GSiN: Ch. 205

Staring at Jigen as he strolled toward him at an unhurried pace, Orochimaru inwardly cursed his luck.

This was bad. In hindsight, he should have taken the earlier chance to throw explosive tags. At least that would have caused a bigger commotion. Ryouma might have noticed more quickly.

Jigen walked through the rising smoke. Beneath his white robe, the black markings could be faintly seen slithering across his skin.

"To be honest, I really dislike violence. So, Orochimaru, you'd better reconsider my invitation right now."

Orochimaru wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and flicked out his tongue to lick his lips.

"You really still don't understand me well enough."

Before the words had even faded, a pitch-black smoke suddenly poured out from Orochimaru's mouth and nose, instantly flooding the entire corridor. Just by its color alone, it was obvious this was no ordinary Hiding in Mist Technique.

The black fog, infused with several highly potent biological toxins, began rapidly corroding everything around it. The floor and walls couldn't withstand it, letting out sizzling sounds.

"You really do have quite a few tricks."

Jigen directly activated Sukunahikona, shrinking the nearly liquid toxin fog until it was almost completely gone.

"This farce should come to an end," he said calmly. "Come along quietly."

His figure vanished from the spot, and in the next instant, he appeared right in front of Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's pupils contracted as he leapt sharply to the left, but the enemy's speed far exceeded his expectations. In less than a heartbeat, that hand was already gripping his throat.

A massive surge of chakra burst from Jigen's palm into Orochimaru's body, as if it were about to crush all of his internal organs. Orochimaru's face turned deathly pale, cold sweat streaming down his forehead. Yet even in such a desperate situation, he showed not the slightest fear. Instead, a sneer curled at the corner of his mouth.

The next moment, the Orochimaru whose throat was held in Jigen's grasp suddenly transformed into countless snakes. At the same time, the ground behind Jigen collapsed without warning.

A thick, snake-shaped shadow burst forth from the earth. Another Orochimaru flashed out from within it, the Kusanagi Sword in his hand wrapped, thrusting like lightning straight toward Jigen's throat as he was momentarily trapped in the sea of snakes. However, just as the blade was about to touch Jigen's body, countless black spikes suddenly erupted violently from the ground without any warning.

The innumerable spikes slaughtered every living thing in the corridor except Jigen himself. The sound of spikes piercing flesh was horrifying. A thick stench of blood immediately filled the air.

Before Jigen, Orochimaru was nearly turned into a pincushion, his body suspended high in midair by the black spikes.

"Cough... cough!"

Orochimaru's face twisted as he spat out large mouthfuls of blood, the droplets splattering onto the sharp black spikes below.

He tried to activate his substitution technique to escape, but the chakra within his body, apparently disrupted by the black spikes, had become extremely chaotic, leaving him unable to control it or use any ninjutsu at all.

Jigen gazed at the Orochimaru hanging in the air.

"Will you follow me now?"

"Eight..."

Orochimaru lowered his head, murmuring the word.

"What did you say?"

Jigen frowned slightly. With chaos all around them, he hadn't heard Orochimaru clearly, so he took a few steps forward.

"Eight Branches Technique!"

Orochimaru activated without reservation the life-saving technique that had been pre-engraved within his body. Vast quantities of flesh surged and proliferated wildly over his form. In the blink of an eye, eight snake heads, each as large as a house, burst through the concrete ceiling. The exhibition hall's glass shattered under the sonic boom, raining down.

The scattered smoke spread rapidly, and massive chunks of debris were hurled outward like artillery shells by the shockwave. Wherever it reached, devastation followed.

This enormous hall collapsed in a deafening roar.

Eight Branches Technique.

An S-rank forbidden technique that transforms the user into a giant white serpent with eight heads and eight tails, comparable in size to a tailed beast.

Yet Orochimaru used this technique now not for its tailed-beast-level power, but simply to create a massive disturbance and draw Ryouma's attention.

Jigen watched it all, shrinking every tile and slab of stone that came crashing down from above.

