56 Barely

"You want my Earth scroll right? Since you guys have the heaven scroll..... " Satsuki and Sakura widened their eyes as their opponent shoved the scroll into his mouth.

"Now let's begin the battle for each other's scrolls...with our lives on the line." He stared at them. Satsuki and Sakura widened their eyes in horror as they were hit by a immense burst of killing intent.

It was way worse than Zabuza's killing intent by a ton. Images about their deaths at the Kusa ninja's hand came to their minds at full force. They saw themselves getting gutted by a long sword, getting brutally ripped apart and all manner of gruesome deaths.

The images of death lasted several seconds before they disappeared. Yet the feeling remained the same, gripping their hearts and preventing them from moving.

Satsuki got so stressed out and scared from the killing intent that her Sharingan evolved into the Two Tomoe Sharingan on the spot.

Satsuki and Sakura shook in fear while staring at the Kusa ninja. The Kusa ninja frowned at them. He took out two kunai and lazily threw it at them.

Satsuki activated her Sharingan. She stabbed herself in the leg and managed to push Sakura away just in time.

The Kusa ninja licked his lips. "So she managed to use pain to het rid of the fear. It seems the prey is more interesting than I thought. "He muttered.

After feeling like they got a safe distance away, Satsuki and Sakura stopped and hid behind a tree, their guard not dropping at all.

Sakura wanted to heal Satsuki with her Mystical Palm Jutsu but Satsuki stopped her and shook her head. "No, you'll waste chakra. It's only a small stab wound." Satsuki whispered. Sakura nodded and raised her kunai.

She widened her eyes as she noticed a giant snake hanging around the branch above them. "Snake above us!!" Sakura shouted as she and Satsuki jumped away to another tree just as the snake tried to attack them.

Satsuki unsealed a lot of shuriken from her containment seal Naruto made for her. She skillfully threw it at the snake. The rain of shuriken embedded itself into the snake's head, killing it.

Satsuki took out another kunai as she and Sakura got on guard again. They narrowed their eyes as the snake's skin started cracking. Out came the Kusa ninja.

"You two should run away, that's what prey do when facing against a predator they have no choice at winning against." He threatened while licking his lips, his lust for blood evident on his facial expression.

He began slithering around the tree like a snake, surprising the girls with the strange technique. But he was stopping by a powerful wind blade cutting him cleanly in half.

Satsuki widened her eyes in shock and looked at Naruto who was standing beside her with a serious expression in his eyes.

"Face to the front, Satsuki. He won't be defeated this easily. He is Orochimaru of the Sannin after all." Naruto revealed, shocking his teammates to the core as they looked at where Orochimaru was.

Everyone and their mother has heard of Orochimaru before. He is a genius shinobi who had been trained by the Third Hokage along with Jiraiya and Tsunade. A man who was considered the foremost ninjutsu expert and along with his two other teammates had been dubbed the title of Sannin due to their famous battle against Hanzo the Salamander.

He was also one of Konoha's worst traitors, an S-ranked missing ninja who was wanted for inhumane experimentation on citizens of Konoha and most likely, many other villages and countries.

Orochimaru who was cut in half suddenly opened his mouth widely. A fully healed Orochimaru was regurgitated out of the mouth. This was a unique form of substitution that was created by Orochimaru. His clothing and injuries are completely restored, with even his lower half regenerated.

"Quite the wind Jutsu, Naruto-kun. I have never seen a wind blade this powerful in a while now, and this is coming from a Genin too. Surprises seem to be a normal occurrence on this team. " Orochimaru licked his lips pervertedly after finishing his sentence, making the trio look at him with a disgusted expression.

Orochimaru's most conspicuous characteristic is his snake-like appearance: he has very pale skin, golden eyes with slitted pupils, purple markings around his eyes and fang-like teeth.

He also has pronounced cheekbones and straight waist-length black hair with some locks covering and framing his face or to his shoulders.

