In one smack, Orochimaru brought Jasper's fist down like it was nothing. Jasper landed and tried to roundhouse kick the Sannin, but the Sannin leapt away.
"How about I test you first?" the snake grinned.
With a snap of his fingers, the field quickly became an amphitheater filled with two hundred ninjas all eyeing Jasper.
Jasper himself stood alone in the middle, facing them.
William's eyes widened in alarm. "Should we help him?"
"No," Alex firmly said, stopping anyone from rushing to Jasper's aid. His gaze was sharp, and his posture was calm but ready. "He'll be fine without us."
Alice, observing the scene, caught something odd on Alex's face—a faint, wicked grin on his lips. She hesitated, then decided to remain silent as she watched Jasper get ready to take on the horde of enemies.
Jada, meanwhile, kept her Sharingan fixed on Jasper. She had never seen him fight for real since the Chūnin Exams.
During that time, he had managed to take down Team Dosu himself without showing off in the Forest of Death. Then he fought in the preliminary rounds against Temari. Not only had he won, but he had also called the teenage girl a whore, earning him much disapproval from those around.
Now he was about to fight Sound ninjas that were equivalent to about one hundred Team Dosu.
"You're stupid if you think you can take us all on!" one of the ninjas boomed.
"We'll cut you down!" another threatened.
Jasper remained silent at first as he stared at the approaching tide. Then, with one flick of his hair, he performed his first technique: "Tool creation…"
Two of the green chakrams manifested behind them, impressing Kabuto.
"I've never seen that before," he commented.
One Sound shinobi nodded, causing forty ninjas to charge forward—the first wave. The two chakrams separated on Jasper's command, lengthening into a pair of scythe-like blades.
He swung wide, sending two ninjas sprawling as the first scythe swept low, creating a furrow in the ground. The sound of the second scythe arcing high echoed like a bell as it caught a ninja who had closed the distance.
"Ninja art: sound wave!" many of the ninjas yelled. They produced a sonic screech that pillaged Jasper's ears. The attack was meant to disorient him, but it seemed to have little effect. "Increase the jutsu!"
As more ninjas joined the attack, the sonic shriek grew louder. Others jumped into the fold, undeterred by their comrades' techniques.
Green chakra rippled as Jasper deflected a series of lightning-fast punches with his blades.
A concentrated sound blast was released by ten shinobi to knock him off his feet, but Jasper's blades formed a transient shield of solidified chakra that slammed together. While his defenses were visibly warped by the blast's force, they held firm.
Jasper then instantly transformed his weapons into a heavy war hammer. With devastating force, he brought it down on three shinobi.
Bam!
The impact left a small crater with them inside.
After a few moments, a scattering of fallen figures was left behind when the first wave faltered.
The other players mumbled to one another. But there was still plenty of fighting left.
One Sound shinobi held up a hand, causing the ninjas to cease their technique. They then disperse in different directions.
"They're changing their strategy already?" Margaret commented.
The ninjas moved in unison; that was intended to upset Jasper's flow. Three more chakrams materialized from Jasper's back, creating a trio of floating, razor-sharp discs that circled him like satellites of defense.
In one motion, he sent one disc flying toward a group of ninjas trying to flank him. It broke their formation and carved a large path on the ground.
In response, the ninjas unleashed a torrent of disorienting echoes, voices flung in so many different directions that it was impossible to determine where they were really located.
Jasper closed his eyes to rely on his other senses. He detected their chakra signatures, heard the movement of dirt beneath his feet, and felt the air currents. When he opened his eyes, the veins bulged from his temples.
"Byakugan…!"
From his orbiting discs, he unleashed a flurry of sharp projectiles, causing the ninjas to give up on their echoing strategy.
Then Jasper moved like a green haze against their black bodies. In order to incapacitate some of them, he conjured a long, flexible whip of chakra that gathered several in bunches.
"What the heck is this thing?!" they cried.
In another motion, he swung them in the air before shooting them toward another group.
Bang!
"How interesting," Orochimaru commented.
When Jasper was done, he instantly transformed the whip into a massive club. He made use of the field to his advantage by weaving through ninja groups and causing collisions.
Yet that wasn't the only weapon he was utilizing.
With one hand brandishing a short sword and the other telekinetically directing a flail to strike from an unexpected angle, he would appear in different locations to strike down his opponents.
Weapons would dissolve into shimmering green motes when they were spent or no longer needed, only to be instantly transformed into something else. Because of that, the ninjas didn't know what to use to counter him.
One such shinobi produced two elaborate gauntlets bound with brass. A focused sonic boom shot out of them, straight at Jasper like a physical wall of sound with tremendous force.
"Eat this, punk!"
Jasper saw the danger. He made no attempt to block it directly.
Rather, his remaining chakrams came together to form a massive, concave shield that resembled a dish. When the sonic boom struck the shield, it was clearly absorbing and dispersing the force.
The shield held despite its violent vibrations, so Jasper turned the shield into a focused lens. Then, instead of releasing the sound energy as a destructive force, he concentrated it into a wave of invisible force that struck many of the shinobi in a silent pressure.
The sudden counter-pressure threw many of them back, causing the other ninjas to pause in stunned silence. Even the other players were surprised.
Jasper took advantage of the situation and launched an assault. His shield dissolved and reformed into two long, sweeping blades. He was unrelenting, like a tornado of silent rage and green light.
His speed defied their sound-based attacks, and he moved in and out of their peripheral range. His chakra blades found the openings in their formations, allowing him to avoid their attempts at coordinated strikes.
In a last-ditch effort to render Jasper unconscious, the recuperating ninjas let out a continuous high-frequency screech. The sound pierced Jasper's mental defenses, causing his movements to momentarily falter.
