Before Orochimaru could finish speaking, his arm twisted grotesquely into a mass of writhing snake heads and lashed out.
"Impatient as ever. For someone so detached, Orochimaru sure doesn't like being ignored."
The difference in power between Mizuki and Orochimaru was vast—no number of clones or traps could make up for that. Within moments, Mizuki was cornered. Genjutsu? Traps? Such tricks didn't even warrant Orochimaru's attention. The barrier Mizuki had crafted—a formidable weapon against average shinobi—was laughable in the eyes of a Sannin.
"Taijutsu, ninjutsu, reaction speed... I'm outclassed in every way. This gap is absurd. If I don't escape now, I'm done for."
"What's the matter? You were so lively just now. Now you're just scrambling like a rat," Orochimaru taunted with that trademark smile. "For someone who made such a loud entrance, I expected at least a little fun. But this? Disappointing. If you've got no more tricks—then die."
Mizuki had been mocking Sasuke Uchiha just minutes ago. Now he was the one being belittled.
"But I'm not a helpless kid," Mizuki muttered, waiting for his moment. The instant Orochimaru let his guard down, he formed a rapid sequence of hand seals. "Explosion!"
With a shout, Mizuki's shadow clone detonated, triggering every explosive tag embedded in its body. Orochimaru, unable to dodge in time, was engulfed in flame and shrapnel. Even before the smoke cleared, a hailstorm of kunai followed, tied with chakra wire and propelled by the blast's shockwave. They pinned Orochimaru like a pincushion.
As the dust settled, Orochimaru's mangled body was revealed—only for it to sag, liquefy into mud, and melt away. A new form slithered from beneath, completely unharmed.
"A mud clone… Tch. So even that was meaningless," Mizuki muttered, realizing the futility.
"This is beyond Chūnin level. Barriers like that require years of experience and research. This isn't some kid's game anymore."
Orochimaru's curiosity stirred. He scanned the area.
"Those three near Sasuke aren't strong enough. The two Kusa-nin are unconscious, and that girl's no threat… Which means—"
His golden eyes narrowed toward a distant ridge.
"There you are."
Meanwhile, Mizuki's clone had already begun retreating. But then—an explosion shockwave caught up.
"The clone's gone… That was fast. Wait, what? Orochimaru already—?! Damn—!"
Before Mizuki could move, a crushing killing intent pinned him in place. His knees buckled. Cold sweat streamed down his face.
"This bloodlust… it's insane." Mizuki forced a bitter grin. "I was half-joking earlier. But now? Now it's real. Is this what the gap between elite ninja really looks like?"
He couldn't breathe. His limbs trembled. He had no choice.
"If I can't beat him, I have to gamble everything."
Gritting his teeth, Mizuki drew a kunai—and stabbed it into his own thigh. The surge of pain snapped his body back into motion.
"If you're playing rough… then don't blame me for shedding some skin of my own."
He pulled out a scroll, slammed it to the ground, bit his thumb, and smeared blood across it. With a burst of chakra, the scroll ignited in red flame, disintegrating into ash. A summoning array rose from it, glowing brighter and expanding until it hovered ten meters wide and nearly a hundred meters above the battlefield.
Simultaneously, back in Konoha, the real Mizuki dropped his scrolls. He'd felt the tug.
"Already? So soon?"
He unfurled another scroll on his apartment floor. As the blood seal activated, a crimson summoning circle shimmered into view, vibrating rhythmically as chakra pulsed through it.
From a second scroll, Mizuki unsealed a massive chakra reservoir, previously accumulated by him and his fiancée, Tsubaki. Activating the full array of containment seals, he released the stored energy.
"No matter who you are—even Orochimaru—you'll feel this."
The chakra surged into the crimson portal, vanishing into the air.
In the Forest of Death, the aerial array opened a rift. A pillar of pure chakra rained from the sky, slamming into Orochimaru's position. The ground fractured, trees disintegrated, and the forest was torn apart. Winds howled as dust and charged particles formed a roiling vortex. White-hot lightning danced in the plasma cloud, culminating in a sphere of destructive energy—a ball of black lightning, spiraling toward Orochimaru like a meteor from hell.
"Summoning: Rashomon!"
The demonic gate rose with a thunderous roar—but it didn't last. The black lightning collided with Rashomon, cracking it within seconds. Electricity surged through the gate, shattering it in a burst of sparks. The sphere barreled onward. A flash, then a roar—a mushroom cloud erupted into the sky.
Mizuki's clone, having activated his own seal, slipped through the return gate just as the chakra array vanished.
Back in his apartment, the original Mizuki completed the summoning. A bloodied figure, twisted and burned, tumbled out of the portal.
"Forget memory sync. Heal first. You'll actually die."
Mizuki acted fast—injecting anesthesia, binding fractures, and placing the clone inside both a healing and chakra-recovery array.
"If I can keep you alive, we'll stabilize later. No need to push harder until I find a way to fix your vitality loss."
"Fine," the clone rasped. "Just keep low for now. No more flashy moves."
"Right. Now let's see what happened to get you turned into charcoal."
Meanwhile, the battlefield had become a crater. The trees were gone. Water from a nearby stream slowly poured into the basin.
At its center, a patch of untouched soil bulged. Orochimaru rose from it, shedding his ruined disguise. His skin sloughed off like a snake molting.
"That attack…" he muttered, panting slightly. "I didn't think I'd need to use this trick here."
His jaw unhinged, and a new body slithered free from his own mouth. Though weary, this version was unscathed.
"No sign of the attacker. They escaped."
Orochimaru chuckled.
"Well, well… What an unexpected gift. Looks like this Chūnin Exam won't be boring after all."