Chapter 25—The Last Subject

Ran sat up, feeling slightly groggy. "Ugh, what happened?" Her hand went automatically to her shoulder but it hardly hurt anymore. She looked down at it, confused, and the crystal around her neck caught her eye.

"Not this again." She grabbed it, about to pull it off when Orochimaru stepped up to her. Ran hesitated.

Last time it didn't do anything to me. Actually, it felt like it helped me. Maybe… I can use it. She stood and faced Orochimaru.

"You want me to test it again, right? Fine." Ran sped through the hand signs and touched the crystal. Immediately she felt chakra rush into her body. He's injured, she thought. This is my chance!

Without warning, she created a lightning clone and it leapt at Orochimaru as Ran started a new set of hand signs. Orochimaru sensed the nature of the clone just in time to keep himself from destroying it, but instead it collided with him and he crashed to the floor with the clone on top of him.

Deep set instinct had Orochimaru immediately sinking into the stone without much conscious thought, but it was the first time he had attempted to mold chakra since the last crystal had shattered. His grasp on the technique faltered, forcing him to resurface only seconds later, right beside the clone.

Ran had already completed her next jutsu and lightning chakra for the false darkness technique flashed in her hand. Orochimaru reached up from the floor and called forth several snakes but Ran sliced through them easily. The clone leapt on him again.

She's trying to force me to destroy it. Fine. He pushed his foot against the clone's torso and shoved it back, careful to use only enough force to move it away from him. Then, undaunted by his impaired chakra control, he formed the hand signs for a fire technique and engulfed the clone in an intense blaze. It sparked and snapped in the flames before vanishing harmlessly.

As his technique burned out, Orochimaru felt a strange pulse creep through him. Pressure was building in his chest, squeezing his lungs, and his body folded as blood rose in his throat.

Ran smirked. I knew it. She swung her arm, bringing the concentrated lightning down on Orochimaru, but he slipped away and shot across the floor toward Ran. His body stretched and he wrapped himself around her, cutting off her technique and squeezing the air from her lungs. An arm slid up toward Ran's neck, but before he could wrap it around her throat he felt electricity building in her body. As quickly as he had attacked, Orochimaru withdrew, releasing her in a second and putting some distance between them.

She can channel her chakra through every part of her body at once, even with the change in nature, he thought, only mildly surprised. I can't risk direct contact carelessly. He tried to ready himself for her next attack and abruptly discovered that his body would not move. The slow, unnatural pulse had returned, reaching out into his limbs and seizing his muscles.

Ran rushed forward, but still Orochimaru's body would not respond. It can't be helped, he thought. He forced his chakra to gather but the resistance was immense, even as he formed the hand signs he normally would not have needed. He completed the final seal just as Ran brought her attack down on him slicing deep into his shoulder. At the same time that the false darkness connected, Orochimaru shed his body, leaving an empty shell behind to take the blow.

This has gone on long enough. He appeared behind Ran, moving much more quickly now, and grabbed her head. With a sharp twist and a crack, Ran's neck was broken before she even knew Orochimaru was behind her.

Orochimaru reached around and took the crystal from around her neck and let the body fall. It hit the ground heavily then erupted in blue flames and Orochimaru scoffed, stepping back to watch it burn.

I had actually forgotten she was an ANBU. How very young she must have been. Barely an ANBU and certainly not part of the Root division. I'm sure she had only been recruited by Danzō after the shift in power. Were Leaf ninja always so mediocre? He sighed in disappointment and looked down at the light blue crystal in his hand as it shone with the bright reflection of the firelight.

Well, never mind. I got what I wanted.