...And Into the Fire Style: Great Fireball!

Just as Sakura's foot was about to make contact with Orochimaru's face, his Snake Clone's long slimy tongue snaked around her throat from behind, leaving her hanging in midair by the neck.

"Gllk!" Sakura let out a strangled cry, her hands grasping desperately at her constricted throat.

As expected, Sakura's Fire Style Jutsu had failed to do any real damage to the Orochimaru Snake Clone; it had raised a mud wall to protect itself, before simply phasing through it once the fireball had run out of steam, to attack Sakura from behind.

Gradually, Sakura stopped wriggling and kicking; she could only watch helplessly as the presumably real Orochimaru in front of her slowly approached her, licking his lips.

"Don't kill me!" Sakura wheezed. "I can help you!"

Orochimaru stopped in his tracks, gazing at her curiously. Emboldened by the fact that he had slightly loosened his hold on her neck, Sakura quickly pressed on.

"You're looking for a suitable host body to swap to, right?"

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed, and he squeezed Sakura's neck so forcefully that her face turned blue.

"Where exactly did you hear about that?" he said, his voice dripping with killing intent.

A month from now, Living Corpse Reincarnation would become a hot topic among the village's higher-ups, when Orochimaru would brag about the Jutsu that he had developed to attain immortality in front of the Hokage, during their fight to the death. But for now, it was still one of his most closely kept secrets, one that only his most loyal supporters knew…

'We can't tell him the whole truth,' Inner Sakura said urgently. 'Even if we tell him that breast communion can't make his mental imprint reveal all of its secrets without its consent, he'd never believe us!'

"I can cure the bone guy!" Sakura gasped out; she had momentarily forgotten Kimimaro's name, since she was being choked out. "So please, give up on Sasuke!"

Sakura had promised Orochimaru's mental imprint within herself that she would cure Kimimaro of his genetic disease in exchange for more advanced knowledge; so she might as well double dip and use the fact that her Purifying Slash could probably cure Kimimaro as a bargaining chip against the real Orochimaru!

Orochimaru stared at her suspiciously, his snake eyes narrowing slightly.

In his opinion, for the Leaf to learn about his deepest secrets, one of his trusted subordinates must have turned traitor. Would Jūgo have done anything to save Kimimaro? Yes, but he didn't have any ties to the Leaf. In which case, Kabuto was the most likely culprit…

However, Orochimaru wouldn't jump to conclusions without first testing hypotheses.

"Did your Jōnin-sensei tell you about that?" said Orochimaru testily, remembering how Sakura had specifically told him to spare Sasuke. "I did tell Kakashi that I wanted to acquire the power buried in the blood of the Uchiha, when I paid him and Sasuke-kun a little visit a few days ago. I suppose he connected the dots…?"

"That's right!" said Sakura in relief. "And your underlings, the Sound-nin, they told me about the sick bone guy, when I asked them about it!"

Orochimaru was smart; perhaps too smart for his own good, and too confident in his own abilities…

His Snake Clone had its tentacle-like tongue wrapped around Sakura's neck the entire time, so he'd been using her pulse to judge whether or not she had been lying. But since Sakura had been stressing over coming up with a believable lie, her pulse had actually slowed when Orochimaru had offered her a convenient way out, making it seem as though she had been telling the truth!

"I see," said Orochimaru sinisterly. "It seems like I'll have to discipline my cute subordinates…"

"So, you'll let me go if I promise to cure Kimimaro?" said Sakura hopefully.

Orochimaru chuckled to himself.

"So, you believe that you can cure a terminal disease that not even I could do anything about?" Orochimaru said amusedly. "Following your splendid performance, I was planning on taking you away to research your unknown Kekkei Genkai, but I suppose that it wouldn't hurt to let you have a go…"

Sakura's heart sank. Was she really going to have to take Karin's place in Team Hebi/Taka? That is, if she even survived Orochimaru's experiments? For the first time in her new life, Sakura felt true despair; she opened her mouth and breathed in, but just as she was about to scream for help, Orochimaru suddenly stiffened up, his expression turning serious.

A fraction of a second later, Kakashi burst out of the ground, severing the Snake Clone's tongue with a kunai, causing Sakura to drop to the ground on her butt. Simultaneously, the wall to Sakura's left literally exploded outwards as Guy flew in at Mach 5 with his infamous drop kick.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

This was too good to be true; how in the world had they found her just in time? Dumbfounded, Sakura could only sit and watch as Guy's unadulterated might blasted Orochimaru through wall after wall; severely undermining the tower's structural integrity and causing its foundations to shake dangerously, showering Sakura and Kakashi with dust from the ceiling.

"Sakura!" Kakashi shouted. "Grab my hand!"

Sakura shook herself out of her stupor and took Kakashi's hand, who wrapped her in a tight embrace.

"Earth Style: Startling Subterranean Escape, Kakashi Ver.!"

Master and student sunk into the stone floor as if swallowed up by the ground itself, plunging them in darkness. Despite not being able to see anything, Sakura had the distinct impression that they were moving at high speeds, with the earth parting in front of them and closing behind them as if it were as malleable as wet clay.

A few seconds later, they popped out of the ground on the tower's main level, their sudden appearance startling a crowd of people assembled in front of the pontificating Third Hokage. It looked like the matches had all finished in her absence…

'How in the world did we dig down and still end up here!?' said Inner Sakura in wonderment. 'Makes about as much sense as using the move Dig on the top floor of Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town to get to the exit…'

"You can let go now, Sakura," said Kakashi gently.

"I'm so sorry I called you a useless teacher, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura blubbered. "I'll never let anyone badmouth you again!"

"People were badmouthing me?" asked Kakashi, puzzled.

But before Sakura could say anything more, a blur of red jumped out of the small crowd of Genin and slammed into her, knocking her to the ground.

"Onee-sama!" Karin squealed, nuzzling Sakura's deep cleavage.

"You can thank this young lady for the timely rescue," said Kakashi, nodding wisely. "That's quite the convenient ability she's got."

Karin, who seemed to have turned slightly yandere, had turned into the ultimate stalker thanks to her Mind's Eye of the Kagura. The moment her beloved onee-sama had disappeared from her sight, she had activated her powers, and immediately noticed Sakura's abnormal condition!

"Er… thanks, I guess," said Sakura awkwardly. "…Karin."

Hearing Sakura call out her name, it took Karin all she had to avoid fainting on the spot from happiness!