Chunin Exams: 7/? The War on Clones

-Orochimaru- 

"Well, that's enough of that. Now, are you going to run like the snake you are Orochimaru?" As the clone arrogantly spoke to him, a hissing rumbly laughter escaped from Orochimaru.

"Aah, Naruko-chan, I see your arrogance only grows with age. Why, the last time a clone of yours fought me, you complained." 

A snort escaped from Naruko as she flicked both the ball of sand and the unconscious Gaara away into the distance. 'Shame, I would have liked to look at his seal.' "Different circumstances, you were facing a clone sent on a specific mission, and was away from the village that had already traveled. Now, you're facing one specifically meant to watch over the Chunin Exams. Besides... who says I'm the same Naruko as last time we fought?" 

In a blur, she appeared in front of Orochimaru the Blade of Remembrance unsheathed and a slash heading directly towards Orochimaru's neck. 'How uncouth!' Bending at an unnatural angle to dodge the blow, he planted one hand on the ground to act as momentum, and his foot came twirling around slamming into Naruko's stomach. 'Too easy.' He was proven right as she disappeared in a pile of branches. 'Interesting Jutsu. Perhaps this is the rumored 'Log God' technique?' Even as he thought about the possibilities of that supposed technique, his decades of battle experience let him focus on the battle ahead. Instantly righting himself, his hands flew through 32 hand seals in the time most could form one. Planting his chakra-laden hands into the ground the name of the Jutsu left his lips the words spoken aloud empowering his will, and thus his jutsu, "Earth Style: Great Rupture!"

The ground around Orochimaru cracked, and with him as the epicenter rippling outward, it was as if a major Earthquake had happened, the ground churning, trees being uprooted, foliage being destroyed, and more importantly - the numerous clones racing towards him were revealed. 'Aah, the Uzumaki motto. If one isn't enough, throw an army at your problems. Or a mountain of Explosive Tags. Oh, at least they're being unique.'

An amused chuckle left Orochimaru as he spied the clones using numerous techniques. The shadows surged towards him, the famed Yamanaka hiden tried to control his body, a titanic Naruko clone, the famed Sarutobi fire style, and he even had to break through a Kurama clan genjutsu! 'Impressive breadth, and all of them at the level of each of their individual clan heads, if not beyond. Truly, if she was a decade older I might have to take a moment for these Jutsu she's playing around with.' 

But, alas. He was Orochimaru of the Sannin. With a flex of his will, the clone using the Yamanaka clan jutsu stabbed itself, the shadow was wrested from the Nara jutsu clone before it left the ground and stabbed the clone through the eye. One hand seal was all it took for the fire-style Jutsu to be overpowered, and a mere thought had a snake clone of himself latch onto the Akimichi clan clone, sinking its fangs into and imbuing it with too much Yang chakra. As he focused on the last clone - the Kurama clan clone, his tongue flickered out in amusement, his own Genjutsu falling flat against the clone. "My, my. That's some impressive resistance Naruko-chan."

The clone in front of him let out a giggle. "I see more fun things in my mind every moment Orochi-chan~ you'll have to try a lot harder than that Genjutsu." He hummed, acknowledging the point that trying to get a Jinchuriki to kill herself through dark emotions was pointless.

"That was my error indeed. Let's try this one." He clicked his tongue, and a moment later the Naruko clone exploded. "Aah, so that does work. I had wondered."

A voice spoke up echoing around the forest. "Thank you for reminding me about how fleshy bodies react to sound Orochimaru. I'll have a resistance to that the next time we speak. Now, how about we test a hobby of mine, y'know?" Throughout the forest, dozens of clones appeared each holding onto her sword.

An amused smile at some point had found its way across Orochimaru's face, and with a tap on his wrist, a sword appeared in his hands. "I see you have quite a famed sword Naruko-chan, but how will it compare to Kusanagi?" With a twirl of the blade in his hand, he engaged against the numerous clones, only for a Tsk to escape him.

"It appears quite poor." The taunting words escaped from his lips with no thought, too preoccupied with making sure the numerous clones couldn't skewer him, and his mind was still slightly preoccupied as he ran an analysis on the likelihood of being able to recreate the Log God technique. 'It's theoretically possible of course, much like the Hirashin, Repear Death Seal, and the Edo Tensei are theoretically possible. So there has to be a way, but how would one go about...' 

