Chapter 8: Sasuke vs. Orochimaru, Part I

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Leaping through the trees, Sasuke was making his way forward at a rapid pace while simultaneously scanning his surroundings for potential enemies. Although their departure was merely an excuse to give Sakura room to shine, he genuinely refused to lose to Naruto.

As for Sakura's safety? With Naruto around, there was entirely no need to worry. That guy's sensory range was truly terrifying. The entire Forest of Death was within Naruto's perception. The mere thought of this only heightened his urgency. Naruto must have locked onto a target long ago, while he was still wandering around aimlessly.

"Sasuke! Sasuke!"

A hurried shout suddenly came from behind him.

What is this... How did she catch up?

Turning his head, Sasuke saw Sakura catching up from behind.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Sakura leaped onto a tree branch beside Sasuke and came to a halt, pressing her hands against her knees as she panted heavily.

"Sorry, Sasuke. After thinking about it, I don't think I can live up to the expectations you and Naruto have for me... Maybe we should—"

Before she could finish, Sasuke interrupted her. "Don't apologize just yet. First, let's establish the password. What are you supposed to call me?"

Staring at the girl whose appearance and movements were virtually identical to Sakura's, Sasuke drew a kunai, gripping it in his hand with a cold, grim expression as he prepared for battle.

"Sasuke... kun?"

Shing!

A merciless kunai was hurled straight at her, only for the fake Sakura to dodge it nimbly.

Sasuke wore an expression that confirmed his suspicions. He truly hadn't expected that someone in this exam would actually disguise themselves as Sakura to find him. Aside from Naruto, he feared no one among the opponents he had seen yesterday. Even the strongest ones, like Gaara and the others, merely felt slightly troublesome.

This was quite unexpected.

"Speak. Who are you, and what is your purpose? Surely you aren't here to deliver a scroll to me, are you?"

"I see. Heh, you're certainly very confident, Sasuke-kun."

The fake Sakura smiled evilly, protruding her tongue to lick her lips in a bizarre, snake-like arc, her gaze locked unblinkingly onto Sasuke as though viewing a trapped prey in a cage. The scene looked utterly bizarre.

Poof!

Following a burst of smoke, a female ninja from the Grass Village wearing a straw hat appeared in her place.

"So, the two of you agreed on a password before entering the Forest of Death?"

"Who came up with it? You? Or that Uzumaki Naruto?"

Sasuke seemed to recognize the newcomer as a thoroughly unremarkable Grass Village ninja. "I have no obligation to tell you that. Hey, do you have a scroll on you?"

Since his path was blocked, he had no intention of letting this prey go.

The Grass Village ninja reached into her pocket and produced a scroll marked with the character for "Earth," dangling it before Sasuke's eyes.

"You really want my Earth Scroll, don't you? After all, the one you're holding is the Heaven Scroll."

This fellow...

Hearing this, Sasuke realized that this person seemed to have been targeting them ever since the second exam began. Who was the target? Himself? But... why? He didn't even have a scroll on him.

Immediately afterward, Sasuke watched with his own eyes as she opened her mouth and swallowed the entire Earth Scroll straight into her stomach... just like that.

"Then let's begin."

Having swallowed it, the Grass Village ninja spoke devoid of any emotion, "Scroll scramble, fight to the death!"

Her chilling gaze pierced straight into Sasuke like a sharp dagger. At that single glance, Sasuke envisioned his own death, his splashing blood staining the nearby tree branches.

When he snapped back to reality, he was still standing in the same spot, his limbs inexplicably stiff.

An illusion? No, killing intent. Terrifying killing intent.

This killing intent, which had condensed almost into a physical entity, was continually eroding his mind and will, impairing his judgment and his body. This person... was profoundly wrong.

Sasuke had never confronted such murderous intent directly—an aura that felt as though it had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, capable of piercing a person's soul. The pressure was simply terrifying.

Just who on earth... was this creature?

However, Sasuke no longer had the luxury of pondering the whys and wherefores. He knew that if he failed to clear this hurdle, he would undoubtedly die here.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Sasuke's heart pounded wildly, as if trying to force more energy through this pressure to supply his entire body and get his limbs moving.

"Sharingan!"

The three-tomoe Sharingan emerged. With its presence, Sasuke regained his footing, and his body finally relaxed. "You've targeted the wrong person. I certainly don't have the Heaven Scroll on me."

His throat, parched from tension, rasped out in a hoarse voice.

"You recovered so quickly? And this three-tomoe Sharingan... Just as the intelligence reports stated, Sasuke-kun is truly something to look forward to." Orochimaru lightly licked his lips, looking thoroughly satisfied.

To possess three tomoe at such a tender age—he was an utterly ideal vessel. Since that was the case, he would gladly take him!

"Next, allow me to verify your strength."

Orochimaru's body coiled like a snake, winding around the tree branches as he lunged forward to launch a direct attack!

"Shadow Snake Hands!"

His target, Sasuke, stood frozen stupidly in place, completely motionless as though paralyzed by fear. Heh, even someone with the three-tomoe Sharingan was still just an ignorant kid who had never experienced the horrors of war, frozen in place by mere murderous intent.

"It seems you really want my life?"

Sasuke's voice suddenly rang in Orochimaru's ear. That voice was practically right beside him. Yet the Sasuke in front of him was standing a full several meters away.

Bzzzz—!

A harsh, dense crackle of lightning erupted.

"Chidori!"

Splat!

The sound of flesh being punctured echoed out.

Orochimaru snapped to his senses; he had fallen into an illusion. The scene before him gradually clarified. Sasuke was right in front of him, his lightning-shrouded right hand having already pierced clean through his chest. He was done for.

"Genjutsu has already reached this level... The Sharingan truly cannot be underestimated."

Sasuke assumed these were merely the enemy's parting last words. But then, the enemy before him directly dissolved into a puddle of mud. It had been an Earth Clone all along.

*This fellow... is extremely cautious, actually using an Earth Clone to test the waters.*

Battles between unfamiliar ninja consisted of probing, probing, and more probing, followed by a single decisive blow. Sasuke cursed himself for being careless; he had been pushed into a state of urgency by that terrifying murderous intent, exposing his technique, Chidori, just to finish off the opponent. Fortunately, he still had trump cards left.

Sasuke braced himself, his three-tomoe Sharingan scanning the surroundings continuously, guarding against possible attacks from any direction.

Hiss!

A massive snake emerged from beneath the tree, lunging with its jaws unhinged, threatening to swallow him whole.

Swish, swish, swish!

Sasuke leaped into the air, spinning around to hurl six shuriken that pierced straight through the giant snake's head. With a whimper, the snake collapsed on the spot, thoroughly dead.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, an ultra-violent gale swept in. Airborne with no point of leverage, Sasuke was caught directly in the turbulence and blown into the distance, shattering an unknown number of trees along the way.

"You're not dead yet, are you?"

At the destination point, Orochimaru materialized, searching for Sasuke's tracks, only to find nothing more than a severed log.

A substitution technique? Damn it.

Swish, swish, swish!

Six shuriken flew in from afar. Missing Orochimaru, they instead swept past him, curving through the air to head toward his back. Upon closer inspection, ultra-thin, almost invisible wires could be seen trailing behind the shuriken.

"This is... Windmill Triple Attack?"

Countless wires instantly tightened, binding Orochimaru tightly against the tree trunk from head to toe. At the other end of the thin wires, Sasuke materialized.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"