Naruto: Fate System

The whirlwind from the blade's slash swept Orochimaru into the air, its wind blades ruthlessly slicing through his body.

But it wasn't over yet.

Shin immediately abandoned his sword and began forming hand seals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

A massive ball of flames pursued Orochimaru's airborne figure, igniting his body and the whirlwind simultaneously, creating a magnificent fiery tornado.

The combined force of wind and fire was a deadly combination. Against any other enemy, he would have been confident of his victory by now.

But against Orochimaru, he dared not lower his guard.

As the wind dissipated and the fire extinguished, a charred corpse fell from the sky, trailing wisps of black smoke.

However, Shin detected something amiss, and he let out a soft sigh. As expected, the corpse was hollow, crumbling to ash as it hit the ground.

The ground suddenly burst open in front of him, revealing a giant serpent. Its mouth opened wide, revealing a slimy, sticky, and visibly fatigued but unscathed Orochimaru.

He was indeed difficult to kill.

But Shin wasn't entirely without gains.

Orochimaru's condition had visibly deteriorated, and the confident, relaxed expression he had earlier was gone. His pale skin seemed even more ashen than usual, and his breathing, though controlled, was noticeably labored.

While the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique was an exceptional survival method, it consumed a significant amount of chakra.

In the original story, Sasuke barely survived Itachi's Amaterasu using this technique, nearly exhausting himself in the process.

Orochimaru was now in a similar state, weakened from using it. Worse still, he was starting to realize his vulnerability to genjutsu.

Why was this happening? He had never been so susceptible to illusions before. Could splitting my soul reduce my resistance to genjutsu?

It seemed that ever since he began researching the Heavens' Curse Mark and attempting to embed fragments of his split soul into it, his mental state had started to show flaws.

This discovery alarmed Orochimaru more than the temporary setback in the battle.

Although he had no idea how the young boy before him arrived at such a conclusion, he couldn't deny sensing a hint of danger.

"Your genjutsu is quite impressive," he said.

Despite the unfavorable situation, Orochimaru maintained his composure. But Shin could see the strain in maintaining that facade.

"You've abandoned direct illusions and offensive effects, opting instead for the most realistic misdirection and deception. Your approach to genjutsu is unique, unlike any other ninja's."

Orochimaru's tone was condescending, as if he had completely seen through Shin's tactics.

"But so what? Your summoning creature is far too small to quickly deal with Manda. As long as he remains, your chains will keep you bound in place."

"Your genjutsu can't protect you forever."

He drew his Kusanagi once more.

Such an obvious bluff wasn't going to fool Shin. He chuckled at Orochimaru's naivety—who said his genjutsu was only for self-defense?

"Since you've realized your weakness against genjutsu, why don't you try guessing—when exactly did you fall into mine?"

At that moment, Orochimaru's facade cracked. He began frantically recalling the events of the battle, trying to ignore the cool air against his skin. Strange, given how intense the fight had been.

His opponent's genjutsu didn't cause harm, only misdirection and deception. The subtlety made it all the more dangerous, like poison masked by sweet wine.

What had he overlooked? What detail had slipped through the cracks?

And then it hit him: the wind.

Small details that shouldn't matter in battle, yet somehow did. The rattling of Manda's chains.

When had he last heard them... before or after the cool breeze started?

Orochimaru's face changed as he realized that the chains binding Manda had been retracted. It could only mean one thing—Manda was gone. 

Boom!

A stunning explosion erupted behind Orochimaru. He turned to see Konan descending from the sky, her paper wings spread wide against the inferno created by a thousand explosive tags.

At the same time, Orochimaru finally recalled what he had overlooked—Konan, who had disappeared into the sky at the start of the battle.

This was a rookie mistake, unthinkable in his long career as a shinobi. 

The battlefield had shifted dramatically.

Manda was gone, and Kakuzu was beginning to gain the upper hand against his opponent.

Hiruko gritted his teeth. This incompetent fool... if only he'd drop that barrier and let Tsunade join. But no—that would mean admitting weakness.

His eyes darted to the sidelines where she stood watching with Shizune. What a waste.

Orochimaru followed his gaze.

This shift immediately put Shin on alert. He realized the situation was about to escalate into a second round.

Not waiting for them to decide, he shouted, "Sasori, retreat!"

The puppeteer, who had been fighting Pakura in the distance, didn't respond immediately.