"I never expected it to." 'Aah, I was too focused on the technique, and not the branches. Shame.' His thoughts cut off as out of nowhere a Naruko appeared directly next to him, tri-pronged Kunai thrumming with wind chakra and crackling with fire.

Schink.

-Naruko- 

Overviewing the fight after having used her newly made Replacement technique, Naruko slowly nodded. 'Thank fuck that didn't exist here before me. It's literally a modified bootleg Hirashin, but enough of that my clones are definitely doing better than they would have before.' After all - she had done quite a bit of training, and she herself although a clone, was made with what tinges of Senjutsu combined with Kurama's Chakra was possible so that she was just as strong as a regular Naruko. 'Although no matter how much I tried I could never even attempt to enter Sage Mode, and Bijuu Modes are WEIRD like this.'

With a shake of her head, she focused back in on the fight - and forced off the floaty/wandering mind effect the Shadow Clone technique often caused. 'My usage of the various hiden Jutsu of Konoha is still quite sub-par, and I see a few places my Kenjutsu can improve, but then again I train it more for fun than anything. Orochimaru is clearly far better than me, but... I wonder how his Swordmanship compares to my Kunai play? I've seen enough, this test is over.' 

"It appears quite poor!" As Orochimaru continued to taunt her, Naruko shook her head at the poor taunts that they both knew wouldn't affect her. 'Besides Kusanagi can infinitely grow with chakra, thus it's not diminished by clones, unlike my blade. But it's no problem to not match up against Kusanagi, after all, it's likely the sharpest and most durable blade in existence.' A grin appeared on Naruko's face. 'But, I wonder. Is it sharper than my chakra?' 

A tri-pronged kunai slipped into her hand, and with a thought she activated the marking she had left on the branches she had originally replaced herself with. "I never expected it to." Which was the truth, who would expect a gift to a child to match up to the famed Kusanagi blade? 'But, your stomach can certainly be pierced.' Wind and Fire chakra appeared across the tri-pronged Kunai, and in one smooth motion, she skewered Orochimaru, twisting and flicking her wrist upwards once it was firmly implanted into his stomach. 

The next moment she disappeared, Hirashining away with the Kunai left behind. The reason?

BOOOM!

Feet landing on a tree branch, she wrenched the Kunai out of the tree she had implanted it into, and wearily looked around. 'I can't expect that to be the main clone. So where are you Orochimaru? You certainly wouldn't leave without having some kind of Ninjutsu clash.' 

With ever-increasing weariness she slowly turned around, trying to find Orochimaru, only for her instincts to scream at her. Blurring through hand seals, Naruko only barely managed to spew out a water wall as a titanic fireball slammed into it. steam filled the air and blocked her view. 'Well, this isn't good.' 

Activating her Hirashin tag on another tree, it was only sheer instinct that had her hand thrust forward, a Rasengan quickly formed. Hand fully extended in it's thrust, the rapidly spinning yellow sphere of death met a water dragon, and with a flex of her muscles, she charged through the gap in the Jutsu that the Rasengan formed. "It's not very fair that you have so much experience against the Hirashin, y'know?"

"Kukukuku, with age, comes wisdom Naruko, or - the opportunity to spar against the true Master of that technique. It's not very fair to me that you have infinite chakra reserves, can safely learn Senjutsu because that battery inside of you will purge the Nature Energy, or the fact that the Uzumaki have numerous abilities that would be classified as bloodlines, is it?"

"Sounds like a whiny bitch complaining that he got taught by the most knowledgable Shinobi to ever live."

At that, an actual Kami-damned hiss echoed around the forest before with anger clear in his voice Orochimaru spoke again. "You've made this startingly less fun bringing up Sensei, so perhaps you'll enjoy this new technique. Have fun escaping it Naruko-chan." 'Fuc-' 

She tried activating the Hirashin technique, only to not be able to find any of her markers, even the one on her main body, or numerous other clones. Wearily looking around, the forest appeared... normal?

Then, she looked up. "Aah. The sky probably isn't meant to be purple, is it?"