Chapter 147: Uzumaki Naruto… we'll meet again.
The instant the white-scaled, black-haired serpent's icy fangs—carrying Orochimaru's glee and certainty—sank into the neck of "Naruto."
A sudden change!
The branch in the Shadow Clone's hand, infused with Chakra, sliced into Orochimaru's serpent body.
A vicious gleam flashed in the white-scaled serpent's eyes.
The brat was clearly trying to trade lives, but his goal was to seize the body, not kill it.
This body will soon be mine… no!
Orochimaru's eyes widened.
The Naruto who had just severed his serpent body and been bitten in the neck began to turn transparent, indistinct, and then—
With a pop, Naruto became a dense white cloud of smoke that quickly dispersed into the air.
Shadow Clone!
This wasn't the real Naruto at all.
He'd been completely played!
Hiss—
The bisected but still-conscious white-scaled, black-haired serpent let out a shrill, venomous cry.
Its golden vertical pupils glared at the vanishing smoke, filled with humiliation and fury at being toyed with.
Ugh!
It wrenched open its jaws again and, from deep in its throat, disgorged a figure curled like a newborn, wrapped in viscous translucent fluid!
The newly emerged Orochimaru sprawled on the leaf-strewn, blood-spattered ground, gasping, body slick with reptilian slime.
He lifted his head toward where the Shadow Clone had vanished, then at the two halves of the dying white serpent and the torn female corpse nearby. "Damn it…"
Clenching his teeth, he forced out a voice thick with fury and frustration, golden eyes burning with cold fire.
"It… was a Shadow Clone?"
Even the Uchiha Clan and later the Ōtsutsuki of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations can't tell a Shadow Clone from the original.
Even someone like Uchiha Madara could only judge by experience; Orochimaru hadn't seen that this Naruto was a clone.
This Uzumaki Naruto—his strength, cunning, and secret techniques—far exceeded every report, becoming an utterly unpredictable variable.
Orochimaru rose slowly; though battered, his new body retained mobility and Chakra.
Face dark, he swiftly assessed the situation.
So the Old Man's been secretly grooming him!
The boy's displayed power was nothing like the talentless, hard-working Naruto described in the intel.
"Uzumaki Naruto…"
Orochimaru murmured the name, eyes glinting with complex light.
Two consecutive Orochimaru-style body substitutions had taken their toll.
Toward Naruto he felt rage, caution, defeat—but beneath it all, greed for a "precious vessel" and "research subject" burned hotter.
First, he had to regroup, recover, and handle this unfathomable blond far more carefully.
Knowing Minato, he'd sealed the Nine-Tails into his son before death.
That meant the boy, if cornered, might go Tailed Beast—perfect.
The Konoha Crush Plan needed Shukaku to rampage; if the Nine-Tails joined in, all the better.
He wouldn't give up Naruto's body, so this was the only way.
"Uzumaki Naruto… we'll meet again."
With a final glance at the wrecked battlefield, Orochimaru melted into the shadows of the Forest of Death and vanished.
After rendezvousing with Team Eight and Neji, Naruto received the clone's memories.
The one chasing them had indeed been Orochimaru.
Naruto kept moving.
The four squads now held three heaven scrolls and four earth scrolls—one heaven short of all reaching the tower at the forest's center.
The twelve swept through the Forest of Death in search of it.
——————————
Afternoon sunlight slanted through the windows onto the tidy living-room.
Hanabi, cloth in hand, stood on tiptoe to dust the high shelves.
She had volunteered for the cleaning.
Karin, awkward, watched Hanabi bustle about, offering items when she could.
Days of good nutrition had brightened Karin's red hair and healed her wounds.
When Hanabi finished the shelves she bustled into Naruto's bedroom to straighten the bed.
Lifting the mattress, she noticed the spare bedding beneath had been used—folded differently from before.
The little girl's curiosity flared.
She stepped back into the living-room, pale eyes blinking, and asked casually, "Karin-nee, do you… sleep in Naruto-nii's bed at night?"
Startled, Karin nodded. "Yeah."
Remembering how Naruto had given up his bed and slept on the floor, she smiled softly.
"Naruto-kun's really kind. He let me have the bed so I wouldn't be scared, and slept beside me on the floor…"
Though she'd asked because of her fear, he'd agreed without hesitation.
Recalling how he'd held her hand through the night, she added quietly, "And he even held my hand while we slept… he makes me feel so safe."
She spoke only to share warmth and gratitude.
But to Hanabi, "held my hand while we slept" struck like lightning.
Hand-holding while sleeping?!
Her Byakugan eyes snapped wide.
She stared at Karin, innocence gone, replaced by shock and a sudden sense of crisis.
Seeing Karin touch her reddening face in fond memory, Hanabi's temples bulged.
She activated her Byakugan.
Voice rising with unchild-like interrogation, she demanded
So… Naruto-nii likes holding your hand while he sleeps, Karin-nee?
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