The battlefield erupted into chaos once more as Jasper and Orochimaru clashed. Only this time, the former had a better edge and was pushing the latter back.
His strikes were sharp and fueled by the immense power of the Eight Gates. For once, Orochimaru's face was concerned about how he would get out of this mess.
Why would someone like him, who wasn't at his full power, want to fight a bunch of Leaf shinobi that he barely knew? Had he had his arms unsealed, perhaps he might have wanted to actually stay.
Then there was Jasper's combination of unpredictable techniques; they were layered with Gelel energy that Orochimaru hadn't accounted for.
"You're all talk," Jasper taunted after landing a fierce kick to his opponent's belly. "A snake like you's just a baby compared to me."
"I'll make you pay!" Orochimaru replied. With a darkened expression, he bit his thumb and slammed his palm against the surface. "Summoning jutsu!"
A massive cloud of smoke billowed out, and from it emerged Manda.
This was the player's first time seeing the giant, menacing serpent, whose appearance included purple scales with black rings, large fangs, green eyes, and horn-like protrusions on his head.
He was known for his size and strength, having also participated in the Second Shinobi World War while being dubbed the largest snake in this world that towered over other summons. He also believed himself superior to others and served Orochimaru mainly because he couldn't defeat him.
"You dare summon me, Orochimaru?!" Manda claimed.
Some had forgotten that Manda was proud and often complained about his conditions, demanding sacrifices in exchange for his help due to his aggressive personality.
"Surely, you won't turn down the meal in front of you," Orochimaru tempted.
Manda looked below and spotted the players. Clearly there had been a struggle before he was summoned.
In response, Jasper deactivated the Eight Gates. Yet his confident smirk remained.
"Didn't think we'd end up seeing him so late," William commented.
Throughout the series, Manda had fought against Tsunade's Katsuyu and Jiraiya's Gamabunta, often trying to constrict and eat them during that arc. But because the players altered that course of events, Manda had never been summoned till now.
"Time we hope in," Margaret said, preparing the summoning jutsu. "I'll call Katsuya."
"No!" Alice immediately urged. Her heart had almost skipped a beat after having seen Manda on the field. But it wasn't the snake that made her worry. "We have to get back! Now!"
Without even waiting for their response, she used her telekinesis to lift the entire group into the air. They floated several meters away from the battlefield, watching as Jasper was left alone.
"What's going to happen?" Jada asked.
Just what could put Alice on the edge when Jasper had already displayed his ferocious style of fighting with Gelel energy, the Eight Gates, and purple lightning?
She looked at Jada with a serious expression and answered, "Because Jasper's about to—"
"Summoning jutsu…!" Jasper declared after biting his thumb and smacking his palm against the floor.
In a massive puff of smoke, a colossal figure emerged—one that made everyone gasp in shock. Orochimaru's own eyes widened as he whispered to himself, "This can't be…"
Standing tall in the field was the Three-Tailed Turtle!
"Why don't you greet my friend: Isobu?" Jasper said in a commanding voice.
Orochimaru's face changed from surprised to one of utter contempt. He had expected to face another summoning animal, not a Tailed Beast of all creatures.
This could change everything.
When Jada looked from afar, she noticed Orochimaru placing a genjutsu on Manda. The reason for this was because Manda would never fight for Orochimaru unless the serpent was provoked.
What better way to provoke a wild animal than to make it think it was in danger—exactly like Orochimaru had done in the original story?
When the genjutsu was finished, Manda lunged at the Three-Tails by opening its giant maws.
"Isobu," Jasper ordered, "show 'em who's the boss."
The giant turtle-like beast rumbled in response by quickly opening its massive mouth to unleash its technique: "Water style: great water mass!"
Two enormous water balls formed and were shot straight toward Manda.
Ka-boom-boom!
The explosion was deafening, like a blinding flash from a tidal wave.
"Such power…" Margaret commented, being that it was her first time seeing a Tailed Beast in person.
The aftermath of Jasper's devastating attack was silence, broken only by the distant rumble of collapsing debris and the faint drops of residual rain.
When the dust settled, the scene was stark: Manda, the colossal serpent, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a massive crater gaped open in the ground.
Jasper could immediately tell that Orochimaru and Manda had burrowed underground.
"Jump," he commanded the beast.
The Three-Tails responded instantly by launching itself into the air with a thunderous leap. The moment it had, the dark shadow of Manda slithered out from beneath the earth with shocking speed.
At the apex of the Three-Tails' leap, it unleashed another move: "Shell spear!" The beast curled into a tight ball, spikes protruding along its body as it hurtled downward, aiming to ram into Manda in a collision.
But the serpent was quick; it slithered away and avoided the attack by mere inches. The Three-Tails' body unfurled with Jasper at the helm as they prepared for the next move.
"I think we've been going too easy on him," he said with anticipation. "Do it…"
Without hesitation, the Three-Tails opened its mouth wide and roared as it used not one, but two Tailed Beast Bombs at once!
The size of them was small, but they were swirling with enough raw power to make Orochimaru sweat.
The moment they were shot forward, Manda had dodged them both. The first hit close by it, creating a thunderous impact which swept the serpent in the air. The second had completely missed, and the attack's momentum was now heading straight for the rest of the players.
Jada's hot-pink chakra flared as she prepared to enter her Susanoo, William had already summoned two Shadow Clones to perform the Rasenshuriken, Alice began forming a telekinetic barrier, and Margaret prepared to activate her Crow Sage Mode.
