A/N I would like to open this next update with an apology to all of you following the story, my last chapter ended with a big cliff-hanger. Re-reading the piece made me realize it did really break up the reading flow to end it there, but I've learnt my lesson now, I think.
Some of you pointed out that Orochimaru toyed with four tails Naruto in cannon. Which is true. So, this, by extension shouldn't be much of a fight. Well, I wrote this chapter with that very much in mind. I'm curious what people will think.
Let's move on, epic stuff is coming up. Read on dear readers!
Legacy Ascending
Collision
Then, Orochimaru, S-ranked Nukenin and wanted criminal, charged forward with the intent to kill.
~ Mountain zone ~
Naruto watched with wide eyes as the dark haired Sannin in disguise moved. Gracious and deadly, he was on them in an instant. Lightning struck down nearby and thunder rolled over the rocky canopy, and Naruto was struck with inspiration. He grabbed hold of Sasuke - he ignored the Uchiha's outcry - and pulled him in front of Orochimaru's path. The legendary Sannin paused. Naruto's assumption had been spot on, he wanted Sasuke alive.
Instead of attacking them head-on, Orochimaru slithered past Sasuke and shot his arm towards Naruto. Who firmly placed his boot on Sasuke's buttocks and kicked off of him like a springboard. Orochimaru's limb extended unnaturally far, and Naruto saw his pale, slender fingertips try to grab after him in mid back flip.
Sasuke was sent stumbling, and out of nowhere, a second Naruto appeared beside him in a Shunshin. He grabbed the Uchiha and disappeared in another Shunshin, leaving only Orochimaru and Naruto on the rocky hillside.
Naruto landed a small distance away from the Nukenin, who was having a moment of deliberation. It was clear he was torn between killing Naruto, and chasing after Sasuke.
He stared in the direction his clone had went off into, before returning his gaze back to him.
"You . . . pre-emptively made a Kage Bunshin before facing me, and had it wait for the first opportunity to remove Sasuke-kun?" His voice was raspy.
"Yes, and when they get to the safe-zone my clone will warn Ibiki, and your time posing as someone else in this exam will be over."
"Ku ku ku, you really thought this through, Naruto-kun." Orochimaru seemed more amused than anything. "But did you forget yourself in the plan? I mean, you are all alone, completely at my mercy."
"I didn't forget anything." Naruto called out, he realized stalling for time until help arrived was the best course of action. "I am exactly where I have to be. But you? First, I kill one of your pawns, she put up no resistance, then I swoop the Uchiha out of your reach. Must be aggravating to have your plans derailed by a kid."
If Orochimaru thought Kin was dead, he wouldn't try looking for her.
"You killed the girl?" Orochimaru became very still, his earlier amusement was gone.
"Dead and buried." Naruto stared unblinkingly at Orochimaru even as the heavy rain pelted down at his face.
"She was supposed to be a sacrifice for the summons . . ." Naruto barely heard the low voice through the rain. "Well, I have other pawns I can use, no harm done."
He returned his gaze back to Naruto, his eyes looked different now, more predatory. "Do you think stalling your death will prevent it, Naruto-kun?"
"I'm not dying today, Orochimaru." Naruto kept his voice even despite the threat, but he did start to mold chakra. Lucky timing, because just as he finished speaking, Orochimaru shot a concentrated wave of killing intent at him. Its effect was heavily reduced, but it still shook him.
Kurama's chakra was like a fiery ocean of malice and hatred. Orochimaru was completely different. His chakra was hell frozen over, sinister and dreadful and completely lacking any empathy. Its potency was terrifying, and it made Naruto seize up for a second.
"Hoh, did you anticipate me? Such a clever boy. Did Jiraiya teach you?" Orochimaru had gone from terrifying and back to amused curiosity in the blink of an eye. It made his poker face slip somewhat.
"Your old teammate?" Naruto asked, trying to regain his mask. He did not want Orochimaru to gain any useful intel from him.
"Tight lipped hmm . . . Well, let's find out then." Orochimaru murmured to himself. Strangely enough, he then lifted his head to the skies. At first, Naruto thought he was enjoying the rainfall, but then he saw the muscles in his throat work and convulse. Slowly, the hilt of what could only be a sword protruded out of his mouth. Bit by bit, Orochimaru was regurgitating a whole sword.
