A Snake Sannin

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Chapter 56 (One Tail Vs Seven Tails), Chapter 57 (Sannin vs. Genin), Chapter 58 (Anko's Revenge), Chapter 59 (Preliminary Rounds), Chapter 60 (Uchiha's Strength), Chapter 61 (Fuu's Strength), Chapter 62 (Hinata's Fear), Chapter 63 (Blue Flames of Yugito), Chapter 64 (Kurotsuchi's Revenge), and Chapter 65 (Preliminary Rounds Ends) are already available for Patrons.

HOKAGE TOWER - HIRUZEN'S OFFICE

As one of the most stressful days for the Hokage has come, meaning the Chunin Exams, Hiruzen was surprisingly sitting on his couch, relaxing, with a cup of tea in his hand. As he relaxed, he couldn't help but smirk at his Four Shadow Clones, who were currently slaving away the piles of piles of Paperwork on his desk.

They even gave him a few glares every time he chuckled at their pain.

"I can't believe I haven't thought of this before. You should be the next 'Professor,' Naruto-kun. I wonder if Tobirama Sensei also had the same idea when he created this Jutsu. If so, shame on you, Sensei, for not telling me. My back has been killing me for sitting on that damn chair all day." Hiruzen said to himself as he took a sip of his tea and laid back with an overdue relaxation.

But his moment of peace was halted when he heard a firm knock coming from the door. "Come in," Hiruzen called out as he sat up a little straighter. But the person who walked in immediately made the old Hokage lean back down on his seat and narrow his eyes.

"What do you want, Danzo? I'm very busy." Hiruzen said as he turned away from his 'old friend' and took another sip of his tea. Danzo then saw the Four Shadow Clones of Hiruzen and could only smirk with amusement.

"I see you made ingenious use of Lord Tobirama's Jutsu. Very impressive. But I didn't take you're the type to slack off on your duties, Hiruzen." Danzo said.

"Did you come here to tell me something or criticize me? If it's the latter, you know where the door is," Hiruzen said with annoyance.

"Neither. I am merely here to ask a question." Danzo stated. "And what question is that?" Hiruzen asked with narrowed eyes.

"Why did you invite Kumogakure and Iwa to the Chunin Exams?" Danzo asked.

"...Are you asking me, as one of the village elders or an old friend?" Hiruzen asked back.

"I was hoping...." "Trick question, Shimura. You will always ask me as a village elder because that is what you only are. And you'll address me as Lord Hokage. Do I make myself clear?" Hiruzen stated firmly.

Danzo said nothing as he simply glared at Hiruzen. "That wasn't a rhetorical question; answer me." Hiruzen pushed, much to Danzo's annoyance.

"....Yes.....Lord Hokage." Danzo said bitterly. "Good. And to answer your previous question, For years now, I have been in talks with the Fourth Raikage. We were discussing the possibility of an Alliance between our hidden villages. But given our history, it was obviously not an easy process. So far, we only agreed on a 'None-Aggression-Pact,' but we both know that will not last forever nor benefit our village's growth. So as a show of good faith, and the spirit of moving forward, I sincerely invited Kumo to participate and guarantee their Shinobi's safety before and after the duration of the exams." Hiruzen explained.

".....Permission to speak.....Lord Hokage?" Danzo asked, with a slight venom in his voice.

"You may, Danzo," Hiruzen answered.

"While I understand your diplomatic reason, do you really believe it is wise to ally ourselves with a hidden village that has harmed ours as much as Iwagakure? The kidnapping attempt of Kushina Uzumaki and the Hyuga Heiress has not been forgotten. Nor the sacrifice of Lord Tobirama, who gave his life for ours during the First Great Shinobi World War. There are some in the council who will not stand for their presence here." Danzo informed.

"And by some, you mean yourself, Koharu, and Homura?" Hiruzen asked with a bit of sarcasm.

".....And Hiashi Hyuga." Danzo finished with a smirk. Hearing this was enough for Hiruzen to let out a deep sigh as he rubbed his temple soothingly from all the stress. He knew the Hyugas held a deep grudge against Kumo and would likely spark a great level of hostility between them. Something that this village does not need right now.

".....I will speak with Hiashi-san by the end of the day. He needs to know that I am doing something for the good of Konoha's future." Hiruzen stated.

Danzo simply scoffed at the last sentence from the old Hokage.

"The good of Konoha's future, huh? Do you know what the 'future of Konoha' really is?...." Danzo asked, which made Hiruzen narrow his eyes as he continued.

