While the trio clashed with the mysterious figure, elsewhere—
Naruto skidded to a halt near the central tower, wind swirling around him.
He didn't enter. Not yet.
Instead, he reached into his pouch, pulled out a special Hiraishin-marked kunai, and embedded it deep into the bark of a nearby tree.
A beacon.A gate.The anchor for his teleportation.
"There," he muttered with a grin."Now we just need the Chi scroll and boom—record time."
But his grin faded as he closed his eyes, sensing chakra in the far distance.
His fingers twitched.
Without wasting a second, he activated the Hiraishin no Jutsu, vanishing in a golden flash of chakra.
In a flash—
He reappeared.
But something was off.
The kunai he'd linked to Karin—it had fallen a few meters away. It clattered against a rock. Not the smooth, precise landing he expected.
And in front of him… chaos.
A blur of fists, steel, and chakra exploded in the clearing.
Karin, Sasuke, and Sakura—engaged in a deadly, precise dance with a shinobi who moved like a phantom.
Naruto's eyes widened.
He didn't need confirmation. He knew the presence. The malice in that chakra. The elegance in that cruelty.
'That has to be Orochimaru…' he thought grimly.
And yet—
His team was fighting him toe to toe.Three genin, holding their ground against a Sannin—a Kage-level legend.
Naruto stayed hidden behind the trees, heart pounding—not with fear, but admiration.
'They really are monsters in disguise…'
He noticed something else.
Three kunai, each with his Hiraishin seal, lay deliberately placed in the perimeter.
He smiled.
They'd planned for his return. Even in the heat of battle, they thought of him.
That's what made them Team 7.
"Let's get a better look," Naruto muttered, leaping into the canopy with the grace of a hawk in flight.
He perched himself high atop a thick branch, the forest spreading beneath him like a living sea of green and shadow. The wind rustled his cloak, and in that instant—
All four below sensed him.
The mysterious shinobi paused mid-motion.
"He teleported directly here," the figure noted, gaze narrowing."Hiraishin…? A genin mastering that technique? Now that's a rarity."
But something shifted in his expression—an old memory flashing in his serpentine eyes.
The Hiraishin…The Yellow Flash…
His smirk twisted. Malice bloomed.
And just like that, his body blurred—aiming straight for Naruto.
But Team 7 was faster.
Blitz.
In a flash of chakra, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura intercepted him within ten meters of the tree.Their movements were lightning in motion—Sasuke's blade gleamed, Sakura's punch cracked air, and Karin's eyes burned with fury.
Orochimaru halted, tongue slithering out with eerie delight."Such speed…" he whispered, licking his lips. "You brats are impressive."
Up above, Naruto crossed his arms, completely unfazed.
"Relax, guys. It's Orochimaru. One of the Legendary Sannin."He said it so casually, like he was calling out a D-rank mission.
All three teammates froze for half a heartbeat. The truth hit them like a cold gust.
Of course.The pressure. The power. The impossibility of landing a decisive blow.It wasn't just any high-level ninja… It was him.
Orochimaru blinked.
"…How did you know?"His voice was soft. Cold. Dangerous.
Naruto grinned.
"I just guessed."He shrugged, cocking his head."But your face right now? That confirmed it. And let's be real—only one guy in the entire ninja world has a freakishly long tongue like that. Pretty hard to miss."
Karin raised a brow."That's a weird way to confirm someone's identity…"
"Worked, didn't it?" Naruto shot back with a wink.
Orochimaru let out a low chuckle.
"You're quite the interesting one…"
With that, his disguise melted away—skin peeling like paper, revealing his pale serpentine form, golden eyes gleaming with malice.
The real Orochimaru stood before them.
"Wanna hand?" Naruto called down from the treetop, hands behind his head, totally unbothered.
"No!" all three shouted in unison, voices sharp with resolve.
Naruto raised his hands in surrender, then flopped onto his back like a cat sunbathing."Alright, alright. You got ten minutes. After that, I'm dropping in like a boss battle cutscene, capiche?"
