But at the same time, he was certain that he could never lose to Zabuza again.
The guy in front of him was the same, if he got serious for even a moment, he could…
"Oh my, how exciting, this Lightning Release, and the way you broke free from my Golden Binding Technique in an instant," Lifting his eyelids slightly, Orochimaru, disguised as a ninja from the Hidden Sound Village, looked with admiration at the Uchiha boy charging toward him with Chidori in hand.
Although the Uzumaki brat, suspected to be the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, didn't seem afraid of his Golden Binding Technique either, the way he tripped over a tree root and fell flat after taking just a couple steps toward him instantly reminded Orochimaru of Jiraiya.
So he immediately ignored that one.
As for the last one, the pink-haired girl… she was still trembling in place, paralyzed by the killing intent he was giving off.
"To awaken the Three Tomoe Sharingan at such a young age, you truly delight me, Uchiha boy."
Zzztt!
The Chidori, full of unstoppable momentum, cleared away all the surrounding branches.
But when it reached Orochimaru, it could no longer make a sound.
"Ah!!!", At the same time, what rang out was Sasuke's scream of agony.
Crack.
Orochimaru had precisely grabbed Sasuke's wrist and then gently twisted it.
Sasuke's hand could no longer move.
"My hand! Ah!!", The intense pain from the sudden dislocation of his wrist made Sasuke fall to his knees.
"But Konoha's 'infant' education seems to make one's body a bit too fragile," While critiquing Konoha's "happy education," Orochimaru looked somewhat sympathetically at Sasuke's twisted arm.
After all, this was going to be his future body. Damaging it wouldn't be good. He might as well fix it.
Crack!
This time, it was the sound of setting the bone back in place.
"AHHHHH!!!!", But it made Sasuke scream in even greater pain.
"Sasuke!!" Naruto, who had gotten back up from the ground, was shocked to see Sasuke so easily subdued and even kneeling and screaming. He immediately charged in recklessly.
'How could this be? Sasuke is so strong, yet he can't even land a single move?'
"Foolish little brat," Orochimaru casually smacked Naruto aside.
'Huh?'
Only after seeing the opponent vanish into a puff of white smoke did Orochimaru start taking it more seriously.
'A shadow clone? Interesting.'
"Over here! You bastard… take my Rasengan!", At some unknown point, Naruto, hiding in the trees, used his shadow clones to help his real body unleash a fully-formed Rasengan.
And he had landed right behind Orochimaru.
"This jutsu… so you really are the child of the previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."
Facing the Rasengan, Orochimaru didn't dare let down his guard.
However, with Naruto's speed, Orochimaru only needed to shift his foot slightly to dodge the attack.
BOOM!
The Rasengan blasted a circular hole into the tree trunk.
And the treetop that Orochimaru and Sasuke were standing on tilted and fell with the collapsing tree.
Naruto used the opportunity to rescue Sasuke, who had collapsed beneath Orochimaru.
"Useless, Sasuke."
"You… hmph, I was just careless just now!"
After his palm had recovered, Sasuke shoved Naruto aside.
'To think I have been reduced to being saved by the dead-last… seriously…'
"But this guy is different from any ninja we've faced before. Don't get cocky," Seeing Naruto using shadow clone tactics to surround the Sound ninja, Sasuke gave a reminder.
Sure enough, just a short moment later, all of Naruto's shadow clones vanished with puff puff puff sounds, and he himself was knocked flying, crashing into the grass face-first.
"If you don't bring out your true strength now, you'll lose your chance, little brats of Konoha," Orochimaru licked his lips with his tongue. He decided to hold back a little more to see what this Uchiha boy was truly capable of.
Rustle!
Orochimaru's slippery body coiled around the fallen tree like a snake, his form becoming as large as a python.
He even extended a long, snake-like tongue.
'Let me slowly evaluate your strength,' Before long, the Orochimaru coiled around the tree transformed into a giant brown python.
