Naruto stood stunned.
Not because, as Orochimaru assumed, he'd been caught by the genjutsu and was falling into an illusion of fear. Rather, he was wondering: Didn't Orochimaru just perform some kind of technique? Why don't I feel anything? Was he just bluffing?
Naruto didn't realize Orochimaru had used a genjutsu. If he'd known, he wouldn't have been confused. His energy, body, and spirit were approaching complete unity, making his spiritual strength tremendous. Any illusion technique would prove completely ineffective against him.
While he puzzled over this, Orochimaru suddenly waved at him and Sasuke with a smile. "Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun—I will return!"
Then the snake turned and fled at high speed through the trees.
He's trying to leave? How could Naruto allow that? He immediately shouted, "Orochimaru! I haven't agreed to let you go! Do you really think you can escape?"
His fist shot forward.
This was Opening the Netherworld, the second form of Heavenly Ascension Fist—a spiritual attack. This punch could strike the enemy's spirit directly, dragging their consciousness into a hellscape to face their deepest fears, making it difficult to escape.
Orochimaru, who'd been fleeing with a satisfied smile, had gained much from this infiltration of Konoha.
Though he'd failed to conquer Naruto and obtain his body immediately, time stretched endlessly forward. The more valuable something was, the more patience one needed to acquire it properly.
Orochimaru entertained such thoughts when Naruto's words shocked him. The smile froze instantly on his pale face.
Impossible! Naruto didn't fall for my genjutsu? That was his first panicked thought.
The moment that realization struck, his heart skipped a beat. A sense of overwhelming crisis emerged. When he looked up, Naruto had somehow appeared directly before him, delivering what seemed like a gentle punch.
Orochimaru had experienced Naruto's fists before—they possessed tremendous destructive power. With his current body, he estimated one of Naruto's punches would shatter him to pieces.
So be it. It's just one body. Orochimaru didn't feel particularly attached to this vessel.
But in the next moment, Orochimaru realized how wrong he was. This punch didn't shatter his physical form. Instead, under its impact, he felt his spirit being torn apart, as if it would be ripped from his body entirely.
In an instant, Orochimaru's consciousness left his physical form. Weightless, directionless, not knowing where he drifted.
Time lost meaning. Eventually, Orochimaru felt his spirit crash into something solid. His perception slowly returned.
The moment awareness flooded back, Orochimaru began screaming.
"AHHHHH! AHHHHHHH!"
Naruto watched Orochimaru jump around frantically in place, covering his ears and shrieking. Naruto felt genuinely curious. What is Orochimaru's deepest fear? Why is he screaming like this?
Naruto naturally couldn't know that Orochimaru was suffering unbearable torment. In his perception, countless insects—cockroaches, moths, beetles, and other bugs—all rushed toward him in an endless swarm.
Orochimaru couldn't stop screaming in horror.
After ten minutes, Orochimaru finally recovered from his fear-induced nightmare. He squatted on the ground, hugging his knees with both arms, eyes unfocused and distant. He looked weak, pitiful, and utterly helpless.
"Huuuu... so many bugs... so many bugs..."
Hearing Orochimaru's whimpering, Naruto stood frozen in disbelief. This is one of the legendary Sannin? The S-rank missing-nin Orochimaru with Kage-level strength?
He's afraid of bugs? It was truly... an eye-opening revelation for Naruto.
It seemed that no matter how powerful an enemy, they always possessed weaknesses.
Sakura and Sasuke both wore expressions of complete disbelief. They'd never expected Orochimaru to be terrified of insects.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
At that moment, countless wind sounds rang out as figures landed all around. Among them were exam candidates, proctors, the examiner Anko Mitarashi, and both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo.
They landed and couldn't help looking up at the giant form of Naruto.
Then they looked down at Naruto's feet, where a man hugged his knees and cried softly. Everyone's thoughts grew extremely complicated.
The surroundings showed the devastation left after intense battle—blood splattered everywhere, corpses of giant snakes lying scattered across the ground. Anyone could tell at a glance how fierce the combat had been.
While shocked internally, they all secretly regretted arriving too late to witness the actual fight.
"That's... Orochimaru?" Anko landed beside Hiruzen, staring at the figure at Naruto's feet—hugging his knees, head buried, shoulders twitching as he sobbed quietly.
Her sensei, that experimental madman, Orochimaru—one of the famous Sannin—had actually been beaten until he cried by a child?
Anko felt the worldview she'd carefully constructed beginning to crumble piece by piece.
