"Damn you... Naruto Uzumaki—arghhhhhh!!!"
Already tormented by searing pain as his body was engulfed in flames, Orochimaru roared even louder upon hearing Naruto's unrestrained mocking laughter and provocation.
'I am… I am! The great Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin of the Hidden Leaf Village! How could I possibly lose so easily to a brat like you?!'
Fueled by overwhelming resentment, Orochimaru—on the brink of death—triggered a surge of adrenaline, pushing his scorched and battered body into motion once more. Like a final flash of strength before death, his physical power surged. With a furious outburst, he broke free from the steel wires that were meant to hold him down—now melting from the heat—and burst out of the sea of flames! Guided by his sensory perception, he slightly adjusted his trajectory, extended both arms, and, cloaked in fire like a vengeful spirit, charged straight toward Naruto and Sasuke!
"Go to hell with me, damn you—Naruto Uzumaki!!!"
But due to his eyes having ruptured in the flames, Orochimaru failed to see…
Almost the moment he charged out of the blaze, the ninjutsu that Naruto and Sasuke had been preparing—neither too fast nor too slow—had just finished being cast!
"Oh? You've got some spirit, I'll give you that. But unfortunately… the one going to hell today, Orochimaru, is you—and you alone."
Facing Orochimaru's final, desperate assault, Naruto remained completely unshaken. His mocking, pitying smirk only deepened. And the moment Orochimaru charged headfirst into their attack range without even trying to dodge—
He was met with a second wave of combination ninjutsu, its searing heat not at all inferior to the sea of flames he had just escaped!
'You should've realized it by now, shouldn't you? Everything has been within my plan… Even this pathetic final struggle of yours is no exception!'
As the ninjutsu activated, the chakra scattered throughout Naruto's body converged toward his throat. He took a deep breath, puffing up his cheeks until the sound of rushing wind hissed from his mouth. His words became muffled.
"I already told you—your end will come in fire! Let's do it, Sasuke!"
"Haha! Leave it to me, Naruto! I've been waiting for this moment!"
Gone was Sasuke's feigned cowardice. Excited by the thought of defeating a Kage-level enemy with his own hands, his whole body trembled with anticipation. When Naruto gave the signal, his face lit up with an uncontrollable grin. If one looked closely, tiny flickers of flame danced at the edges of his young, moist lips.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
With their techniques unleashed, the dense chakra gathered in their throats rapidly transformed. As their mouths opened, a massive fireball and an invisible gust of wind burst forth—converging directly on Orochimaru's path of attack.
The deliberate offset in timing between the two jutsu, combined with their seamless coordination and subtle differences in chakra ratio, allowed the invisible wind to collide with the fireball at the perfect moment. The wind acted as oxygen, fueling the fireball's intensity. The temperature skyrocketed to metal-melting levels, and the fireball's speed surged by several magnitudes—wind truly does feed the flames.
This was the same combination technique Naruto had used during training with Itachi a year and a half ago! Back then, only three years old, Naruto had used it to force Itachi to retreat with a Substitution Jutsu. Now, with both Naruto and Sasuke far more powerful after their recent training, their combined technique had grown exponentially stronger—enough to drive Orochimaru, desperate and dying, straight into the abyss!
"W-What? That's not possible—ARGHHHH!!!"
Despite having lost his eyesight, the overwhelming heat rolling in like a burning sun was enough to fill Orochimaru with dread. His instincts screamed at him to dodge. But after expending all his strength in that last burst, there was nothing left—he could only stand there helplessly, fully aware of the fireball's exact trajectory thanks to his sensory abilities, as it slammed straight into him with devastating force. The words barely left his lips before agony overtook him once more, and with his strength fading, Orochimaru let out a miserable, guttural scream.
"Yes! Direct hit! That had to finish him off for good, right?!"
Seeing Orochimaru once again swallowed by flames, screaming in anguish, Sasuke—tense until now—jumped for joy. In his mind, he began imagining how the entire village would revere him as a young hero for slaying Orochimaru, just like the legendary deeds of the Fourth Hokage.
"Hehehe, hahahahaha! Naruto, that guy was an A-rank missing-nin! A Kage-level one! Aren't you even a little excited?"
Eyes shining with joy, Little Uchiha tried to contain his excitement as he counted something on his fingers. After murmuring for a bit, his voice rose sharply again.
