Orochimaru felt a majestic force coming from the tip of his sword, along with a scorching, strange energy that continuously drilled through the Chakra he had attached to the blade. It made his mouth feel numb, and he was horrified. What kind of monstrous strength was this?!
Hinata pressed her left hand down into the air again.
More gravel and broken branches on the surrounding ground rose as if controlled by an invisible hand, turning into a dense barrage that shot toward Orochimaru from all directions!
Orochimaru swung the kusanagi sword to block, the blade's light flashing as it shattered most of the flying stones and branches. However, there were too many, and the angles were tricky; several still broke through his defense, smashing hard against his arms and shoulder blades.
Although they failed to cause a fatal injury, the impact of the Spiritual Power contained within them made his blood and Qi boil, causing his movements to lag slightly.
It was this split second of stagnation!
A sharp light flashed in Hinata's eyes as she stepped forward, reaching Orochimaru in an instant.
Changing her right hand from a finger strike to a palm, she pressed it seemingly lightly against Orochimaru's chest.
There was no loud noise, but a shockwave of Spiritual Power, condensed to the extreme, acted like an invisible sledgehammer, instantly penetrating through his body!
"Pfft—!"
The chest of Orochimaru's current body caved in violently, and the corresponding clothing on his back tore open with a sharp rip.
His eyes bulged, and he spat out a large amount of blood, which seemed to be mixed with fragments of internal organs.
"Ugh...!"
He staggered back, looking down at his shattered chest in disbelief.
This body was completely finished.
"Cough, cough... Remarkable... Truly remarkable power..."
Orochimaru's voice became hoarse and distorted. He stared intently at Hinata, his vertical pupils filled with fanaticism and greed, his gaze even more fervent than when he looked at Sasuke.
"I'll give this body to you... but we will meet again soon, Hyuga Hinata..."
Then he slumped to the ground, losing his life. In the shadows, a slimy, small snake-like body rapidly darted out from within him, instantly burrowing into the leaf litter on the ground and disappearing, leaving only the corpse behind.
Hinata looked in the direction Orochimaru had fled, her pure white eyes showing no fluctuation. The Foundation Establishment Stage was fully comparable to a Jonin.
She had no need to kill Orochimaru; she might even need to cooperate with him in the future.
[Successfully defeated Orochimaru's body, caused a certain degree of deterrence, and interfered with a key plot point. points gained: 3500.]
She turned around and spoke indifferently to Kiba and Shino, who were already dumbfounded, and to the shaken Sakura.
"It's settled. Let's go."
It was as if that brief but heart-stopping confrontation just now was merely a trivial matter.
Sakura slumped on the ground, panting heavily.
Sasuke, meanwhile, had completely fainted due to the torture of the Cursed Seal and the impact from earlier.
The broken corpse left behind by Orochimaru's escape, along with the cold Chakra and faint smell of blood that had not yet fully dissipated in the air, all indicated that a brief but extremely dangerous battle had just taken place here.
Sakura Haruno slumped on the ground, her body still trembling slightly, her face a mix of lingering fear.
Inuzuka Kiba and Shino Aburame stood a bit further away, their minds similarly unsettled.
Kiba's mouth was wide open, unable to close for a long time. Akamaru let out a low whimper in his arms; animal instinct made it feel fear toward the sliver of aura that Hinata had occasionally leaked just now. Shino silently watched Hinata's back.
He was not a man of many words.
Hinata's pure white eyes swept indifferently over the unconscious Sasuke and the shaken Sakura without lingering.
She sensed several strong auras rapidly approaching from a distance, one of which carried the specific Chakra fluctuation of an examiner—it was Anko Mitarashi.
"Let's go."
She said coldly to her two teammates.
Before her voice had even faded, she had already turned around. Her pace seemed slow, yet her figure vanished into the depths of the dense jungle within a few flashes.
"Ah? Wait for us!"
Kiba froze for a moment then hurriedly called out to Shino. The two of them suppressed their full hearts of shock and confusion and quickly followed in the direction Hinata had left.
They knew very well that staying here to be questioned by the examiner would only bring unnecessary trouble, and Hinata's decisions always seemed to have their reasons.
Almost the very next moment after Team 8 left—
"Whoosh!"
Anko Mitarashi's figure landed in the center of the clearing as agilely as a leopard. Her face was serious, and her sharp gaze quickly swept over the scene—the unconscious Sasuke, the shaken Sakura, and the corpse that clearly did not belong to a candidate.
She immediately crouched down to quickly check Sasuke's condition. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the ominous Cursed Seal on his neck, and her pupils suddenly constricted.
"It really is him."
Anko's heart sank. Orochimaru had infiltrated the Forest of Death.
She immediately looked at Sakura, the only conscious person at the scene.
"What happened here? Who did this? Who else was here just now?"
Her gaze was as sharp as a knife, as if she wanted to dissect Sakura's memories.
Sakura trembled at Anko's stern tone. As if finding a pillar of support, yet still carrying massive lingering fear, she spoke incoherently.
"Anko-sensei! It... it was a terrifying guy disguised as a Grass Ninja! He attacked us, Sasuke-kun was injured by him, and... and was bitten... Then... then Hinata and the others... Team 8 was also here just now..."
"Hyuga Hinata?"
Anko's brow furrowed as she immediately caught the key information.
"She fought the attacker? What was the result? Where are they?"
She looked around, but there was no sign of Team 8.
"Y-yes!"
Sakura tried her best to remember, describing it in fits and starts.
Although Sakura's description was chaotic, the key information caused stormy waves in Anko's heart.
Easily blocking Orochimaru's attacks? Controlling stones? Killing him with a single palm strike?
However, she knew Orochimaru certainly wasn't dead.
Anko immediately stood up and carefully examined the corpse.
When she saw the terrifying, depressed wound on the chest that had almost punched through the entire chest cavity, her expression became incredibly solemn.
This was absolutely not the style of the Hyuga's Gentle Fist. Gentle Fist destroys the internal organs, while this looked more like it had been instantly destroyed by some extremely powerful, peerlessly fierce force.
Anko looked in the direction Team 8 had disappeared.
"I see."
Anko took a deep breath, suppressing the shock and numerous questions in her heart. She realized that in this Chunin Exams, the "monsters" who had sneaked in were likely more than just Orochimaru.
She quickly sent out a signal. Soon, the Konoha Medical Team and Anbu arrived at the scene to take Sasuke away for emergency treatment and to clear the corpse.
"Team 7, your situation is special. Whether to continue the exam is for you to decide," Anko said to Sakura, though her gaze still involuntarily drifted toward the depths of the forest... Meanwhile, Team 8 was already miles away.
"Hinata, is it really okay for us to just leave like this?" Kiba finally couldn't help but ask.
"Examiner Anko seemed to have arrived, and then there's Sasuke..."
"It has nothing to do with us."
Hinata interrupted him, her footsteps never stopping.
"Our mission is to collect the scrolls and pass the exam."
Her tone was flat, devoid of any emotion. The exchange with Orochimaru just now was more like a test for her to verify her current physical strength and basic level of Spiritual Power application.
The physical strength of the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment and her fine control over Spiritual Power were enough to let her move with ease in battles below the Kage level.
points obtained. The next target: the Ichibi Jinchuriki, Gaara.
Hinata's Divine Sense spread out again like an invisible radar.
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