Chapter 38: Orochimaru
Sakura's words made the arrogant faces of the three Rain ninja instantly turn ugly. Previously, they had seen that Sakura's group was young and looked inexperienced, probably rookies who had just graduated, so they thought there was an opportunity to be exploited. They thought that with a little intimidation, Sakura and the others would obediently hand over their scroll. Unexpectedly, the pink-haired girl in front of them was not as weak as she appeared and had met them with such a forceful dismissal.
Is she a greenhorn who doesn't know fear, or does she have something to rely on? The leading Rain ninja suddenly had a bad premonition.
"You damn brat, you dare to be so arrogant with no skill! Let me teach you a lesson!" the tall, young Rain ninja in the lead said viciously, pushing down the unease in his heart. He then threw the umbrella on his back into the air with all his might, brought his hands together, and quickly formed the seals!
"Ninja Art: Sprinkling Shower of a Thousand Needles!"
The umbrella opened and spun in the air. In Sakura's perception, a large amount of chakra gathered and condensed into a dense array of senbon, which then rained down like a storm as the umbrella rotated! An endless number of senbon instantly filled Sakura's vision.
A despairing number! The senbon rushed towards the three of them, covering the sky and the earth.
Sasuke sneered, turned his head to exchange a glance with Naruto, and then they both tacitly formed hand seals at the same time:
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
—"Wind-Fire Great Breakthrough!"
They had used this combination technique last time against the Demon Brothers, but after all that had happened, Sasuke and Naruto were no longer the same as they were before. This move, whether in its momentum or its power, was far superior to the last time!
The fierce wind was like a blade, howling as it cut gullies into the ground and kicked up countless grains of sand and stones. The fireball suddenly expanded upon meeting the wind, the scorching flames burning even brighter, as if even the air was being burned away! The fireball, over twenty meters in diameter and mixed with the fierce wind, met the incoming senbon with a ferocious momentum that seemed to burn everything in its path!
The clash of ninjutsu was decided in an instant. The thousands of senbon couldn't even shake the giant fireball. The senbon that flew into the fireball were instantly evaporated, and those that passed by its side were swept back by the fierce wind, rushing towards the three Rain ninja along with the blazing fireball!
The Rain ninja were stunned by this insane great fireball. Only at the last moment did they remember to block it.
BOOM—!
"Aaargh—!" The hastily cast Water Formation Wall couldn't even block the fireball for a second. The fireball solidly crashed into the three Rain ninja, and with慘 cries, the three of them were burned to ashes!
No, not three. Her emerald eyes looked indifferently at the two corpses on the ground. Sakura's delicate brow furrowed slightly. She had sensed that the leading Rain ninja had escaped with a Substitution Jutsu at the last moment. Her fair hand quietly formed a seal, and Sakura said faintly, "I'll take the last one."
The Rain ninja landed miserably on a hidden tree to the side, his hands and body covered in burns. His hair, which had been standing up arrogantly just now, was burned into a tangled mess by the high heat.
Panting heavily, the Rain ninja tried hard to calm the fear and anger in his heart. "Huff, huff! Damn brats! I'll definitely kill—"
The Rain ninja's words came to an abrupt halt, because he suddenly discovered with terror that an ice kunai, radiating a chilling aura, was already pressed against his neck!
"Who are you... going to kill?" Behind the Rain ninja, a beautiful figure had already appeared silently.
The Rain ninja trembled all over. He widened his eyes and turned his head to look. The indifferent eyes of a water clone were staring at him blankly. The beautiful face that had originally looked weak and easy to bully had at this moment become a life-reaping demon! His trembling hands came together. The Rain ninja still wanted to make a final struggle, but he saw the water clone's thin, bloodless lips tremble slightly, and a faint voice reached his ear.
"Goodbye."
A flower of blood bloomed in the air, the final brilliance of a life.
Ending the battle with the Rain ninja in a complete victory, Sakura felt no excitement at all. In her eyes, the clumsy skills of the three Rain ninja didn't even count as a dangerous appetizer. Perhaps they had shown sufficient power in their training—at least the leading Rain ninja's jutsu was decent—but their combat experience was severely lacking. Perhaps they thought that Shower of a Thousand Needles could deal with everything. When faced with the enemy's counterattacking ninjutsu, they actually behaved like rookies on their first battlefield—perhaps they really were rookies—and their response was extremely foolish!
On this point, Sakura herself had a deep understanding. Before Kakashi's first test, she had believed from her own training performance that she had reached the level of a Special Jonin. But when it came to a real battle, she found that she might not even be able to beat an ordinary Chunin.
Unfortunately, the three Rain ninja would probably only be able to feel this realization in the afterlife.
After killing the three Rain ninja, the thick sense of unease in the air did not weaken; on the contrary, it grew even stronger. Everything was silent. Suddenly, even the sounds of birds and insects in the surroundings could no longer be heard. None of the three dared to go and search the Rain ninja for their scroll. Instead, they stood back to back with kunai in hand, guarding against their surroundings.
