situation around him, Kisame didn't act recklessly.
Instead, he made a plan based on the situation at the scene.
He first quietly approached Manda and found several points on Manda's body that were already injured.
Once he confirmed them.
"Puchi!"
He fiercely stabbed Kiriichimonji into one of the wounds.
Then.
"Chakra Absorption Technique!"
While absorbing Chakra from Manda's body, he ran at a very fast speed along the wounds on Manda's body, connecting them into a line.
Enduring severe pain, Manda suddenly turned around.
"You little brat!"
Manda roared. But Kisame paid no heed.
Orochimaru saw Kisame and his pupils shrank.
"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Jutsu!"
Just before Manda could bite Kisame, he formed seals, and a shark made of condensed water appeared. Kisame's figure hid within the shark and charged forward.
Manda only caught the tail of the shark.
Riding the Great Shark Bullet Jutsu, Kisame arrived beside Fuguki and Yagura in an instant.
"Yagura Senpai, Fuguki Senpai."
When Fuguki saw the wounds created on Manda by Kiriichimonji, his eyes lit up brightly.
The blood at Manda's wounds spurted out like a fountain.
"Kisame, well done!"
Water Dragon Possession not only controls water but also any liquid, including blood!
"Come to me!"
Fuguki tightened his grip on Water Dragon Possession, gathering the continuously flowing blood from Manda into his blood blade.
The power of the blood blade diminishes if it's not the user's blood, but the quantity now surpasses anything before.
"Blood blade!"
"Attack!"
More blood blades than before descended upon Manda like a deluge.
It was extremely shocking.
Even more so than when Orochimaru unleashed the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu against Yagura, completely obscuring the sky.
Hundreds, thousands, relentless and unstoppable.
"What is this?"
"Such a terrifying attack!"
"No one can stop it, can they?"
Even Manda can't withstand it.
In this situation, Manda could only block with its tail in front to protect its head from fatal injuries, enduring intense pain in the process.
The wounds caused by Kiriichimonji kept bleeding profusely, making Manda extremely uncomfortable.
Pain.
Loss of blood.
Loss of strength.
The invasion of the freezing cold.
Even Manda's jaws, containing the Ice Block, felt numb.
...
Manda's condition had reached an extreme low.
Escape and anger intertwined in Manda's mind.
"Crack!"
Suddenly.
A crisp sound of bones breaking echoed causing Manda's eyes ti widen.
Only to see, in its moment of hesitation, its tail had been completely chopped off by Fuguki's Deadly Blood Blades, a section of it dropping down.
Manda dared not hesitate any longer.
"Summoning Jutsu: cancel!"
Even though Manda harbored deep hatred towards Yagura and the others.
Even though it desired to kill and devour Yagura and the others, turning them into its food and sustenance.
Even though its anger had ignited into flames, threatening to consume Manda's heart.
However, Manda was afraid.
In this moment of crisis, reason took control.
White smoke exploded, and Manda's figure disappeared in an instant.
However, on the ground, a huge tail remained.
Though detached from the main body, due to being a snake-like creature, this severed tail still retained some vitality.
It writhed in pain on the ground incessantly and a massive Ice Block fell from above. Inside it was Juzo!
"Crack!"
A crack appeared, and Juzo emerged from the Ice Block.
Seeing this, the Hidden Mist Ninjas showed joy on their faces.
"Juzo-sama is safe."
"Great!"
Yagura and Fuguki visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Juzo, it's good you're alright."
"Now, it's time for us to counterattack."
Yagura looked towards Orochimaru's direction, his gaze sharpening.
"All Mist Ninjas, listen to my command."
"Attack!"
Countless voices echoed in response.
"Attack!"
"Attack!"
"Attack!"
The multitude of voices combined, deafening.
The momentum of the Mist Ninjas reached its peak.
Orochimaru's face darkened.
At this moment, even Orochimaru, unwilling as he was, could only choose to temporarily avoid the sharpness of the Mist Village's people.
"Withdraw!"
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