"Sasuke!" Naruto Uzumaki stepped out from behind a tree and greeted Sasuke with a smile.
"Naruto! Why did you take so long to go to the bathroom?" Sakura said angrily. "Hinata and the others are already far ahead. We probably can't catch up now!"
"Sasuke!" Naruto smiled and reached to put an arm around Sasuke's shoulders.
Sasuke's gaze sharpened, and he swung the shuriken in his hand at Naruto.
Naruto leaped backward, flipping out of the way of Sasuke's attack and landing steadily on a tree.
Sakura hurriedly shouted, "Sasuke, why are you attacking Naruto?"
Sasuke said coldly:
"Hmph. The real Naruto would never ignore Sakura."
Naruto grinned, an indescribably sinister look in his eyes, and said in a chilling voice:
"You noticed? So that's how it is. Such keen observation. As expected of the Uchiha Clan with their Sharingan. Hehehe!"
Sakura asked urgently:
"Who are you? What did you do to Naruto?"
"That brat? Hehehe," Naruto laughed wickedly. "He's probably being digested in a giant snake's belly!"
A shuriken shot toward him. Naruto dodged, and the shuriken struck the tree trunk with a thud.
With a wicked grin, Naruto transformed into an adult man wearing a bamboo hat.
The man licked the corner of his mouth and said:
"Is that all you've got? You can't kill me like that!"
Sasuke swung both hands repeatedly, sending shuriken flying toward the man one after another.
"What a waste. Is this how you've squandered all these years, Sasuke Uchiha?"
"Who are you?" Sasuke watched the newcomer warily, his gaze cold.
"Who am I?" The man licked the corner of his mouth. "I'm someone wanted by Konoha. I'm also Orochimaru, once one of the Konoha Sannin!"
Orochimaru? Of course Sasuke knew Orochimaru. He had heard his clansmen mention that name years ago, and he knew how solemn the adults in his clan had been when speaking of him.
"Orochimaru, what are you doing here? This is Konoha!"
"I came for you, Sasuke Uchiha! You carry the Uchiha Clan's bloodline, yet you waste your talent. You might as well give it to me, and I'll help you kill your older brother!" Orochimaru laughed sinisterly.
"You know Uchiha Itachi?" Sasuke asked through gritted teeth.
"Of course. We were even colleagues once. Even I have to be careful around him. How could you possibly kill your brother and avenge the Uchiha Clan as you are now? That's Uchiha Itachi we're talking about! Hehehe, the last Uchiha brat!"
Sasuke's eyes instantly turned red, two tomoe slowly spinning within them.
"I'll kill you!" Sasuke flew into a rage, brandishing his shuriken as he stabbed at the man in the bamboo hat.
Orochimaru seized Sasuke's right hand and hurled him away, sending him tumbling from the tree.
Sakura leaped out and grabbed Sasuke's left hand, steadying him.
"You really do lack strength. How can you get revenge like this? Or is your hatred nothing but a sham? Are you really just a cowardly boy?"
Orochimaru chuckled in his hoarse voice, his words stabbing into Sasuke's heart like sharp knives.
Sasuke flipped upright and threw two shuriken at the man.
Orochimaru dodged nimbly. The two shuriken collided in midair, and the steel wires attached to them wound around him.
Got him!
The shuriken's momentum carried the steel wires around and around through the air, binding Orochimaru tightly.
"Hehehe, does that mean you've succeeded?" The man watched Sasuke charge toward him. "Wasn't that a little too easy, last brat of the Uchiha Clan?"
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke drove his shuriken through the man's throat and let out a soft breath.
"What a foolish little brat." Orochimaru's hoarse voice sounded behind him.
He didn't die? A clone?
Sasuke's hair stood on end as he watched the black-clad man before him collapse into a pile of dirt.
Sasuke thrust his shuriken behind him, only for Orochimaru to seize both his hands.
Orochimaru licked Sasuke's neck. His own neck suddenly stretched, coiling twice around Sasuke's body like a snake before his head turned to stare into Sasuke's eyes.
"Do you lose all rational thought as soon as someone provokes you? What a disappointing brat. You're nowhere near Uchiha Itachi!"