It took a second call for him to grudgingly comply. The iron sand attack slowed, though didn't completely stop.

"What do you want now? Barely joined and already bossing me around? Akatsuki is really ruthless."

Shin quickly laid out the plan, keeping his eyes on the battlefield's other combatants. "We'll deal with Pakura together later. For now, let's handle the Sannin first."

He casually patted Sasori on the shoulder in encouragement. But Sasori wasn't having it.

"I fight my battles my way! I hate waiting for others to decide outcomes for me!"

His disdain for waiting stemmed from his childhood trauma—his parents who had promised to return never did.

Shin frowned and sighed softly. Above them, Konan circled, ready to move at his signal.

Sasori's defiance was predictable. Having been subdued by Konan, he still lacked respect for Shin as a leader.

There was no time for persuasion. The battlefield situation was shifting too rapidly, with Orochimaru already regaining his composure.

"You misunderstood one thing—you're not our only option."

"What—"

Before Sasori could react, black sealing symbols spread across his arms from where Shin had patted his shoulder.

The seals rendered his mechanized arms useless, severing his chakra threads. All his puppets, including the Third Kazekage, collapsed instantly.

Before he could protest further, Shin's blade pierced his right chest, deliberately avoiding his heart to keep him alive. The strike was precise, threading between mechanical joints to find the one spot of vulnerability.

He then tossed Sasori's injured body upward and shouted, "Konan, catch!"

Konan, already attuned to his intentions, soared into the sky with a sweep of her paper wings, catching Sasori midair and wrapping him in a cocoon of paper before suspending him high above.

Shin then turned to Pakura and said nonchalantly, "I've taken care of Sasori. After this, he's yours. For now, help us handle the Sannin."

Faced with the same request, Pakura glanced at Sasori, dangling in the air like a discarded marionette, and clenched her teeth.

Sasori never expected that she would also be connected to the very organization he had just joined.

Even more so, he wouldn't have guessed that the reason she targeted him in the first place originated from Akatsuki.

He was not Shin's only choice in this second round; he was merely one of several options.

After making two wrong moves, Sasori had already lost his chance.

Without hesitation, Shin gravely wounded him, turning him into leverage for the next option.

But this strike against Sasori had another advantage: Shin's blade and hand were now covered in Sasori's blood.

At this point, he hadn't fully transformed his body into a puppet; apart from his arms, the rest of his body was still flesh and blood.

While maintaining his stance, Shin discreetly pressed his index finger against a precise point on his right forearm.

A microscopic needle of compressed air, invisible to the naked eye, formed at his fingertip and penetrated the muscle tissue. The technique was subtle—not even Orochimaru's keen eyes could detect it.

Through this channel, he drew in the surrounding cool air, enriched with oxygen, directly into his muscle fibers. The targeted infusion of oxygen accelerated the removal of lactic acid while simultaneously cooling the overworked muscle tissue, silently easing the strain that had built up from maintaining the Triple Flash.

With his sword arm now refreshed, he feigned casualness and flicked his blade, causing droplets of Sasori's blood to splash onto the barrier restraining Tsunade, leaving a crescent-shaped stain on the ground.

At that moment, Tsunade's pupils widened uncontrollably, and her hands began to tremble.

Orochimaru frowned. A coincidence? Or does he know something about Tsunade that he shouldn't?

He had been prepared to dispel the barrier, but now he hesitated.

---

Pakura didn't foolishly act according to Shin's intentions. She had to negotiate first.

Fixing a cold gaze on him, she demanded, "Are you trying to use me again?"

"How so?"

"You used me to kill so many members of Root over the past six months! Yet from the start, you were lying—Kabuto knew nothing!"

Pakura's furious accusations inadvertently revealed information that shocked both Orochimaru and Hiruko.

In the past six months, this battlefield had seen a massive loss of intelligence personnel. Initially, they thought it was Suna's doing. To learn it was actually a scheme by Akatsuki and Pakura was stunning.

No wonder she had been relentlessly pursuing Nonō and Kabuto; it all made sense now.

So, the encounter with Akatsuki today wasn't a coincidence? Orochimaru and Hiruko's imaginations ran wild.

An oversight, but not fatal, Shin thought.

He had miscalculated slightly. Kabuto wasn't completely clueless. His memory had been sealed. The truth was more complicated than even Pakura knew.

