Using a despicable tactic, Orochimaru had the three giant pythons he summoned strike at the same time—at Sasuke, unconscious and unable to move; at Sakura, so focused on watching them that she ignored the danger to herself; and at Itama, who had only just met Naruto and the others!!
With that level of power, Naruto's Shadow Clones alone were completely useless as a defense!
"Go on! Choose, Naruto Uzumaki!!" Orochimaru forced him to decide among the three. "Who will you save? Who will you abandon?!"
Naruto's feral pupils were cold, burning with fury as he stared at Orochimaru. "Is that how you've always made your choices? Throwing away your comrades?!"
Even Orochimaru was angered by those words.
With a casual flick of his wrist, he threw three kunai, instantly killing the three Sound ninja who had been ignored all this time.
"You're right, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said calmly, trying to force his creed onto him. "Life has no inherent meaning. Only by staying alive can you see interesting things. The weak—and those whose lives are cut short—have no meaning at all. Isn't that right?"
Seeing the bodies of the three Sound ninja only made Naruto angrier. "You make me so mad I don't even know what to say anymore. My answer is—I won't give up on anyone, no matter who it is!"
Naruto split into even more Shadow Clones. One after another, they formed a human wall. As the snakes crashed into them, bang! bang! bang! echoed through the forest, and each clone burst into smoke and returned to Naruto's body.
But if he were the type to give up easily, he wouldn't be Naruto.
An endless stream of Shadow Clones interfered with the three pythons' movements, actually keeping them from harming Sasuke, Sakura, and Itama for the time being.
Orochimaru wasn't in a hurry. Naruto's strength would run out sooner or later. He could afford to wait.
Wait and see Naruto's final choice!!
In truth, Naruto was panicking. Holding on was exhausting, but even so, he wouldn't abandon a single person.
That resolve might not move Orochimaru—but it moved the three siblings from the Sand.
Flowing sand wrapped around Sakura Haruno. Under Absolute defense, even Orochimaru's summoned snake wouldn't break through so easily!
Temari snapped open her fan, and Kankuro unstrapped the puppet from his back.
The siblings positioned themselves in front of Sasuke Uchiha. If the snake dared to take another step, Temari was ready to show it the power of her Cutting Whirlwind.
"You guys!!" Naruto stared in shock at the Sand trio stepping in to help, then turned, ready to dash toward the kid named Itama.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru had no intention of letting that happen. "Too naive, Naruto-kun."
Orochimaru's neck suddenly stretched like a serpent as he lunged, aiming to bite Itama's throat!
"Like hell I'll let you succeed, you bastard!!" Even from a distance, Naruto's resolve to save him didn't waver.
Just when everyone thought he wouldn't make it in time, the ninja known as the No. 1 Unpredictable Ninja came up with something insane—using his other Shadow Clones like a slingshot. With the flexibility of the human body, he launched his real self forward at full force!
Thud!! "Aaaah—!"
With a heavy, dull impact, Naruto didn't have time to think—he slammed his head straight into Orochimaru and sent him flying!!
Orochimaru had planned to use the black-and-white-haired kid as bait to lure Naruto in and plant a Cursed Seal on him.
By sheer coincidence, the one Naruto headbutted was Orochimaru's real body.
A pained scream rang out. Even Orochimaru coughed up a mouthful of blood.
But before he could even praise Naruto for injuring one of the legendary Sannin—or get a little serious and place a Cursed Seal—
A tidal wave of chakra pressure slammed down on him, the kind that made even someone like Orochimaru feel fear!!
"How dare you—!!!"
A furious roar thundered out. Before anyone could see who it was—
Orochimaru was already being beaten in midair like a punching bag!
"Beaten senseless" was putting it lightly. They still couldn't see the attacker—only silver-blue light streaking wildly through the air.
And Orochimaru rose and fell with that light, tossed left and right…
He didn't even get a chance to scream.
It was a complete one-sided beatdown.
Naruto and the others were stunned by the sudden turn of events. But Naruto snapped out of it quickly and rushed to pull Itama to safety.
"Hey, kid, are you okay?" Naruto asked.
Itama shook his head. This Uzumaki had just saved him.
"Thank you."
"It's nothing, believe it!" Naruto flashed his trademark grin and gave Itama a thumbs-up. "But be careful, okay? This place is full of dangerous people. By the way, you're not from the Hidden Leaf, are you? We're in the middle of the Chunin Exams, dattebayo."
"Hidden Leaf? Chunin Exams?" Itama tilted his head. None of that fit with what he knew.
Before they could talk any further, the fight over there—the one-sided snake-beating—had ended.
Orochimaru lay off to the side, restrained by sealing techniques and beaten unconscious by the Flying Thunder God.
The enraged man who had pummeled Orochimaru walked over to Naruto.
When Naruto finally saw his face, he yelped, "The First Hokage's little bro! I knew that voice sounded familiar, dattebayo!"
Tobirama had given up correcting Naruto's way of addressing him. He sighed and reminded himself not to get angry like his idiot older brother.
"Naruto," Tobirama said, "I owe you thanks this time. I'm in your debt."
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