"Hmm, let me think—if the Third Hokage finds out we took down Orochimaru, maybe he'll let us skip all the boring academy stuff and promote us straight to Genin… No—Chūnin? No! We could go straight to Special Jōnin! My brother and the others would be so proud of me!"
"I don't feel the least bit excited," Naruto replied flatly. "I'd rather not get promoted early just because I killed Orochimaru and end up in the public eye too soon... What worries me more is—if Pervy Sage finds out I killed his long-lost friend, the one he's been trying to save, won't he chase me across the entire village trying to spank me…?"
In stark contrast to Sasuke's elation, Naruto's face didn't show a trace of joy. His lips twitched slightly. As that strange thought crossed his mind, he instinctively reached behind to cover his poor little butt. But his brows furrowed again, and doubt returned.
'Still… did we really finish off Orochimaru for good?'
Even with the surprise attack using a Tailed Beast Bomb, and with over a decade of decline in Orochimaru's strength and experience, someone who once fought Hanzo the Salamander alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade—and survived—shouldn't go down this easily... Especially someone like Orochimaru, whose tenacity was infamous.
In the original story, Orochimaru had been killed by Sasuke and sealed by Itachi, only to regenerate from a cursed seal given to Anko Mitarashi years earlier. He also had all sorts of disgustingly effective life-saving jutsu. Most notably, that one where he sheds his skin like a real snake, crawling out of his own mouth in a fresh body… and he hadn't used that even once in this fight.
'Tch. Don't tell me he still has something left up his sleeve...?'
Naruto had backup plans just in case, but Orochimaru's oddly quick defeat left him uncertain. To be safe, he kept his senses locked on the life force being devoured by the flames. At the same time, he secretly prepared the Flying Thunder God Technique for emergency use.
Things had reached a point of no return. The only option now was to risk exposing his trump card to protect the kid who trusted him completely.
"Hahaha! Naruto, look! That guy's finally collapsing!"
But to Naruto's surprise, as Sasuke shouted gleefully, Orochimaru—visible in the flickering flames—had gone silent. His swaying figure finally dropped to his knees, then fell face-first to the ground.
"Dead...? Orochimaru just… died? How… how is that even possible…?"
As the fire faded, Orochimaru's body—burnt to the point of being unrecognizable—lay completely exposed. Neither Naruto nor Kurama, now fully in control of Naruto's body, could sense the slightest trace of life remaining, even with their full sensory powers active. The victory had come so unexpectedly, Naruto stammered in disbelief and raised a hand to stop the excited Sasuke from charging forward to admire his own "accomplishment."
"Wait, Sasuke. Something feels off… Let me check it out first. If it's safe, then you can come."
With his sensory perception fully extended, Naruto detected another familiar chakra signature rapidly approaching from a distance—Jiraiya. Knowing that Pervy Sage was rushing over, Naruto warned Sasuke to stay put and quietly readied Flying Thunder God Technique for a quick escape. He then carefully crept toward the motionless body of Orochimaru.
'Who… is this? I don't remember Orochimaru having… such a fat face?'
Standing beside the body, Naruto cautiously used his foot to roll it over. He sensed no signs of deception or jutsu. That's when he finally confirmed: Orochimaru had indeed been burned alive by their combination attack.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Naruto crouched down to take a closer look. The features were bloody and swollen, but as he studied them, he quickly searched his memory of the original Naruto story—and finally found the answer to the doubt that had been nagging at him.
'Ah… So that's what it was.'
'No wonder I felt something was off. There's no way someone with Orochimaru's cockroach-like tenacity would go down this easily. This wasn't Orochimaru at all… or rather, not the real one.'
'A living sacrifice clone… This must be the "Living Sacrifice Clone" technique, right?* The technique of the Rinnegan… I should've guessed. Since Orochimaru is part of the Akatsuki now, it makes sense that he'd get help from Nagato to create a clone like this.'
As the name of the jutsu surfaced in his mind, Naruto wore a complex expression—caught between laughter and exasperation—and gave a long sigh.
'No wonder he marched straight into the village alone. He never intended to leave alive. This clone was always meant to be sacrificed. Either way, we've officially made an enemy of him now. The only silver lining is… this kind of clone doesn't pass back memories like a Shadow Clone would. Let's hope the real Orochimaru doesn't find out it was me who did this.'
'Because if I get targeted by a venomous snake like him… life's gonna get pretty rough from now on…'