Besides the Konoha ANBU and Jonin, another ninja was tracking the enemy: Sasuke Uchiha, the very victim of the incident.
When Naruto Uzumaki saw his teammate jumping around the village with the ANBU, Kakashi, and the others, he shouted, "Hey, Sasuke, what's going on?"
"Naruto!" Sasuke Uchiha landed nearby, his face grim. "Orochimaru is back! He ambushed me and Kakashi-sensei today!"
This was news that could be kept from most of Konoha, but not from Naruto Uzumaki. He was the first ninja in the village to single-handedly repel Orochimaru, and he was Sasuke's teammate.
Sasuke recounted everything that had happened that afternoon.
While he had been practicing his Chidori, Orochimaru had brazenly attacked him. Unfortunately for Orochimaru, he didn't get much of a chance to leave a curse mark on Sasuke this time. And now, Konoha's top student wanted revenge.
Just as Sasuke was using various ninjutsu and genjutsu to fight Orochimaru, his supervising Jonin, Kakashi Hatake, arrived on the scene. Sasuke had originally thought his teacher would be a powerful ally. With the two of them working together, wouldn't victory be certain?
The final result... was a draw.
Orochimaru's strength was unpredictable, but he managed to fight Kakashi and his student to a standstill, leaving Sasuke with a lingering fear. This guy... he was a legendary Sannin, after all.
Naruto cracked his knuckles. "That guy is really bold... I knew we should have found a way to kill him, no matter what."
"It's difficult," Sasuke replied. Having personally fought Orochimaru twice and spoken with Anko Mitarashi, he understood his enemy better now. "Even in a head-on battle, it's hard to take him down, let alone with him lurking somewhere in Konoha..."
No one could find where Orochimaru was hiding. He could use the Face-Erasing Jutsu to transform into any ordinary person, making it impossible to even begin a search. No intelligence could be gathered. Anyone on the street could be Orochimaru.
Naruto looked up at the ANBU rushing across the rooftops and said softly, "Sasuke, Orochimaru has always wanted your body, right?"
"Yeah." Sasuke's face darkened. This wasn't a secret. Anko had even told him all about the curse mark in detail.
Naruto stroked his chin, looking Sasuke up and down before making a tutting sound. "Doesn't look like much, though. Why would that Orochimaru guy target you?"
"Shut up!" Sasuke's forehead throbbed with a vein of anger.
However, his teammate just patted his shoulder as if calming a child and said casually, "Alright, alright, don't be angry. We're supposed to use this month to train for the exams. Let's train together tomorrow!"
"No," Sasuke refused firmly. "The third exam is one-on-one battles. I don't want to reveal the ninjutsu I've been working on."
"Hey, Sasuke, there's no need to be on guard against me, is there?" The blond-haired boy chuckled, holding up his fingers. "No matter what ninjutsu you come up with, your chances of winning against me are..."
"Shut up!" Sasuke's temper flared again. After a long moment, his mood settled, and he looked at Naruto. "Tomorrow," he said in a low voice, "Kakashi-sensei and I will be waiting for you in the mountains behind Konoha."
Although he was uncomfortable with the idea, Sasuke knew why Naruto wanted to train with him. It was for his safety.
Faced with the elusive Orochimaru, not many people dared to confront the threat directly, but Naruto was an exception. After all, Naruto had once nearly killed Orochimaru with his own hands.
Thinking of this, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a little surprised...
According to the information he got from Kakashi and Anko, Orochimaru wanted to plant a curse mark on him to take his body... The question was, why hadn't Orochimaru targeted Naruto? Could it be that he had some power that Orochimaru valued? If he could figure out what that power was, perhaps he would have a hope of surpassing him.
Sasuke subconsciously touched his eyes...
-----
Lately, Kakashi Hatake had been under a bit of pressure.
All three of his students from Team 7 had made it to the third exam. Besides Sakura, who was regularly studying at the medical department, Sasuke was receiving his direct guidance, and Naruto would also pop in from time to time to join them.
The problem was, Kakashi really couldn't think of many ninjas in all of Konoha who could teach Naruto. He had yet to find any weaknesses in the boy. Only a great deal of actual combat could improve Naruto's strength.
In Kakashi's opinion, Sasuke, who had not yet completed his training, had almost zero chance of winning against Naruto. His confidence would be too easily crushed by his teammate, which was not something a good teacher should allow. Of course, even if Sasuke did complete his training, there might still be a considerable gap between his strength and Naruto's.
Kakashi looked at the young ninja sitting cross-legged nearby and asked with some curiosity, "Naruto, are you extracting chakra?"
"Mmm, trying to develop Sage Mode," the blond boy replied, shaking his head. He had recently been trying to absorb natural energy to synthesize sage chakra. It was one way to supplement his strength.
Kakashi squatted down next to him. "Have you succeeded?"
"It's hard to say." Naruto shook his head. His eyes were slightly reddish, perhaps because the Nine-Tails was teaching him how to absorb natural energy.
According to the Nine-Tails, sage chakra was supposed to be a process of combining natural energy, spiritual energy, and physical energy in a strict ratio. If there was any imbalance between the three, something would go wrong, and the user's body could turn to stone or become bestial.
Now, Naruto seemed to have discovered a more concise method.
Simply put, he was using the Sealing Jutsu: Devour. This strange jutsu could extract a sufficient amount of natural energy for him. He could use it to pull natural energy directly from the outside world, then have the Nine-Tails fuse that energy with his chakra. This way, he would get usable sage chakra and instantly enter Sage Mode.
But if this continued, he would become more and more dependent on the Nine-Tails... until one day, he completely opened the seal and released it.
"Should we have a sparring match to help you test it?" Kakashi offered, pulling up his forehead protector. "I've come into contact with a ninja who used Sage Mode before. Perhaps I can give you some advice."
Minato Namikaze, his teacher, could also use Sage Mode, but his Flying Thunder God Technique was so proficient that he rarely needed it.
Kakashi's proposal piqued Sasuke's curiosity. Even Naruto felt a little eager to try. Although they were all fed up with their supervising Jonin, Kakashi still held the title and had some impressive battles under his belt.
Naruto glanced at Sasuke and said with some hesitation, "But if Kakashi-sensei ends up in the hospital, then there will be no one to guide Sasuke's training, right?"
"..."
Was that blatant mockery?
Kakashi coughed a few times and sighed. "Tsk, I didn't expect to be so disliked by my own student..."
-----
Bonus:
Naruto: Kakashi-sensei, you know about Sage Mode too?
Kakashi: Of course. My teacher was a sage user back in the day!
Naruto: Amazing!
Kakashi: Hahaha, I know all the weaknesses of Sage Mode. Let me correct them for you!
Naruto: Alright. Sealing Jutsu: Devour. Sage Mode: On!
Kakashi: ???
Naruto: What's wrong?
Kakashi: Your Sage Mode is fake. The real Sage Mode takes a long time to enter!
Naruto: Oh. Then I'll perfect it a bit more...