Outside the Forest of Death, the sudden discovery of three corpses from Kusagakure, their faces grotesquely dissolved, filled Anko with a sense of foreboding.
After some investigation, she confirmed it was Orochimaru who had infiltrated the exam grounds. She immediately ordered a Chunin to report to the Hokage and request two Anbu Teams to be dispatched to the Forest of Death. Anko herself rushed into the forest first.
"I need to hurry. I have a bad feeling about this," Anko muttered, sprinting through the forest with a growing sense of dread.
Back with Sasuke, Orochimaru's attack hadn't hit him. At the last possible moment, Naruto had erupted with power, interposing himself between Sasuke and the giant snake, even managing to wound the snake with a kunai.
"Huff... huff... Are you hurt, Mr. Coward?" After catching his breath, Naruto repeated the words Sasuke had earlier said to him.
Hearing Naruto's words, Sasuke felt a jolt. He stared blankly at Naruto.
"A cowardly idiot like you definitely isn't the Sasuke I know!" Naruto said, looking at Sasuke seriously.
As the two exchanged words, Naruto was ensnared by Orochimaru's long tongue from atop the giant snake.
"Damn it! Let me go, you snake monster!" Naruto struggled and cursed as he was bound by the tongue.
'That Nine-Tails brat... I didn't expect him to still be alive.' Orochimaru felt the Chakra leaking from Naruto, internally remarking that he hadn't expected Naruto to survive persecution.
'When his emotions run high, a portion of the Nine-Tails' power leaks out. To have grown like this is quite interesting.' While thinking this, Orochimaru pulled up Naruto's shirt, revealing the seal.
"Five Elements Seal!" Targeting the area around the visible seal, Orochimaru performed another seal on Naruto… or more accurately, a reinforcement of the Nine-Tails' seal.
After the Five Elements Seal was applied, Naruto cried out in pain, his expression returning to normal. Deprived of the Nine-Tails' Chakra Supply, he fell unconscious.
Orochimaru then retrieved the Heaven Scroll from Naruto's backpack and tossed the now-obstructive Naruto aside.
Sakura, seeing this, threw a kunai, pinning Naruto's clothes to a large tree, preventing him from falling and suffering further injury.
"What's wrong, Sasuke? Naruto is different from you, Sasuke. He might be clumsy and a nuisance, but at least he's not a coward. Right? Isn't that right?" Seeing Sasuke unmoved, Sakura could only shout at him again.
Sakura knew her own strength was minimal. And with Orochimaru seemingly fixated on Sasuke, this was the only way she could try to snap him out of it.
Hearing Sakura's words, images of his brother's eyes flashed in Sasuke's mind… that look of utter contempt and the deep-seated hatred. It jolted him awake.
With this, he reactivated his Sharingan. His eyes turned fierce, and thoughts of escape vanished.
Noticing Sasuke's change, Orochimaru smiled slightly, prepared to personally test Sasuke's strength. He dismissed the giant snake beneath him.
'To defeat that man, I must survive. I've always believed that. But it seems the real fool was me. Naruto, Sakura... someone who can't risk their life here could never defeat that man.'
Having resolved himself, Sasuke charged at Orochimaru with a kunai clenched in his teeth.
When he was close enough, he leaped into the air, throwing several kunai at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru simply tilted his head slightly, effortlessly dodging all the projectiles.
Sasuke, unfazed, used a nearby tree to launch himself at Orochimaru again.
With relentless momentum, Sasuke delivered two kicks, but Orochimaru blocked them easily with his arms.
Sasuke used the force to flip back, creating some distance and dodging Orochimaru's counter-kick.
The moment he landed on a branch, Sasuke rolled again, widening the gap further.
Seeing this, Orochimaru, swaying like a serpent, charged at Sasuke. Sasuke met him head-on, unleashing another series of kicks. Orochimaru blocked them all.
Then, the two engaged in rapid Taijutsu. Orochimaru, seemingly testing Sasuke, didn't use his full speed or strength. For a moment, they fought intensely, blow for blow.
As the fight progressed, Sasuke realized he could clearly see his opponent's attacks and his body could react accordingly.
Gradually, his confidence grew during the exchange.
Watching the duel from their hiding spot, Takeru, Ui, and Ritsu used their Observation Haki to precisely capture and memorize every move.
After their initial exchange, Orochimaru began utilizing his extraordinary speed, moving with serpentine flexibility through the complex forest, maximizing his agility.
Though Orochimaru was fast, Sasuke, with his Two-Tomoe Sharingan activated, could clearly track his movements.
He leaped away from his original position the moment Orochimaru launched his real attack, narrowly avoiding it.
After dodging, Sasuke quickly formed hand seals. "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
Scattered fireballs shot from his mouth towards Orochimaru's location.
Instantly, explosions and flames lit up the area. Sasuke didn't stop there, forming another seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A straight-line, high-speed torrent of fire shot from his mouth, engulfing Orochimaru's previous position in a sea of flames… a spectacular sight.
Unfortunately, despite the dazzling display, Orochimaru remained unharmed. As the flames subsided, he burrowed into a large branch and lunged at Sasuke.
Sasuke jumped back, avoiding the grab. Both paused momentarily.
'Passable. He predicted my movement and attacked precisely. He can see it now.' Orochimaru felt a flicker of approval seeing Sasuke's eyes.
After allowing Sasuke a brief rest, Orochimaru attacked again. He generated a powerful air blast directed at Sasuke. Sensing danger, Sasuke leaped out of range.
Seizing the moment when Orochimaru seemed momentarily off-guard, Sasuke used a branch to launch himself behind Orochimaru, wrapped his arms around him, and slammed him down onto a thick branch below.
The impact left Orochimaru's body momentarily rigid, and the branch beneath them cracked.
Just as Sasuke thought he had won, the limp Orochimaru turned into a pile of mud, showing it's just a mud clone. During the sound-wave-like attack earlier, Orochimaru had already used the Substitution Technique.
While Sasuke was shocked, dozens of kunai flew at him. He could only evade again.
As he landed, he pulled out a special wire hidden on his person, looped it around a branch, and swung to the side.
Before Sasuke could recover, Orochimaru appeared again, throwing a punch at his face.
Caught off guard, Sasuke was hit squarely. Orochimaru followed with a rapid combo, ending with a knee strike that sent Sasuke crashing to the ground.
"Hmph. How dull. The Uchiha name is weeping. Well, let's slowly torture him, then kill him. Like squashing a bug," Orochimaru said haughtily, looking down at the seemingly unconscious Sasuke.
However, as Orochimaru monologued, three specialized explosive tags Sasuke had secretly placed on his back detonated. The unexpected blast staggered Orochimaru.
Seizing this chance, the feigning Sasuke sprang up and swiftly threw wire-bound shuriken around Orochimaru.
Sasuke then manipulated the wires with a special method: "Manipulating Windmill Triple Blades."
Using the wires attached to the initially thrown kunai and shuriken as bait, the true attack was concealed in the 'third blade' pulled back, requiring the Sharingan to anticipate the enemy's movements.
Thus, Orochimaru found himself bound by numerous wires to a large tree.