A Growing Affection

Chapter 97: Toad and Snake

Orochimaru frowned angrily: but Manda's green eyes brightened evilly, and his mouth twisted in a reptilian smirk.

"Gamabunta,"  the giant serpent hissed with a dark pleasure, "I was afraid I would  never get to see you again. I remember what that knife of yours did to  me, the last time we met."

The snake's tongue flickered over the  roof of his mouth, where Tsunade had impaled him with the tanto the size  of a small building. 'Bunta drew the dagger in question, and Manda's  eyes traced the edge of the blade.

"I still owe you for that. And this time you don't have Katsuyu or her contractor to protect you," the reptile coiled to lunge.

"You  mean they aren't here to get in my way this time," the chief toad  countered. He hunched down lower, gathering the strength in his legs.

Both  of the giant animals sprang at the same time, and Gamabunta blocked  Manda's fangs with his knife. Then the amphibian's right leg kicked out  again, catching the snake a third of the way down his length. There was a  cracking sound under the toad's foot, but Naruto could not tell if it  was bone, or just scales. But the blonde human did not have time to  examine that.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu," Orochimaru begin to blow multiple small fireballs at Naruto and 'Bunta.

"Fuuton:  Cyclone Spikes Barrage!" Naruto countered with his upgraded version of  the wind darts. He shot one green dart into each of the flames, bursting  them but also destroying the spike in the process.

'If mom could  do it, so can I,' Naruto remembered the first story he had heard of  Yukihana, and incanted, "Doton: Stone Claws Jutsu."

He poured  extra chakra into the technique, and the claws that emerged were larger,  longer, and sturdier than usual. They latched onto the giant snake, and  held Manda down.

"Raiton: Sparkling Coat Jutsu," Orochimaru sent  an electrical charge over Manda's scales, shocking 'Bunta where the toad  was trying the shoulder the snake the rest of the way to the ground.

"Raiton:  Stone Cracker Jutsu," the Sannin piggybacked the energy of the  Sparkling Coat, and sent more lightning down to destroy the Stone Claws.  Manda extended his body higher for another strike, while the chief toad  shook out his right arm where it had been burned. The serpent's fangs  darted in again, and Gamabunta brought up his tanto one handed,  deflecting the snake rather than stopping him. As the constrictor  passed, Naruto saw some sort of thick gel glistening on his teeth.

"What's on his fangs?" Naruto asked his ally.

"Venom  envy," 'Bunta answered, "Since he can't produce his own poison, he has  started taking the poison of other members of the snake clan, and  coating his fangs with it."

He hopped up, and kicked out again,  but the snake twisted out of the way, and then wrapped the toad's  extended leg with the tip of his tail.

"Fuuton: Tornado Lance  Jutsu," Naruto quickly summoned up the larger wind projectile, and threw  it into the coil around Gamabunta's lower limb, forcing the snake to  let go before he could crush the appendage.

"Orochimaru," Manda  hissed carefully, "I think if you can get the boy away from Gamabunta, I  would be better able to fight the toad."

The Sannin considered  that. He had wasted a great deal of chakra on the Five Souls Underworld  Connection and had taken a few hits from Haku. Orochimaru had not felt  he had a sure win against Uzumaki in his current state, which was why he  summoned Manda. And, of course, teleporting the giant serpent had taken  even more energy. On the other hand, Naruto had used some of his power  to summon the amphibian, and Manda had a point. If he could tie up  Naruto for a few minutes, and the snake could defeat or drive off the  toad, then it would be back to two on one in his favor.