".....It's the river of blood of our enemies. A story that we agreed to tell each other over and over.....until we eventually realized it was too late. The soft ideals of the Senju will only lead to a weakened Konoha." Danzo stated.

"And what do we have left once we abandoned those ideals? Chaos. A gaping pit waiting to swallow us all while the fires of war drown out the screams of the innocent, all because we betrayed what made this village strong and united." Hiruzen stated firmly.

This merely made the old war-hawk chuckle with amusement.

"...Chaos isn't a pit.....Chaos is a ladder. Many tried to climb but failed. And never get to try again. Because the fall breaks them, and some were given a chance to climb, but they refuse. Instead, they cling to their blissful purposeless lives. But it is all an illusion. In the end, only the ladder is real...and War is what makes us true shinobi," Danzo stated.

"...If we are done discussing different philosophies, you may leave now." Hiruzen said angrily."...Very well...Lord Hokage," Danzo said.

EARLIER - WITH NARUTO CLONE

While Team 10 was busy fighting against Team Samui and Team ROOT, one of Naruto's clones (Clone-7) was running through the woods in his Camouflage form. He, along with the other clones, were assigned to locate any enemy teams nearby and intercept them if they could. As he was jumping from tree branch to tree branch, he stopped midway when he felt a giant animal nearby. Usually, he would just ignore it, but he felt something wrong.

Like....something was inside it. Something familiar. He ran towards its direction and was surprised when he saw a Giant sleeping Snake. Clone-7 still wondered why a mere giant snake felt so familiar to him, so he increased the range of his Sensory perception, and his eyes widened when he felt one of his friend's chakra signatures was inside the snake's belly!

"CHOJI!" Clone-7 yelled out as he charged toward the Giant Snake in an incredible display of speed. He then summoned, used his blood blade, and stabbed the blade into the top of the Snake's skull. The Giant Snake was immediately awakened when it felt the painful sting on the top of its head as it violently thrashed its's long slithering body and let out a loud and terrifying screech of pain and anger.

Clone-7 was holding on to the sword handle for dear life as the snake continued to rampage throughout the forest, breaking several trees and branches. When Clone-7 saw the giant snake was approaching a sharp, broken tree branch, he smirked confidently when he figured that it was his best chance of killing the oversized reptile, once and for all. When the snake was near the broken branch, Clone-7 immediately jumped forward from the snake's head, disregarding his sword, and unleashed his Chakra Chains from his wrist, wrapping them around the snake's neck. Clone-7 then gracefully landed on his feet, on another tree branch, with the broken sharp branch standing between him and the giant snake.

Channeling more chakra into his arms and legs, Clone-7 used his newfound super-strength to pull the snake's head directly onto the sharp tree branch. The snake tried to pull back in a tug-of-war, fearing for its life, but with one final pull from the blonde, the Snake's head was impaled into the tree branch, making it screech out in pain even louder before it finally died. Clone-7 recalled his Chakra Chains into his wrist as he approached the now-dead snake's head and pulled his Blade out from its skull. He then went to the snake's belly and stopped when he sensed where Choji was located exactly.

Clone-7 then used his blade to cut a hole in the snake's belly, making its guts spill out, along with the chubby Akimichi, who was screaming in fear as he was covered in entrails and blood. "AHHHH! AHHHH!" Choji yelled out.

"CHOJI! It's okay; it's me," Clone-7 said as he slowly approached the scared-looking Akimichi.

"N-Naruto? How did you-WAIT! How do I know that you're really Naruto and not some imposter?!" Choji said, putting his guard up, as he was told not to trust appearances since enemy ninjas could use the Transformation Jutsu to fool him.

"Seriously? I just saved you from being snake-shit. Why would an imposter do that?" Clone-7 asked with a deadpan look.

"I DON'T KNOW! I CAN'T THINK STRAIGHT RIGHT NOW! I JUST GOT EATEN, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! JUST TELL ME SOMETHING THAT ONLY NARUTO WOULD KNOW!" Choji demanded.

"Okay, okay, just calm down. Let's see...OH, I KNOW! When we were in the academy, I once challenged you to a Ramen Eating Contest. I remember you vomited your guts out when you were reaching your 50th bowl. When it was over, you told me I was the first person to ever beat you in an eating contest besides your dad and vowed to out-eat ramen more than me one day. Pfft, yeah, right." Clone-7 explained with a scoff at the end. Realizing that the Clone was telling the truth, Choji sighed in relief as he approached Clone-7 and hugged him tightly, grateful for his help.

