First Encounter with Orochimaru

Naruto pondered deeply, a hint of embarrassment coloring his face after a few seconds.

How did Orochimaru make his entrance again?

Naruto hadn't watched the original story in too long in his past life, only vaguely recalling that Orochimaru had used killing intent to intimidate Sasuke. The latter had then forced a kunai into his own thigh to break free from the fear, escaping with Sakura at the last moment.

That scene had left a deep impression on him.

Naruto turned to Sakura, lowering his voice, "Where is Lord Snake in the original story right now?"

"...I remember he impersonated you, and then it was Sasuke and Lord Snake solo."

"Got it."

So the question was, how was he supposed to 'cooperate' with Orochimaru?

As he was thinking, Naruto suddenly felt faint, powerful gusts of wind brushing against his cheeks, making his skin sting.

Immediately, the gentle breeze turned into a hurricane, sweeping up everything around the three of them with unstoppable force. It was like a pillar of wind, powerful enough to pierce the heavens, smashing directly towards them!

Naruto's eyelids twitched. He remembered that in the original story, he had parted ways with Sasuke and Sakura after this wind pillar.

He retracted the Nine-Tails Chakra that had been enveloping his eyes and let the wind pillar smash him into the distance.

"BOOM!!!"

Naruto's back slammed into a large tree, the bark groaning under the impact, leaving a dented crater!

He felt like his internal organs had shifted, churning upside down, stars exploding in his vision.

Naruto pushed himself up, leaning against the tree trunk for a moment.

"Alright, alright, this feud is officially settled," Naruto said, a touch of annoyance in his voice. If only he hadn't forgotten some plot details, he wouldn't have had to suffer this.

"Cough, should I go beat up Gaara, or the Sound Ninja, or the Rain Ninja..." Naruto, remembering the teachings of the sages from his past life, knew that relieving stress promptly was beneficial for his health.

Just then, a roar shattered Naruto's thoughts.

"Hiss—"

Coiled on a dead tree, a giant python several times Naruto's size flicked its forked tongue at him. A strong, fishy odor emanated from it. Its triangular head was raised high, its vertical pupils filled with fierce light.

"Yo, Lord Snake is sending warmth, even summoning a punching bag for me. What a warm guy," Naruto sneered and immediately switched to Nine-Tails mode.

The giant python charged directly at Naruto with its head. Naruto pushed off the ground, easily dodging the python's attack, and stood on the tree trunk.

Then, he extended the Nine-Tails Chakra from his back, transforming it into the shape of a hand. His right hand opened upwards, and the rotating Chakra began to condense continuously.

The Nine-Tails hand began to move around Naruto's right hand.

"Bzzzz—"

Immense Chakra condensed, causing the surrounding earth and stones to crack and the air to churn into a vortex!

His right hand glowed brilliantly, emitting a faint purple light, shimmering with an alluring color.

Nine-Tails: Rasengan!

"It's a half-finished product, but it's enough to deal with you." Naruto gathered a small clump of Chakra beneath his feet, narrowing his eyes. The giant python, sensing the immense threat in Naruto's hand, roared again and began to circle the tree rapidly, launching a surprise attack towards Naruto!

"Bang!!"

Naruto pulled out a smoke bomb with his left hand and threw it at his feet. Once the giant python lost sight of him, he burst out from the side, Nine-Tails wings sprouting from his back, and flew towards the python's rear!

"Bang!! Pfft!!!"

A large hole instantly blew open on the python's back. Naruto plunged his right hand into the snake's body, no longer maintaining the stability of the Chakra, and let the Rasengan, infused with unparalleled energy, completely obliterate everything around it!

"Boom!!" A massive blast wave sent Naruto flying. A few seconds before he would have smashed into the tree trunk, he pulled out an extended chain from his ninja tool pouch, wrapped it around a branch, and yanked hard, narrowly controlling himself and landing on the tree trunk in a relatively stable position.

"Hiss..." Sharp pains shot up his arm. He looked closely and saw that his right hand was covered in abrasions, looking bloody and terrifying.

"The Nine-Tails Chakra was too overbearing, and detonating the Rasengan midway caused it to backfire and injure my right hand," Naruto analyzed to himself, completely ignoring the giant python, which was now cut in half.

It couldn't be deader.

He took out another scroll from his ninja tool pouch and summoned the stored medical supplies.

This was a space-time ninjutsu taught to him by Tenten. By injecting Chakra into the scroll beforehand and setting specific spatial coordinates, items placed within would be transported to the scroll's corresponding alternate dimension and could be summoned at any time.

Whether it counted as a token of love was another matter~

Naruto quickly applied basic treatment and wrapped his right hand with bandages a few times.

"Good thing, good thing. If I hadn't bandaged it quickly, it would have healed already," Naruto joked, as the Nine-Tails' recovery power was extremely strong, and it would have fully healed within a day even without bandages.

He jumped onto the snake's carcass and began to scan the surroundings for any traces of humans. He also left markings on the surrounding tree trunks with a kunai, which was one of the secret codes he had agreed upon with Sakura.

As long as they saw the markings, they could find Naruto by following the direction indicated by the markings.

"I'll scout the central area first. Sasuke and Sakura should be fine."

He began walking towards the center, paying attention to his surroundings, and leaving markings along the way.

However, when he reached a certain tree trunk, Naruto froze.

Carved onto the tree trunk were a few crooked, small characters.

Meanwhile.

Sasuke and Sakura stared at the "woman" before them, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, tall and slender, with a grim expression fixed on the two.

"You have the Book of Heaven, so you want the Book of Earth I have..." Orochimaru wrapped his tongue around the scroll and slowly swallowed it.

Is it really him?

Sakura's mind wasn't focused on the fight at all; instead, she was carefully analyzing Orochimaru's various micro-expressions and small movements.

At least from the current situation, his behavior was exactly like in the original story.

"Then, let's begin... it's either you die, or I die..."

"Whoosh!"

Before Orochimaru could finish speaking, Sasuke had already used a Body Flicker Technique to close the distance, thrusting the kunai in his hand straight towards Orochimaru's eyes!

"Sakura, cover me!"

Sakura's eyes widened. She hadn't expected Sasuke to make the first move!

There's no way he's been possessed, right?

"Thwack!" Orochimaru let the kunai pierce his palm and, using the momentum, grabbed Sasuke's right hand!

"Impatient, aren't we, brat." Orochimaru licked his lips.

Sasuke spun his body, his left hand reaching into his ninja tool pouch. He pulled out another kunai and, with a backhand swing, slashed at Orochimaru's arm!

"Screech!"

Orochimaru's right hand was severed completely. Everything happened in the blink of an eye!

Sakura stepped forward, approaching Orochimaru, her hands rapidly forming hand seals.

"Ninjutsu: Hidden Mist!" Instantly, mist filled the air, and Sakura's figure completely vanished into the thick fog.

She couldn't help but glance at Sasuke. There was no fear in his eyes, only fighting spirit.

Perhaps it was Naruto's influence, or the higher intensity than in the original story, that caused this Uchiha prodigy to display such strong initiative upon first encountering Orochimaru, not even giving Orochimaru time to release his killing intent.

But Sakura knew very well that such a mere fatal wound meant nothing to Orochimaru.

As the creator of Orochimaru-style Substitution Technique, he could recover by shedding his skin with chakra. Even Amaterasu wouldn't be of much help against him.

The close-quarters combat just now was merely a probe.