"Boom—!!!"
A towering torrent swept through like a tsunami, instantly swallowing Orochimaru and the giant snake beneath his feet! Hundreds of water dragons collided and tore at one another, their tremendous impact plowing through the surrounding ground. Vapor surged skyward, forming a brief rainstorm above the forest.
To avoid accidentally injuring them, Naruto had already used the Flying Thunder God to transfer Satsuki and Sakura to the thick branch of a towering tree that would have taken more than a dozen people to encircle.
"So... so powerful..."
Looking at the terrain below, which had been completely reshaped by the violent Water Release, Sakura murmured absentmindedly. The sight had utterly surpassed her understanding of what a genin could do.
But the name of that technique... wasn't it a little too long? she silently added.
When the raging waters finally subsided and slowly seeped into the earth, the battlefield had become a complete mess. The massive summoned snake lay limp on the ground, long stripped of all life. Even the blood from its mouth had been washed away by the torrent.
Orochimaru's body lay face-down in the mud as well, utterly motionless and completely devoid of life.
"...Is he dead?"
Satsuki looked at the unmoving corpse below. Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a fierce wave of frustration rose in her heart—during that crisis just now, she had been unable to do anything at all!
"Stay alert!" Naruto's shout immediately cut off her thoughts. "That guy won't die that easily!"
Sakura was confused. Clearly, he had already...?!
The next moment, a sight so revolting it made their scalps tingle and their stomachs churn unfolded before them.
The face-down "corpse" suddenly began to twitch unnaturally, its mouth wrenching wide open at an angle that defied human anatomy!
Then,