Orochimaru Takes a Massive Loss This Time

Chapter 288: Orochimaru Takes a Massive Loss This Time

"Orochimaru."

Obito stared at Orochimaru, who had completely transformed, and felt that this would be troublesome.

"We have no need to become enemies." That was all he could say.

"That was originally the case." A smile curved across Orochimaru’s face. "But when you decided to seize my Rinnegan, we became enemies."

"The Rinnegan was originally mine." Obito emphasized the point. "I was the one who lent it to Nagato."

"It doesn’t matter who it belonged to before. It’s enough that it belongs to me now." Orochimaru’s voice was hoarse, and his dark, serpentine eyes revealed an extremely dangerous intent.

"" Obito fell silent.

He had already realized that, to Orochimaru, obtaining power was probably more important than taking revenge on Konoha.

This was an ambitious man without hatred or resentment, whose heart held only his own desires.

However, the Rinnegan could not be brought out for negotiation.

That left only one choice.

Obito suddenly clapped his hands, and countless thorn-covered branches surged up from the ground.

"Is that Wood Release?" Orochimaru’s eyes lit up as he muttered, "Wood Release and the Mangekyō Sharingan. Just how many more surprises are you going to give me?"

Although he was exceptionally excited, Orochimaru’s movements were not slow in the slightest. After chanting, countless black flames ignited, spreading like a sea of fire.

It was not Hellfire, but a type of Necromancy.

For Orochimaru, the greatest harvest of this day had been digesting part of the magical inheritance, which was not especially difficult.

With the five hundred Level 3 Chests he had opened, he had obtained more than sixty skills alone, not to mention countless inheritances of various kinds.

That was a full one hundred and fifty million Points.

Even after Shen Mo’s exploitation and various deductions, his current power as a Lich had already surpassed that of some powerful Kage-level shinobi. Combined with his own Kage-level ninjutsu, Shen Mo estimated that even if his overall strength did not reach the level of the First Hokage, it should still be comparable to that of the Second.

So dealing with this half-baked Wood Release user, Obito, was simply too easy.

But just then,

Orochimaru suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

He turned his head and looked at the "Nagato and Konan" gazing sadly at each other in the distance, his expression darkening.

There’s no Negative Energy!

After such a long time, they should have been completely dead, yet he had not sensed any Negative Energy.

Could it be…?

Orochimaru raised a hand and waved. Black flames swept directly over, engulfing the two of them in an instant. Before Obito could react, they revealed their true form as Paper Style and turned to ash.

Did they escape? Obito felt a trace of delight.

He truly had no confidence in seizing the Rinnegan right in front of Orochimaru, but if they had escaped, he would have plenty of opportunities to recover it.

Konan was no match for him at all.

Since the Rinnegan was no longer here, Obito had no intention of continuing to entangle himself with Orochimaru.

He activated Space-Time Ninjutsu, slowly drawing his body inside.

"Don’t even think about escaping!"

Orochimaru raised a hand, and several skills shot out at the same time.

At the very least, he had to catch one of them.

Otherwise, he would suffer a massive loss.

However, none of the skills seemed able to affect Space-Time Ninjutsu. They passed straight through Obito’s body, and in the blink of an eye, only his final voice remained, echoing outward.

"The leader has retreated. Everyone, retreat as well."

"That was Tobi’s voice." Sasori recognized it.

"Has the leader retreated?" Itachi Uchiha hesitated for a moment before stopping. "In that case, I plan to retreat as well."

"Retreat just like that?" Kakuzu was extremely displeased. "Orochimaru is right ahead. The leader created an opportunity for us to deal with him."

"I said long ago that our strength might not be enough to defeat Orochimaru." Itachi Uchiha glanced at Kakuzu and the others. "The lot of you together might not even be able to defeat Kisame Hoshigaki and me. Fighting a Chamber Member without becoming one yourselves is an extremely foolish act."

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes slightly.

In truth, he also found the situation troublesome.

Just now, their group had not even managed to charge to the foot of the tower before they were told that the real Orochimaru was behind them and had slipped over to the leader’s location. Then who was the person attacking them from atop the tower?

Still, Itachi Uchiha’s attitude left him displeased.

Retreating without a fight?

Even when he had assassinated the First Hokage, he had at least thrown a Kunai!

"We witnessed Orochimaru’s strength in Konoha." Kisame Hoshigaki stepped forward. "Mr. Itachi’s judgment is based on intelligence. If you don’t believe it, go ahead on your own. If you die, don’t blame us for failing to provide you with intelligence."

The others all stopped walking.

Clearly, the six members of the Akatsuki Organization, divided into three groups, had developed disagreements among themselves.

Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, Kakuzu and Hidan, while Sasori and Deidara remained neutral.

Suddenly, Itachi Uchiha looked into the distance.

"Kisame, we have to retreat. It’ll be troublesome if we’re dragged onto the Destiny Stage."

He had already sensed danger approaching.

"I was worried about that too. Let’s retreat." Kisame Hoshigaki did not hesitate and immediately withdrew.

Kakuzu gritted his teeth. "We’ll retreat too."

He and Hidan headed in a different direction.

"Old man, is our organization finished?" Deidara looked toward Sasori.

"We’ll retreat too and wait a little longer for word from the leader." In the end, that was all Sasori could say.

By the time Orochimaru arrived, he could only stare miserably at the empty ground.

Going from a massive profit to a massive loss happened in an instant.

Shen Mo watched from behind. He had not expected such a battle to end in this manner.

As expected, an organization without unified ideals, mutual trust, or bonds had no future.

This undercover agent, Itachi Uchiha, had merely seized an opportunity and employed a few tricks, yet he had pushed the Akatsuki Organization to the verge of disbandment.

Shen Mo stopped watching Orochimaru’s incredibly dark expression.

Instead, he shifted the scene to Konan.

She carried Nagato’s corpse as she flew through the forest, avoiding the leaves and leaving no trace along the way. Even so, she did not stop for a moment, as if she intended to continue all the way to the safest place.

It had to be said that Shen Mo’s plans had been somewhat disrupted.

The Akatsuki Organization should have been one of Konoha’s greatest enemies at present, but now that Nagato was dead, all that remained were Konan, the other members whose disagreements had deepened, the powerful undercover agent Itachi Uchiha, and the ambitious Obito Uchiha.

In an instant,

the definition of the Akatsuki Organization had become lost.

After all, the reason this organization had become villainous was largely because of Nagato’s goal.

Capturing Tailed Beasts and creating pain had directly pushed them into opposition with every village.

However,

"Now that Nagato is dead, it doesn’t seem so bad after all." Shen Mo watched Konan in the scene and muttered to himself, "Using hatred to drive consumption works in the short term, but it isn’t a lasting strategy. Not to mention, you never know when this guy might suddenly be converted, then thoroughly cleansed of his villainous ways."

That way, he could harvest the Akatsuki Organization’s abundant assets.