Orochimaru usually wears plain grey garbs with a black polo and pants underneath, a thick purple rope belt tied in a large knot behind his back, blue tomoe-shaped earrings, and shinobi sandals with bandages around his calves.

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked him.

"Why I'm after Satsuki-chan of course, she has something that I want." Orochimaru replied like her answer was common information.

"You want her Sharingan? Yeah right, over my dead body!" Naruto replied seriously. Orochimaru chuckled.

"Kukuku....Watch your words, Naruto-kun or it'll actually happen. I have no time to play games with you unfortunately. So just let me tend to my business with Satsuki-chan and I'll let you and pinky live."

Naruto looked at Satsuki and Sakura. They nodded at each other and made the same hand seal at the same time, releasing the weights and resistance seals they have been wearing.

They instantly felt lighter and more agile, they obviously knew it would not be enough to defeat a Sannin but it would at least help a little.

"Like I said, over our dead bodies!" Naruto shouted as Satsuki unsheathed her katana. Orochimaru chuckled.

"Kukuku....How admirable. Let's see how you do, Team 7." Orochimaru muttered while looking at them menacingly. Satsuki narrowed her eyes and formed the tiger seal.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Caterwaul!!!" She shouted and expelled several dragon-headed fireballs from her mouth to cover the frontal, left, and right sides of Orochimaru. This is the advanced version of its parent technique, the Fierce Dragon Flame Jutsu, a B-rank Jutsu.

Orochimaru quickly sent some chakra to his feet so that he could jump up since the dragon headed fireballs didn't cover above him.

*BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!*

Satsuki's attack caused a massive fiery explosion at the place where Orochimaru was previously standing on.

While Orochimaru was in mid air, Naruto performed the bird hand seal. "Wind Style: Air Bullets!!!" He shouted as he fired multiple bullets of air at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was able to see it coming and dodged them all while diving towards Naruto with a bloodthirsty grin on his face. Sakura appeared in front of Naruto before she finished weaving through hand seals.

"Earth Style: Rock Bullet Jutsu!" Sakura whispered before she threw a huge rock that rose out of the ground at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru gathered a little bit of chakra to his fist, intending to punch it. He widened his eyes as he saw that the rock was littered with exploding tags.

*BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!*

There was a large explosion that engulfed Orochimaru, creating a large plume of grey smoke around the area.

The smoke revealed Team 7 standing back to back with each other. Suddenly, Orochimaru shot out of the ground and grabbed Sakura by the throat violently.

He squeezed it tightly and threw her away. Sakura grunted and spat out some blood as she slammed into the tree. Naruto cursed as he created multiple Shadow Clones to deal with Orochimaru who quickly used his Superior taijutsu skills to dispatch all of them easily.

"Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder!!" Satsuki declared as she sent a wave of electricity at Orochimaru who widened his eyes as he was hit by the technique.

The electricity was so powerful that it was capable of ripping through rocks and trees around the area.

Satsuki widened her eyes as the Orochimaru her technique hit him with dissolved into mud. In a blur, Orochimaru appeared in front of Naruto.

*BAAAM!!! BAAAM!!! BAAANG!!!!*

Naruto gasped and spat out blood as Orochimaru landed multiple devastating punches on his ribs, breaking them. He grinned as he delivered a roundhouse kick to Naruto's head, sending him flying away from the battlefield.

Satsuki was the only one left standing. She stared at the Sannin with pure fear in her eyes. The Sannin chuckled. "Well that was certainly an amusing battle, kukuku. Now I wonder if you can do any better than them Satsuki-chan—

*SHIK!!!*

Orochimaru widened his eyes as he was stabbed through the back by a kunai. He looked to see that it was Sakura who did it.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as Sakura wasn't injured at all. He looked at where he threw Sakura.

"Genjutsu...." He whispered to himself. Sakura leaped back to where Satsuki was.

"While you were focusing on them so much, you didn't even notice that I had invaded your mind." Sakura muttered to herself. Orochimaru didn't even flnch as he pulled the kunai out of his back.

He licked it and grinned at Sakura. "Impressive, you have talent in Genjutsu." He commented. Sakura narrowed her eyes.