"Come out! We've already found you!" Sakura said, clenching her teeth.
BOOM—! The attack, however, was suddenly launched from underground. A giant snake, as thick as four people hugging, burst out from under Sakura's feet and opened its blood-red mouth to bite the three of them!
In a flash, Sakura kicked Naruto, who had lost his balance and was falling into the snake's mouth, away, then grabbed Sasuke's hand and used the momentum to leap far away!
"Naruto!"
Sakura and Sasuke landed on an open space to the side, but Naruto had been thrown somewhere else. The giant snake's huge body blocked Sakura's line of sight, splitting the battlefield in two!
"You have time to worry about others..." A ninja in a kimono had appeared on the snake's head at some point. He looked down at Sakura and Sasuke and said coldly, "I think you should worry about yourselves first!"
The vast amount of chakra, as deep as an abyss, and its cold and insane texture, made Sakura's heart feel as if it had skipped a beat! Without a doubt, this man, whose presence was even more exaggerated and terrifying than Zabuza's, was Orochimaru!
He just stood casually on the giant snake's head, emitting his killing intent, and it was enough to make Sakura and Sasuke freeze in fear, unable to move, like frogs being stared at by a snake!
In an instant, Sakura felt as if she were in the deep sea where she couldn't breathe. The air around her seemed to turn into seawater, pressing down on her with infinite pressure, making it impossible to move! The killing intent that filled the clearing turned into countless needles that pierced her brain and body. Every inch of her skin felt the painful sensation of being penetrated! An uncontrollable fear rushed towards Sakura endlessly. She felt her body go weak, and she actually knelt on the ground!
It took a full two seconds before Sakura adapted to the mental pressure of the killing intent. Those two short seconds felt as long as a century to Sakura!
Although she had already witnessed Zabuza's killing intent, compared to Orochimaru's, Zabuza's was just child's play. The gap between Kage-level and non-Kage-level was a chasm! What's more, this time there was no Kakashi in front to act as Sakura's spiritual support. On the contrary, Sakura herself had to be Sasuke's spiritual support. Because at this moment, Sasuke's performance was even worse than Sakura's, who had already recovered from the shock. He was already on his knees, dry-heaving!
In contrast... after adapting to this presence, Sakura's spirit actually became excited! No matter how peaceful Sakura usually appeared, she hid a deep pride in her heart, and she could not accept her own brief submission to Orochimaru's killing intent! The spiritual power within her body, far beyond that of an ordinary person, was like a forcefully compressed spring. Once the pressure was reduced, it would rebound violently!
An indomitable fighting spirit began to burn fiercely!
"This presence... you're much stronger than Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura's pale face gradually regained its rosy color. Facing this top-level powerhouse of the world, she found that she had actually calmed down at this moment. "A powerful ninja who uses snakes... there's only one person like that in this world! You are one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, right!"
"Hahahaha! How interesting! To think there are so many talented ninja!" Orochimaru licked his lips and showed an interested smile.
Interesting! Really interesting! The seemingly inexperienced girl before him actually had such a resilient spirit! Orochimaru looked playfully at the young girl who had straightened her body in the face of his killing intent and recalled the information Kabuto had given him. Sasuke was the body he was determined to obtain; the powerful talent of the Sharingan had long made him covet it. But this girl named Sakura could actually surpass the so-called genius Sasuke in both strength and spirit! This made him, a Kage-level powerhouse, also take an interest in this little Genin.
Unfortunately, he ultimately discovered that Haruno Sakura did not have any outstanding physical talent. Her talent was her strong spirit and the burst of inspiration in her thinking. In Sakura, Orochimaru rarely saw the shadow of a kindred spirit. From her stubborn eyes, Orochimaru saw a rebellious nature similar to his own, a disdain for the traditions of ninjutsu, a relentless pursuit of new ninjutsu and the exploration of the world, and an outstanding talent for developing ninjutsu!
In a sense, Sakura and Orochimaru were the same kind of person: they were full of curiosity to explore the truth and sneered at tradition and authority.
What Orochimaru didn't know was that as a transmigrator who had studied physics in her previous life, it was only normal for Sakura to have such a mentality. After all, the history of physics that she had learned, from beginning to end, told her that the theoretical systems of predecessors were meant to be overthrown, no matter how exquisite they were! The common point of the two greatest theories of the last century was that they broke, shattered, and then rebuilt the common sense of billions of people on Earth!
The trembling of her body had gradually subsided. Sakura supported Sasuke and said coldly, looking at Orochimaru, "As one of the Sannin, the cold lord Orochimaru, you have long since defected from the village! What is your purpose here now!"
"There is something I want to get here!" Orochimaru said without reservation, looking at Sasuke with a fiery gaze!
"Something? What is it?" Under Orochimaru's almost tangible gaze, Sasuke asked uneasily.
"That would be you—" Orochimaru laughed wantonly and madly!
"—Uchiha Sasuke! What I want to get is you!"
Twisting his body like a snake, Orochimaru rushed towards Sasuke at high speed!