"Long time no see… Anko."
With a slow, deliberate motion, Orochimaru reached up and peeled off his face like a sheet of paper. Beneath the false skin, his real visage emerged — pale, sharp, and serpentine.
His thin lips curled into a half-smile as his golden eyes glimmered with mock affection.
"Even if it costs me my life," Anko hissed, gripping her kunai tight, "I'll defeat you here and now. That's my duty — as your former subordinate, and as a Leaf shinobi, Orochimaru!"
Her killing intent flared like a storm.
Orochimaru chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Oh, Anko… still so earnest. If you'd ever truly been capable, I wouldn't have abandoned you in the first place."
Before she could respond, his jaw distended unnaturally — and his tongue shot forward like a crimson spear.
SWISH!
Anko caught it mid-strike, wrapping it around her forearm. Her left hand flashed through seals.
"Ninja Art — Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Black serpents burst from her sleeve, hissing violently as they coiled toward him.
CRACK! CRACK!
In an instant, the snakes bound Orochimaru's body. Anko yanked hard, slamming him against a nearby tree.
Her kunai flashed. THWACK!
Blood splattered across the bark as she pinned him there, both their hands nailed to the trunk.
"Got you," she hissed.
But Orochimaru's laughter slithered through the air behind her.
"That's just a substitution, my dear. You're still far too naive."
Anko's pupils shrank.
Then — she smiled.
"How do you know this is the real me?"
Another Anko appeared beside the unconscious Suigetsu, dragging him clear of the battlefield. The clone that had fought Orochimaru flickered out of existence, dissolving into smoke.
Even Orochimaru raised a brow, mildly impressed.
"Well, well. It seems Konoha's training programs have improved."
The Konoha Genin — Sakura, Ino, and Choji — had just finished crushing the last of the giant snakes. When they spotted Anko, they practically cheered.
"Sensei! You're amazing!"
"Finally, someone strong enough to deal with this freak!"
Even the Mist trio — Chojuro, Toyichiro, and Suigetsu — breathed a sigh of relief, gratitude written across their faces.
But Orochimaru only narrowed his eyes, his expression twisting into something darker.
"My patience is wearing thin," he said softly. "Hand over the boy, Anko. I've no interest in your little games. Interfere again, and Konoha itself will pay the price."
"The future of Konoha," a calm voice called from above, "isn't yours to decide."
All eyes turned upward.
Sasuke stood on a branch high above them, looking down at Orochimaru with icy disdain.
"Hey!" Anko barked. "This is an active exam zone. No outsiders allowed!"
Her instincts as a proctor kicked in immediately.
But Sasuke's response was curt, his tone cold.
"I'm not part of the exam. I'm here on orders from Jōnin Uzumaki Naruto — investigating the southern border massacre."
At the mention of Naruto's name, Anko hesitated, then nodded. "Understood. You're cleared."
Sakura's heart leapt at seeing Sasuke — and then immediately sank again as Orochimaru's gaze fixed on him.
Those golden eyes gleamed like a predator's.
"Oh my…" Orochimaru purred, licking his lips. "That chakra… that look in your eyes… an Uchiha. What a delightful surprise."
His fascination was almost tangible — the hunger of a collector who'd found his next prize.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "The way you're looking at me… makes me want to kill you."
Orochimaru chuckled. "Ah, the temper of youth. You remind me of your brother, you know. Except… you might actually surpass him."
"Enough talk," Sasuke snapped. "Where's Shimura Danzō?"
Orochimaru's smirk widened. "Beat me… and maybe I'll tell you."
Sasuke's expression hardened. "Fine. I'll test whether the great Orochimaru still deserves to be called one of the Sannin."
He vanished.
WHOOSH!
In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Orochimaru, fist flying.
BOOM!
The impact sent Orochimaru skidding backward through the dirt, his feet carving trenches in the ground.
"What power…" he muttered, shaking his arm. "That punch—almost as heavy as Tsunade's."
Sasuke straightened, eyes burning red. "If this is all you've got, you're not even worth my time."
Orochimaru's smile thinned.
"Cocky brat."
A sickening series of cracks echoed from his body as his joints twisted, realigning unnaturally. His chakra spiked, the air around him warping.
"Let's play, then."
He flashed through seals.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
A barrage of serpents burst from his sleeves, faster and stronger than before.
Sasuke didn't even flinch.
"Lightning Style — Thousand Needle Storm!"
The air exploded with light as countless bolts of electricity rained down, piercing every snake in mid-air and nailing them to the ground, twitching and smoking.
ZRAK! ZRAK!
Then the two collided — taijutsu and ninjutsu clashing in a furious storm of motion.
BAM! BAM! WHAM!
They were blurs, flickering through the trees, the forest echoing with the shockwaves of their blows.
No one could follow their movements — not the Mist nin, not the Konoha Genin, not even Anko. Only when their fists connected did their silhouettes briefly appear before vanishing again.
Anko clenched her fists, frustration twisting in her chest.
She'd trained for years, sharpening her body and mind just to someday face Orochimaru again — and now, watching this battle, she realized she was still nowhere near him.
Even Suigetsu, newly freed from his seal, could only stare.
"That Uchiha kid…" he muttered. "He's about our age."
Chojuro nodded weakly. "Maybe even younger."
"Monsters," Toyichiro said quietly. "Konoha's full of them."
They all felt it — that deep, humbling sense of inferiority.
All this time, they'd thought themselves prodigies. But compared to what they were seeing now…
They were nothing.
On the sidelines, Sakura watched with awe and disbelief.
"So this is… Sasuke-kun's true strength?" she whispered.
Ino nodded slowly. "He wasn't even going all-out during training camp."
Choji's jaw dropped as the two fighters vanished again in a burst of speed and light.
Orochimaru — one of the Legendary Sannin.
Sasuke — a Chunin barely in his teens.
And yet the two were fighting on equal ground.
For the first time, everyone watching truly understood —
Uchiha Sasuke wasn't just a genius.
He was the kind of genius who could crush his entire generation beneath his feet.
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