"Oh, Naruto, thank god it's really you! Thank you so much!" Choji said as he let out some tears of joy. But the Akimichi was still covered in Snake innards, so the hug was making Clone-7 uncomfortable.

"O-Oh, that's okay, buddy, no problem..." Clone-7 said as he gently broke the hug so that he could ask the Akimichi a serious question.

".....Choji, what happened? Where's Sasuke and Sakura?"

"I-I don't know. It happened so fast. Sasuke told us we were being chased by someone dangerous. We tried to outrun them, but they just kept chasing us. It's like no matter where we go; they will still be on our tail. We didn't want to exhaust ourselves any longer, so we decided to take a stand." Choji then explained to Clone-7 about how he and his team tried to set up a trap for their pursuer.

They had everything covered, all from net snares and falling logs as they waited for the pursuer to arrive.

But to their shock, the pursuer suddenly vanished before they could get close to one. Suddenly, there was an extremely powerful gust of wind, possibly a Futon/Wind Style attack. It blew them all away and deeper into the forest, separating Choji from Sasuke and Sakura.

Choji was unconscious for several minutes, but when he woke up, he was immediately attacked and eaten by the giant snake.

"I-I was so scared. I knew I was close to being digested until I felt the snake suddenly move again. The next thing I knew, I saw a blade near my face, which literally cut me free. I owe you my life, Naruto." Choji said, thanking the blonde clone.

"It's okay, buddy. I'm just glad you're safe." Clone-7 said with a smile. But then Choji realized something.

"By the way, Naruto, where's Shika and Ino? Did you guys get separated too?" Choji asked, wondering where the rest of his friends were.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you. I'm not really Naruto. I'm actually a Shadow Clone. Ino-chan and Shika are with the Boss right now." Clone-7 explained.

"I see. Well, can you help me find Sakura and Sasuke? I can't tell which direction I was blown from, and I need to help them as soon as possible if they're in danger," Choji asked.

"Sure, hang on," Clone-7 said as he knelt down and placed his index finger on the ground. He then closed his eyes and activated his Sensory Perception. He focused on his surroundings until he finally detected the Uchiha, and they were fighting someone with monstrous dark chakra. He immediately snapped his open when he recognized whom they were fighting. It was that Kusa Kunoichi, Shiore.

But the way Choji told him about; how their pursuer kept chasing them, it almost sounded like a cunning predator stalking its prey. Clone-7 then realized that Shiore intentionally targeted them from the beginning. But the question is why? Is it because she knew that they were rookies? Or is it something else? Not willing to wait around and find out, Clone-7 stood back up and looked at his chubby friend with a serious gaze.

"I found them. But we need to hurry. This ninja that has been stalking you is no ordinary Kunoichi," Clone-7 informed his chubby friend as he and Clone-7 ran towards their friend's direction.

WITH SASUKE AND SAKURA

After they were blown away from the powerful Wind Style attack, Sasuke and Sakura managed to stick together, but they lost track of their food-loving teammate.

But when 'Choji' suddenly appeared, Sasuke instantly knew that the person standing before him was not the real Choji, as he threw his kunais at him to ensure that he didn't get any closer. His suspicion was proven true when the so-called Choji was able to dodge every attack with an unnatural level of flexibility and agility that an Akimichi is known NOT to have.

"Kukukuku, I guess I can't fool the eyes of an Uchiha," Fake Choji said with a sinister smirk as he let out his unnaturally long tongue and licked his lips.

His transformation was then dropped, revealing his true form. It was the same Kusa Kunoichi that creeped everyone out with her elongated tongue. She tried to bait them with her Earth Scroll, but what she did next shocked the Dojutsu duo to the core. Shiore wrapped her scroll with her elongated tongue and swallowed it whole, daring them to get it from her corpse.

Sasuke and Sakura knew that Shiore was too dangerous to fight since her presence alone was enough to scare them. As they were about to retreat, Shiore unleashed her Killing Intent, completely paralyzing the Dojutsu duo with an intense level of fear. She showed them terrifying visions of their very violent deaths, as it was enough to bring both of them to their knees and vomit their guts out. They tried to get up, but their bodies felt numb and heavy. Sasuke was able to will his way past his fear to stand on his feet, but he could barely take a step.

Shiore felt disappointed that her prey failed to entertain her, so she took out two kunais and threw them both directly at the duo's heads. Sasuke took out his kunai and stabbed deeply into his thigh. The immense pain he felt immediately freed him from his fear-induced paralysis as he grabbed Sakura and jumped away, saving them both from being killed. Shiore smirked with satisfaction as her hunt for the Uchiha continued.