Jiraiya had told him about the blade - the Kusanagi - yesterday, but he had failed to mention Orochimaru kept it inside of him. He unsealed his Wakizashi and fell into his stance. The time for stalling was over. He squeezed out as much chakra as he dared cling onto and stared determinedly at Orochimaru, who now held the Kusanagi. He was about to fight a Sannin to the death.
xXx
~ In the no-fight zone ~
"Like I've said numerous times now, I will only speak to Naruto . . ." Kin explained to her most recent interrogator. The brazen woman stared down at her from in front of the tent flaps, her facial expression overshadowed. Kin met her gaze resolutely from the stretcher she was lying on.
"Why him?" The woman who had introduced herself as Mitarashi Anko, asked her.
"I will only speak to-"
"Bah! You're insufferable!" Anko waved her reply away.
There was a knock at the tent pole outside. Anko considered telling the person to fuck off, but decided against it. She stepped outside.
"What?" She snapped at the Chunin standing stiffly in front of the tent.
"Ibiki told me to fetch you, Mitarashi-san! It was important, I am to guard the girl until instructed otherwise!" He closed his left fist over his heart, a very respectful salute. One Anko rarely received unless something was really important.
"Fine." She groaned out the word and made her way across the clearing and past the announcement podium. The Chunin she passed were all hurrying somewhere, she noted. Something had happened.
She saw Ibiki first, standing tall and talking sternly to two short figures. She recognized both, Uchiha Sasuke, the village prodigy, and Naruto, the self-proclaimed Uzumaki.
Naruto was speaking with intensity, his body language screamed "listen to me".
"Ibiki, what's up?"
The trio snapped their heads in her direction.
"Anko! Get over here! We have a code red." Ibiki told her grimly.
Code red? That could only mean a large-scale direct attack, or a known S-ranked hostile in our territory.
A large-scale attack did not seem very likely. Anko frowned, S-ranked hostiles were not to be trifled with. "Ibiki, brief me. Who is it?"
It wasn't Ibiki who answered her question however, but Naruto.
"It's Orochimaru."
Anko stared sharply at the boy, looking for signs of deceit, but the fact that Ibiki didn't correct him gave the statement some credibility. Now that she was looking at him, Anko could see that he was breathing hard. Sasuke for his sake looked thoroughly trounced too.
"He was about to bite Sasuke in the neck, I think he was trying to do something to him." Naruto began to explain. He tried to brand Sasuke with a cursed seal. Anko realized and gave the Uchiha a glance, she became self-conscious of her own curse mark.
"I stopped him and took Sasuke back here." Naruto finished.
"It's true." The dark-haired boy threw in his support.
"Just like that?" Anko asked incredulously.
"No, I stayed behind. This is just a Kage Bunshin." Naruto - err, the clone - explained.
"What!?" She nearly shouted the word, shocked and outraged at the same time. "Wh- Are you STUPID?! Do you even know what he's capable of!? You moron! Where is he!"
Ibiki stepped forward and put a gentle hand on Anko's shoulder. "Anko, calm down, I've already issued commands, we're slowly boxing him in as we speak. The Hokage has just been informed, he's on his way with the ANBU."
Anko shook Ibiki's arm off of her shoulder and stared at the two Genin present.
"Where?" She repeated herself.
"I can take you there." The clone offered. "I haven't disappeared, so the original is still alive . . ."
"Go!" Anko shouted.
The clone gave Sasuke and Ibiki a final look, before he turned on the spot and sprinted off with Anko at his heels.
Ibiki stared after his subordinate and let out a slow sigh, as always, Mitarashi did as she pleased.
xXx
Naruto brought up his Wakizashi just in time to stop Orochimaru's forward thrust. But the pressure didn't stop, instead, his boots slid through the brown rain water. The Kusanagi was extending itself and gaining girth, pressing into his Wakizashi. Unfazed by this, Naruto began his countermove.
The voice of Jiraiya chimed in the back of his head as he moved. "Slap the blade aside and step in confidently-"
Naruto flicked the Kusanagi aside and strode forth with blue eyes blazing.
"-When he retracts the Kusanagi, his next move will chop your head off. Go low."
Naruto took another deep stride and felt a few strands of hair get cut off.
"You have to move as if you're going to strike him-"
Using his right arm, Naruto thrusted his Wakizashi forth, it thrummed with an invisible edge. Orochimaru retracted his Kusanagi again and expertly caught his Wakizashi in its guard. Naruto's left arm shot out, there was a tiny puff of smoke and a small Tanto appeared in his hand.
Just before he pierced skin, Orochimaru grabbed his arm and held it. He smiled condescendingly, showcasing a pair of unnaturally sharp teeth. He moved to bite him.
"After he's cornered you, he'll feel superior and let his guard down, this is the moment you strike."