Kabuto being sent to Konoha's orphanage wasn't random; it was orchestrated by Sasori. To prevent the boy from being exposed prematurely, Sasori sealed his memory before sending him to Konoha.

When Kabuto arrived at the orphanage, he couldn't even remember his name. And his name, Kabuto, was given to him by the orphanage director, Nonō.

In the original storyline, Kabuto joined Root and, during a mission as a spy, encountered Sasori again. At that time, the memory seal was removed, and he began his role as a double agent between Sasori and Root.

Years later, distrusted by Danzō, he was manipulated into killing Nonō. Despairing, he met Orochimaru during an assassination attempt and became his loyal follower.

Afterward, Kabuto returned to Konoha, reclaimed his identity as Nonō's foster child, and spent years repeatedly taking the chunin exams until the main plot began.

Shin remembered this trajectory accurately. However, he overlooked a detail: Kabuto couldn't become a perfect spy without training. The boy needed to be shaped, molded into the tool he would become.

After Nonō left, he spent the past six months in Konoha undergoing Root training. The foundation of his future skills was being laid during this time.

Pakura had thus spent half a year wandering the battlefield in vain. Both were prisoners of their circumstances, though not entirely by choice.

"But you've found Sasori now, haven't you? And I didn't lie about him killing the Third Kazekage." His eyes flickered briefly to the wounded puppet master.

Taking advantage of Pakura's hesitation, he pressed on. "Sasori is crucial for clearing your name. He means nothing to me."

"If Orochimaru dispels the barrier, I'll get the woman and the child. If you don't help me, I'll take Sasori back to the Land of Rain."

"What's your choice?"

If dispelled, the barrier would release not only Tsunade but also Nonō and Kabuto. If things went south, Shin could retreat with Nonō.

With Shin's ultimatum, Pakura had no room to negotiate. She needed Sasori to prove her innocence against Rasa's false charges. Her reputation, her future, her very life hung in the balance.

"Fine!"

With Pakura's agreement, Hiruko panicked. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he realized how quickly the situation had deteriorated. "Orochimaru, what are you waiting for? The enemy just gained another ally! Dispel the barrier and let Tsunade help us!"

"Tsunade, what are you stalling for? Are you going to stand by and watch us fall?" His eyes darted between Tsunade and the blood-stained barrier, not understanding her paralysis.

Hiruko's outburst caught Shin's attention. His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the interplay of emotions across the faces before him. As the situation evolved, he began piecing together the chaotic battlefield dynamics.

How touching.

Orochimaru clearly knew about Tsunade's hemophobia. That's why he hesitated to involve her in the fight. Behind his cold demeanor lay a trace of gentleness for his former teammate.

Hiruko, however, was utterly unaware of this.

Since falling into a disadvantage, he had been frustrated with Tsunade's inaction, even losing his temper now.

"You came here with these Ame ninjas. Are you really betraying Konoha?"

Such accusations were grave and immediately prompted Shizune's angry retort. "Tsunade-sama would never betray Konoha! You know nothing!"

But her unintended revelation struck Shin like a lightning bolt. Thank you, Shizune. You just handed me the perfect weapon.

It was true: Tsunade still cared about Konoha. But others wouldn't necessarily understand that.

Everything that had transpired so far could easily be misinterpreted. One person's hesitation was another's betrayal. Perception was everything in this world.

Tsunade had only joined them due to her debts, not to get involved in the war, but outsiders didn't know that.

She hadn't known in advance about today's encounter with Orochimaru and Hiruko. If she had, she wouldn't have come, but outsiders didn't know that.

Her reluctance to fight stemmed from her hemophobia, not from a lack of loyalty to her teammates. But outsiders didn't know that either.

Indeed, the key point was: outsiders didn't know the full truth.

Just like Hiruko, whose anger was sincere and reasonable based on his perspective. The man's accusations grew more heated with each moment of Tsunade's silence, his fear feeding his suspicion.

But Tsunade's special status made any misunderstanding about her potentially catastrophic for Konoha.

She was a Sannin, a legend, a symbol—and at that moment, unknowingly, she was becoming a weapon.

And that was exactly what Shin wanted.

Jackpot!

---

The healing technique was inspired by FlyingSnowFox. I would call it: Wind Style: Cellular Breath.

Precise chakra control and high wind nature transformation are needed. If the control is poor, it could shatter all arteries and you will die of blood loss if not treated immediately.

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