Sasuke and Sakura were taking cover on top of a tall tree branch as the Uchiha pulled the kunai out of his thigh. Sakura managed to pull herself together, and she quickly went to bandage his leg before he suffered any more blood loss. Sakura then took three deep breaths to calm her nerves, but her eyes immediately widened when she saw a Giant Snake behind them. "SASUKE-KUN! BEHIND US!" Sakura yelled out.

Sasuke turned his head and saw the snake charging toward them. They both managed to jump away, but the snake continued to go after the Uchiha, as it let out a loud and terrifying screech.

Panic in his eyes, Sasuke took out several shurikens and threw them all toward the snake's head, hitting all of its vital spots and killing it instantly. But when the duo thought they could finally have a moment to catch their breaths, Shiore suddenly burst out from the snake's scaly skin, like it was made of paper. When Shiore charges toward Sasuke in her snake-like elongated form, the Uchiha begins to panic in fear.

Grabbing her quickly, they both jumped away just in time; the snake destroyed the tree they were standing on, landing on a tree branch.

Sakura turned to Sasuke, who was still trying to calm his nerves. "Sasuke-kun! Please snap out of it! I know she is terrifying, but we can't give in to our fears! Escaping is no longer possible, so we must face her here and now." Sakura boldly said. But Sasuke was still petrified, as Shiore's Killing Intent affected him more than the girl, and the haunting images still linger in his mind.

"We...WE DON'T STAND A CHANCE, SAKURA! WE CAN'T BEAT HER! WE NEED TO RUN BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!" Sasuke yelled shamefully.

Sakura was heartbroken when she heard the fear and worried in Sasuke's voice, as she knew that her crush was losing his will to fight. Sasuke had always taken pride in his abilities, but to hear him admit out loud that he couldn't beat an opponent without even trying was painful to witness, especially to her.

So Sakura did the only thing she could...SLAP!Sasuke touched his now red cheek as he looked in shock at the girl before him, giving him a sad look. ".....If you don't fight, we die. But if you do, we might live. But I can't do it alone! I need your help...please.....get up and fight," Sakura said desperately, with pure conviction in her voice, as she refused to let them both die.

"S-Sakura..." Sasuke could only say. He kept hearing her words over and over until he heard Itachi's final words to him before he fled the village. 'Foolish little brother. If you want to kill me, resent me, hate me, and continue to live your worthless life. Flee. Flee and cling to your life like the coward you are.' Those cruel words always managed to break his spirit, but then he remembered why he had trained and fought for so long, why he dedicated every hour of the day to training, to one day kill him.

'Fight...fight...fight...FIGHT!' Sasuke thought in anger as he activated his Sharingan, as his fears instantly disappeared from his mind.

As Sasuke stood side-by-side with Sakura, Shiore finally reappeared and was now standing in front of the duo with a giant grin on her face.

"Kukukuku the Fabled Sharingan....." Shiore said as she licked her lips excitedly with her long tongue, "...Let's see what those beautiful eyes can do." Shiore said.

It was now a moment of pure silence. All three shinobis stood firmly, waiting for the right moment to strike. As a falling stray leaf landed on the branch before them, Sasuke and Sakura immediately rushed forward and engaged Shiore in a Taijutsu fight.

Sasuke threw several kunais towards Shiore, but the Kusa Kunoichi managed to dodge them effortlessly.

Shiore then demonstrates her unnatural speed as she knocks Sakura away and continues to zoom around Sasuke in an effort to catch him off-guard.

But Sasuke has a Sharingan and was able to see her attacks coming and jumped away. He then made several hand seals.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke blew out a stream of fire from his mouth toward Shiore. She was caught in the fire stream but managed to go underground before suffering from any real damage.

She crawled her way toward Sasuke, but he managed to jump away in time before she could grab him. Sasuke instantly readied himself as he was now standing beside Sakura. Shiore then unleashed a powerful Wind Style Attack, but Sasuke and Sakura managed to jump away and avoid it, as the Wind Attack literally cut the tree behind them in half.

Sakura managed to land safely on a tree branch. Still, Sasuke decided to press on, as he jumped from branch to branch, landing on one that was on top of Shiore, and proceeded to jump down towards her and grabbed her body, completely catching her off-guard as he pulled her downwards towards the ground, in a pile-driving position.