Naruto said nothing, but a chaotic burst of chakra emanated from the tip of the Tanto, wind natured and shaped like a pointed lance. It was a point-blank shot with very little buildup. Orochimaru's pale eyes widened a fraction, and he immediately released Naruto and twisted away. Despite the incredible reaction time, Naruto saw the Jutsu rip bloody chunks out of his side.
Orochimaru reappeared a small distance away from him, he stood hunched over, the rainwater beneath him was quickly turning red. Hardly thinking about the decision, Naruto ran forward.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Orochimaru muttered, and held out a bloodied hand.
Half a dozen enormous black snakes shot out of the resulting smoke clouds, they were thick as trees around their midsection. They hissed and began to slither towards him. Naruto slid to a complete stop and resealed his Wakizashi, and with a single, measured slice of his Tanto, Naruto drew blood.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He called out. Two could play that game.
Out of his much larger smoke cloud, a gigantic green and teal toad emerged. Gamahiro quickly unsheathed his longswords, he hated snakes with a passion.
"Naruto? What's going on?" Gamahiro asked, clearly confused about the situation.
"Gamahiro! keep his summons off of me!" Naruto called out, too invested in the fight to exchange any pleasantries.
Naruto kicked off with a will and began to run vertically across one of the many rock walls. A snake lunged after him, but Gamahiro struck it down before it reached him. Naruto blasted himself off of the wall with a big chakra pulse, he soared through the air and used one of the snakes as a way to springboard himself further ahead.
Naruto anticipated some kind of counter attack by now, so he made two Kage Bunshin and used them as stepping stones to change his trajectory. His intuition had been dead on, both clones were popped by the Kusanagi.
Naruto landed and saw the blade retract back to Orochimaru. He was standing in the same spot, but he was completely different now. Gone was the normal looking man from earlier, this was the real form of Orochimaru, a snowy white complexion and slit, yellow eyes. His disguise laid at his feet like a shed skin, the wound from earlier was gone.
"I was hoping you would reveal something like that." Orochimaru nodded in the direction of Gamahiro, who was quite busy chopping up reptiles.
"Now I know for certain Jiraiya was your mentor." He smiled pointedly. "Well, I suppose playtime is over now, Good bye, Naruto-kun."
So, he really was just toying with me now . . .
Orochimaru and Naruto both set into motion at the same time. Naruto used Kawarimi and switched places with the kunai Dozu had tried to kill Sasuke with. From there he vitalized his body with a big influx of chakra and disappeared in a Shunshin. He reappeared further down the mountainside on top of a large slab of rock that emerged out of the mountain at a tilt.
There was a shift in the air beside him. Already?! With wide eyes, Naruto whirled around and cleaved through the air with his Tanto. It lodged itself into something that only looked like Orochimaru, it was an earth clone. Naruto felt the air shift behind him again, he barely had time enough to reinforce himself with chakra, much less turn around.
The powerful kick sent him down the mountainside like a comet. He collided with the ground and bounced down the steep hillside like a ragdoll. The ground was slick with rainwater, so he got no burns, but sharp rocks and pointy branches stabbed into his combat suit and pierced flesh. He slid to a stop by the edge of a cliffside. Gingerly, he picked himself up. The only reason he could still move without issue was because he had reinforced himself with chakra.
Rainwater was rushing over his boots and over the cliffside, he thought he could see the mountain lake at the bottom of the vertical drop, but the rain was so thick now it was hard to see anything. Lightning briefly lit up the surrounding area, and he was left with a momentary pitch black darkness as it faded. He could feel a rumble in the earth.
An instinctual urge rose in him and compelled him to move. Naruto obeyed his gut feeling without thought and threw himself over the edge of the cliff. In the air, he hastily made a pair of clones and used them to launch himself towards the face of the cliff wall. He lodged a wind enhanced kunai into one of the crevices that he saw, effectively keeping him in place.
In the next moment, tons upon tons of brown water crashed over the rocks above and roared over the edge of the cliff. The murky flood water kept coming in force for a full ten seconds or so, during which Naruto could only stare in awe as it cascaded harmlessly an arm's length away from him. Orochimaru had manipulated all of the nearby water in the area with some kind of high-end Suiton Jutsu and sent it rushing down the hillside like a focused wave.
Holy cow he's powerful . . .
As the last of the power in the waterfall subsided, Naruto placed his feet against the vertical rock wall and stood upright as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He looked up, and despite the heavy rain bombarding his face he could still make out Orochimaru's figure at the ledge.
