Chapter 77: Sasuke, You Don't Even Recognize Me Anymore?
Naruto rolled his eyes helplessly and looked at Sasuke, speaking in a deep voice:
"Sasuke—you don't even recognize me anymore?"
"You still remember the last time you challenged me and I beat you until you sh—"
"ENOUGH!!!"
Sasuke practically roared.
His face was still flushed red.
Anyone who didn't know better might think he was in heat.
Well… okay, the truth was—
that last challenge, Sasuke had been beaten absolutely miserably by Naruto.
But it wasn't that bad—no pants-wetting or anything!
Even if it had been,
saying it out loud in front of so many people—how was he supposed to live it down afterward?
Moreover—just hearing the nickname "Sasuke" !
Sasuke immediately knew which one was the real Naruto!
Because only the real Naruto would call him that in such a weird way.
No one else had ever called him that.
Even though Sasuke still didn't fully understand the true meaning behind the nickname.
The confused Sakura and Orochimaru (disguised) both froze.
They looked at Sasuke in astonishment.
Why are you yelling so loudly?
As if needing to give everyone an explanation,
Sasuke stammered:
"The Naruto over here is the real one. The one who just ran over is fake."
With that, he drew several kunai from his waist
and hurled them straight at the fake Naruto (Orochimaru) without any hesitation.
No mercy at all.
In truth—
Sasuke was just trying to shift attention away from this humiliating topic.
It was way too embarrassing!!!
Whoosh whoosh—
Several sharp kunai flew through the air.
Orochimaru hadn't expected Sasuke to be so decisive.
But to her, this kind of attack
was basically like playing house with a child.
Very easily, Orochimaru dodged all the kunai.
"Interesting… very interesting."
Poof—
The Transformation Technique was released!
Orochimaru revealed her true form.
A woman wearing a light yellow long robe, a large purple belt around her waist, a wide-brimmed hat, and long flowing hair
appeared before them.
Snake Auntie instinctively made a creepy gesture.
Her long tongue extended, happily licking her slightly dry lips.
This scene—aside from Naruto—
made Sakura and Sasuke feel utterly disgusted!
What the hell—is this even human?
How can a tongue stretch that long?
This is straight-up a monster!
Hiss hiss…
A massive python more than ten meters long burst out from underground.
Its target—Naruto.
Naruto's lips curved into a slight smile.
He pretended to have zero defense.
The python swallowed Naruto whole in one gulp.
Then it slithered off into the other side of the forest.
This was also intentional on Orochimaru's part.
Her only prey was Sasuke.
She couldn't care less about anyone else's life or death.
"Naruto-kun!!!"
Sakura finally snapped out of it and screamed heartbrokenly.
She had watched helplessly as her teammate was swallowed alive by a python.
His fate unknown.
Sasuke activated his Sharingan once more and drew another kunai,
gripping it tightly.
"That guy Naruto is so strong! He'll definitely be fine!"
"What we need to worry about right now is ourselves."
Sasuke's words pulled Sakura back to reality.
Right… it has to be that way.
Sakura also drew a kunai.
Both of them assumed fighting stances.
When Orochimaru saw those Sharingan eyes that haunted her dreams,
thump thump—
her heart pounded wildly.
That was pure greed—the desire to possess something precious!
"Heh heh heh… yes, just like that."
Orochimaru murmured excitedly to herself.
Just two fresh-out-of-the-academy genin
daring to raise weapons against one of Konoha's legendary Sannin.
Wasn't that the height of disrespect?
So she tilted her head slightly.
Killing intent flashed in her eyes!
Thump thump thump—
Both Sasuke and Sakura's hearts pounded like war drums!
Incredibly loud.
If looks could kill—
this was exactly what it would feel like.
Their bodies couldn't help trembling.
The woman before them
exuded overwhelming pressure.
Even just one glance
was enough to freeze them in place, unable to move.
This wasn't just physical overpowering.
It was a crushing difference in experience.
Seeing their reaction—
especially Sasuke so terrified he could barely stand—
Orochimaru instantly lost interest.