" And I'm impressed that you let your guard down. " Sakura replied, confusion Orochimaru a little.

"HAAAA!!!!!!"

*BAAAAANG!!!!!*

Orochimaru grunted as Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him in a flash and punched him straight in the face. Naruto followed the combo by kicking Orochimaru in the head multiple times before performing the spinning hook to his jaw, sending the Sannin flying away.

Satsuki and Sakura looked at Naruto whose eyes were crimson red and slitted. His nails and canine teeth also grew longer and sharper. He is also surrounded by a layer of red, wispy chakra.

"We need to go, we have no chance of defeating him. With that body replacement ability, he's essentially immortal." Naruto warned them. The trio started using their Body Flicker Jutsu to the absolute maximum to get away from the battlefield.

" Not so fast. Striking Shadow Snakes!"

Satsuki and Sakura widened their eyes and jumped away while Naruto cut the heads off the snakes that came out of Orochimaru's sleeve with his tri-pronged kunai.

Orochimaru suddenly appeared in front of Naruto. He punched the blonde in the gut, making Naruto gasp and spit out blood. Orochimaru dodged the blonde's sloppy attempt to punch him in the face and suddenly opened his mouth widely.

His tongue extended and wrapped around the blonde Genin. "Let me go you stupid fuck!" Naruto grabbed onto the tongue as he began to struggle against the tight hold. Orochimaru lifted up his shirt.

"Ah! So that's the seal that keeps it at bay. I have to admit, it's quite the masterpiece. You're able to control it's power too. How interesting. You may actually be of use to me." The fingers Orochimaru's left hand began to glow purple.

However, just as he was about to slam his fingers into the seal with the Five Prong Seal, Naruto decided that he would rather not have the snake Sannin's touch his stomach, or any other part of him for that matter.

Suddenly, a lot of complex seals wrapped around Orochimaru's abnormally long tongue. Naruto smirked at Orochimaru's shocked expression.

" Uzumaki Clan Fūinjutsu: Sever."

*SHING!!!*

Orochimaru widened his eyes as half of his tongue was severed by the Fūinjutsu, releasing Naruto who landed on the ground.

"You brat!!" Orochimaru hissed angrily. He opened his mouth and a snake shot out of it The snake opened its mouth to reveal a sword, which stabbed Naruto right through the stomach, just missing his spinal cord as it went out the other end.

"Ack... Ackh!!" Blood flowed around Naruto's mouth. He slammed into a tree, the sword pinning him to it.

Satsuki and Sakura watched in pure horror, they wanted to step in but their bodies wouldn't allow them to.

"Kukuku, quite the performance, Naruto-kun and team. As a gift to you I will grant you and Satsuki-chan some of my power, think of it as a gift for impressing me so much. " The Snake Sannin's neck elongated and he bit Naruto on the left side of his neck.

" AHHH!!!!" Naruto screamed as a seal began to form in the place Orochimaru bit. The seal consists of three tomoe (the design known as mitsudomoe), similar to the Sharingan.

Naruto groaned as he fell back and laid against the tree, breathing heavily while doing so. Orochimaru licked his lips before looking at Satsuki who back up and looked at him with pure horror in her eyes.

"Now, Let's see if the Uchiha can do as well as Naruto-kun did." He whispered before his neck elongated again and rushed towards Satsuki.

Orochimaru heard that sounds of birds chirping but ignored it as his head got closer to Satsuki's neck. He opened his mouth widely, preparing to bite her.

"Raikiri!!"

*PSSSHHH!!!!!*

Orochimaru widened his eyes in shock as his elongated neck was cut in half by a hand that was full of lightning chakra crackling around it.

Satsuki looked at Kakashi who his Sharingan revealed and had an enraged expression on his face.

"Sorry I'm late, I was in a briefing with Lord Third with a bunch of other Jonin and Anbu captains. Then I ran into an army of black cats. I hope you can forgive my tardiness, my cute little Genin. "

To be continued...