This sentiment was universal among the observers.
All the exam candidates stared at the five-meter-tall Naruto in shock, thinking involuntarily: With this monster participating, we should just give up on the exams.
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata hid within the crowd, gazing at Naruto with adoring eyes. She whispered his name in barely audible tones.
Hiruzen studied Naruto with an extremely complex expression.
Beside Hiruzen stood Danzo, his face dark and brooding. No one could guess his thoughts. He looked at the sobbing figure and felt profound dissatisfaction. Orochimaru, what a waste. You can't even handle a child, yet you wanted to destroy Konoha.
Though he thought this, Danzo still felt his heart palpitate when he looked at Naruto's relaxed, calm demeanor. Unknowingly, Naruto had grown to this terrifying level.
It made Danzo feel genuinely threatened.
The two Root ninja assigned to monitor Naruto—Danzo decided he'd teach them a severe lesson when he returned. They'd been monitoring and produced this result?
Hiruzen glanced at Naruto, then his gaze fell on the figure buried in tears. "Orochimaru, what are you doing here in Konoha?"
Orochimaru, who'd been crying with his head buried, looked up at Hiruzen's voice. Tears streaked his pale face. Suddenly, he smiled. "Hehehehe..."
The laugh made Hiruzen's thoughts grow even more complicated.
But in the next moment, Hiruzen's pupils contracted sharply. Orochimaru suddenly exploded into motion, attacking Naruto in a desperate final gambit!
Naruto casually threw a punch.
Watching Orochimaru's body fly apart, limbs separating, Naruto felt a twinge of regret. He'd originally wanted to keep Orochimaru alive to extract information. But Orochimaru's sudden attack had triggered his reflexive response—he'd punched with lethal force.
As expected, Orochimaru couldn't be more dead.
Witnessing Orochimaru's gruesome death, Hiruzen sighed internally. It was truly a pity. Orochimaru had been one of his most brilliant students, but he'd gone down the wrong path.
Previously, when Orochimaru's human experimentation had been exposed, Hiruzen could have killed him. But he hadn't found the resolve, and had shown mercy, allowing Orochimaru to escape.
Unexpectedly, today Orochimaru had died at Naruto's hands.
After Orochimaru's death, Hiruzen's thoughts turned fully toward Naruto. He was filled with questions. He'd sent people to monitor Naruto—so why had Naruto's strength become so terrifying, and why hadn't his subordinates reported this?
He remembered their reports vividly:
Today, Naruto ate a cow.
Today, Naruto is training.
Today, Naruto held a party at home and slaughtered three sheep.
What kind of reports were those?! But Hiruzen quickly understood. Naruto must possess some method to conceal the truth of his cultivation from observers.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was known as the Professor of the Ninja World, well-informed about countless techniques. Looking at Naruto's five-meter height, this was obviously different from any physical training method he'd ever encountered.
In that moment, Hiruzen understood everything clearly.
Simultaneously, he made a decision. Although Naruto possessed tremendous power, as long as he didn't do anything to harm Konoha, Hiruzen would turn a blind eye.
"Naruto, Grandpa is very pleased you've become so powerful." Hiruzen's face showed a smile, proud that his surrogate grandson had grown so strong.
"Grandpa Third, why are you here?" Naruto's voice rumbled. "Wait a moment, I still have something to do."
The Kusanagi sword remained lodged in his posterior. Naruto hadn't forgotten. When Orochimaru had tried to stab that area, Naruto had noticed. He'd deliberately relaxed his defensive technique there, then clamped the legendary blade tightly within his muscles so Orochimaru couldn't retrieve it.
The Kusanagi sword obtained from Orochimaru would make an excellent weapon for Sasuke.
With this thought, Naruto reached back and pulled the Kusanagi sword from his posterior under everyone's bewildered stares. Then he deactivated his Iron Body Technique, returning to his normal size.
Returning to standard height, Naruto ran up to Sasuke and offered him the legendary blade. "Sasuke, you haven't had a proper weapon, right? I think this sword is very powerful, so I'm giving it to you."
This sword was pulled out from Naruto's... Sasuke felt profound disgust. But seeing Naruto's earnest expression, he didn't dare refuse. If he rejected Naruto's kindness, Naruto would probably find another excuse to "spar" with him.
Thinking this, Sasuke accepted the Kusanagi sword. He channeled water chakra over it, rinsing thoroughly. "Thank you, Naruto. I'll make good use of this sword."