"Sigh… even though they have the same parents…"
"there's still a difference."
She muttered softly to herself.
Then she slowly stepped closer to Sasuke.
Like a terrifying, ferocious beast
toying with prey that was already doomed.
Not just inflicting excruciating physical pain that cut to the bone—
but also destroying their nerves completely.
This was true mental cruelty.
Whoosh whoosh—
Sasuke once again threw several kunai at Orochimaru.
This time she was genuinely annoyed.
With a few casual movements she caught all the incoming toys.
To her—they were just toys.
Then she returned them the same way.
The kunai flew back at several times the speed Sasuke had thrown them!
Rip—
The kunai grazed past his face.
Blood sprayed.
This was also why Orochimaru had no intention of killing Sasuke outright.
She wanted a powerful vessel.
Not a broken one.
Even though Sasuke possessed the Sharingan,
compared to his brother Itachi's Sharingan—
it wasn't worth a single penny.
"Hiss…" The pain on his face made Sasuke grit his teeth and suck in a cold breath.
His brain worked at lightning speed, trying to figure out how to break the deadlock.
Meanwhile on the other side—
the massive python that had swallowed Naruto
was now lazily digesting in a clearing.
Without receiving any summons from its master Orochimaru,
it simply waited obediently.
"Ding—Triggered optional quest"
"Option 1: Kill the ordinary summoned beast – Giant Python. Reward: Upgraded S-rank ninjutsu – Thunder Transmission."
"Option 2: Ignore. Reward: C-rank ninjutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique."
Inside the python's stomach, Naruto heard this wonderful notification
and immediately grinned.
"I choose Option 1!"
"Ding—Congratulations to the host for obtaining Upgraded S-rank ninjutsu – Thunder Transmission!"
Feeling the new information flood his mind—
another S-rank ninjutsu mastered instantly.
Sometimes Naruto himself wondered:
System—you're not being honest!
Next time just give me the best one outright.
Don't make me choose the trash ones.
"This guy ate pretty happily. But before he dies… he gets to eat one of my puppet clones."
"Even in death—he can brag to other snakes on the road that he once ate the Seventh Hokage."
Bang—
The Naruto inside the python's stomach turned into a puff of white smoke.
The python—previously lounging lazily and enjoying the warm sunlight—froze in confusion.
Didn't I just eat a person? Why is my stomach empty again?
"Thunder Transmission!"
Learning and using on the spot.
Naruto—who had been watching everything from a nearby tree—jumped down.
The puppet shadow clone activated.
Both the original and the clone now held golden lightning in their hands.
They stood several meters apart.
An unbelievable scene unfolded.
Two bolts of golden lightning connected.
Forming an extremely sharp golden lightning blade.
Everything happened too fast.
The python didn't even have time to react.
Both Narutos charged forward.
Wherever the golden lightning blade passed—everything was sliced apart.
Cutting through iron like mud.
In an instant, the python was chopped into several pieces.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Bang—
The puppet shadow clone vanished.
Naruto searched the python's corpse for something.
"Where's the snake soup? Such a big snake—the snake soup should be huge too."
But after one sniff—
the disgusting stench of the beast.
Naruto immediately gave up the idea of cooking snake soup.
Time to leave.
Way too smelly.
That's right.
The one who returned to find Sasuke and Sakura earlier
wasn't Naruto's real body.
It was a puppet shadow clone.
The system's puppet shadow clone was truly useful.
It could fool people perfectly.
Moreover—from the very beginning, Naruto's plan had been to let Snake Auntie bite Sasuke once.
Pass on some power.
Otherwise—with Sasuke's current pace—
his grand revenge plan would take forever.
What? You're asking why he didn't go back himself?
Naruto's brain wasn't broken.
Why would he personally experience the pain of being swallowed alive by a giant python?
This wasn't White Snake Lady or Little Green!
He wanted to play with snake (immortal beauties)—in other words, beautiful women like White Snake or Little Green.
But this was a damn snake beast—what the hell was there to play with?!
They weren't even on the same level!
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