Sasuke was panting hard. He felt like his lungs were about to burst out of his chest.
The enemy was too strong.
"Even when I can see her movements, my body can't keep up. Damn it…"
With his Sharingan active, Sasuke could read every motion the enemy made. But his body simply couldn't match what his eyes told him.
"Ugh—!"
Another fist landed, and Sasuke was hammered down again.
"Tch. Why won't you just stay down already? You can't even beg for mercy?"
The opponent was getting impatient.
"Sorry. Begging for mercy isn't something I'll ever learn in this lifetime." Sasuke wiped his face, spat out a mouthful of blood, and pulled himself back into a fighting stance.
[Talking the toughest talk, taking the toughest beating]
[Hahhh, Sasuke, hahhh…]
[I'm starting to see a pattern. Every time Sasuke goes down, it's in a melee brawl, isn't it]
[Every single time it's one brutal hit. What's the grudge here, what'd he do]
[Feels personal, somehow]
[Big bold letters: P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C]
Of the three of them, Hanabi's fight was clearly the easiest.
Hanabi had cast herself as the elegant fighter who never sank into a desperate slugfest—or even if she did, the visuals had to read as a back-and-forth exchange.
In short: it had to look good enough that the audience felt their ticket was money well spent!
A pity her BGM still wasn't finished. Otherwise, slapping a track over this explosive fight scene would have made the whole package complete.
As for Hikari and Sasuke… well, like the danmaku said, there was a personal grudge in there somewhere.
The Stage was a touch malicious about that, too. The moment it cut to Sasuke getting hammered, it switched the screen straight over to Naruto.
Naruto's Shadow Clone had already escorted Karin off the field. Now it was just Naruto and Orochimaru left fighting.
"Aren't you going to call your teammates for help?"
After playing around for a while, Orochimaru had also lost patience.
He still had his beloved Sasuke to track down—how could he afford to waste time here?
"Don't make me laugh. A piece of trash like you—just lie down right here!" Naruto had only just used a Shadow Clone to take down a giant snake. His chakra reserves were already running low.
"Is that so. Then how about this—"
Orochimaru waved a hand. A snake slithered out from behind him, and on its back, draped over its coils, lay a person.
It was Karin.
"You sicko! You bastard!" Naruto's fists clenched.
"Demon Fox… please… help me."
The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was the absolute last source of help he wanted to ask. But right now, it was the only one who could do anything for him.
"Oh? You've got a hidden technique up your sleeve?"
Seeing the look on Naruto's face, Orochimaru decided to grant him one last chance. A Genin couldn't have many ninjutsu in his arsenal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Naruto split off Shadow Clones again.
"That's all you've got?"
Orochimaru was getting bored. He readied a Wind Style technique to blow every clone away in one sweep.
"——!!!"
But in that very instant, Orochimaru sensed it—somewhere ahead of him, the chakra signature of someone had shifted.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Countless chains erupted from the air in front of him. Even Orochimaru was startled.
He blocked the attack, but the red-haired girl was scooped up and pulled to safety.
"Fūinjutsu? And that red-haired one…"
Just one bite from this red-haired girl could restore another person's chakra.
And the figure in front of him now—blond, but somehow capable of Adamantine Sealing Chains.
"I see. So you've come to claim kin with a clanmate."
The hostage was gone, but Orochimaru remained completely unfazed. With a casual flick, he wiped out every Shadow Clone Naruto had set up as decoys.
"Oh? The chakra signature has reverted to its original state, has it?"
Every person had their own unique chakra signature. It was as singular as a fingerprint.
So when Naruto's chakra signature had shifted, even for a single instant, Orochimaru had picked up on the difference between that chakra and Naruto's own.
There was something familiar about it.
It belonged to someone he had met before.
Time to test it a little further.
"Wind Style: Wind Cutter."
After completing the seals, a fierce gale erupted from Orochimaru's hand.
This was a clear escalation from his earlier moves. The technique carried far more weight behind it.
Naruto could only keep retreating with Karin in tow.
"Why… why are you bothering to look after a useless thing like me…"
Karin was wracked with guilt. If it weren't for her, he could have escaped.
"Don't call yourself useless. You're a—a friend. No, maybe even family."
Kushina didn't say anything.
But she let it stand.
Strictly speaking, Karin only carried Uzumaki blood. The Land of Whirlpools no longer existed; everything from the past had long since faded into the dust of history.
If anyone wanted to push the comparison, then Naruto was the "main house" and Karin was the "branch house."
On the other side of the battlefield, Orochimaru had stopped pretending.
"Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!"
He spat a vast horde of snakes from his mouth. The sight alone made the skin crawl.
"Oi, oi, oi, what the hell am I supposed to do with this!"
Naruto hurriedly hoisted Karin onto his back and bolted.
The thing wasn't just a physical attack—it was an assault on the senses!
But Orochimaru had already cut off Naruto's escape routes. At some point during the rush, Orochimaru, who should have been behind Naruto, had appeared in front of him instead.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
"Look out!"
The chains burst out again, slamming straight into the Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.
"There's no mistaking it. When the chains were used, Naruto's chakra changed. Not into one signature—into two… could it be…"
Hanabi took in everything Orochimaru saw and thought.
"Oh? Looks like Orochimaru's already pieced something together."
The question was just how much of the picture he had.
As for what Naruto and Kushina were going through—Hanabi didn't know that either.
She had built a stage for Naruto and Orochimaru. What happened on that stage was entirely up to the two of them.
But she figured this was about right.
"Mm. Better hedge my bets, just to be safe."
Her own fight had dragged on long enough.
Gaara had already slipped into a frenzy.
"Since Hinata and the others have made it out safely—"
Hanabi began to weave seals.
Boar—Dog—Bird—Monkey—Ram.
"That's the Summoning Technique?! Gaara, get a hold of yourself!" Kankuro might have been there to keep the mood up, but an outside observer often saw things more clearly.
The instant Hanabi started forming seals, he had felt it—a wave of malice. No, that wasn't quite right. Cold, freezing chakra steeped in killing intent.
"Ninja Art: Summoning Technique!"
"Ninja Art: Ancient Mirror Illuminating the Spirit!"
Frigid air swept the entire field in an instant.
An Ice Crystal Puppet materialized behind Hanabi.
"Now then—let's end this. Yuki-onna!"
She wasn't in Daily-Life Mode right now, so she couldn't use a Daily-Life Card.
To pull the camera focus back to her, Hanabi had specifically burned a Close-Up Shot Card.
[So it really is Ice Style]
[Is the OVA setting going canon now?]
[The OVA was always meant as a supplement, not a parallel universe]
[Hold on. This thing looks awfully familiar]
[Wait, isn't that just a Stand?]