c11: Battle with Orochimaru
Since he had already been discovered, Naruto didn't waste time with useless talk. He launched a swirling barrage of shuriken at Orochimaru, forcing him to adjust his posture. Immediately afterward Naruto formed rapid hand seals, creating more than a hundred shadow clones, all of whom unleashed additional volleys of shuriken and kunai. But Orochimaru twisted his body like a serpent, gliding through the attacks effortlessly. With a sinister smirk, he slammed his hand to the ground and summoned a giant snake. Its massive tail crushed trees as it emerged, and even Sasuke trembled at the creature's size. Sakura nearly fainted, while Naruto, seeing such a monstrous summon for the first time, couldn't help but acknowledge the terrifying skill of one of the legendary Sannin.
Naruto didn't hesitate. He formed hand seals with one clone, and together they executed a powerful combination ninjutsu Wind Release: Gale Burst fused with Fire Release: Great Fireball. The merging flames roared forward with tremendous speed, expanding into a devastating inferno. The sheer scale and force of the attack lit up the forest, scorching the air and scattering debris in its wake.
The jutsu far exceeded Orochimaru's initial expectations. He retreated with a look of genuine surprise, his eyes widening slightly. Inwardly he thought, "I didn't expect Konoha to produce such a prodigy. His power might surpass even Itachi's at that age. That level of elemental fusion is above what ordinary jōnin can do. Besides Sasuke… perhaps I've found another interesting specimen."
Still, Orochimaru was one of the Three Legendary Sannin. Even caught off guard, he quickly reacted, slamming his hand down and summoning the Rashōmon gate. The massive demonic gate rose from the earth, barely withstanding the fused flames. Orochimaru's giant snake vanished into the blaze, retreating to the summoning realm from the overwhelming heat.
Orochimaru licked his lips with his unnaturally long tongue, amused. "I didn't expect there to be someone this strong among the genin… how interesting." Without warning, he vanished from sight.
The instant he disappeared, Naruto activated every ounce of chakra in his system. Lightning chakra exploded across his body the incomplete "Lightning God Armor" he had been developing. Electricity spread across his head, torso, and upper limbs, increasing his reaction speed. A heartbeat later, a kunai appeared less than ten centimeters from his throat. Naruto barely tilted aside in time, blocking with his own kunai. The impact blasted him backward, Orochimaru's strength far exceeding his expectations.
After several rapid exchanges, Naruto found himself barely staying afloat. Then Orochimaru delivered a chakra-filled kick, sending a powerful shockwave through the clearing. Naruto, who had been struggling to parry with his kunai, was struck in the abdomen. Even with the protection of his lightning armor, he flew nearly ten meters, tumbling across the ground and coughing from the internal damage.
Orochimaru, meanwhile, suffered only a slight burn on his leg—a minor injury by his standards but the fact that Naruto damaged him at all was remarkable. Looking at the scorch mark on his limb, Orochimaru muttered, "I see… he's mastered both form change and nature change. Imperfect, but impressive. I may need to take him a bit more seriously."
Orochimaru lunged forward again, this time drawing the Kusanagi sword from his mouth. The legendary blade capable of cutting through almost anything glimmered ominously. Naruto felt genuine fear. "You can't be serious… even with my Lightning Armor, I can't block the Kusanagi. And our power gap is still huge." With Orochimaru rushing toward him, Naruto rapidly created dozens of shadow clones to stall him. But the clones popped one after another; even with group coordination, none could land a meaningful hit.
Seeing this, Naruto quickly carved a Flying Thunder God mark into the earth with a kunai, preparing an escape plan. Orochimaru realized what he was doing and accelerated, cutting through the clones with frightening ease.
Naruto tried to distract him. While retreating, he used Lightning Release to stun Orochimaru for a split second, simultaneously directing his remaining clones to launch another combined Wind-Fire attack. The explosion lit up the forest. But when the smoke cleared, all they found was an Earth-Style substitution an earthen replica of Orochimaru crumbling apart.
Naruto reacted instantly and executed the Substitution Technique. Orochimaru's Kusanagi sword sliced through the wooden log instead of Naruto's torso. The Sannin immediately pursued again, closing the distance with inhuman speed. Naruto twisted away from the sword but received another devastating kick, sending him crashing into dense bushes.
Using that instant of cover, Naruto activated the Flying Thunder God technique and escaped, vanishing in a golden flash and reappearing back at the safe marked location he had prepared earlier.
