Orochimaru's Choice

"You cowardly bastard, you're definitely not the Sasuke I know!"

Naruto, blocking Orochimaru, roared.

Sasuke stood frozen in place, staring intently at Naruto, his mind completely blank.

Suddenly, Orochimaru's tongue shot out, binding Naruto and slowly lifting him to his face.

Naruto's earlier rage had leaked a significant amount of Nine-Tails' chakra, and Orochimaru worried that if it continued, Naruto would completely lose control.

If Naruto were to completely lose control at this moment, it would inevitably affect his future plans.

With this thought, Orochimaru extended his right hand, his fingertips glowing with a purple light.

After pulling open Naruto's clothes, Orochimaru placed the Five Elements Seal on top of Naruto's existing Eight Trigrams Seal.

The Five Elements Seal completely cut off the leakage of the Nine-Tails' chakra, and Naruto's pupils slowly returned to normal.

Seeing this, Orochimaru felt much more at ease. With a casual flick of his tongue, he tossed the completely unconscious Naruto away.

Sakura, seeing Naruto flying towards her, trembled all over but still used all her strength to throw a kunai, which firmly caught Naruto and pinned him to the tree trunk.

At this moment, Sasuke was still standing there, dazed.

Slumped on the ground, tears streaming down her face, Sakura turned to Sasuke and shouted:

"Naruto is indeed different from Sasuke. Although he's clumsy and gets in the way, he's at least not a coward. Right? That's right!"

Sakura's voice was loud, but Sasuke couldn't hear a single word.

At this moment, Sasuke's mind was filled with Naruto's words from earlier.

"Are you hurt, coward?"

"Are you hurt, coward?"

The words echoed endlessly in Sasuke's mind.

Then, a person who terrified him, the one who had personally destroyed all his happy life, appeared in his mind.

"My foolish brother, if you want to kill me, then hate me, loathe me, and then live on miserably."

"Run... run..."

Uchiha Itachi's appearance and voice drowned out Naruto's, echoing in Sasuke's mind.

Remembering Itachi's appearance, his parents' appearance, and his clan's appearance, Sasuke dispelled the fear of Orochimaru in his heart.

"I want revenge, I can't die here! To defeat Uchiha Itachi, I must live!"

Sasuke suddenly looked up, activating his Two-Tomoe Sharingan.

Orochimaru looked at Sasuke, who had regained his confidence and activated his Sharingan, with great excitement.

He knew that now was the true test of Sasuke's strength!

Sasuke, a kunai in his mouth, charged rapidly towards Orochimaru.

As he moved, he continuously threw kunai at Orochimaru. The kunai carried a chilling aura and murderous intent.

Orochimaru tilted his head, easily dodging the successive kunai.

At the same time, Sasuke's figure had already reached Orochimaru.

Sasuke raised his hand and threw a punch, engaging Orochimaru in a taijutsu battle, a close-quarters fight.

Every punch and every kick from Sasuke was delivered with full force.

The speed of their attacks increased, and facing Sasuke's relentless assault, Orochimaru responded with ease.

Orochimaru flashed a sinister smile, accelerated, and began his counterattack.

Sasuke, at this moment, became exceptionally calm and collected. He wielded his Two-Tomoe Sharingan with practiced ease, its full potential unleashed.

Although Orochimaru's speed was incredible, under the effect of the Sharingan, Sasuke could still see everything clearly.

"You can predict my movements with the Sharingan? As expected of what I've always wanted!"

Orochimaru also noticed this. Although he was only using a tenth of his strength, Sasuke's performance still greatly satisfied him.

After all, Sasuke was still just a child.

Sasuke's performance made him even more determined to obtain the Sharingan!

Sasuke seized the moment Orochimaru was momentarily distracted, stepped forward, grabbed Orochimaru, and slammed him onto the ground with all his might.

With his head hitting the ground, Orochimaru instantly lost all signs of life.

"Is it over? No... it can't be this easy!"