With very few sane options to choose from, Naruto did what a normal person might have considered insane. He kicked off the cliff face with a big burst of chakra and let himself fall down towards the lake below.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He bellowed into the whipping air.
Gamabunta - the largest of the toads - appeared beneath him. Naruto grabbed hold of the amphibian and did his best to stick himself to the toad with chakra. If Orochimaru had made a big wave earlier, then what Gamabunta produced when he fell into the small lake beneath the cliff was an enormous tidal wave.
A few days earlier, Naruto had estimated that the lake could have submerged a house, but Gamabunta was more than twice the size of any normal house. When he hit rock bottom, he was only halfway submerged. The resulting explosion of water shot far up into the sky, and the waves that ripped across the tiny shore and tore into the forest zone were pretty tall.
Incredibly enough, the ongoing storm concealed the incredible event from anyone who were not close enough to be affected by it.
"Boy! What's going on here?!" Gamabunta questioned the blonde atop his head. The large, rust-red toad was angrily gnawing on a half-smoked cigar that had been thoroughly soaked.
"No time for niceties, our opponent is Orochimaru." Naruto shouted and held up a familiar cross sign. Half a dozen Kage Bunshin popped up around him. Four of which dispersed as a unit and jumped off Gamabunta. Naruto felt Orochimaru's presence before he saw him, he whirled around in time to see the Sannin pop two of his clones on the rocky waves of the lake.
Not even looking at him, Orochimaru extended his Kusanagi lazily, and Naruto watched as it burst through a clone some distance away, before it zigzagged after the last one running for the tree line. It pierced through that one as well.
He's meticulous, he knows my clones can warn others, or I could use them to escape with a kawarimi . . . But fuck, that sword of his is ridiculous, it's like it's not even made of metal at times. And if what's Jiraiya said is correct, it can even pierce just.
"Gamabunta!"Naruto shouted to get the large toad's attention. "We'll do it now!" Naruto commanded. The large toad sniffed at him first, but then took a deep breath. He spewed out a jet of oil from his mouth towards Orochimaru, Naruto watched as the two clones beside him stepped forth and weaved through the necessary hand signs quickly.
"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!"
"Fūton: Daitoppa!"
The fire bullet hit the oil stream first and made a small firestorm. Then the large gust of wind struck home, and turned parts of the lake into a literal inferno. The lake was on fire and burning despite the intense rain. Naruto patted the two clones on their shoulder and gestured for them to back off and keep some distance to him.
He wanted a safety net for what came next.
Then, without warning, the most colossal serpent Naruto had ever seen shot out of the burning water and lunged straight for Gamabunta. Who quickly moved into stance and grabbed after his oversized Tanto. Gamabunta roared fiercely and held up the blade towards the huge, purple serpent. The summon shied away from the blade and began to slither out of the burning water, clearly looking for an opening to strike at Gamabunta.
"I'll take on Orochimaru, you keep that thing busy!" Naruto shouted.
"Fine!" Gamabunta grunted and spat out his cigar.
"Show that serpent who's the better summon!" Naruto shouted to Gamabunta, and leapt of off him.
He hit the water below and quickly stabilized himself with chakra, his two clones close behind him. The water was still turbulent, but far calmer already as compared to just half a minute ago. Naruto took off at a sprint towards shore. He could hear Gamabunta and Manda scuffle loudly in the water behind him. He snuck a quick peek and had to admit the two giant summons fighting made for an incredible sight in the storm.
Naruto reached shore, which was mostly made up of sleek rocks slick with water. Everywhere there were clear signs that a natural disaster had just struck. Things one would normally find at the bottom of a lake were haphazardly strewn about the shore, tangy seaweed, waterlilies, various fish and crustaceans. Some of the shortest and closest trees were skewed, while others were completely uprooted.
Not pausing much to take in the environment on the shore, Naruto took another backwards glance. The oil sleet on the lake had more or less burned away by now, and the fire was quickly ebbing out as a result. Naruto just hoped the collaboration Jutsu had been enough to make a signal to anyone looking for either him or Orochimaru.
Suddenly, Naruto felt sick, it was that foul chakra approaching again. Orochimaru had such potent and powerful chakra, it was painfully easy to detect him, and he was nearby now. His two clones took up position behind him on both sides. Naruto saw him then, walking onto shore and towards him at a measured pace.
The epitome of a predator calmly approaching its prey.
"You're a resilient one, aren't you?" The Sannin smiled at him. "I'll give you credit for making it this far, very few do."
"We haven't even gotten to the best part." Naruto told him with grim determination.
