Meanwhile, at the end of the wind blast, Naruto finally regained consciousness on a large tree. He looked around and realized Sakura and Sasuke weren't nearby.
As he wondered about this, he suddenly felt the sky darken above him.
He then saw a massive snake flicking its forked tongue as it looked at him.
'It's huge! I've never seen a snake this big before!' Seeing the giant snake, Naruto showed a shocked expression.
Then, the giant snake attacked Naruto. Naruto leaped away, avoiding the attack. But before he could catch his breath, the snake coiled around him with its body and swallowed him whole in one bite...
Thus, amidst Naruto's screams, he entered the snake's stomach. The giant snake then slowly left the area.
As for Naruto's plight, Sasuke and Sakura were unaware. Only Takeru, with his extensive Observation Haki range, saw the entire process.
But Takeru knew that with Naruto's tenacious vitality, he would be fine, so Takeru had no intention of intervening.
Back with Orochimaru, he took out an Earth Scroll. Seeing this, Sasuke and Sakura showed a slight reaction.
"You want our Earth Scroll, right? After all, you have the Heaven Scroll," Orochimaru said, seeing their reaction and stating it plainly.
Then, Orochimaru directly placed the Earth Scroll into his mouth and swallowed it.
"Well then, let's begin. The scroll battle… a fight to the death!" After this preparation, Orochimaru turned his gaze back to Sasuke and Sakura.
As Orochimaru's words fell, terrifying killing intent surged from his body. Sasuke and Sakura, facing this killing intent directly, instantly saw visions of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, as if foreseeing their own deaths.
For a moment, both seemed to suffer a horrific fright, their bodies stiffening and appearing disoriented. They gasped for breath uncontrollably.
Not just them, even Takeru's group sensed a trace of the killing intent. However, since they weren't the primary targets, the sensation wasn't too clear.
Ritsu, for instance, just felt a slight chill.
As for Takeru, he didn't feel much. After all, in terms of the number of people killed, Takeru might have killed more than Orochimaru. Combined with absolute confidence in his own strength, Takeru naturally wouldn't be affected by this level of killing intent.
'Genjutsu? No... this is pure killing intent. What is this? Just looking into his eyes makes me think of death. Who is this guy?' Realizing this, Sasuke, looking at the calm Snake Sannin, felt deep shock and fear.
"Sakura!" Sasuke then looked at Sakura and saw her slumped on the ground, crying uncontrollably, her whole body trembling. This scene stirred indescribably complex emotions in Sasuke. His first instinct was to flee.
Ui and Ritsu, watching from a distance, also frowned, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. After all, Sakura was just a young girl.
"Don't worry, they should be safe for now," Takeru said, noticing their emotional fluctuation. He simply placed his hands on their heads to comfort them.
Hearing Takeru's words, the two looked at him and nodded gently.
On Sasuke's side, facing the unfathomable Snake Sannin and seeing the sobbing Sakura beside him, he calculated that not fleeing might only leave both of them dead.
"Hehe, can't move anymore?" Orochimaru looked calmly at the scene before him, not rushing to act. Instead, he seemed to enjoy the sight of prey unable to move.
'I need willpower. Move, move...' Noticing Orochimaru's gaze, Sasuke kept encouraging himself internally.
After a good while, he finally, with a trembling right hand, managed to grab the weapon pouch on his leg… a normally simple action that now seemed incredibly difficult.
'Just one move. Move!' Internally screaming, Sasuke stood up shakily.
"So, what will you do now?" Orochimaru asked with a light laugh, seeing Sasuke's unsteady stance, though inwardly he felt some disappointment.
"Don't worry, it'll be over in an instant. At least you won't have time to feel pain," Orochimaru said, taking out his kunai and slowly walking towards Sasuke.
"I wanted to play with you a bit more. What a shame," Orochimaru said upon reaching a certain distance. He raised two kunai and slowly threw them towards Sasuke and Sakura.
