After a period of rapid development, Whirlpool Country had grown into a massive stronghold. With darkness swallowing the surface world, the only remaining sanctuaries for ninjas were in the sky or underground.
The residents who had once joined the Whirlpool Country couldn't help but admire their foresight. Now, people were fighting tooth and nail just to earn a spot in Whirlpool Country's sanctuary. Some had even abandoned their humanity in the process.
Neji had his reasons for allowing certain people in. Zixu had once said he wanted to create an equal world. Now that the giant serpents had turned the earth into chaos and disrupted the world's order, it was time to rebuild.
Although Zixu and the others had vanished, Neji never doubted they'd return. So, he kept the city in order—waiting.
Guren's Crystal Release proved invaluable. Not only was it a prime material source for the research division, but she had also accidentally discovered her uncanny ability to detect ore. That was why Zixu rarely sent her to the front lines. She was more useful elsewhere.
Thanks to talents recruited from all over the world, the Whirlpool Country's technology had exploded in progress. From advanced weapons to experimental tech designed to kill the giant snakes, even nuclear weapons—an idea Zixu had envisioned long ago—were now a reality.
Suddenly, a robotic voice echoed through the command center.
"Target detected. Matching data... Match found. Target matches Orochimaru with 97% certainty..."
Standing at the heart of the steel fortress, Neji monitored the battlefield through a long-range drone. On the screen, Zixu and the others were locked in a fierce battle.
Zixu glanced up at the drone—just a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Then he made a subtle hand sign: hold fire.
Neji understood instantly.
Still, the most advanced tactical nuke the Land of Whirlpools had ever produced was already locked onto Orochimaru's position from a distance.
Down on the battlefield, Orochimaru sensed the incoming lock-on, but didn't even flinch. He calmly tied his hair into a loose strand and conjured pitch-black thorns between his fingers.
"Nuclear weapons?" Orochimaru murmured, chuckling. "Never heard of them. Are those the toys you imagined would defeat me?"
He shook his head with mild amusement, as if science itself no longer intrigued him.
"Zixu… Do you know what lies at the end of science?"
"It's theology."
"And now… I have become a god."
For once, Orochimaru's eyes ignited—not with madness, but with a terrifying flame that threatened to consume all.
Zixu narrowed his eyes.
"Why is it that everyone wants to become a god?" he muttered. "What's so wrong about just being human?"
Whirlpool Country reinforcements would still take time to arrive. Right now, Zixu's job was to stall Orochimaru—no matter the cost.
Three sharp clangs rang out—clang, clang, clang!—as the black thorns Orochimaru had fired at Zixu were blocked, each in their own way.
Chinano, using the last of her chakra, warped one thorn into another dimension. Karin split off a glowing chain to intercept another. Hatsuizumi grit his teeth and let a swarm of blood-soaked insects block the final one.
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow in mild disdain.
"You can't even protect yourself without others? Pathetic…"
"Very well, then."
More black thorns began to form around his hands. This time, however, his targets weren't Zixu.
Zixu didn't speak. He simply stared at the three who had exhausted themselves protecting him. A deep, silent rage swelled within him. Lightning crackled above. Dark clouds rolled in. Wind surged violently, and even a step forward risked being sliced by invisible blades.
A pitch-black mace materialized in Zixu's hand—crafted from Wabo alloy, now radiating raw dominance.
The very air seemed to bend under the pressure of his presence. Orochimaru, despite his divine delusions, found himself restrained by the weight of Zixu's aura.
"Wait... isn't his strength supposed to come from his fruit?" Orochimaru muttered, frowning.
"Something's not right…"
Still, he didn't panic. Ants could struggle all they wanted—they were still ants.
"I'll grant you death," Orochimaru declared, dissolving the black thorns and the restraints around the other three. He was ready to put everything into killing Zixu.
Thick black smoke erupted, dispersing Zixu's aura. Orochimaru's body moved again, swift and deliberate.
Behind him, a cold shadow took form—an enormous, mechanical-looking snake. It didn't move with will but by some dark protocol. It lunged at Zixu, fangs bared, as if ready to swallow the world whole.
"Eight Gates: Death Gate—OPEN!"
"Sage Mode!"
"Armament Haki—Activate!"
"Lightning Armor!"
"Fire Dragon Torch: Rising Dragon Flame Bagua!!"
Zixu unleashed everything.
He was already at his limit—but this was it. All in. Victory or death.
The fruit embedded in his body, now covered in dragon scales, began to dry and dim, releasing one final burst of power.
Zixu's hair turned snow-white.
He drew in all energy—chakra, life force, natural energy. If it could be absorbed, it was his. Behind him, a phantom blood dragon roared into existence.
Orochimaru paused. Then white flames erupted along his skin. A smile—hollow and far from human—curved on his face.
"The fate of the Evil Dragon has already been decided," he said, voice empty and cold.
"He will be dragged from the altar by the Sun God. The old emperor must die…"
Flames roared behind him, and from them emerged hundreds of rubber-like arms, gleaming with deadly sharpness despite their strange texture.
Zixu looked up at the god-like figure and remembered… a dream. The only difference?
In his memory, it was someone else—someone tall, wrapped in unbreakable chains—struggling to break free.
Now, it was him.
He tightened his grip on the mace and surged forward.
"Screw fate," he growled. "If it exists—I'll crush it to dust."
Flame. Lightning. Wind. Blood dragon.
All erupted with Zixu's charge. In front of that raging spirit, Orochimaru's attacks looked pitiful—weak and powerless.
He had abandoned science for godhood.
Now, he looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"Wait… the chains of fate… they've been broken?"
The bloodied dragon roared—a dragon that defied destiny. Zixu had achieved what the chained man in his memory never could.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Zixu felt free.
Boom!
A thunderous crack echoed through the heavens. Whirlpool Country's nuke streaked toward the battlefield.
Zixu raised his hand, and a phantom of the nuke mirrored in his palm. Alarms blared in his body—danger, overload, collapse—but he ignored them all.
"Hey, Orochimaru," Zixu said, almost grinning.
"Let me reintroduce you to technology."
And with a casual flick, he shoved the nuclear warhead straight into Orochimaru's mouth.
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