Although Kaguya had long since brought ruin upon herself and been sealed away by these natives, he didn't want to expose his existence too much in the shinobi world, especially since he had yet to create a vessel capable of bearing all the Kāma required for his true resurrection. But Orochimaru's resilience had exceeded his expectations. Without using more chakra, it would be difficult to capture him.

He activated Sukunahikona, shrinking himself countless times over. He evaded the pincer attack of two serpent heads, and in the same instant his true body appeared in midair. Having returned to his original size, he lightly waved a hand toward the serpent that Orochimaru had become.

A gigantic black cube, stored within the special dimensional space known as Daikokuten, abruptly appeared above the serpent's head. The massive cube forced the surrounding air aside and descended slowly with an unstoppable presence.

Sensing an unprecedented crisis, Orochimaru did everything he could to control the serpent, raising all eight massive heads high in an attempt to block it. But it was all in vain. The black cube's descent did not slow in the slightest.

This cube was one of Jigen's combat tools: Daihakoten.

Its mass was so immense that even a complete Ten-Tails wouldn't be able to withstand it, let alone Orochimaru.

The serpent desperately curled itself into a tight sphere, trying to reduce the damage by compressing its body. Cracks spread across its scales under the crushing pressure of the cube. Dark purple blood sprayed out as mist from between the scales, and the sounds of flesh bursting under extreme pressure rang out without end.

Jigen floated in midair, lightly pressing his finger downward. Dense Kāma-like inscriptions suddenly surfaced across the cube's surface, and its rate of descent slowed slightly.

"Tell me your choice. Join me, or die here."

Jigen's expression remained as calm and composed as it had been from the start. From the very beginning, he had never believed that this attempt to recruit Orochimaru could fail. After all, according to the intelligence he had gathered, this man possessed a morbid, pathological obsession with staying alive. The only thing that surprised him was that he had assumed someone like Orochimaru would submit the moment Jigen showed a fraction of his power.

The level of resistance Orochimaru was displaying far exceeded his calculations.

---

Not long after Ryouma and Orochimaru split up to act separately, Ryouma found a target that piqued his interest.

At an exhibition booth belonging to a company called Morishita Electric, all kinds of household appliances were on display.

"Please take a look at this machine next. This is an ice maker that can produce ice cubes at any time. I believe you'll definitely be interested in it."

The enthusiastic pitch of the salesperson sounded in his ears, and Ryouma nodded in satisfaction.

"It really is nice. That, and also you..."

"Oh, my name is Kawari Yusuke. Just call me Yusuke."

"Alright, Yusuke. Including this ice maker, pack up everything you introduced to me earlier. Two sets of each."

"Certainly!"

Yusuke cast a discreet glance at the forehead protector on Ryouma's head. While hurriedly calling his colleagues to the back warehouse to count and pack the items, he politely asked Ryouma, "We offer free transportation services within the village. May I ask if you need..."

"No need for the trouble," Ryouma waved his hand. "Just have them brought here."

"Very well."

Before long, with four burly men carrying boxes back and forth, the open space in front of Ryouma was piled high with cardboard boxes of all sizes. He had no intention of using the Flying Thunder God Technique anyway. There was no way his room could hold so many things.

Pulling a sealing scroll from his robe and unrolling it, he lightly pressed it against the pile of goods.

Under the effect of the sealing formula, the surrounding air stirred slightly. In the blink of an eye, the boxes vanished without a trace.

"Farewell! We hope you'll continue to support our shop in the future!"

With a warm smile, Yusuke bowed slightly and saw Ryouma off.

"Bye."

Ryouma replied and turned to continue browsing the exhibition hall with great interest, shopping to his heart's content. That pile of goods had looked intimidating, but in truth, their total cost didn't even match the amount Tsunade had extorted from him in a single go.

After all, they were machines that could already be mass-produced, and here, the place of production, the prices were extremely affordable.

The only reason they hadn't yet spread throughout the entire shinobi world was simply that backward transportation had held them back.

