Naruto's shadow clone knew his job was to buy time.
So he didn't mind exchanging a few more words with Orochimaru.
The original was moving away with his companions. Orochimaru's target was Sasuke, so all the clone needed to do was hold him off and give the original enough time to put some distance between them.
Besides... Naruto knew very well that Orochimaru would still be useful later.
What's more, the original had a "little gift" prepared for Orochimaru down the line, though it was currently with Danzo.
He couldn't kill him here.
At that thought, the shadow clone's gaze sharpened. Brandishing the ordinary twig, he unleashed chakra beneath his feet and shot like an arrow straight toward Orochimaru on the branch!
At first, Orochimaru really had intended to toy with Naruto. A genin holding a twig... what threat could he possibly pose?
But as Naruto rapidly closed in, highly concentrated, incomparably sharp Wind Release chakra suddenly flooded the seemingly ordinary twig in his hand, making it glow blue-green. Orochimaru's expression instantly changed!
Relying on his extraordinary reflexes and supple body, he twisted unnaturally as though he had no bones just as the twig reached him, narrowly avoiding the seemingly simple thrust.
But the instant he dodged, the wind-nature chakra erupted.
"Shhh! Shhh! Shhh!"
Countless wind blades, thin as hairs yet incredibly sharp, shot simultaneously from the tip and every tiny fork of the twig imbued with Wind Release chakra!
Rather than scattering randomly, the wind blades followed the twig's sweeping trajectory, forming a dense, precise cutting net!
Crack!
The tree Orochimaru had been standing on, so thick it would take several people to encircle it, and the two trees behind it were sliced cleanly into dozens of pieces the instant they touched the net of wind blades, as easily