But before any of them could act, Alex moved first.
With incredible speed, he shot into the sky and spun rapidly.
"Eight trigrams…!" Then his chakra twisted violently to form a massive, swirling vortex. "Giant rotation…!"
A colossal sphere of rotating chakra managed to deflect the incoming Tailed Beast Bomb, shocking everyone. What impressed them more was that it was redirected and forced right back toward Manda!
The Tailed Beast Bomb struck the serpent's spine, causing it to shriek in pain and fury. Its body shuddered as the blast destroyed its scales and overwhelmed its defenses.
Even Orochimaru was caught in the radius and shrieked in agony.
When Alex landed, he did so with confidence, as if deflecting Tailed Beast Bombs was an everyday thing.
"Was that part of the plan?" Margaret asked, feeling impressed at his skills.
Alex scratched the back of his head sheepishly and admitted, "Uh, I guess you could say that."
The response only made Alice upset because Jasper could have seriously hurt them all. Jada was also irate due to the reckless tactic.
They returned their gazes back to the battlefield, where they all saw Manda's enormous body collapsed, broken, and dismembered. The head was twisted at an unnatural angle, and its mouth was gaping open.
Orochimaru tried to run off the beast on foot but suddenly found himself stomped on by the Three-Tails. Jasper observed from the top with a detached expression.
"Kill him," he commanded.
The Three-Tails responded instantly. It reared its massive head and unleashed another Tailed Beast Bomb—this one larger and aimed directly at Orochimaru.
Ka-boom!
The explosion was so deafening that it illuminated the entire battlefield, surprising the onlookers.
When the dust finally cleared, the scene was grim.
Manda was now fully disemboweled as chunks of flesh and scales were strewn across the earth. The Three-Tails was gone, having vanished after firing its attack. And Jasper was now floating in the air with his eyes fixed on the remnants of the destruction.
As for Orochimaru, his body was lying flat on the ground with parts of him missing. The spectators knew full well that he was nowhere close to being dead. And just like they expected, the Sannin used the "Orochimaru style: substitution jutsu."
From his destroyed body's mouth emerged his white hand that climbed out in a watery fluid to reveal the Sannin—unscathed as if he'd never been injured.
"You won't get away with this!" he shouted with desperation and fury.
"Don't waste your breath," Jasper taunted with a cold smile. Suddenly, his eyes turned completely white as the iris and sclera vanished. Behind him materialized five glowing, black orbs. "I've heard it all before…"
Everyone stared in disbelief. Those were the legendary "Truthseeker Orbs"!
They were powerful orbs of malleable black chakra that could change shape and form, and each was capable of destroying entire forests despite being about the size of a fist.
Only those who awakened Six Paths Sage Mode, received power from Hagoromo, or became the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails could manifest them. And once acquired, they floated behind the user in a circular formation that could be shaped into weapons, shields, or protective shells.
That wasn't their only feat. They were also capable of nullifying ninjutsu with the right chakra infusion and embodied the power of all seven nature transformations, allowing their users to produce effects like turning anything to dust, bypassing regenerative abilities, and even affecting others in different dimensions.
"But how?!" Jada doubted.
How indeed? But what made her anxious wasn't that Jasper had produced one of the most powerful weapons in this world; it was that his chakra signature had suddenly vanished. No one could sense his chakra anymore.
William's stomach clenched. The thought of someone like Jasper wielding all that power was terrifying.
Orochimaru wasted no time using his "Slither Snake Mode" technique by transforming his lower half into that of a serpent's tail. Then he quickly began slithering away at incredible speeds.
"Time to die," Jasper declared.
Two orbs shot forward that streaked toward Orochimaru like deadly missiles. The Sannin's body blurred as he darted to the side, narrowly avoiding the first orb as it erupted in a destructive explosion on impact.
Orochimaru's eyes widened upon seeing that he couldn't afford to stand still. He tried to slither faster, but he suddenly felt a constricting grip around his tail.
It was Jasper holding him with an unbreakable grip. Just when had he gotten there?
"You ran out of chakra already?!" he mocked with contempt. "Oh, come on. At least use that Eight-Headed Serpent Jutsu like you did with Itachi."
Orochimaru's eyes flashed upon finally understanding something: Jasper hadn't known who he was because of the Sannin's infamy, but because Jasper himself was from another world!
But knowing this was too late.
Jasper's grin widened as he raised his other hand, causing the remaining three orbs to converge into a single, devastating arrow that crackled with Sage Chakra.
"Later, snake-boy."
Then with one command, it shot forward. Orochimaru's form was engulfed in an explosion of light and chakra that obliterated everything in its vicinity.
As his screams of pain echoed, he began to see visions of his past.
He reflected on his early years in the Leaf Village, when he was regarded as a genius who was hungry to learn everything and grow into something bigger. Excitement, exploration, and sinister experiments characterized those days, each one bringing him one step closer to his obsession with eternal life.
But there was loneliness underneath all that self-assurance.
He was shaped by the scar left by the death of his parents, which fueled his desire to avoid death.
He was still aware of the brittle boundary between life and death and the sting of mortality, so he briefly allowed himself to experience that fear—the fear of disappearing.
In the midst of Jasper's attack, Orochimaru's face tried to become icier. It was unimaginable for him to be vanquished and forgotten. That was not his destiny, and he would not accept it.
Yet the pain he was feeling was so excruciating that he screamed at the top of his lungs until his body was torn apart and disintegrated completely into nothingness.