This made him grit his teeth. "Hey now, I didn't like that one bit…!"
In order to reduce the screech to background noise, he used his chakra to enhance his own senses internally rather than to defend himself externally.
After ignoring the crippling sound, he charged forward with a conjured heavy maul. Then in one swing, he crushed a piece of ground close to the ninjas with a roaring impact that reverberated even over their screams.
"He's a monster!" some cried.
Many began scurrying back, but Jasper just brandished his maul, intent on taking them down. As his weapon smashed down on them, it sent shockwaves through the earth.
Many of their bodies were mangled, and they screamed—not out of sound, but out of sheer pain. Those who were knocked into the sky became so deflated that they dropped straight to the ground, unable to recover.
One moment later, there were about two hundred Sound shinobi. Now, there were only six or so.
Even though they had their squadron, they felt as if they were the ones outnumbered. This lone ninja, whom they'd never heard of till today, stood triumphant with his green chakrams still spinning behind him.
"Just what the heck are you?!" one screamed.
Their hearts were seized by a cold and indisputable fear. Unwilling to fight, they dropped their weapons one by one. Then, they began to run away.
"Where do you think you're going?" Jasper threatened.
Like that, his chakrams separated into several rods that shot forth and impaled the remaining enemies in their heads and hearts.
"Argh!" they cried, falling to the ground.
The green glow of his Tool Creation broke like glass, and he stood there, crossing his arms.
The battle was over.
And out of everyone most stunned by this outcome, it was William. The way Jasper had fought, it was reminiscent of someone without remorse—someone who didn't care for victory but to completely annihilate his enemies.
From the beginning, Jasper was proving that he knew techniques only showcased in the Boruto series. This should have been impossible by those world's standards.
So how was he doing it? How was he using techniques like "Cry of the raijin"?
After stretching his arms across his shoulder, Jasper looked at Orochimaru and grinned, "That was a good warm-up." Then, adopting an athletic stance, he activated the fourth gate—the Gate of Pain. The change was immediate. Jasper's skin turned red, and his body radiated a fierce, almost unbearable heat. "Now it's time for the real fight!"
Kabuto, watching from a distance, was visibly stunned as Jasper lunged at Orochimaru without warning.
Orochimaru dodged and parried with snake-like fluidity, causing the battle to escalate into a deadly dance.
"He's…" Kabuto began. "A lot different than the exams."
Jasper managed to land a strike, a crackling surge of purple lightning erupting from his fist. It struck Orochimaru squarely. Yet, surprisingly, the Sannin didn't even flinch; he merely brushed off the attack with a wave of his hand.
"You think that's all I've got?" Jasper taunted, grinning fiercely.
"You're strong," Orochimaru admitted, "but I've seen stronger."
The Sannin's body quickly coiled around Jasper's body like a boa constrictor. Both fighters grinned as if this were a game—a dangerous, deadly game, of which neither was willing to back down.
William, watching from a safe distance, couldn't help but speak up. "Maybe now we should help him?"
"No," Margaret said, eyes fixed on Jasper's intense fight. "Look."
William looked again, confused. Then he understood why no one had stepped in: not only had Jasper freed himself, but now he was holding his own against Orochimaru, even pushing the latter back.
"There's no way," William said in a frantic tone. "Oro's a Sannin! He's one of the strongest ninjas ever."
"Umm," Margaret replied. "Jiraiya's a Sannin, too, and I could take on them both myself."
Whether that was a true statement or not, when Orochimaru had invaded the Leaf Village, it was actually Margaret who did most of the work to help Hiruzen.
The comment only made William wince, believing that he was likely the weakest player out of everyone now.
Jada herself kept her Sharingan active as her eyes moved left and right at the ongoing fight between Jasper and Orochimaru.
'Alice,' she mentally thought, 'can you hear me?'
'I can,' Alice replied. 'What's wrong?'
'Why isn't he using Tool Creation?'
'I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I do owe you for not saying anything about what happened in the cathedral… Jasper can't fight with all of his powers when using the Eight Gates.'
That revelation was critical for those who believed they would one day fight Jasper. But who's to say that Jasper simply wasn't holding back?
Nonetheless, it was reasonable to believe that he couldn't maintain his level of power while also using a technique that required such intense concentration.
Orochimaru, after gaining some distance, smirked and said, "I've had my fun. But it's time we leave. His voice was calm, but there was an unmistakable undertone of threat. "I'll remember what was done today…"
Kabuto turned to Jada with a sly smile on his face. His eyes betrayed his true intent—they wanted her Sharingan. As his body began disappearing in flames, she narrowed her eyes at him.
"They're leaving already?!" William yelled. "I knew we should have stepped in!"
William spoke too soon. Because when Orochimaru closed his eyes, as if waiting to also vanish into flames, nothing happened.
His eyes opened, only to see Jasper's fist coming toward him. Orochimaru barely dodged as the attack grazed his side before he landed smoothly on the ground.
Why hadn't he teleported away with Kabuto? Why was he still here on the battlefield?
Orochimaru's gaze drifted to his hands, confused.
"That's the problem when you don't know anything about your opponent?" Jasper mocked with a grin. "I'll let you in on a little secret, snake-boy: my purple lightning is laced with Gelel energy."
Orochimaru had the look of surprise on his face. While he might have known what Gelel energy was, he didn't believe someone like Jasper possessed it.
Many of the players had forgotten that his Gelel energy also had sealing properties, which the last time it was used was against Arthur Bennett. That was why Orochimaru couldn't teleport away.
"In other words," Jasper said, dashing forward with renewed speed, "you're screwed."