Orochimaru had been watching Naruto and Sasuke the whole time.
After hearing their exchange, he became even more interested in Naruto.
A kid who even the younger Uchiha brother trusts—just how strong could he become?
Even though he was still obsessed with the power of the Sharingan, maybe a genius like Naruto could be a good backup option in the future.
Simply put—Naruto had become a candidate.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Orochimaru swung his arm, and several small snakes shot out from his sleeve toward Sasuke. But Sasuke swung the giant cleaver and knocked them away.
He then jumped high into the air and came down on Orochimaru with a Thunder Crescent Slash!
Boom!
The cleaver slammed into the ground with a heavy sound, leaving cracks like a spiderweb all across the floor.
"Your strength's not bad, but you're way too slow," Orochimaru said with a mocking smile, dodging the attack and reappearing at Sasuke's side.
Sasuke's heart skipped a beat, but he reacted quickly. Gritting his teeth, he jumped back to put some distance between them, dragging the huge blade with him.
Then he suddenly stabbed the cleaver into the ground and began forming hand signs with both hands.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Sasuke spat out a huge fireball, but it didn't hit Orochimaru!
Orochimaru easily dodged and reappeared not far from Sasuke, chuckling as he mocked, "Your jutsu's not bad. But with your current strength, carrying that big sword must be a real burden, right?"
"Shut up!!"
Sasuke shouted angrily and swung the Executioner's Blade at Orochimaru again, but Orochimaru dodged it with ease.
"As Itachi Uchiha's little brother, is this all you've got? That's honestly pretty disappointing," Orochimaru said as he moved around easily, continuing to provoke him.
Hearing the name "Itachi Uchiha," Sasuke's face changed slightly, then he demanded, "Who the hell are you?"
Orochimaru gave a soft smile and didn't answer.
This only made the already-angry Sasuke even angrier!
He threw away the Executioner's Blade, pulled out a kunai, and charged at Orochimaru!
From their earlier fight, Sasuke realized using that big sword gave him no advantage at all.
He was already slower than Orochimaru, and the heavy blade just made things worse—there was no way he could keep up!
So he closed the distance and tried to fight hand-to-hand.
With his two-tomoe Sharingan fully activated, Sasuke managed to keep up with Orochimaru for now.
Of course, that was only because Orochimaru was holding back.
Even though Orochimaru wasn't known for taijutsu, it still shouldn't be this hard for him to deal with a lowly genin.
After a dozen or so exchanges, Orochimaru jumped back to create some distance.
Standing on a tree branch, he looked Sasuke over, and for the first time, there was a hint of praise in his eyes. "Not bad, you're using your Sharingan well—you can even track my speed. But that alone still isn't enough!"
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Orochimaru called out several giant snakes to attack Sasuke, while he stood on top of one of them, still toying with him—testing his strength.
He had two reasons for coming to the Chunin Exams in the Konoha Village.
One was to destroy the Konoha.
The other—was to take Uchiha Sasuke with him.
But before that, he had to make sure Sasuke was worth taking.
It wasn't just about how many tomoe his Sharingan had; it was also about Sasuke's talent.
The Uchiha clan used to have many members, but not many awakened the Sharingan. And among those who did, very few ever pushed its power to the limit.
Since Orochimaru was after the power of the Sharingan, he wasn't going to settle for some basic two-tomoe version.
He needed to be sure Sasuke had the potential to awaken something even stronger.
Now, surrounded by several giant snakes, Sasuke was struggling just to keep up.
Kunai were useless against snakes this big, and even C-rank Fire Style jutsu couldn't burn them properly.
So all he could do was keep running around trying to avoid them.
Watching Sasuke get farther and farther away, Naruto frowned slightly.
"This isn't good."
He had promised not to interfere and let Sasuke fight Orochimaru himself, but that didn't mean he'd stand by and do nothing.
If Sasuke was in real danger—or if Orochimaru tried to plant a curse mark on him—Naruto would step in.
It wasn't because he was Sasuke's dad or anything—it was just his duty to protect his teammates during a mission.
Naruto raised his hand, aiming at the snake chasing after Sasuke, ready to take the shot.
But just then, Sasuke seemed to notice and shouted, "This is my fight—stay out of it!"
Right after yelling that, he let his guard down and got slammed by one of the snakes, sent flying into a tree, and crashed to the ground coughing up blood.
Naruto: "..."
You really like getting beat up, don't you?
Watching the snake slowly approach the injured Sasuke, Naruto hesitated—should he step in or not?
If he did, Sasuke would just get mad again.
If he didn't... would Orochimaru actually kill him?
He remembered that one of the rules in the second round of the Chunin Exams was: if a teammate dies, you're out...
"Naruto, please help Sasuke!" Sakura suddenly grabbed Naruto's sleeve and begged.
"It's not that I don't want to... he's the one who told me not to," Naruto said flatly.
"But... but still..."
Seeing Sakura crying, Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit helpless.
No matter what he did, he would end up offending someone.
But he really couldn't let Sasuke die here.
He still needed Sasuke to help him pass the Chunin Exam!
Suddenly, the light in his hand flashed and fired!
Several beams of light shot out, hitting Orochimaru and a few large snakes around him!
The snakes died!
But Orochimaru once again turned into mud and melted away…
"Is this really just a substitution jutsu?" Naruto was starting to doubt it.
Once could be a skill. Twice might be a coincidence. But if it happened a third time… then this Orochimaru in front of them definitely wasn't the real one—just a clone!
So where was the real one?
Was he hiding in the shadows, watching?
Naruto started thinking deeply.
Meanwhile, Sasuke's body slowly recovered, and he got up from the ground.
He looked at Orochimaru and the snakes Naruto had taken down so easily.
But instead of feeling thankful, all he felt was shame.
Am I always going to be saved by Naruto?
Damn it!
Sasuke punched the ground in anger, hitting so hard his hand started bleeding!
"Instead of getting mad, maybe you should calm down and fight. I'll help two more times," Naruto said as he showed up next to Sasuke with Sakura.
Sasuke looked at Naruto coldly. "I don't need your help."
Naruto frowned. Watching Sasuke ignore him and rush off to keep fighting Orochimaru made him a bit annoyed too.
If it wasn't because they needed to pass the exam, he'd really consider just leaving Sasuke here for the snakes!
It's not like he owed Sasuke anything!
"Sasuke..."
Watching Sasuke walk farther and farther away, Sakura suddenly felt uneasy.
She couldn't explain it, but she had this feeling—
Like someday, she and Sasuke would be separated.
She looked over at Naruto again and noticed he was frowning too, clearly not happy with Sasuke either.
What's going on with everyone?
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