After giving the sword to Sasuke, Naruto ran up to Hiruzen and asked curiously, "Grandpa Third, why did you come here? Did you come to watch my exam?"
Seeing Naruto's innocent face, Hiruzen's thoughts grew complicated. After a moment, he sighed. "Naruto, you killed Orochimaru."
"Yeah, I killed Orochimaru." Naruto nodded, then seemed to remember something. "By the way, I heard Orochimaru is Konoha's missing-nin. There should be a bounty for killing him, right? I'll go collect it after I finish the Chūnin Exam."
"The Chūnin Exam?"
Hearing that Naruto intended to continue participating, candidates from other hidden villages immediately erupted in protest. They all knew Orochimaru's reputation. The man possessed Kage-level strength, and Naruto had killed him with a single punch—yet he still wanted to participate in the Chūnin Selection Exam?
This was simply bullying!
Regarding the candidates' commotion, Anko immediately shouted loudly, "Everyone be quiet! Keep making noise and you'll all be disqualified from the exam!"
Her words produced instant silence.
After silencing the examinees, Anko looked at Naruto with profound relief. She was grateful Naruto hadn't held a grudge when she'd tested him before the exam. Otherwise, Orochimaru-sensei's death would have been her fate as well.
Still, regarding Orochimaru's death, Anko's feelings remained complicated.
Hiruzen studied Naruto and saw only sincerity on his face. It seemed this young man, despite possessing such overwhelming strength, still genuinely cared about the Chūnin Exam. This indicated he respected Konoha's rules and systems.
Thinking this, Hiruzen's heart relaxed considerably.
He considered briefly, then announced, "Well, Naruto—in view of your outstanding performance in eliminating Orochimaru, you don't need to complete this exam. I've decided to make an exception and promote you directly to chūnin."
He turned slightly. "Also, Sasuke, you don't need to continue the exam either. You're promoted directly to chūnin as well."
Hearing Hiruzen's words, Naruto didn't feel the slightest happiness. He hadn't come here to become chūnin. He'd come to make friends.
He looked around at the ninja from various hidden villages. Every ninja his gaze touched shrank back, not daring to meet his eyes.
"But Grandpa Third, I want to make friends with them. This is my dream." Naruto's voice carried stubborn determination.
Hearing those words, Hiruzen didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He remembered the dream Naruto had told him about—making many, many friends. These ninja from other villages who'd come for the exam were probably exactly who Naruto wanted to befriend.
After a pause, Hiruzen said gently, "Don't worry. There's plenty of time. After they finish this exam and emerge from the Forest of Death, you can make friends with them then."
Naruto considered this, then nodded. "That works."
"Lord Third, what about me?" At that moment, Sakura stepped forward and asked.
She and Sasuke and Naruto formed a team. Seeing that both of them had been promoted to chūnin by the Third Hokage, did that mean she'd be left behind alone? According to the rules, a team needed to bring both Heaven and Earth scrolls to the central tower to qualify.
Hiruzen looked at Sakura's expectant expression and nodded. "You're promoted to chūnin as well."
What he truly cared about were Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura was merely included by association.
After speaking, Hiruzen turned toward Danzo. "Clean up the battlefield, Danzo."
Danzo nodded. Root ninja began sanitizing the combat zone. They gathered Orochimaru's scattered remains, placing them in specialized containers. They planned to take everything back for research.
Orochimaru, Orochimaru. You spent your life studying others, but now others will study you.
Danzo sighed secretly.
After instructing Danzo, Hiruzen turned to Anko. "For everyone else, continue with the Chūnin Selection Exam."
"Understood, Lord Third." Anko nodded, then turned and shouted, "Continue with the Chūnin Selection Exam! Everyone return to your positions!"
At her command, the examinees scattered in all directions.
Hiruzen approached Naruto, speaking with grandfatherly kindness. "Naruto, come with me. Let's go out together. We haven't chatted in a long time."
Naruto looked at the amiable Hiruzen and showed a pure, innocent smile. "Okay! I also want to chat with Grandpa Third."
Then Naruto turned his head. When he faced Sasuke, the smile vanished instantly from his face.
The kindness on Hiruzen's face also disappeared the moment Naruto turned away.
"Sasuke, go back with Sakura. I'm going to spend time with Grandpa Third first." After explaining this, Naruto turned back around, his face showing that innocent smile once more as he looked at Hiruzen.
Hiruzen gazed at Naruto with renewed grandfatherly warmth.
Both wore masks. Both knew the other wore a mask. Neither acknowledged this truth aloud.