Just as he had suspected, the lifeless Orochimaru on the ground gradually turned into a puddle of mud.

"Mud Clone?"

Sasuke frowned. He hadn't realized when Orochimaru had used this ninjutsu at all!

A cool breeze whistled by, and Sasuke quickly dodged to the side.

The moment he sidestepped, Orochimaru's fist followed the wind and slammed into Sasuke's face.

Immediately after, another combo of punches followed!

Sasuke couldn't defend in time and took more than ten heavy blows in just a few seconds.

Another punch swung towards him, and Sasuke raised his hands to protect his head.

But this time, he didn't anticipate it like before. Orochimaru's head strike was just a feint; his real target was Sasuke's stomach.

Bang!

Sasuke was sent flying by Orochimaru's punch, crashing hard into a tree trunk.

"Pfft..."

He felt a sweetness in his throat, and blood gushed out.

Injured, Sasuke didn't stop and charged at Orochimaru once more.

Orochimaru's lips curved upward, and he punched Sasuke away again.

The immense power sent him crashing into the tree trunk once more.

The branches of this tree trunk were dense, and one particularly thick and long branch stood out.

Sasuke lay motionless on this branch, appearing to have completely lost his fighting ability.

Orochimaru leaped up, landing in front of Sasuke. He looked down at him and sneered, "Brat, your strength is too weak. You fell before I even used any real force."

Hearing this, a smile of success spread across Sasuke's lips.

Sasuke quickly formed a hand seal, and a violent explosion erupted on Orochimaru's back.

"Explosive Tags? Did you plant them then?"

Orochimaru recalled the moment he was beating Sasuke, during the combo punches.

Although the explosive tags were powerful, they still couldn't injure Orochimaru.

Clearly, Sasuke understood this as well.

He quickly got up and leaped away, creating distance between himself and Orochimaru.

As soon as he landed, countless kunai rained down upon him.

Sasuke used his Sharingan's advantage to narrowly dodge all the kunai.

While dodging, Sasuke threw out a large number of kunai attached to steel wires, using the terrain to surround Orochimaru from all directions.

Seeing this, the smile on Orochimaru's face grew wider.

"You set a trap in advance, deliberately getting injured to lure me here?"

In an instant, the steel-wired kunai deeply embedded themselves in various spots all around.

Sasuke pulled hard, and the steel wires rapidly tightened, binding Orochimaru firmly to the tree trunk.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Fierce flames surged along the steel wires towards Orochimaru.

Boom!

After a loud explosion, Orochimaru was thoroughly hit by the fire jutsu. Even the tree trunk behind him, unable to withstand the force, was blasted with a large hole.

"So this was your true objective? One layer after another, quite impressive."

When the flames completely dissipated, Orochimaru broke free from the restraining steel wires, his smile deepening.

Orochimaru clasped his hands together, and with just one hand seal, he immobilized Sasuke and Sakura, who were not far away.

Orochimaru stared at Sasuke, praising him, "At such a young age, to use the Sharingan so proficiently. You truly are a genius boy who inherited the Uchiha name."

"I, as always, want to obtain you."

"From what I know, you desperately want to kill Uchiha Itachi, to avenge your parents and your clan."

"Do you want power? If you do, power sufficient to defeat Uchiha Itachi, then come find me!"

Orochimaru wiped off the Kusagakure symbol on his forehead protector, revealing the Otogakure symbol. Green flames erupted from the hand holding the Heaven Scroll, turning it to ash.

"If you wish to gain even greater power, and if you want to find me, then strive to make a name for yourself in this Chunin Exam!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Orochimaru's neck rapidly extended towards Sasuke, preparing to plant the Cursed Seal on him.

Ye Fan watched this scene unfold. Before he could think it through, his body moved involuntarily.

Although he suppressed it in time, it still created a significant disturbance.

"Who's there!"

Orochimaru's head stopped mid-air. His gaze turned towards the shaking tree, his expression becoming very serious.

The moment the tree shook, he instinctively felt a strong sense of danger!