"Watch closely, Sasuke, I'll only teach you once how to thoroughly beat this kind of enemy!"
Naruto stood with his back to Sasuke, asserting his dominance.
The stage was set. The lights, the music, and whatever else—turn everything on! I'm about to show off!
However, after sensing his surroundings, Naruto suddenly realized the stage seemed... a little small. The only audience was Sasuke. Nearby, apart from Shikamaru and Choji of Team Ten, there were only six Anbu members and Examiner Anko, whom he had blocked with genjutsu outside to prevent them from disturbing Sasuke's fight.
Naruto hadn't wanted to go all out. Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? If this were a talent show, this second exam round was just an audition. As a guaranteed champion, why would he reveal his best moves in an audition? He should at least wait until the finals, no, perhaps the semifinals would do, or even the quarterfinals might be acceptable. No, that's not right either.
Anyway, he should at least wait until he was on a highly anticipated stage before revealing his trump cards. This small audience made it difficult for him to perform!
But, seeing Sasuke's expectant gaze, Naruto decided to thoroughly beat the opponent into a dog first.
"You are..."
Orochimaru, refreshed by using the Great Serpent Fluid Substitution Jutsu, saw the blond boy and recalled some of the information Kabuto Yakushi had provided yesterday, instantly understanding.
"Naruto Uzumaki?"
"Oh? You know me?"
Naruto suddenly became interested. He had always kept a low profile before yesterday, so it seemed this person also had sources of information. Who could it be? Ugh, too many suspects, he couldn't think it through. Looking at this person again, their chakra was cold and sinister, and they liked playing with snakes. Overall, their image strikingly matched that of one of the Legendary Sannin.
"You're... Orochimaru?"
He didn't quite look like it though. The gender was wrong. Since when did Orochimaru become a woman?
"I never thought that after ten years, there would still be children in Konoha who remember me."
?
What kind of talk was that? Could you stop babies from crying at night or something? Besides, the Sannin? That was decades ago. Now was the era of the youth!
"Stop the nonsense," Naruto didn't have time to bother with trivialities. "Hey, old man—no, old woman..." No, that's not right either, they looked quite young. This complicated situation, comparable to LGBTQ and helicopters and Walmart shopping bags, made Naruto unsure how to address the person for a moment. This person would be a version's darling in the U.S., but unfortunately, it wouldn't work after the country was founded.
No longer fixated on the address, Naruto directly began to hawk, "Do you have enough chakra? If not, I have Blue Happy Pills here, 200,000 ryo a piece, honest business." He wasn't afraid of anything else, only that Sasuke would think he won unfairly.
"Hehehe," Orochimaru let out a sinister chuckle. How many Konoha ninja would go weak in the knees just hearing his name, yet this person? He saw no respect whatsoever. This Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, so frivolous in speech, was utterly different from the Fourth Hokage. That Fourth Hokage, even as his rival for the Hokage position back then, he couldn't find a single fault with Minato. Though his defeat wasn't entirely convincing, at least he didn't resent Minato.
And this one? Arrogant, frivolous. The two didn't seem like father and son at all. Was it his strength that made him so arrogant? Although Kabuto Yakushi hadn't fully understood the situation in the examination hall at the time, thinking it was the examiners exerting power, overall, the strength Naruto Uzumaki displayed then was merely using genjutsu to instantly defeat his subordinates. While he had some talent in genjutsu, that was all. Without the Sharingan, what good was strong genjutsu? Was Orochimaru's genjutsu not strong? Yet it still collapsed before Itachi.
He had seen many such ninja in his life, self-satisfied and arrogant because of a little bit of power, only to end up as fools fallen on the battlefield.
"It's enough to kill you, Naruto-kun!" At this moment, even though this was the village's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, a trace of killing intent arose in Orochimaru.
Kill me? Naruto scoffed. You really dare to dream.
"Alright, in that case, don't say I'm bullying an elder!"
Before his words even finished, Orochimaru stretched his snake body and attacked at an extremely fast speed. So impatient? Naruto calmly formed hand signs. His hand signs were incredibly fast, his hands blurring into afterimages.
