Chapter 108 : Appearance, The Battle Between The Big Snakes
Coming out of the underground palace, Riku looked up at Shinya, who was coiled around a massive stone pillar, and frowned.
"What’s wrong with you?" he asked.
Wan Snake and Ao Hebi stood off to the side, utterly stunned by Riku’s appearance.
"Amazing... it’s unbelievable," Ao Hebi whispered. "A human mastering Sage Mode this perfectly... I can hardly believe it."
Riku paid them no attention. His eyes were focused on Shinya. Something seemed off. Was the snake unwell?
The moment Shinya noticed Riku, he uncoiled from the pillar and slithered forward. Lifting his head, he looked directly at Riku and asked, "You succeeded?"
Though he already knew the answer, Shinya still asked to confirm.
Riku nodded. "Yeah. I’m heading back to Konoha—something’s wrong there. You’re coming with me. I’ve got a job for you."
Shinya gave a slight nod. "Understood."
He didn’t know what exactly the task was, but Shinya had long learned that following Riku’s instructions would never steer him wrong.
Wan Snake and Ao Hebi were shocked speechless. Shinya—Shinya!—was completely calm in front of Riku. Even his reverse scale, the area no one dared to touch, seemed utterly unaffected.
Big snakes with reverse scales were famously temperamental. Even Wan Snake and Ao Hebi wouldn’t dare go near Shinya’s. Yet now, that same terrifying snake was calmly taking orders from a human.
Riku pressed his palms together in a hand seal—and in a flash, he and Shinya vanished from Ryūchi Cave, reappearing in the middle of Konohagakure.
They arrived just in front of a massive, thrashing three-headed serpent.
At that moment, the beast was wreaking havoc through the village, smashing through buildings and scattering shinobi. But when it suddenly saw the towering figure of Shinya beside Riku, it froze in place, momentarily stunned.
Konoha’s ANBU agents, already weary and bloodied from the battle, were equally dumbfounded.
They had just lost multiple Jōnin and numerous Chūnin trying to stop the three-headed serpent. And now... another massive serpent had appeared?
But then Morino Ibiki, standing atop a ruined rooftop, spotted Riku and sighed in relief.
"This kid... finally. We’re saved."
The ANBU didn’t know Riku well personally, but they’d heard his name spoken often by the Third Hokage. Seeing him now, standing atop the head of a monstrous serpent, was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
Even more shocking was Shinya himself. His sheer size rivaled the three-headed serpent, and the dangerous glint in his golden eyes made it clear—this was no ordinary summon.
Riku frowned as he surveyed the shattered remains of buildings and the crushed bodies beneath the rubble.
"This thing’s strong," he muttered. Then turned to Shinya. "Are you sure you can take it?"
The three-headed serpent had, in fact, also been summoned from Ryūchi Cave—by Orochimaru, via Sunagakure’s help. But Shinya, long reclusive within the deepest caves of Ryūchi, knew little of it firsthand.
Still, he recognized its chakra and scent. It was, without question, one of the Ryūchi Cave brood.
Shinya bared his fangs in a cruel grin. "I’ll kill this thing one head at a time."
The three-headed serpent trembled. Shinya’s name was infamous even within Ryūchi Cave. Second only to the White Snake Sage, he was feared for his ferocity. Many large snakes who had once crossed him had been petrified alive, their bodies sealed in eternal stone.
The three-headed serpent knew it stood no chance—but Orochimaru’s binding jutsu left it no choice. It could not run.
With a guttural roar, it lunged at Shinya, fangs bared.
Shinya narrowed his eyes.
"He dares attack me? I see... I’ve been in hiding too long. These fools have forgotten who I am."
Without another word, he shot forward with a thunderous boom.
Shinya moved like a gale, his body a blur. He was the fastest serpent in Ryūchi Cave—no other even came close.
In the blink of an eye, he coiled around the three-headed serpent, sinking his fangs deep into one of its necks. At the same time, his massive body wrapped around the beast, constricting it tightly like a vice.
The coils tightened with crushing force, and venom began flooding into the enemy’s body.
The three-headed serpent tried to retaliate, its remaining heads whipping toward Shinya to bite back—but before it could strike, its flesh began to stiffen.
A horrible realization struck—the venom wasn’t just poisonous.
It was turning to stone.
Within seconds, the petrification was complete. The monstrous three-headed serpent stood frozen, its massive form transformed into a gray, lifeless statue.
The entire ANBU squad stared in disbelief.
"Th-that snake... it has the ability to petrify?!" someone gasped. "And it’s that fast? The enemy didn’t even have time to react!"
"Is this... is this the power of Riku’s summon beast?" another murmured, wide-eyed. "That thing... it’s on a level beyond even a Jōnin."
Riku hadn’t moved a muscle during the fight. From the beginning, he’d stood atop Shinya’s head, calm and composed.
As Shinya released his grip on the now-statue serpent, Riku gave a nod of approval.
"Thanks, Shinya. Take this thing with you. No need to leave a giant sculpture in the middle of the village."
Though he knew the petrification could wear off eventually, Riku didn’t really care what Shinya did with the serpent after that.
Shinya let out a booming laugh. "That was the most fun I’ve had in ages! Want me to deal with the rest of the ninjas for you?"
Riku shook his head with a small smile. "Nah. You’d just flatten the village. Head back—you’ve done enough."
Shinya didn’t argue. "Very well."
In a flash, he disappeared from the village, taking the petrified serpent with him.
Once the dust settled, Riku stepped off the rooftop.
Morino Ibiki approached him, his expression weary.
"Riku... where the hell have you been? If you’d been here earlier, none of this would’ve happened."
There was a note of bitterness in his voice. The idea that Konohagakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, had to rely on a twelve-year-old to survive... it stung.
Riku smiled faintly. "I went out to train. What’s the damage, Captain Ibiki?"
Ibiki turned and looked out at the ravaged village. His face darkened.
"To stop that serpent, we lost multiple Jōnin and over a dozen Chūnin. Sunagakure was behind it, working with Orochimaru. So far... the death toll is at 167."
Most of the Jōnin killed had been special Jōnin—normally, elite ninja wouldn’t die so easily, but against that monster, they never stood a chance.
And the village didn’t have many Jōnin to spare—most were still fighting the Sunagakure and Otogakure shinobi who had infiltrated during the invasion.
Riku’s expression grew grim. His eyes scanned the battlefield, then narrowed.
"That’s the Third Hokage’s chakra... I can feel Orochimaru nearby, too. But Hiruzen’s chakra is... faint."
Even as he spoke, Hiruzen Sarutobi was already in the midst of performing the Reaper Death Seal.
Ibiki sighed heavily. "It all happened too fast. We made some preparations, but we didn’t expect this. So many elite ninja, and then Orochimaru... and that serpent..." He trailed off. "Konoha’s strength will be cut in half after this."
And he was right.
Konoha had lost almost half its active shinobi force. Missions would pile up, defenses would be weakened—and recovery would take years.
Sunagakure had sent over a hundred elite ninja. Many Konoha shinobi had died before they even understood what was happening.
And without Riku, Jiraiya, or the Third Hokage, no one in the village had been strong enough to face the three-headed serpent.
Danzo might have had an answer—but he and his Root operatives were conspicuously absent.
They hadn’t lifted a finger.
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