"Ah, t-this guy. What the heck is he, a man or a snake?", Naruto, who had just emerged from the ground, was so shocked by Orochimaru's form that he took a big step back.
It was his first time seeing such a giant snake.
"Hmph, stop pretending to be some spooky demon!", Sasuke, clutching his right hand, stood up and reopened his Three Tomoe Sharingan.
'Genjutsu: Sharingan!'
'Now that the guy's body is so huge, he won't be able to avoid eye contact. Let's see how he dodges my genjutsu now!'
Sasuke wasn't frightened by Orochimaru's snake form. On the contrary, he immediately seized the opportunity to counterattack with genjutsu.
But the giant brown python only froze for a second before instantly snapping out of it and opened its bloody maw at him.
'No way, my genjutsu doesn't work on him?', Sasuke quickly calmed himself and leapt away from his original position to avoid the strike.
'No, maybe this python isn't his real body.'
'Though the Sharingan can't see through solid objects, it can detect chakra flow.'
Sasuke began scanning the surroundings with his Sharingan, hoping to catch traces of the enemy's real body.
'Looks like I have to deal with this snake first if I want to force him to show up.'
Failing to find any clues, Sasuke had no choice but to handle the giant python in front of him.
But then…
Puff! Puff! Puff!
More giant pythons appeared from the smoke.
They launched attacks toward Naruto and Sakura nearby.
"Naruto!", Seeing Naruto body-slam Sakura out of the way and then get swallowed by a giant python, Sasuke couldn't help crying out.
Such a critical situation reminded Sasuke of the moment they faced Zabuza.
'No, no way. I won't be as powerless as I was back then!'
Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!
While hurling shuriken to distract and draw the snakes' attention, Sasuke quickly formed hand seals.
Whoosh!
Ferocious flames instantly engulfed the giant pythons before him.
"Did I do it?"
Seeing the giant pythons charred and collapsing in the fire, Sasuke let out a small breath of relief.
'Wait a second, Naruto might've…'
He burned the snake to death, but Naruto had been swallowed.
'Is he suffocating in there?'
"This chakra, the power of this jutsu. You really are the perfect vessel!"
Squelch!
From the back of one of the fallen python corpses, Orochimaru appeared before Sasuke, completely unharmed.
"But this level of genjutsu still isn't enough to deal with me," Seeing Sasuke attempt to use Sharingan genjutsu on him again, Orochimaru just chuckled softly and then instantly vanished on the spot.
'Ninjutsu and genjutsu have been tested, next is taijutsu.'
'Let me see your limits, Uchiha Sasuke!'
"So fast…", With no time to worry about Naruto's condition, Sasuke focused all his attention on the enemy before him.
But even with his Three Tomoe Sharingan, it was hard to keep up with that speed.
'Is this guy a monster?'
Seeing the opponent darting around at high speed, even leaving behind afterimages that stirred the wind, Sasuke couldn't help shrinking back.
'Even if my eyes can track his movements… my body can't keep up…'
Thud!
Before he could react, Sasuke's nose was slammed by a punch. Then came a blow to the stomach.
"With such a great Sharingan, but your physical abilities are only at chunin level, that's such a waste!", After kicking Sasuke away, Orochimaru seemed a bit dissatisfied with Sasuke's physical strength.
He had even held back, and yet Sasuke still couldn't keep up.
'Hage I placed too much expectation?'
He'd thought this Uchiha boy could rival jonin, but he was only at the level of a strong chunin or a tokubetsu jonin at most.
Still, even so, this Uchiha boy in front of him was enough to make him excited.
'It's just… not perfect.'
"Damn it…", Beaten down and humiliated by words, Sasuke couldn't hold back any longer.
'Taijutsu, huh…'
Recalling the match he had during the Chunin Exams registration against Rock Lee from Team 10, Sasuke suddenly thought of something.
His Sharingan wasn't just for genjutsu and reading enemy movements.
It can also copy.
Just like that guy, Kakashi.
Eight Inner Gates: First Gate, Gate of Opening. Open!
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