Orochimaru's Broken Defenses

The cold, cloying stench of snakes instantly overwhelmed the scent of dust and gunpowder filling the air.

Orochimaru slowly stepped out over the shattered stone slabs, his black robe dragging across the ground and leaving a trail of winding wet marks.

The snake-loving man, Orochimaru, made his grand entrance!

His slit pupils swept over the two people facing off at the bottom of the crater before settling on Tsunade's tense face. His pale lips curled into a confident smile.

"You sharp-tongued brat, who do you think you are? You're just a lowly Chunin. I may be wary of that man in black, but I'm not wary of you! Crushing you is still easy!"

That black-robed man who had utterly shattered Hiruzen Sarutobi's resolve before his death and sent Orochimaru fleeing Konoha in disgrace was indeed Orochimaru's shadow. But he didn't believe that man would keep watching him forever. What deep grudge could he possibly have? Orochimaru had already run away—wasn't that giving him enough face?

The golden chakra Naruto had unleashed earlier, his inhuman burst of taijutsu power, and the Sage Mode markings now appearing around his eyes had indeed alarmed Orochimaru.

This whole stacked set of buffs even felt somewhat like the path Kabuto Yakushi intended to take!

However, Orochimaru did not know Naruto's true strength. Jiraiya, on the other hand, had likely guessed from what he knew of him that the one who had shattered the Third Hokage's resolve before his death was Naruto Uzumaki!

Yet the prophecy of the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku still thundered in his ears—"The Child of Prophecy will bring change, either burning the world down or reshaping its order."

He did not even dare expose it. He feared that any outside interference would only drive fate toward an even darker abyss—or break the sage's prophecy. After all, he lived for that prophecy. It was his ninja way.

Jiraiya's clenched fists slowly loosened. He stepped back to Tsunade's side without saying a word.

He did not dare think too deeply, nor could he say it aloud. He could only watch as Naruto looked at Orochimaru, then at Tsunade, without even turning his head.

It was as though the person standing behind him was not an S-rank rogue ninja who had terrified the entire Ninja World, but merely a buzzing fly.

He brushed the dust from his hands and smiled at Tsunade, whose expression had become incomparably complicated.

"Granny Tsunade, let's pause for a moment. Now that we've fought this far, don't you think I've got a slight edge?"

Tsunade pressed her lips into a straight line. The diamond-shaped mark on her forehead, which had been about to light up, gradually dimmed.

She knew that at this point, she had lost. Thoroughly and completely.

Having been forced to the point of activating the Strength of a Hundred Technique meant she had already lost.

This brat before her was only twelve years old. And what about her? She was one of the Three Sannin!

At the moment those three powers merged, she had even sensed a trace of the First Hokage—her grandfather, Hashirama Senju—in that vast life force.

"Yes."

The single word squeezed out through her teeth, full of unwillingness yet utterly frank.

"Could it be that your demand is for me not to help Orochimaru?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and gave a scornful laugh.

"I wouldn't waste such a valuable wager on something that trivial. But speaking of which, Granny Tsunade, you're so smart. You don't actually believe his nonsense, do you?"

He raised a hand and pointed at Orochimaru. His tone was casual, yet his words were like a sharp blade stabbing straight at the heart.

"Seeing Dan and Nawaki again? Isn't that just the Impure World Reincarnation created by your second grandfather, Tobirama Senju? It forcibly drags the souls of the dead from the Pure Land, stuffs them into living bodies as puppets without free will, and lets others manipulate them as they please."

"The people you want to see are Dan, who would hold you and cry, and Nawaki, who would cling to you and beg for candy. Not the two marionettes in his hands that can only carry out orders."

"Am I right, Orochimaru?"

Boom—!

The smile on Orochimaru's face instantly froze. His snake eyes abruptly shrank to the size of pinpoints.

Impure World Reincarnation!

This forbidden technique he had hidden for decades, one whose name was all even Jiraiya and Tsunade knew—this most lethal bargaining chip he had used to control Tsunade—had been exposed word for word by a twelve-year-old brat in front of everyone!

Three days ago, when he had first come to persuade Tsunade, he had already pushed the conversation to its final step.

As long as Tsunade nodded, he could use the excuse of healing his hands to completely take control of Konoha's medical system, then gradually devour the entire village.

