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"Ye Dou!"
Staring at the aftermath of the destruction, Naruto Uzumaki's eyes widened in shock. He shouted in the direction where Ye Dou had vanished—panic and guilt twisting in his voice.
"Shut up, idiot! Do you want to give away our position?"
Uchiha Sasuke hissed, grabbing Naruto and pulling him down.
He knew well that anyone capable of casting such a powerful Wind Release jutsu wasn't some random Genin. With Ye Dou's fate unknown, they couldn't afford to act recklessly.
"You two stay back. Leave this to me."
On the other side, the Kusagakure ninja—secretly Orochimaru in disguise—extended his long tongue, licking the corner of his mouth as he waved his two subordinates away.
His only objective was Uchiha Sasuke. This exam held no real interest for him.
---
Meanwhile, Ye Dou had been blasted over 100 meters by Orochimaru's Great Breakthrough. He finally skidded to a stop after crashing into a massive tree trunk.
"Don't get cocky, you monster."
Brushing the dust from his body, Ye Dou looked up—and came face to face with a pair of enormous golden, vertical pupils. A giant snake loomed over him, easily over 100 meters long. Its fangs could swallow a cow whole.
Hiss...
The snake lashed out, its forked tongue flicking before it lunged straight for Ye Dou. But the instant it struck—
CRACK!—it only bit into the thick tree behind where Ye Dou had stood.
Confused by the mouthful of splinters, the snake's eyes darted around.
"Up here!"
A flash of light sliced down from above.
Puff! Puff! Puff!—A barrage of precision cuts tore through the serpent's body.
Ye Dou spun mid-air like a buzzsaw, wielding his long blade with deadly efficiency. Within moments, the massive snake was hacked into dozens of twitching segments.
The beast let out a final, dying screech as chunks of its body writhed on the forest floor. Even in death, its vitality was monstrous.
"Tch... I've never eaten such a huge snake before. I have to try this."
Ye Dou's mongoose companion dropped down, stuffing pieces of segmented snake meat into his flowery green pants pockets.
He stomped the twitching head of the snake for good measure. As one of the two great snake predators—alongside the honey badger—this mongoose considered venomous snakes mere snacks.
Watching the mongoose gleefully lick his lips while packing raw snake meat into his pants, Ye Dou's brow twitched.
The sight was... unsettling.
Here was a creature, wearing floral pants, lovingly storing a hundred-meter snake like road-trip jerky—occasionally stopping to savor a lick of blood.
Not bothering to comment, Ye Dou leapt into a nearby tree and closed his eyes, activating Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki). He focused on the battlefield in the distance.
"You're not going over there? Aren't you worried those two idiots'll get wrecked by Orochimaru?"
The mongoose hopped next to him, gnawing a strip of tail meat with eyes half-closed in pleasure. Despite normally being picky about food, this ancient, chakra-enhanced serpent was an exception.
"No need. Orochimaru's target is Sasuke. He's not going to kill him—he's here to mark him."
"And Naruto... he's the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. The Kyūbi won't sit back and let its vessel be killed."
Ye Dou's voice was calm, detached.
He knew Orochimaru wouldn't waste this infiltration—especially not before placing his Cursed Seal of Heaven. Even if Ye Dou intervened, it wouldn't stop Orochimaru's greater plans.
Besides, he'd already sensed Mitarashi Anko enter the Forest of Death. She must have found the corpses of the real Kusagakure trio and realized Orochimaru was impersonating one of them.
Konoha's ANBU were surely on their way. Fighting Orochimaru now would be reckless and meaningless.
---
Suddenly, Ye Dou's senses flared. A violent chakra surged into the atmosphere.
"Kyūbi's chakra... the seal is weakening."
---
"Die, you bastard!"
Naruto's eyes had turned blood-red. Slitted pupils and chakra cloak signaled the start of his Initial Jinchūriki Transformation. His fangs bared, face twisted with rage and grief.
He believed Ye Dou had sacrificed himself for his sake.
Overwhelmed by anger, guilt, and sorrow, Naruto's emotions triggered the Nine-Tails' chakra. His strength spiked—and he charged Orochimaru with a flurry of savage punches.
Caught off guard, Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. He hadn't expected to encounter a fully awakened Jinchūriki.
This was dangerous. The Nine-Tails wasn't something even he could fight head-on.
Acting quickly, Orochimaru slammed his hand onto Naruto's abdomen and unleashed the Five Elements Seal, forcibly disrupting the Kyūbi's chakra flow and suppressing it.
Naruto collapsed, the red chakra dissipating.
With that handled, Orochimaru turned back to his true objective—Uchiha Sasuke.
An overwhelming wave of killing intent filled the air, freezing Sasuke in place.
His mind flashed back to that night—the massacre, the blood, his brother's cold stare.
A dark chakra pulsed around him, feeding off fear and desperation.
Then it happened—his Sharingan awakened.
And not just a single tomoe...
Twin tomoe in both eyes. The Double Tomoe Sharingan.
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