"My, my, I can see now that your earlier confidence was not entirely misplaced. A pity really, what a waste." Orochimaru flicked a forked tongue over his lips and pointed his Kusanagi at him. "Time to die, Namikaze boy."
Naruto dodged to the side when the Kusanagi came for him, but the sword swerved after him. Naruto used kawarimi to replace himself with a snapped off branch that laid by the tree line. The sword bursted after him, but then it suddenly stopped. His clones had attacked Orochimaru in a pincer attack, and that had forced the Sannin to retract the Kusanagi.
Naruto didn't pause to watch his clones get demolished, instead he hurried into the forest. There was flood water covering the ground, almost reaching up to his ankles. Every step he took made a loud splash. By now, he had gotten a sense of how fast Orochimaru was by now, and he was pretty sure the Sannin would catch up to him in about five seconds.
Naruto swiftly dug into his weathered combat vest to find a black smoke bomb, which he activated and showed into the nook of a crocked tree. Quick as a cat, Naruto pounced up a nearby trunk and hid in the branches. He tried to squeeze down on his remaining chakra as much as possible. Hopefully, Orochimaru wouldn't be able to pinpoint his exact location.
xXx
Anko looked at the scene in front of her with a dispassionate professionality. The corpse of the Oto Genin she quickly discarded as unimportant. The large tracks and indents left behind in the rocky ground were interesting, but gave her no clue as to what had happened. There were big rifts in the ground too, large chunks of torn up dirt. Whoever had fought here had used a very big weapon.
"One of my summons probably made those." The clone she had tagged along with explained, he was out of breath, but otherwise fine.
"But what happened here, it looks like you put up a fight, but ultimately lost . . ."
"What's that?" The clone pointed out.
Anko gazed in the same direction. Distant thunder rumbled over the skies. The rain seemed to be never-ending, and the sky was starting to turn dark. Despite the extreme downpour, she thought there was something bright further down the hillside. A fire?
"I think it has to be them." The clone said. "You should go on ahead, I'll only slow you down from here."
Anko gave the haggard clone a dip of her head and shot off with impressive speed.
xXx
When Orochimaru stopped in front of his smokescreen, Naruto prepared himself to ambush him. But then, the Sannin struck out with the Kusanagi and sliced through every tree in the vicinity like they were all made out of cardboard. There was a large cacophony of noise as over two dozen trees crashed into the ground. Naruto jumped off the branches he was in and landed on the soggy forest floor, but he quickly had to jump out of the way of another tree that came close to crushing him.
Orochimaru said something aloud, and suddenly a powerful gust of wind blew away leaves and snapped off twigs, the smokescreen was completely dispelled.
"So many tricksss!" The Sannin came stepping over two tree trunks and dug his eyes straight into Naruto, he then lunged straight for him.
"Just die already!" He screamed.
Naruto snapped into his most versatile stance and felt adrenaline shoot up his veins. Orochimaru charged straight at him and lashed out with the Kusanagi. Naruto shot out both arms and unsealed his Bō staff. The staff embedded itself into the ground, and Naruto vaulted himself into the air.
Orochimaru snarled and bolted after him. The Bō staff disappeared and Naruto snapped out his left arm and shot off a Futon: Kazekiri from midair. The experienced Sannin merely dodged the wind cutter, and burst after him again. Naruto landed on a fallen willow tree, it lurched slightly when he made his landing, it was unstable because of the trees beneath it. Orochimaru crunched into the tree bark behind him, which caused the entire willow trunk to slide off of some of the trees under it and roll onto a trunk further down in the pile.
Naruto nearly lost his balance, but he grabbed hold of a branch and began to weave past the many offshoots covering the trunk. Orochimaru followed behind him with a fury, bending and slithering past the branches like only a snake could. The Sannin caught up to him in no time at all.
Cornered and on the verge of desperation, Naruto moved into form and made a broad diagonal sweep with a blade only he could see. While confused at first, Orochimaru realized what he was doing at the very last second and leaned back to avoid the phantom slash.
However, Naruto didn't unseal his short Wakizashi in mid-swing. He unsealed his Katana. A sword which was nearly twice the length of his Wakizashi. Orochimaru's eyes bulged at the sight of it. Offshoots were cut off clean, droplets of rain were sliced in half, and Orochimaru received a long gash from his left hip to his first rib.
The scream that followed was loud.
Adrenaline pounding in his ears, Naruto stepped forward with his Katana held high. He was caught by surprise when the neck and throat of Orochimaru extended itself and shot out like it had done before. The Sannin then bit down on his Katana and held it in place.
