Sora was bsted away by Orochimaru, who ented on his ck of adaptability and the missed opportunities during their enter.

  Determio observe Orochimaru's movements better, Sora activated his Sharingan and fixed his gaze on Orochimaru.

  Orochimaru, now holding a kunai, rushed straight toward Sora.

  "Breath of Thuhree Types·Gathering Mosquitoes into Thunder!"

  Sora took the initiative and began spinning around Orochimaru at high speed, leaving trails of blue lightning in his path.

  But Sora quickly noticed something was wrong.

  As Orochimaru's body touched the arcs of blue lightning, it began turning to earth aually crumbled into a mound of soil.

  Sora's eyes widened in shock.

  Earth Substitution?!

  When had Orochimaru formed the seal?

  Despite staring at him, Sora realized Orochimaru must have formed the seal while enting earlier, during a moment when his attention had faltered.

  Suddenly, hands emerged from the ground and grabbed Sora's ankles.

  Looking down, Sora felt a chill. Orochimaru had emerged from underground and was trying t him beh the surface.

  Reag instantly, Sora called out:

  "Breath of Thuwo Types·Rice Soul!"

  Sora unleashed five lightning-shaped strikes in rapid succession, cutting through the ground and creating a gap.

  But Orochimaru vanished underground once more instead of being forced out.

  Sora stood his ground, waiting. Without knowing Orochimaru's location, searg recklessly would only expose his vulnerabilities. Defend terattacks were his best options.

  Even though Orochimaru was holding bao, letting him live—the sheer pressure of the battle was overwhelming, making Sora teh nerves.

  In a fight against such a formidable oppo, Sora knew winning was out of the question. His goal was to identify his weaknesses, gain valuable bat experience, and learn from the enter.

  Orochimaru's voice echoed from all dires, making it impossible for Sora to pinpoint his location.

  "The Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!"

  A massive swarm of snakes appeared, encirg Sora and closing in on him.

  Sora tightened his grip on his sword.

  "Breath of Thuhree Types·Gathering Swarm into Thunder!"

  Once again, Chiba used Gathering Swarm into Thunder, moving at high speed and leaving arcs of lightning along his path, electrog the advang snakes.

  While dashing through the snakes, Sora utilized his Sharingan to s the surroundings, searg for Orochimaru's position.

  Finally, Sora spotted him at the rear of the snake swarm on the right, with his arms folded.

  Sora abruptly stopped in pce.

  Exhaling deeply, he focused his chakra. The blue lightning surrounding his swrew brighter and louder, crag fiercely.

  "Breath of Thunder·Shape of Five·Heat World Thunder!"

  With all his might, Sora swung his sword, releasing a barrage of lightning-infused sshes from his tachi, targeting Orochimaru directly.

  Orochimaru saw the lightning released by Sora, his eyes narrowing as he used the Body Flicker Teique to evade the range of the Heat World Thunder.

  The Heat World Thuruck a massive tree.

  The tree shattered instantly, the intense heat igniting it into a bzing inferno, while residual lightni a deep crater in the ground.

  Orochimaru's narrowed eyes reflected his thoughts as he observed the power of Sora's Heat World Thunder.

  The power of this move surpassed the bined force of Sora's earlier teiques, and its speed was impressive.

  However, he noted a critical weakhe signifit chakra ption.

  Sora was now leaning ohigh, breathing heavily.

  Although Sora's chakra reserves had grown siderably, currently equating to about three-fifths of Kakashi's chakra in his Sharingan state, the chakra ption of the Thunder Breath's Shape of Five, Heat World Thunder was taxing. At best, Sora could use it three or four times in a normal state.

  Moreover, the power of the Heat World Thunder was directly proportional to the chakra output, and Sora had deliberately increased the chakra for his st strike.

  He had seized an opportunity when Orochimaru was exposed, him from outside the snake group, and had poured his chakra into maximizing the teique's speed and power.

  Yet, despite finding an opening, Sora's strength wasn't enough to capitalize on it fully, allowing Orochimaru to escape with the Body Flicker Teique.

  Orochimaru approached with his usual calm demeanour, his voice carrying a faint hint of amusement. "Are you finished here?"

  Sora, still catg his breath, couldn't gauge from Orochimaru's expressioher he had succeeded or failed.

  Taking a deep breath, Sora straightened up. "I still have chakra left. I use one final move."

  "Really? Then I'll wait."

  This time, Orochimaru refrained from attag, choosing io stand still, his curiosity piqued by Sora's decration.

  Sora returned his sword to its sheath, adjusting his stao a slight crouch.

  Seeing the familiar posture, Orochimaru raised a brow. "Isn't this the same opening stance as your Thunderbolt Fsh? Surely you realize the weaknesses of that move—against me, it's useless."

  ing his arms and legs in flickering lightning, Sora responded fidently, "No, this move is different."

  "Oh? Then show me."

  Orochimaru's i deepened. He had thhly reviewed the Breath of Thunder sword style Sora had tributed to Konoha. As ninjutsu, it was remarkably effective.

  Yet, within its seven forms, only the Shape of Ohunderbolt Fsh, carried this particur stance.

  Even though some Lightning Style shinobi had learhe Breath of Thunder, ched the speed or impact Sora demonstrated.

  In terms of skill, even the weakest of those shinobi ranked as in. However, their execution of Breath of Thunder fell far short of Sora's current speed and precision.

  Sarutobi Hiruzen, with his sharp judgment, had initially cssified the first five forms of Breath of Thunder as B-rank.

  Yet from this fight, Orochimaru saw that in Sora's hands, these teiques could easily qualify as A-rank.

  Especially the Shape of Five, Heat World Thunder, whidoubtedly reached A-rank in power and execution.

  Orochimaru couldn't help but wonder if Sora was either a natural genius with Lightning Style, uniquely suited for this ninjutsu or if the teiques he tributed to Konoha still cealed some secrets.

  Fixing his pierg gaze on Sora, Orochimaru waited for this supposed differen teique.

  "Breath of Thunder·Shape of Ohunderbolt Fsh..."

  Sora exploded forward in a burst of speed, dashing toward Orochimaru like a streak of lightning.

  Orochimaru frowned. Isn't this still Thunderbolt Fsh?

  He prepared to use the Body Flicker Teique to evade once more, but then Sora's Sharingan locked onto him.

  "Sixth pany!"

  Sora pivoted, stepping onto a tree trunk with both feet and using it to ge the dire of his attack mid-flight.

  Lightning bzed as he adjusted his trajectory, sshing toward Orochimaru again with renewed ferocity.