His grin stayed lazy, but his eyes glinted with fire.
Down below, the trio nodded.They understood.This wasn't just about winning. It was about proving themselves—to their leader, to their enemy, to themselves.
Orochimaru watched them with narrowed, reptilian eyes. Their casual defiance—it didn't enrage him, not quite. It offended his pride.As if fighting him was just another training match.
"You brats think this is a game?" he hissed, the syllables slithering from his tongue like venom.
With a sickening sound, he opened his mouth wide, unnaturally wide—and drew forth the Kusanagi no Tsurugi.The legendary blade gleamed under the dappled sunlight, its edge humming with deadly chakra.
"Ugh. Gross.""Disgusting."Sakura and Karin spoke in stereo, grimacing.
But they didn't flinch.
Sasuke stepped forward, his eyes burning like obsidian coals. His own blade—sleek, curved—hummed as he channeled his chakra into it, causing the steel to shimmer faintly.
No Kusanagi? No problem.Skill makes the sword. Not the other way around.
Sakura's hands glowed, green chakra wrapping around her fingers like scalpels forged from willpower—Chakra no Mesu, transformed for battle.
Karin's fists were enveloped in red chakra, wild and hot like fire under pressure. She wasn't just the sensor—she was the strike.
Then, they moved.
Like thunder cracking the sky.
Sasuke dashed forward, meeting Orochimaru head-on. Their blades clashed, metal screaming against metal—Kusanagi vs Will.
From above, Sakura descended like a guillotine of green light.From behind, Karin came like a red comet, fists coiled with chakra.
Three angles. One prey.
Orochimaru smirked. "Cute."
In a flash, he kicked Sasuke square in the chest.Sasuke caught the blow on his blade, skidding back but staying upright, boots digging furrows in the dirt.
Orochimaru spun, intercepting the other two strikes—parry, block, counter—and sent both girls flying back with smooth, brutal precision.
But they landed.And before the dust had even settled—
They were back in position.
The battle raged on.
Their fists flew like meteors, their blades sang with chakra—but nothing seemed to work.Orochimaru, the legendary Sanin, the man who had danced through wars, twisted through every attack like water refusing to be cut. Every strike met a feint. Every blow deflected by experience older than all of them combined.
Sasuke's Sharingan spun.He gritted his teeth, then shifted tactics.
Katana in one hand.Chidori in the other.The lightning screeched, the air warped, and with a burst of pure speed—
He vanished.
A heartbeat later—CRACK!He struck Orochimaru square in the chest, lightning piercing like divine judgment.
But then—
Orochimaru's body melted... and from his own mouth, a new one slithered out, pale and untouched.
"That's nasty!" Sakura shouted.
"Ugh, I'm gonna hurl." Karin gagged, clutching her stomach—but didn't break her stance.
They pressed on.
Karin's fists—coated in dense red chakra—came down like collapsing mountains, aiming to crush.
Sakura's chakra scalpels sliced through the air with surgical precision—aiming not to wound, but to disable.
And Sasuke—relentless—sought weak points, precise and cold like a trained predator.
But even a monster feels fatigue.
And now, all four of them... were nearly spent.
Their chakra wells had dried to cracks in the earth.Their lungs burned. Muscles screamed.Minutes of fighting felt like days trapped in battle—each second stretched thin by stress and blood.
This was their first true war.
A real, merciless fight.Not a mission. Not a spar.A battle where death stood on the edge of every blade.
And yet—
They hadn't backed down.
Even Orochimaru, with all his sickening rebirths, was starting to fray.His breaths were heavier.His smile faltered.
They had landed blows. Real ones.Wounds that forced him to shed his skin like armor.Wounds that would have killed anyone else.
But he kept coming.
So did they.
Above, Naruto hadn't moved.But his eyes were sharp now.Watching.
Counting.
Five minutes left.