Squelch!
The sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh rang out, and crimson blood splattered in the air.
However, it wasn't because Orochimaru's attack hit Sasuke or Sakura. At the critical moment, Sasuke had stabbed his own thigh with a kunai, using the pain to jolt himself back into action.
Then, just as Orochimaru's kunai were about to hit them, Sasuke activated his Sharingan, rushed to Sakura, pulled her out of the attack's range, and quickly fled the area.
"I see," Orochimaru said, looking at the blood on the ground, the tree struck by his kunai, and the vanished Sasuke and Sakura, showing an expression of understanding.
'Indeed, not an ordinary prey.' Seeing Sasuke escape his attack range, Orochimaru smiled. If Sasuke had been that weak, he would have been greatly disappointed.
Orochimaru then looked towards Takeru's group's location, seemingly annoyed by their prying observation. He directed several large snakes to surround Takeru's group before paying them no further mind, quickly setting off to find Sasuke.
Facing the snakes driven by Orochimaru, Takeru remained calm. Even Ui and Ritsu showed no sign of wavering.
After all, although the giant snakes looked terrifying, they posed no real threat to Takeru's group.
This proved true. Confronted by the three attacking giant pythons, Takeru simply released an electric discharge, silently obliterating all three.
The snakes in the Forest of Death were naturally incomparable to those from Ryuchi Cave, so they're easily dealt with by Takeru.
After handling them, Takeru continued with Ui and Ritsu, quickly catching up to Orochimaru's location. They then chose another spot to continue observing.
As for Naruto, after struggling inside the snake's stomach, he finally thought of a way out. He used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique inside the snake, creating so many clones that they burst the giant snake open.
"I'm the man who's going to become Hokage! How could I possibly end up as snake dung here?!" Holding his forehead, Naruto declared seriously, looking at the dead giant snake.
Back with Sasuke, although he had temporarily escaped Orochimaru's sight, he still felt immense unease. Add to that his current injury, Naruto's unknown whereabouts, and Sakura being utterly useless at the moment...
'Need to run faster! How to escape? How?' Worried that Sakura might make a sound and reveal their location, Sasuke covered her mouth while frantically thinking.
'Sasuke is this shaken? I've never seen him like this before.' Sakura was shocked, seeing Sasuke so deeply rattled.
Suddenly, Sakura noticed a huge shadow around them. Glancing sideways, she saw an enormous snake head approaching them. Her pupils contracted, and she tried to warn Sasuke, but with her mouth covered, she could only make muffled sounds.
"Sasuke, snake!" Finally, Sakura used her hands to break free from Sasuke's grip and quickly warned him.
Sasuke turned and saw the giant snake head less than a meter away from them. The moment the snake bit down, both leaped away from the spot.
"I was so shaken I didn't even notice the snake!" Sasuke muttered in disbelief mid-air.
The giant snake seemed fixated on Sasuke. After missing its first strike, it coiled several times around a thick branch before lunging at Sasuke again.
The moment Sasuke saw the snake attack, with his Sharingan activated, he even saw the giant python transform into Orochimaru's likeness, complete with a vicious glare.
"Ah! Stay away!" Seeing this, Sasuke let out a cry of terror. Several shuriken shot rapidly towards the snake's mouth.
Under his attack, the giant python's mouth splattered with blood. With a final groan, it collapsed on the branch, seemingly dead.
Just as Sasuke landed on another branch, panting, he saw cracks appear on the back of the supposedly dead python. Then, Orochimaru emerged directly from the cracks.
"A moment's distraction is not allowed. Prey must remain highly tense at all times, constantly fleeing… especially in front of the predator."
Emerging from within, Orochimaru flicked his long tongue, appearing even more terror. At the very least, Ui and Ritsu were disgusted once more.
Then, his body seemed to merge with the snake, becoming elongated, his movements eerily similar to a serpent's. He began coiling around the surrounding branches.