"Izayoi!!"
Seeing Izayoi appear out of nowhere, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki lit up with joy, as if their savior had arrived.
Sasuke, especially, felt an inexplicable sense of security.
"Didn't expect you guys to be this unlucky, getting targeted by him."
Izayoi yanked Naruto and Sasuke from the swamp, tossing them onto solid ground.
Sasuke zeroed in on the key point. "Izayoi, you know who this guy is?"
"Not before, but I sensed his chakra—way beyond any genin's."
Izayoi eyed Orochimaru, whose head was back to normal as he rose. "Now, though, it's clear. One of the legendary Sannin, and a Konoha S-rank rogue ninja… Orochimaru."
"It's really him!"
Sasuke's pupils shrank, staring at Orochimaru in disbelief. "A figure from history books—why's he here?"
"No clue, but he's got his sights set on you. Probably something you have that he wants."
"My Sharingan?" Sasuke caught on, his expression darkening. "Izayoi, what's the plan?"
The unspoken question: Do we fight or run?
"Escaping a ninja like him isn't easy."
"Our only shot is holding out until backup arrives."
Izayoi looked at Sasuke with a grin. "Still got some fight in you?"
"Of course," Sasuke said, smirking.
"Don't forget me! I'm still good to go!" Naruto chimed in, asserting his presence.
Izayoi flashed a toothy grin. "Alright then, let's see what a legendary ninja's made of!"
"Heh…"
Orochimaru, sizing up Izayoi, offered praise. "I didn't expect this generation to have such a standout besides the Uchiha's last heir and that kid. Konoha truly is a cradle of genius."
"But now, I don't have time for your little ninja games."
With that, Orochimaru flickered forward in his snake-style Body Flicker, charging at the trio.
As Izayoi had said, Orochimaru was pressed for time. He needed to plant the Curse Mark of Heaven on Sasuke before reinforcements arrived.
Focused solely on Sasuke, Orochimaru hadn't anticipated a monster among this year's new blood.
He'd barely surged forward when Izayoi vanished from the trio.
Like teleportation, Izayoi materialized before Orochimaru, gripping a kunai crackling with faint lightning, thrusting at his head.
Orochimaru's pupils constricted.
Familiar movement, but faster than Sasuke's.
Reacting swiftly, Orochimaru spat a blade, extending it to snap Izayoi's kunai and aim for his neck.
An unprecedented counter—without intel, it might've caught someone off guard.
But as the blade broke the kunai, Izayoi vanished.
What filled Orochimaru's vision was Sasuke, airborne, spitting a spark that swelled into a massive fire dragon.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"
Sasuke, with far more chakra than in the original, had been trained by Izayoi to favor and excel at Dragon Fire over Fireball.
Facing the roaring dragon, Orochimaru didn't dodge, letting it engulf him.
In the flames, his body melted into liquid.
"A mud clone!"
Sasuke's expression shifted midair. Landing, he locked his gaze on the ground, his Sharingan's tomoe spinning wildly, wary of Orochimaru emerging from below.
Whoosh—
A piercing sound cut through.
A massive python shot from behind a fallen tree, its maw gaping to swallow Sasuke.
Sasuke sneered, vanishing and reappearing beneath it, kicking its head to snap its jaws shut.
But the next second, his face paled.
The python's belly split open, a figure bursting out, hand morphing into a swarm of snakes.
"Hidden Shadow Many Snakes Hand!"
The ambush caught Sasuke off guard.
Fresh off Shadow of the Dancing Leaf, mid-motion, he could only watch the snakes close in.
Then, that voice brimming with reassurance rang out again.
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"
Izayoi appeared, translucent wind blades materializing from nowhere.
The razor-sharp blades not only severed the snakes but sliced the python in half.
"You again!"
Orochimaru's mood soured as Izayoi thwarted his Curse Mark plan once more.
As he prepared to teach Izayoi a lesson, his expression flickered.
Izayoi, having unleashed the wind blade, tucked his hand into his sleeve, then spat a torrent of flames, engulfing Orochimaru, who had no time for a clone or Earth Release.
"Aaagh…"
Orochimaru's screams echoed as the flames consumed him.
Izayoi pressed the advantage, leaping meters into the air.
"Sasuke, get back!"
At his warning, Sasuke flickered away.
He reappeared beside Naruto, who'd been gawking at Izayoi and Sasuke's performance.
Before Sasuke could drag Naruto behind a tree, Izayoi's voice boomed.
"Gaia Energy Cannon!"
Turning, they saw Izayoi holding a massive, high-speed spinning energy sphere.
It started blue with a white core, but the white shifted to orange-red, transforming the sphere into a blazing fireball.
Roughly the size of a Fireball Technique, it held exponentially more power.
With a shout, Izayoi hurled the orange-red sphere downward.
BOOM—
A deafening explosion shook half the Forest of Death.
Special jonin, jonin, and even Anbu squads intervening in the exam saw a towering fire tornado raging above the forest, taller than the trees.
"Terrifying Fire Release! A composite ninjutsu with Wind Release?"
Even all-rounder jonin mastering multiple chakra natures paled at the sight.
"First a wide-range Wind Release, now this level of Fire Release—could someone be fighting Orochimaru?"
The thought made some ninja's faces twist in shock.
If true, didn't that mean this Chunin Exam had birthed a monster?
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