Naruto tried to yank it free, and when that failed he began to channel chakra into the blade. But the Sannin released the sword from his mouth and gaped. Naruto saw a sword tip burst out of Orochimaru's wide open mouth. He tried to sidestep and grab after the Kusanagi, but he failed on both accounts. The blade whizzed past his fingers and made a cut in his throat.
Naruto stumbled and dropped his Katana. The Kusanagi quickly retracted itself back into its owner, who gave Naruto a cold smile. Naruto had no idea if he was bleeding badly or not, but he hoped the main artery was still intact. If he'd been just a tiny bit faster he could have grabbed the blade. Sealing the Kusanagi away would have been huge.
"Dropped your sword, Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru let out a sadistic laugh, but he stopped quickly, and Naruto caught the pained expression that flew over his face. He coughed slightly and hunched over, his own injury was clearly giving him difficulty. Hope sparked inside Naruto. If the wound he had given Orochimaru had been more lethal than first anticipated, he might still have a chance.
Lightning struck down again, but this time it was far away, and it took several long seconds before the thunder caught up with it. The cold, hard rain was starting to turn Naruto's fingers numb. He had to attack now, before Orochimaru managed to inexplicably regenerate himself again.
Naruto flipped through five hand signs in rapid motion, he then stepped on a branch and jumped towards another tree limb, which caused the tree to roll down the pile further. Naruto let his reflexes guide him in-between the moving boughs as electricity began to spark between his fingers. He pointed his dominant hand towards the Nukenin.
"Raiton: Jibashi!" A surge of lightning ripped into the air towards Orochimaru, who held up a hand. The Jutsu was canceled out upon contact without doing any damage. Naruto bounced over to another branch and pulled off another Jutsu.
"Futon: Kazekiri!" The stormy weather around him obeyed, and powerful winds tore towards Orochimaru. The Nukenin danced out of the way of the wind blades and made a chop at the branch Naruto was standing on. The younger Shinobi skipped off the limb and brought himself down on Orochimaru, he unsealed his Wakizashi just in time to contest the Kusanagi.
The two fought for dominance for half a second, but Naruto resealed the Wakizashi and stepped out of the way of Orochimaru's overextended swing. He unsealed the Tanto and made a vertical cut up, his wind natured chakra drastically increased his reach. Orochimaru just barely managed to slither out of the way and unexpectedly pounced on him from between two crisscrossing branches. His left arm shot out like a projectile and hit him square in the chest.
Naruto burst through two branches and hit the soggy ground before he crashed with his back into a large tree stump. Pushing through the pain, Naruto clambered back onto his feet. He was dizzy and his entire body was aching, but he could still move. He felt the Nukenin approach him at a ravenous speed. Naruto created three clones and turned to face the Sannin. The clones behind him - each of them just as haggard as he was - flicked kunai at the approaching Snake summoner.
The projectiles were too slow. Orochimaru ran past them. Two of his clones switched places with the Kunai and appeared behind the snake summoner. His last clone ran courageously ahead to face the Sannin head on. Orochimaru burst through that one like it was nothing, he was caught a bit off guard when the real Naruto appeared in the air beside him. The young Uzumaki twisted his upper body and delivered a powerful kick aimed at the man's midsection, but Orochimaru bent at an unnatural 90 degree angle no ordinary human could ever copy. The Sannin then gracefully moved into a kick of his own, standing on one leg he kicked down at the still airborne Naruto.
The boy was smacked ruthlessly into the ground, where he burst into a small cloud of smoke. A well-timed Kawarimi had saved him. Orochimaru whirled himself around and struck out an arm. Naruto brushed the arm aside and lashed out with a strike of his own. Orochimaru struck down his attack and retaliated faster than the naked eye could see.
Naruto barely redirected the blow and quickly had to hold up a guard, but Orochimaru broke through it easily and grabbed hold of his throat in a death grip. Naruto burst into smoke again, the last clone had switched places with him. A small distance away, Naruto wheezed slightly. His windpipe had almost been crushed before the clone had swapped with him.
There was a rumble of thunder, and it blocked out the sound of Orochimaru's next Jutsu. Naruto failed to spot the hand signs through the hard rain, so he was unprepared when the earth beneath him shook and rearranged itself. He immediately tried to dash out of the danger zone, but a jagged spike of earth shot up and clipped him in the side, causing him to crash into the ground.
