Orochimaru

The air in the center of the forest was as thick as congealed blood.

Bzzzz—

The roar of the Chainsword was the only sound in the dead silence, like an ancient beast awakened from slumber, growling low.

"Sasuke, stay alert." Naruto's command shattered the stillness.

"Sakura, fall back."

There was not the slightest fluctuation in his voice. His orders were like brands, instantly covering the fear in their hearts. Sasuke's Sharingan spun sharply as his body automatically shifted into a combat stance. Sakura gritted her teeth as well, forcing herself to retreat to a safe distance.

A hoarse laugh, like snakes rubbing their scales together, came from the dense canopy.

"Hehehe... What interesting eyes."

A ninja wearing Kusagakure attire slowly emerged. Her face twisted and stretched before them like melting wax, eventually turning into a pale, sinister visage.

A long tongue slipped out and greedily licked across his lips.

Orochimaru.

He stuffed the Heaven Scroll in his hand into his mouth. His throat writhed, and he swallowed it whole.

The movement was filled with inhuman grotesqueness. Sakura's stomach churned, and she nearly threw up.

Sasuke's body tensed. He could feel every muscle fiber trembling. That evil aura filled him with instinctive fear.

Orochimaru did not look at Sakura, nor did he look at Naruto. All his attention was fixed on Sasuke, with the fanaticism and possessiveness of a connoisseur beholding a perfect work of art.

"I found you, Sasuke-kun." His voice carried a serpent-like hiss. "What a perfect vessel."

Sasuke's heart pounded wildly. Fear, anger, and a trace of suppressed excitement.

Just as Orochimaru reached out toward Sasuke.

Naruto moved.

He did not use any Body Flicker Technique. He merely took a firm step forward, standing before Sasuke like an impassable wall.

He held the roaring Chainsword across his chest, its tip aimed directly at Orochimaru.

"Stay away from my soldier."

Naruto's tone was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable sense of command.

Soldier?

Sasuke's pupils shrank sharply. He did not like being protected, yet absurdly, Naruto standing in front of him gave his body a trace of... reassurance.

Orochimaru stopped moving. His greedy eyes finally shifted away from Sasuke, studying Naruto and the unheard-of weapon in his hand with interest.

"Soldier? Hehe, an interesting way to put it." Orochimaru smiled. "And this weapon... You are full of secrets as well, Naruto-kun."

"A heretic like you has no right to ask questions." Naruto tightened both hands around the hilt, lowering his body slightly into a standard assault stance.

"Heretic?" The smile on Orochimaru's face widened, carrying the delight of discovering a novel toy. "What an interesting word. Let me see just how capable you are!"

He formed hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Boom!

A massive cloud of smoke erupted. A giant snake with scales thicker than iron armor appeared out of nowhere, and a foul gale slammed into them. The snake raised its head, its lantern-like eyes locking onto Naruto as it opened its bloody maw and bit down fiercely!

"Naruto!" Sakura's cry was torn apart by the wind.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun madly, trying to decipher the overwhelming attack, but all he felt was helplessness. Against such a colossal creature, any taijutsu or ninjutsu seemed pitifully small.

Yet Naruto did not dodge. He did not even take a step back.

Facing the shadow of death rushing toward him, the muscles in his arms bulged as he raised the Chainsword high above his head.

With a low growl.

He brought it down in an utterly pure vertical slash!

Bzzzzzzzz—

The Chainsword's roar reached its peak at that moment. The blade, infused with Wind Release chakra, and its high-speed spinning arc saw-teeth became a silver bolt of lightning that tore through everything.

Splat—!

There was no earth-shaking collision.

The instant the Chainsword touched the giant snake's head, it was like a red-hot knife cutting into butter. Its hard scales, thick skull, writhing flesh... everything was crushed, shredded, and churned into a blurry slurry of blood and meat beneath those savage teeth.

One slash, straight through.

The roaring weapon tore from the giant snake's head all the way to its tail.

Time seemed to freeze for a second.

The next moment, the enormous snake body split cleanly down the middle, becoming two twitching slabs of mangled flesh that crashed to the ground.