"Don't mention him!" Sasuke opened his mouth and tried to bite Orochimaru.
"Hehehe..."
Orochimaru's neck twisted nimbly out of the way. He opened his mouth, revealing two sharp fangs, and bit into Sasuke's neck. Sasuke dropped to his knees on the tree trunk in pain, his body convulsing violently, then fell from the tree more than ten meters above the grass.
"Sasuke!" Sakura jumped down from the tree and held him, tears falling uncontrollably.
Sasuke gritted his teeth in agony, his back arching as his body trembled nonstop. The two fang marks on his neck had already stopped bleeding. Black circular curse markings appeared around the wound, with three black tomoe spinning continuously inside the circle.
"A gift for you. I hope you can put it to use!" Orochimaru's hoarse voice drifted down from the tree. "If you feel you lack strength and want revenge, come find me! I'll give you power!"
Sakura stood up and brandished her shuriken at Orochimaru in the tree, shielding Sasuke behind her.
"Don't hurt Sasuke!" Naruto's furious roar rapidly drew closer, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of Orochimaru. He moved on all fours, his pupils vertical and his canine teeth elongated. His fingernails gouged deep claw marks into the tree trunk before Orochimaru.
"The Nine-Tails brat? You actually survived!" Surprise showed on Orochimaru's face. His long tongue licked the corner of his mouth again. "But what can you do, brat?"
"I'll kill you!" Naruto lunged like a wild beast, baring his teeth.
Naruto was far faster than before, but Orochimaru still dodged him.
"Aah!"
Sasuke's eyes were closed, and his trembling body could not hold back a cry of pain.
Naruto turned to look at Sasuke on the ground, then glared furiously at Orochimaru before him.
"Hehehehe." Orochimaru laughed wickedly, unhurried. "I'm going to kill him. Can you stop me, brat?"
"Aah!" Naruto crouched low on all fours. Red chakra kept pouring from his body, the unending stream forming a tail behind him.
"The Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Cloak? That's still not enough, brat!"
Naruto grew faster still, pushing off with both legs and lunging at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru sidestepped Naruto and caught his wrist, using force to swing him up into the air. He spun him around once and flung him away.
Thud! A dull impact rang out.
Orochimaru turned his palm over, examining his right hand, which had been burned by the Nine-Tails chakra.
"What a troublesome Nine-Tails!"
Naruto slammed into the tree trunk and fell. Twisting in midair, he planted both feet against the trunk and stuck firmly to it, then leaped powerfully at Orochimaru again.
Orochimaru dodged and thrust out his left hand, seizing Naruto by the throat and pinning him against the trunk. He spread his right hand, five different colors of chakra flaring from his five fingers, and pressed it against Naruto's abdomen.
Naruto's struggling limbs fell limply. His eyes lost focus, and his head drooped as he lost consciousness.
Thud!
Naruto fell to the ground.
"Hehehe, what a pleasant experience!" Orochimaru flicked his long tongue, licking the corner of his mouth with a smile. He walked down the tree one step at a time.
Sakura gritted her teeth and said, enunciating every word:
"I will never let you hurt Sasuke!"
Her hands formed seals, and chakra surged wildly from within her.
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!
A water dragon rose from the ground, twisting and swaying as it lunged to bite the man.
"Water Release? Unfortunately, it's nowhere near your classmate's!"
Orochimaru leaped swiftly aside. The water dragon twisted around the massive tree and snapped it in half, but it lacked the strength to continue. Its head swayed as though unwilling to give up, then dissolved into a great torrent that fell to the ground.
The current swept the three on the ground apart. Naruto, his eyes closed and limbs splayed, crashed headfirst into a tree.
Sakura clutched Sasuke's head tightly, pressing her face against his forehead as her tears dripped onto his face.
"I'm sorry. I'm so useless."
The enormous chakra expenditure left Sakura feeling weaker and weaker, and even her arms around Sasuke began to loosen. All she could do was lock her hands together tightly, letting the current slam them both into the roots of a tree.
"Don't hurt Sakura!"
A furious roar rapidly drew closer, and a green figure landed in front of Sakura.
The newcomer held one hand behind his back and the other forward in a guarding stance.
"Rock Lee, reporting for duty!"