Holding his bleeding side, Naruto scrambled to his feet. He reflexively unsealed his Wakizashi and cleaved the air behind him without even looking. Orochimaru brushed past his attack and nailed him straight in the face with a powerful punch. For a full two seconds, Naruto soared through the air, he then hit the ground with no chakra reinforcement whatsoever.
He tumbled across the soaked ground until he came to a natural stop.
The taste of blood welled up in his mouth, and moving his head and neck caused excruciating pain. He wasn't sure, but he expected fractures and internal bleeding inside his thoracic cavity. Grave injuries even to someone like him, had the situation been any different, Naruto would have stayed limp. But as it were, surrendering to pain now meant death.
Need some help? The insidious voice of Kurama bubbled up in the back of his head. You won't be able to get up in time unless you take my help now.
True. But I can still mold chakra.
So, despite his body's loud protest, Naruto shoved his hand into his Fuinjutsu pouch and took out a random seal. He got an explosive tag of his own design. Powerful enough to blow up an entire house, and it retained its functionality even in heavy rain. Slightly delirious at this point, Naruto considered it a lucky grab.
He turned his head ever so slightly to get a glimpse of Orochimaru's approaching figure, Naruto held the scroll up and shot out a focused blast of air from his palm. The scroll was sent hurtling through the rain. When it passed Orochimaru, Naruto held up a hand sign from his prone position and detonated it remotely.
The scene in front of him lit up brightly, the ground shook, and the air vibrated. The pressure was strong enough to roll him over and send him scraping across the ground. When he came to a stop, Naruto was lying on his back. The rain above continued to hammer down at him unrelentingly.
He laid there with his eyes closed, trying to come to terms with the fact that he couldn't hear the constant pitter patter of the rain anymore. He could hardly even feel his own injuries, instead, a nice feeling of warmth was spreading through him. His senses were steadily growing dimmer.
Distantly, he felt a change occur. The rain that had pelted down at his face had stopped. It took a significant effort of will, but Naruto managed to open his eyes. A figure stood over him. It looked like the person was waving and shouting to get someone's attention. It was a familiar person, Naruto thought to himself.
When she bent down, Naruto recognized her. Anko grabbed his hand and her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but Naruto heard nothing.
"I can't hear you . . ." He coughed, and blood shot out of his mouth. Two additional figures appeared, they bent down beside him. One of them started to cut away the fabric of his combat jacket. Oh . . . are they going to do field surgery?
"Oh, that's hardly necessary." He told them weakly. "I already told you, right? I heal fast." He looked at Anko with drowsy eyes, for some reason she looked worried.
"I'm just going to rest my eyes for a bit." Naruto mumbled out and closed his eyes. Everything became dark and silent, he hardly even felt his body anymore at this point. It was a surreal experience, but not an unpleasant one. Someone shook him, but it was no use. Naruto was already unconscious.
xXx
When Naruto returned to his consciousness, it didn't occur gradually. He woke with a start, eyes open and alert. His heartbeat rocketed, and he immediately threw away the white sheets covering him and sat up in the hospital bed. Physically, he felt perfectly fine, which meant entire days had gone by.
Immediately, Naruto worried about things. Had the top brass decided to interrogate Kin with him unconscious? And what about some of the more cryptic things Orochimaru had said? A sacrifice implied a ritual, and rituals were never a good thing.
Naruto had to speak to Jiraiya and the Hokage.
He skipped out of the bed and made a quick sweep through the room in case some of his apparel was nearby. It wasn't. Naruto paused in front of the tiny bathroom mirror. Despite his energy, he still looked like shit. There were dark bags beneath his eyes, and he resolved to get a haircut sometime soon. His blonde locks were getting far too long and unruly.
After throwing a last glance around the spartan room, Naruto opened the window and made his exit from the premises in a green hospital gown. Using the Shunshin, Naruto arrived at his apartment in just a few minutes time. When he reached his door, Naruto held up a hand and a tiny keyring popped into existence between his thumb and pointer finger.
He unlocked the door and quickly threw off the hospital gown. His body had several pale, new scars, but they would be gone in a few weeks. He gave the black ink spiraling up his right arm a look over. Naruto channeled the necessary chakra and the keyring in his hand vanished. He watched as the bottommost spiral swiftly crawled over his skin and set itself into the 'sealed' position.
If he got some free time the following month, he might add onto the tattoo.
Not wasting anymore time, Naruto entered his bedroom and threw on some clothes. He then left for the Hokage building.
xXx
Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled languidly. The first phase of the exam had concluded two days ago. In less than a month, the final part of the exam would be hosted live in front of the most powerful people on the continent and a vast audience. The entire spectacle would be broadcasted live.