Reeking blood and chunks of viscera splattered everywhere like a rainstorm.

Sasuke and Sakura stood rooted in place, their faces covered in warm liquid, completely unaware of it.

Their minds were blank as they numbly watched a slaughter.

Naruto stood amid the rain of blood. The Chainsword's rapid rotation had already flung away every trace of filth.

Slowly, he pointed the tip of his sword at the completely unharmed Orochimaru.

"A rotten soul, a fallen will, pure evil." Naruto's expression was more solemn than ever. "Your very existence is a contamination, like... a Chaos God of the Warp!"

"I truly have no idea what you are talking about."

The smile finally vanished from Orochimaru's face. He needed to take this a little more seriously.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

Dozens of black venomous snakes shot from his sleeves like living whips, winding toward Naruto from every direction.

Naruto did not retreat.

The Chainsword in his hands became a silver storm.

There was not a single unnecessary movement in his actions. Every slash and every block landed precisely on the snakes' most vulnerable spots.

There were no flashy techniques, only the purest efficiency that existed solely for killing.

Splat! Splat! Splat!

Severed snake corpses rained down, yet not one came within half a meter of Naruto.

Sasuke's heart pounded wildly as he watched.

Orochimaru's attacks were strange and lethal, but Naruto's responses were even more terrifying.

It was pure destruction, completely stripped of beauty and variation.

Orochimaru sneered. His boneless body slid across the ground, instantly closing the distance.

His speed was beyond imagination.

"Your weapon is certainly interesting, but a battle between ninja is not merely a contest of whose tool is sharper!"

He opened his mouth, and the tip of a sword emerged from it, stabbing straight toward Naruto's heart.

Naruto twisted aside. The sword tip grazed his ribs, colliding with the Chainsword and throwing up a shower of sparks.

At the same time, Naruto swept his Chainsword horizontally, aiming directly for Orochimaru's neck.

Orochimaru's neck stretched backward at an unbelievable angle like a rubber band, narrowly evading the fatal strike.

The two separated in an instant and faced each other again.

"Quick reactions." Orochimaru licked his lips, appreciation and greed intertwined in his gaze. "Your body is interesting too."

Naruto did not respond.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three Shadow Clones identical to him appeared at his side, each wielding a slightly translucent Chainsword formed from chakra.

"Tactical squad, Mode Two. Execute purification protocol."

At the original's command, all four "Narutos" moved at once.

They did not fight separately. Instead, they formed a standard diamond assault formation and charged Orochimaru from four directions with flawless coordination.

Orochimaru's expression finally changed.

He was not facing four independent ninja, but a killing machine whose coordination was seamless.

No matter which direction he moved, he would face attacks from at least two others at once.

Every possible escape route had been completely sealed.

"Interesting! Too interesting!"

He laughed wildly and formed hand seals again.

However, Naruto's attack had already arrived.

From the front came the original's powerful overhead chop.

From the left came a tricky horizontal sweep from a Shadow Clone, blocking his retreat.

From the right, another Shadow Clone rolled forward low to the ground, targeting his legs.

Behind him, the fourth Shadow Clone had already leaped high into the air, ready to launch a fatal aerial strike.

It was a killing formation.

Boom!

The raging Chainswords struck their target simultaneously, carving several deep trenches into the ground.

The "Orochimaru" trapped in the center was instantly shredded to pieces.

But those fragments did not turn into flesh and blood. Instead, they became scattered clumps of dirt in midair.

An Earth Clone?

Sasuke's Sharingan caught the anomaly.

"I'm over here."

A teasing voice came from behind a large tree not far away.

The real Orochimaru stood there completely unharmed, though his expression was far graver than before.

He looked at Naruto. His eyes no longer held the pleasure of regarding a toy, but a complex mixture of confusion, wariness, and intense curiosity.

"You are not a ninja."

Orochimaru spoke one word at a time, as though stating a fact.

"Your fighting style, your killing intent, that so-called 'tactics' of yours... none of it belongs to this world."

"Just what are you?"