Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

Chapter 526 Heresy of Blasphemy

"Bang!"

A dull, muffled impact rang out.

Strangely, the sound was not the heavy sound that Tsunade was familiar with—the kind that shatters bones and bursts flesh.

The anticipated scene of carnage and bloodshed did not occur at all.

The cloaked man's head, like a cheap glass object struck by an invisible giant hammer, instantly exploded into a cloud of icy blue, angular fragments under Tsunade's fist, mixed with some viscous black liquid resembling oil, spraying in all directions.

A fatal blow?

Do not!

Alarm bells rang in Tsunade's heart!

The sensation coming from the fist was completely wrong!

It wasn't the feeling of shattering a skull or shaking flesh; it was a dry, cold, and fragile sensation, like... like breaking a huge block of ice.

Before she could even retract her fist, dozens of sharp, icy tentacles suddenly sprang out from the headless body, like a swarm of venomous snakes that had caught the scent of blood, and coiled around her entire right arm with astonishing speed.

An extreme, chilling energy, seemingly capable of freezing the soul, crept along her skin and frantically into her body.

"Tsk!"

Tsunade gave a low shout, her eyes sharpening.

The muscles in his arm twitched violently, and a surge of immense chakra erupted, shattering the lingering, bone-deep ice crystal tentacles into countless flying ice powders.

Even so, a thin layer of frost, radiating coldness, had already formed on her right arm, and a numbing sensation was rapidly spreading along her meridians.

What made her scalp tingle and even feel somewhat terrified was—

Not far away, the icy blue fragments and black liquid that had been blasted apart by her punch did not melt after falling onto the snow. Instead, they seemed to have gained independent life, wriggling and gathering together, recombining in a way that defied common sense to form the head that she had just blasted apart.

Bones, flesh, skin... everything was rapidly regenerating and reconstructing in that black, viscous liquid.

In the blink of an eye, the cloaked figure was completely restored to its original state, as if it had never been harmed.

He even twisted his "brand new" neck, making a cracking, bone-grinding sound.

Those cloudy, unfocused eyes stared intently at Tsunade, and he spoke slowly in a flat, metallic tone.

"Your temperature... is delicious."

"A bunch of absolute monsters!"

Tsunade spat, but a long-lost chill rose in her heart.

This bizarre immortality and this unprecedented method of regeneration have completely exceeded her understanding of medical ninjutsu and human anatomy.

"Not a monster, Tsunade."

Orochimaru's voice, however, carried a barely suppressed, intoxicated tremor.

"It's evolution...no, it's transformation! Perfect transformation!"

His eyes shone with an eerie light as he stared intently at the cloaked figure who had "come back to life," as if admiring a masterpiece of art.

"To adapt to this extremely cold environment, they actively or passively accepted some kind of curse, or rather... a secret technique! They transformed their fragile carbon-based life form into a more stable form, similar to energy crystals! Tsunade, don't you understand?"

Orochimaru turned to Tsunade, who still seemed somewhat incredulous, and excitedly announced:

"They... are no longer purely human!"

"Who cares what it is!"

On the other side of the battlefield, Orochimaru had already engaged in combat with two cloaked figures.

He didn't use any ninjutsu; his body twisted and stretched with a flexibility beyond human limits, dodging the ice spikes shooting from all directions.

The goal is clear.

In the brief moment between dodging an attack, Orochimaru's neck stretched out eerily, his mouth opened, and a purple venomous snake covered in fine scales shot out like lightning, biting the shoulder of a cloaked man.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hand!"

The venomous snake, covered in fine purple scales, darted out of Orochimaru's mouth the instant it left, and struck a cloaked man's shoulder with pinpoint accuracy, like a bolt of purple lightning.

"hiss--"

Sharp snake fangs pierced the cloak and the icy skin beneath.

Almost at the same moment, the cloaked figure froze.

He looked down at his shoulder where he had been bitten, and for the first time, a hint of confusion appeared in his cloudy eyes.

"How could this be..."

There was no bleeding, only a strange numbness that was rapidly spreading from the wound.

"puff!"

A soft sound.

Where it was bitten, spiderweb-like purple cracks began to appear on the icy blue skin.

Immediately afterward, the crack spread rapidly, and wherever it passed, the skin structure began to disintegrate and liquefy at a visible speed, eventually turning into pools of steaming, foul-smelling purple pus that dripped onto the snow, making a sizzling, corrosive sound.

The cloaked man opened his mouth as if to say something, but his entire body was no longer under his control.

Starting from his shoulders, the rotting purple quickly eroded half of his body, then his chest, abdomen, and legs...

He stood there, and under the gaze of Tsunade and Jiraiya, his entire body, from top to bottom, melted and disintegrated completely in just a few seconds, like an ice sculpture corroded by strong acid, leaving behind a bubbling purple stain on the snow and an empty white cloak.

Not even a trace of black, viscous liquid remained; it was completely and physically erased from existence.

"..."

Jiraiya's Adam's apple bobbed up and down. His playful intention to use Fire Release to barbecue had vanished in an instant.

He turned to look at Orochimaru and found his companion admiring his "masterpiece" with an almost obsessive gaze.

"Orochimaru, your poison..."

Tsunade's voice was also somewhat hoarse.

As a top-tier medical ninja, she could clearly discern that the venom contained at least seventeen different biological toxins, which were perfectly mixed together in a way she couldn't understand, forming a highly decomposing neurotoxin specifically targeting this type of life form.

This is no longer within the realm of ninjutsu; it is pure, ruthless science born for killing.

"It's just some minor improvements, Tsunade."

Orochimaru retracted his outstretched neck and said in his hoarse voice, "Since their life form has shifted from carbon-based to something else, the effectiveness of conventional physical attacks will naturally be weakened. But as long as they are still living beings, they must have structural weaknesses. My poison just happened to find that weakness and gave it a slight... push."

"Heretics! You blasphemous heretics!"

Just then, the captain of the evil god cult, after witnessing his companion being dissolved, finally snapped out of his shock and let out a shrill scream that was so piercing it was inhuman.

"How dare you use such vile means to kill a follower of the evil god!"

His body trembled with extreme rage, and two crimson flames now burned in his already cloudy eyes.

"You will pay the price! You will witness firsthand the wrath of the evil god!"

He suddenly spread his arms wide, looked up to the sky and roared, chanting a strange prayer in an ancient and obscure syllable.

"The great, eternal, supreme ruler who dwells in the cold!"

"Your believers offer their sincerest appeal!"

"Show me your miracles, display your majesty!"

"May these ignorant, warm, and pitiful lives be reduced to icy dust under your divine might!"