"Uchiha Style: Falcon Drop!"As they continued to fall from the extremely long drop, Shiore's skull finally made an impact on the earthly ground, creating a small crack. Sasuke jumped away from her body and thought the worst was over, but suddenly Shiore's body turned into mud, indicating that she had to substitute herself with a Mud Clone. The real Shiore, who was on top of one of the branches above Sasuke, threw several kunais toward the Uchiha, but luckily he was able to evade them and find cover.

As Shiore was about to attack Sasuke from behind when Sakura attacked her.

When Sakura managed to land a strike on Shiore's chest area, the Kusa Kunoichi was angered by this, as she kicked Sakura's head with a swift roundhouse, sending the girl crashing down, unconscious.

Rage filled Sasuke's body as he blindly attacked the Kusa Kunoichi, but Shiore managed to use his anger against him, as she landed several punches on his face and knocked him down.

"What a disappointment you turn out to be. Your ancestor weeps in shame. I guess the Uchiha clan should thank me for killing you. Silly little worm." Shiore said with a smirk. But she didn't realize Sasuke had managed to attach several small explosives to her clothes.

As she was done talking, Sasuke instantly activated them, causing them to explode on her back and dropping her to her knees in pain. Sasuke immediately got himself up and jumped away, throwing several shurikens with ninja wires attached to them as they circled around the Kusa Kunoichi. As Shiore was distracted by her awe of Uchiha's legendary shuriken technique, the ninja wire began to surround her.

Wrapping around her body and tying the Kusa Kunoichi up against the tree behind her. Sasuke then pulled the ninja wires firmly in his hands, giving the Kusa Kunoichi absolutely no chance of moving a single muscle. As Shiore began to squirm, she noticed Sasuke quickly made several signs.

"Fire Style: Giant Fire Ball," the ball of fire is big enough that it engulfs the whole place, turning everything around the area to ash. Sasuke released a sigh of relief; it was over.

His eyes widened when he heard...a sinister chuckle. Shiore was still burned by the Flames, but she managed to break free from the ninja wire. She held back her pain of still being burned alive by the dangerous fire and willed herself away from the fire pit.

But then she dropped down on her belly. Sasuke didn't let his guard down this time as he waited for something to happen. And something did happen. Something completely disgusting. Shiore opened her mouth and began to regurgitate another Shiore, like a snake shedding its skin. But this time, she looked completely different. While she attains her long black hair, her skin is now completely pale, her eyes are golden with slitted pupils and purple markings around her eyes, and she appears to have fang-like teeth. Her voice changed as well, almost sounding like a male chronic smoker. He stood at his feet and smirked at the young Uchiha.

His saliva-covered body looked completely undamaged, as his old skin was still burning away into nothingness.

"Kukukukuku, to think that you reached this level already. You are truly a member of the Uchiha clan. Yes, I wanted you then, but now I want you more. You will be mine." The Snake 'man' said with a sadistic smirk.

Sasuke tried to get himself up, but he had used too much of his chakra earlier, leaving him completely defenseless.

"You're definitely his brother. If anything, your eyes might be more powerful than Itachi's." The Snake 'man' said, and Sasuke's eyes immediately widened when he mentioned his big brother's name.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" Sasuke yelled out in anger.

"Kukukuku, my name is Orochimaru. But as to what I want, that will have to wait until we meet again. Which won't happen if you don't finish this test with the best score of all. First, you will have to defeat the Oto Ninjas that serve me." The now-identified Orochimaru said with a snake-like smirk.

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't care! You better kill me because I swear to God I'm going to kill you!" Sasuke threatened.

"Kukukuku, oh no, Sasuke-kun. You are far too valuable to kill, especially with those eyes. But don't worry, we WILL meet again. I promise you." Orochimaru said as he made a single unique hand-seal, and his neck began to elongate and move like a snake as it slithered toward Sasuke's direction. Sasuke tried to move, but his body wouldn't allow him.

When Orochimaru's head was nearing the Uchiha's neck, with his mouth open, showing his sharp fangs, he suddenly noticed the water particles in front of the Uchiha were pulling themselves together, and his eyes widened at what came next.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" A massive wall of water suddenly appeared out of thin air, standing firmly between Sasuke and Orochimaru's heads. The Snake Sannin's elongated head crashed directly into the completely dense wall of water, sending it back to its body. Orochimaru was gritting his teeth in anger when he was denied his prize, and the person who was responsible happened to be Konoha's strongest Genin, as he and Choji defensively landed in front of Sasuke.

"I knew I saw a snake in the grass," Clone-7 said with a smirk, causing the Snake Sannin to narrow his eyes at the blonde duplicate.

".....Naruto Uzumaki," Orochimaru called out to his new foe.