Chapter 27: The Serpent and the Storm
The air on the Tenchi Bridge grew thick, heavy with the weight of three monstrous presences. Orochimaru's serpentine grin was wide, his golden, slitted eyes gleaming with a mixture of scientific curiosity and predatory hunger. Kabuto stood at the ready, his professional smile gone, replaced by the sharp, analytical gaze of a medic preparing for a brutal surgery.
And in the center of it all stood Naruto. The wide, feral, bloodthirsty grin that stretched across his face was not the expression of the boy they remembered. It was the look of a beast that had just been promised a feast.
"Well then," Orochimaru hissed, his voice a silken, venomous whisper. "Let's find out who's gotten stronger... you, or my dear Sasuke-kun."
"You talk too much," Naruto rumbled, shifting the massive weight of Nozarashi on his shoulder. "Let's fight."
He didn't wait for a reply. He vanished.
Not with a flicker or a puff of smoke. One moment he was there, and the next, he was in front of Orochimaru, the colossal cleaver already descending in a brutal overhead arc. The sheer speed of the movement left a vacuum in its wake, the air itself screaming.
Orochimaru's eyes widened. This was not the speed of a genin. This was something else entirely. He threw himself backward, his body contorting with unnatural, snake-like flexibility. The blade of Nozarashi missed his face by a hair's breadth and slammed into the Tenchi Bridge.
CRACK-BOOM!
The bridge did not just splinter. It exploded. A massive section of the thick, reinforced wood and steel structure was obliterated, vaporized into a cloud of splinters and dust from the sheer concussive force.
From their hiding spot, the Konoha team stared in horror.
'He destroyed a third of the bridge... with one swing?!' Sakura thought, her heart pounding.
Kabuto didn't waste the opening. While Naruto's blade was embedded in the bridge's remains, he shot forward, his hand glowing with the sharp green of a chakra scalpel. "You're wide open!"
He thrust his hand towards Naruto's exposed back, aiming to sever the muscles of his shoulder.
Naruto didn't even turn. He simply let go of Nozarashi with one hand and swung his elbow back in a vicious, impossibly fast arc. His elbow connected with Kabuto's forearm. There was a sickening, wet crunch of breaking bone.
Kabuto cried out, a sound of pure shock and agony, as his arm was shattered. He was sent tumbling across the bridge, clutching the ruined limb.
"You're slow," Naruto stated, pulling Nozarashi from the wreckage of the bridge with one hand, the movement effortless. He turned to face Orochimaru, who had landed on the far side of the newly formed earth platform.
Orochimaru let out a low, excited chuckle, his tongue flicking out to lick his lips. "Kukuku... Magnificent! Such raw power! That Uzumaki vitality combined with... something else. Something far more interesting." He made a single hand seal. "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
A dozen large snakes erupted from his sleeves, shooting like living whips, their fangs bared.
Naruto's response was a contemptuous snort. He swung Nozarashi in a lazy, horizontal arc. "Kenshō."
A wave of golden energy, a flying slash of pure cutting pressure, shot forward. It didn't just repel the snakes; it dissected them. They were bisected, trisected, reduced to a shower of lifeless chunks that fell into the river below. The attack continued, carving a deep, clean gouge into the trees behind Orochimaru.
"My turn," Naruto said.
He leaped straight into the air, a dozen meters high, and then simply walked forward, his feet finding purchase on invisible platforms of his own spiritual pressure. He was walking on the air towards Orochimaru.
'He can fly?! No... he's standing on something...' Kakashi thought, his Sharingan struggling to process the impossible sight.
Orochimaru's excitement reached a fever pitch. "Incredible! You truly are a treasure trove of fascinating abilities, Naruto-kun!" He spewed a torrent of mud from his mouth, which quickly formed into a perfect replica of himself. "Earth Release: Shadow Clone!"
The mud clone charged at Naruto, while the real Orochimaru's neck stretched with grotesque elasticity, his head shooting forward like a striking serpent, mouth agape, the gleaming tip of the Sword of Kusanagi emerging from his throat.
Naruto met the two-pronged assault with a predatory grin. He kicked the mud clone in the chest, the impact causing it to explode into a shower of sludge. At the same time, he swung Nozarashi down to meet the Kusanagi blade.
CLANG!
The legendary sword, a blade that could cut through almost anything, was stopped dead. The force of the impact sent a shockwave through the air, and a visible crack spiderwebbed across the Kusanagi's ethereal blade.
Orochimaru's golden eyes widened in disbelief. It cracked my Kusanagi?! Impossible!
Naruto applied pressure, forcing Orochimaru's head back. "This sword is garbage," he growled.
From the other side of the bridge, Kabuto, his face pale with pain but his resolve unbroken, slammed his good hand on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"
A massive serpent, Manda's equal in size, erupted from the river below, its jaws wide, aiming to swallow Naruto whole as he was locked in combat.
"NOW!" Orochimaru hissed.
Naruto glanced down at the colossal beast rising to meet him and just... laughed. It was a wild, joyous, terrifying sound.
"Finally!" he roared. "Something worth cutting!"
He pushed Orochimaru back with a surge of raw strength, shattering a larger piece of the Kusanagi blade. He then spun in mid-air, raising his cleaver high.
He gripped Nozarashi with both hands. "Ryōdan!"
He brought the blade down. It was a single, devastating overhead slash aimed at the giant serpent.
There was no grand explosion. There was only a quiet, final shing.
The massive summoned snake froze in mid-air. A thin, golden line appeared, running from the tip of its snout all the way down to its tail. And then, it fell apart. The two perfect halves of the colossal beast crashed into the river on either side of the bridge, sending up two massive plumes of water.
On the bridge, Kabuto stared, his jaw slack. He had never seen such a display of pure, absolute cutting power.
Orochimaru retracted his head, his face a mask of shock and avarice. "I must have you," he whispered, his voice trembling with a scientist's greed. "That body... that power... it will be MINE!"
He landed on the bridge, his body contorting as he prepared his ultimate technique. "Eight Branches Technique!"
His form dissolved into a monstrous, writhing mass of white snakes, which quickly coalesced into a hydra-like beast, a colossal white serpent with eight heads and eight tails, each head roaring in defiance.
From the central head, Orochimaru emerged, a new, pristine Kusanagi blade in his hand. "LET'S SEE YOU CUT THIS, NARUTO-KUN!"
Naruto landed back on the crumbling remains of the bridge, his feral grin stretching from ear to ear. He looked at the colossal, eight-headed monster before him, and then at the two men who had once been his terrifying, unbeatable foes.
His subconscious limiters, which had kept him just strong enough to handle them, were beginning to fray. The thrill of this battle, the sheer joy of facing such a magnificent, monstrous opponent, was causing his true power to leak out. His golden Reiatsu began to pour from him, no longer an invisible pressure, but a visible, churning aura.
"Yes," Naruto breathed, his voice a low, ecstatic rumble. "This... this is a real fight."
Tbc