It was clear now: against Orochimaru, even survival was an achievement.
After returning home, Naruto thought of Orochimaru's terrifying strength and felt even more that his own power was insufficient. Although he did not seem to suffer a big loss in the previous battle, in fact Orochimaru's overwhelming killing intent and repeated assaults had caused Naruto to suffer serious internal injuries. Even when compared to the pressure Sasuke felt in the manga when paralyzed by Orochimaru's aura, Naruto's body had endured a similar crushing force. Naruto was also quite exhausted in this battle, and he immediately fell on the bed to rest. Under the influence of the Nine-Tails' chakra and Naruto's exceptional Uzumaki vitality, his internal injuries improved at a relatively fast speed, and it seemed that he needed to rest for a while. On the other side, Orochimaru felt Naruto's presence suddenly vanish after he fell into the bushes, and then he searched the surrounding forest, but there was no trace of Naruto. He couldn't help but think to himself: "To slip away even after being marked by my killing intent what an interesting kid. Still, the real purpose of this visit is the Uchiha."
At this time, Sasuke and Sakura believed Naruto had been killed by Orochimaru. Sakura cried and fainted from shock. Sasuke was also extremely shaken; ever since the Wave Country mission, he and Naruto had grown into rivals who acknowledged each other's strength, almost like brothers in arms. When Sasuke saw Orochimaru turn around with that eerie smile, he overcame his fear and could only think about tearing Orochimaru apart.
Using his Sharingan, he rushed toward Orochimaru regardless of the danger. With the Sharingan active, he could finally read Orochimaru's movements just like how he had predicted Haku's attacks in the Land of Waves and respond in advance. Naruto's earlier resistance had ignited Sasuke's fighting spirit, and he was able to use Fire Release ninjutsu and taijutsu techniques beyond his usual capability. But all of this was like childish trickery before Orochimaru; the sannin slipped around each attack as if dancing, and Sasuke's efforts had almost no real effect. Sakura was powerless as she watched all of this, and again she deeply felt the insufficiency of her own strength, just like when she froze during the Zabuza encounter. Fortunately, Orochimaru was only here to gauge Sasuke's potential, or else far more people would have died in that forest.
After a brief struggle, Orochimaru extended his unnaturally long neck, bit Sasuke's neck, and planted the Cursed Seal of Heaven. The seal's invasive power immediately overwhelmed Sasuke's chakra flow, and he fainted in agony while Orochimaru left with satisfaction. Sakura was devastated, but she had no choice except to drag Sasuke into a hollow tree cave and set simple traps at the entrance similar to how she protected Naruto and Sasuke during the night attack by the Grass ninja in the original story.
Naruto's injuries were nearly healed. He used Flying Thunder God to return to the original location and then traced the area to find Sakura and Sasuke. The two had not traveled far and were soon found by Naruto. However, the scene before him was extremely lively. Not only were Sakura and Sasuke present, but also the three Sound Ninja Dosu, Zaku, and Kin as well as Lee, Neji, Tenten, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, and the others who had intervened earlier in the forest. Sakura was injured and her hair was now shorter, just like in the manga where she cut it to protect Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto happened to witness Sasuke using the Cursed Seal's dark chakra to deal with the Sound Ninja trio. The seal greatly increased Sasuke's power, but that sinister chakra came with danger. Yet with a single attack, Sasuke almost shattered Zaku's arms just as he did in canon. Terrified by the power surging from Sasuke, Sakura quickly stopped him before he delivered a finishing blow; otherwise, all three Sound Ninja might have been killed.
The trio was defeated by Sasuke's overwhelming power. In order to survive, they left behind the Earth Scroll and carried their wounded away. Naruto saw that the timing was finally right, so he jumped down from behind the tree and said, "Sakura, Sasuke, are you okay?" Seeing Naruto alive, Sakura and Sasuke were both shocked and relieved, and said in unison, "Naruto, I'm glad you're alive." Sakura even ran over, hugged Naruto tightly, and cried, "Naruto, thank goodness you're still here. I thought that monster had killed you…"
Naruto touched Sakura's now-shorter hair, feeling it was wrong for such a gentle girl to suffer so much, but the shinobi world was one where only strength mattered, and for everyone's growth he could do nothing except continue comforting her.
The Konoha genin teams exchanged a few words of thanks before parting, each group heading out again to find opponents so they could complete the second exam.
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