Watching Orochimaru weave effortlessly through the sea of trees and lunge at her again, Yakumo genuinely began to panic.
When all was said and done, she was just a student at the Ninja Academy, only eight or nine years old. Aside from sparring at the Academy, she had no real combat experience at all.
Her opponent, meanwhile, was Orochimaru, one of the famed Sannin, a man who had seen countless battles.
The fact that she'd dared to fight such a powerful enemy was impressive in itself.
In the original timeline, when Kakashi had unexpectedly encountered Orochimaru during the Chunin Ninja Exams, he hadn't even dared to fight back.
If Kakashi had been that cautious, ordinary ninja stood even less of a chance.
The Konoha Sannin weren't famous for nothing!
As Orochimaru lunged at Yakumo, Ido had already taken advantage of her Spirit Body's ability to pass through buildings and fly freely to find the four people, including Kurama Murakumo, bound inside an abandoned building.
Obviously, Orochimaru hadn't chosen to kill the people he'd captured.
As long as he had Kurama Murakumo and Kurama Ryō in his grasp, he had leverage over Yakumo. So until he caught her, the hostages still had some value.
And because Orochimaru was confident he could capture Yakumo, he hadn't hidden the hostages very far away. Ido found them with ease.
But seeing Kurama Murakumo and the others unconscious left Ido at a loss.
For one thing, she was in her Spirit Body form and couldn't rescue them directly. For another, she didn't know Medical Ninjutsu and had no way to treat their injuries.
After thinking it over, she used their connection to send Yakumo the idea of switching places with her using the Red Dragon.
That's right.
After practicing, Yakumo and Ido could now communicate