But now, everything had been laid bare.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

Orochimaru's voice suddenly turned shrill, like fingernails scraping rusty iron. "What do you know?!"

Countless tiny black snakes crawled out from his sleeves and collar, hissing across the ground as icy chakra swept through the area like a tidal wave.

"Konoha has been rotten to the core for a long time! From the moment the Second Hokage put Danzo into Root, this village began rotting from its roots! I killed Hiruzen Sarutobi to smash this rotten mess, to let Konoha be reborn!"

His gaze abruptly shifted to Naruto, carrying the venomous resentment and calculation of a snake.

"Oh, right. You still don't know, do you? You, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki whom the entire village despised and threw stones at since childhood—you don't know your father's true identity, do you?!"

The instant those words fell, Jiraiya's entire body shook. His nails dug deeply into his palms, drawing blood.

Tsunade's breathing suddenly stopped. They had hidden it for twelve years—twelve whole years.

They had thought Naruto would never learn the truth. They had thought he would never know that the Fourth Hokage, worshipped by the entire village as its guardian deity, was his biological father.

They had thought he would never know that all the suffering he had endured since childhood stemmed from that sacrifice made to protect the village.

"Shut up, Orochimaru!"

Tsunade shouted sharply. Her chakra surged again, and the rubble beneath her feet instantly crumbled to dust. "Say one more word, and I'll snap your neck right now!"

"Snap my neck?"

Orochimaru burst into wild laughter, his voice shrill and piercing. "What are you afraid of? Are you afraid this pitiful child will learn the truth? Afraid he'll learn that his parents died protecting the village on the day he was born? Afraid he'll learn that the village he protects has treated him like a monster for twelve whole years?"

"I'll tell you—and what a coincidence. Your father was the Fourth Hokage who stole the Hokage position from me, Minato Namikaze!"

He stepped forward, staring fixedly at Naruto's face as he waited to see him break down, to see him fly into a rage, to see him become hysterical like an ordinary child.

"So what if Minato Namikaze were alive? He'd still be my junior, and he'd still have to respectfully call me Lord Orochimaru! You bastard who doesn't even know who his father is, what are you acting so arrogant for in front of me?!"

The air fell deathly silent.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

The expected rage did not come. Neither did the expected breakdown.

Naruto simply stood there quietly, that faint smile from earlier still lingering on his face.

He picked at his ear as though he had heard some irrelevant gossip, then calmly nodded.

"Mm. And then?"

"..."

The entire area fell silent.

Even the little snakes hissing across the ground seemed frozen by the strange stillness.

Tsunade's half-raised fist froze in midair. Jiraiya's eyes widened as he stared at Naruto's back, his heart pounding uncontrollably.

Orochimaru's laughter came to an abrupt stop. The pride, resentment, calculation—every expression on his face froze at that very moment.

He opened his mouth, but all the mockery and heart-piercing words he had prepared were stuck in his throat. He could not say a single word.

It was like a punch he had thrown with all his strength had landed squarely in a ball of cotton.

That sense of powerlessness was a hundred times worse than when the man in black had pierced his lung.

"You... what are you pretending for?!"

Even Orochimaru's voice had changed pitch as his forked tongue flicked rapidly. "There's no way you knew! How could you have no reaction at all?!"

"Why would I need to react?"

Naruto tilted his head, looking utterly innocent. "I know far more about my father than you do. He was a hero, and it's true that he was an unqualified father. But what does that have to do with you?"

He took a step forward. Golden chakra rippled faintly, and Orochimaru instinctively took half a step back.

The terror of being dominated by the man in black last time instantly flooded back into his mind.

Naruto smiled, a trace of icy malice in his expression.

"But speaking of which, someone as kind as me should prepare a gift for our first official meeting, shouldn't I?"

"A gift?"

Orochimaru frowned, his snake eyes filled with vigilance. He had no idea what trick this unfathomable brat was playing now.

Naruto nodded, his tone as relaxed as if he were discussing the weather.

"You received this gift a long time ago."

He paused.

He watched Orochimaru's face grow increasingly ugly, watched Tsunade and Jiraiya's baffled expressions.

Then, enunciating each word clearly, he said:

"Let me remind you: that subordinate of yours was personally killed by me."