"Lightning Release: Gatling!"
Ddddddddd~
Naruto's mouth became like a Gatling gun, countless short bursts of lightning 'bullets' flying out of it. The continuous light bullets formed a straight line, sweeping rotationally towards Orochimaru. The light bullets didn't look remarkable, but even falling on dry, insulated trees, they still scorched large areas black. Although Orochimaru's snake body was incredibly fast, it was still not as fast as Naruto's ability to change direction.
Snap~ Hiss~
Orochimaru was suddenly struck by a lightning bullet, and paralyzing electricity rapidly spread throughout his body. Instantly, his snake body turned charred black and carbonized.
Snap~ snap~ snap~
Another dozen or so lightning bullets hit him consecutively. This body was deader than dead.
"Boring," Naruto explained to Sasuke behind him, "See? This is Lightning Release."
"My Lightning Release, it works!"
"Your Lightning Release, it doesn't work!"
Sasuke was astonished to see Orochimaru lose a life so easily to Naruto. Hearing Naruto's words, the competitive Sasuke's face flushed with anger, but he couldn't refute. He had been training Lightning Release in the training space for nearly three months and was no longer an ignorant youth. Naruto's Lightning Release wasn't just a change in form; its nature transformation was astonishing, otherwise, it wouldn't have such immense power. Compared to Naruto, he was still far behind in Lightning Release.
"Naruto can do it, and I will too in the future!"
Turning back, Naruto saw a snake crawling out of the charred corpse, and the snake opened its mouth, a wet person climbing out from within. Who else could it be but Orochimaru?
Such powerful Lightning Release!
Orochimaru looked at Naruto deeply, his eyes filled with shock. He really couldn't have imagined that this brat's Lightning Release mastery had reached such a level. To develop such a ninjutsu using Lightning Release chakra, it was at least an A-rank jutsu. Just now, he had personally experienced it with his own body; upon contact with the lightning, he was instantly paralyzed and lost consciousness, then his entire body was electrocuted. Instant death.
Orochimaru knew he couldn't continue the fight. He had little chakra left, and fighting an opponent like this wouldn't end quickly. Continuing would mean dying here. Besides, it seemed a few Konoha ninja who had noticed something were rushing over. He hadn't seen them before, but now they were hurrying. How lax, Konoha!
In any case, it was time to leave. He looked at Sasuke with reluctance; there would be plenty of time in the future. Once Konoha collapsed, and no one could protect Sasuke, his ally could deliver Sasuke into his hands. He just needed to wait patiently.
He looked at Naruto again; this was also a genius. No wonder he was so arrogant. Naruto, Sasuke, and the others mentioned in his intelligence, Lee and Neji. Especially Naruto and Sasuke.
Heh, Konoha.
Even in such stagnant waters, such geniuses could be nurtured. What a pity, a windmill that doesn't turn has no value to behold. These people had no room to truly display themselves. Only when a strong wind came to stir the windmill and clear the dark clouds would these geniuses truly shine.
"Both of you, we'll meet again!" Orochimaru's body gradually merged into a large tree, preparing to leave. He was confident that the two of them couldn't stop him. Orochimaru prided himself on his numerous escape techniques; while he wouldn't claim to defeat every opponent in the ninja world, when it came to staying alive, no one could rival him.
"Huh? Running already? As expected of one of the Sannin, truly decisive."
Turning back, Naruto signaled to Sasuke again, "Just now I showed you Lightning Release, now I'll show you Fire Release."
Looking at the vanishing Orochimaru, Naruto formed hand signs. As soon as he formed the Horse sign, the chakra within him instantly surged. The surging chakra shockwave almost blew Sasuke away. This terrifying chakra made Sasuke's heart pound.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Overwhelming flames, covering the sky, enveloped everything in sight. Even from high in the sky, one could see a large expanse of fire erupting, engulfing and consuming the entire forest.
Was this still the Fire Release he knew? Sasuke began to doubt his life.
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