This, unfortunately, caused some worry among the more prominent clans of Konoha. Especially after that . . . incident a couple days ago in the arena.
"How did Orochimaru bypass our screening process? I verified each and every Genin on the roster this year, they all checked out!" Inoichi Yamanaka exclaimed.
Shikaku shook his head. "He never underwent any screening. Orochimaru killed an entire team from Kusagakure to impersonate their leader, Shiore, that's how he infiltrated the Arena. Our guard personnel outside the arena were not lax in their duties. Orochimaru simply walked in pretending to be a Kusagakure Genin."
Hiruzen watched on in silence for a moment as the clan heads around the long oak table discussed the event. They were on the third floor in the Hokage building. The space there was entirely devoted to hosting large parties of people, ranging from visits from the Daimyo, diplomatic parties from other nations, council meetings and his bi-monthly sessions with the clan heads.
The rectangular room was brightly lit, on the wall to the right there was a large map spanning all of the elemental nations. The wall to the left had smaller, more local maps, and a smattering of statistical reports.
"-ama? Hokage-sama?"
"Hmm, what was that, Tsume?" Hiruzen asked politely from his position at the end of the table.
"Casualties, Hokage-Sama. How many casualties were there?" The Inuzuka clan head stared at her leader. Whenever Orochimaru was involved, people died.
"None." Hiruzen informed with a smile.
Shikaku had been informed of that particular tidbit, so he was not surprised. But the rest of the group around the table showed visible signs of confusion, even Aburame Shibi arched a thin eyebrow.
"How come?" Tsume frowned.
"We haven't been given many details prior to the meeting, Hokage-sama. I think some enlightenment is due." Akimichi Choza stated from his seat, arms crossed over his burly chest.
"Of course. While I don't have all the pieces to this, I'm sure I can shed some light on the matter. I believe we will know more once our operative who fought Orochimaru wakes up." Hiruzen paused for slight moment to clear his throat.
"I will relay the events in the same way Ibiki did for me . . . Two days ago, Orochimaru infiltrated the arena as a participant of the exam. The goal he had in mind had something to do with Uchiha Sasuke. Orochimaru tried to brand him with a curse seal."
The faces around the table turned grim at the mention of this, attacking them was one thing, but attacking the coming generation was inexcusable. It was against their most important creed, The Will of Fire.
"Our operative, who is still hospitalized after the incident, managed to avert the situation and get Sasuke to safety. Then, Orochimaru and our man fought. The first people to arrive at the scene in the forest zone confirmed that Orochimaru had been forced to use his regurgitation technique before he made his escape. To those of you unfamiliar with the Jutsu, it's a special trump card he can use to clear his body free of all damage. The fact that he used it speaks volumes about the situation he was in."
Hiruzen paused there for effect, he wanted to drive in the point. This had been their victory, not Orochimaru's.
"Now, I've been thinking hard about how to turn this event into our favor among the other nations and . . ."
"Oi! Hokage-sama, who is this operative? He fought Orochimaru and survived?"
"Since Hokage-sama never omitted any names, I believe it is safe to assume it was an ANBU, Inuzuka-san." Hiashi Hyuuga pointed out, his pale, white eyes glancing around the table.
"While that is a very logical assumption, Hiashi, this time you missed the mark." Hiruzen smiled, inwardly pleased Naruto had been brought up.
"I suspected Orochimaru might try something like this, so I placed an agent of my own in the exam who could investigate freely. His young age made it easy for him to pose as participant of the exams, although his skills did reveal him as highly overqualified . . .
"Out with it old man, give us a name!" The ill-tempered woman glared at their leader.
"His name is Uzumaki-" The Sandaime began to announce with aplomb, but then the double doors leading out of the room opened, and a young person walked in.
". . . Naruto?" Sarutobi finished lamely. He had not expected to see the boy here, especially not so soon. One after the other, the people in the room turned to look at the newcomer. Naruto met each gaze calmly, before he carefully closed the doors behind him.
"I think you want to hear my report, Hokage-sama." Naruto stated with both arms folded behind him.
A/N This is where I wrap it up for now. So, what did you think? Give me your honest opinion about the fight, I'm looking forward to it!
Next chapter will be far longer, I wrote this one in a third of the time I usually take, since a lot of you wanted a quick update after the last cliffhanger (sorry about that).
Anyways, I estimate the next piece will be out sometime in October, it's hard for me to be precise. Until then, I wish you the best!
- The Epic Pen, signing off.