It wasn't just Morishita Electric. All companies in Takumi Village were like this. As long as the craftsmen kept their heads down and worked day after day on the production lines, that was enough. But company owners had to worry about many more things.

In a shinobi world where travel relied on horse-drawn carts, transportation costs sometimes exceeded the value of the goods themselves. And for long-distance trips, one also had to hire ninjas as guards. Otherwise, you'd be robbed every time you went out, or might even lose your life.

All Ryouma could do was sigh softly in regret and stop thinking about it further.

In a world where the intervals between large-scale wars rarely exceeded a few decades, improving transportation was simply too much trouble. He had no interest in unlocking some achievement like "Father of the Shinobi World Railways."

What's more, once peace truly lasted long enough, those profit-driven merchant nobles would naturally begin to consider building a more convenient transportation system themselves.

As he wandered about, passing a booth filled with molds, he suddenly heard the crisp sound of metal tools falling to the ground.

Following the noise, he saw a girl with twin ponytails hurriedly crouching down to pick up scattered gear parts. Her light-grey work pants were stained with oil, and the tips of her hair trembled slightly with her movements.

Ryouma bent down to pick up a bearing that had rolled to his feet and realized that she was the shy girl he had seen yesterday at Chiko Sword Shop.

"I remember your name is Kirin, right? Do you need a hand?"

"Y-yes, that's me. You... you're the ninja from yesterday, aren't you?"

Kirin jerked her head up like a startled rabbit. A strand of bangs slipped down to the tip of her nose, revealing cheeks flushed red. She fumbled as she tried to take the part, but accidentally knocked over an advertising board leaning against the display case. The metal frame was about to crash down onto the back of her neck.

Ryouma, somewhat speechless, reached out and steadily caught the sign, pushing it back into place.

After just two brief interactions, Ryouma had already noticed that this girl seemed rather naive. Or to put it more bluntly, not very bright.

Kirin looked up at the sign that had nearly hit her on the head, then patted her chest. She quickly turned around, bowed slightly to Ryouma, and thanked him sincerely, "Thank you for saving me. Oh, right, um... also thank you for helping me out in front of Orochimaru-san yesterday."

"It was nothing. Calling it 'saving' is a bit much. Still, it's impressive that you remembered me."

Ryouma softened his voice. The girl was already so nervous she was stuttering just to say thanks. If he raised his voice even a little, he suspected she might burst into tears.

"S-sorry, it's because your eyes are very beautiful. The most beautiful I've ever seen..."

Halfway through her sentence, Kirin suddenly realized that commenting on someone's appearance like that was impolite, and her voice grew quieter and quieter.

Until the air around them fell into an awkward silence.

Ryouma, however, didn't feel much about it. After all, who didn't know his eyes were good-looking?

"By the way, are you here to browse the exhibition too?"

Obviously, it was a pointless question, but it worked well enough to ease the slightly strange atmosphere.

"My father asked me to come buy some cutting discs for new materials."

Kirin's voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. Her fingers subconsciously twisted the leather buckle on her tool belt, betraying her unease.

"Cutting discs?"

"Yes. Because the chakra-conductive metal ore you brought is extremely hard. When my father stayed up all night smelting it yesterday, he already ruined several blades. So early this morning he told me to come here and take a look."

Ryouma frowned slightly in confusion. "Isn't your father the clan head? Wouldn't it be easier to send subordinates to handle this sort of thing?"

At those words, Kirin's eyes instantly dimmed.

"Well... that's because..."

"Never mind. If it's inconvenient to talk about, don't worry about it. I was just asking out of curiosity."

Ryouma had the distinct feeling that continuing would trigger some kind of side quest, so he quickly changed his tone. However, Kirin took a deep breath, as if she had made up her mind.

"It's not that it's inconvenient. Actually, my father has some conflicts within the clan..."

Watching her begin telling her story on her own, Ryouma felt a twinge of regret for bringing up the topic in the first place. But at this point, it wouldn't be polite to interrupt her.

Just as Kirin had only gotten a few sentences in, the entire exhibition hall suddenly began to shake violently, as if struck by an earthquake.