[Starting in Naruto with a Daily Login System] Chapter 56

The air was thick with tension as Orochimaru’s eerie presence filled the clearing. I leaned against a tree, arms crossed, watching him with my Six Eyes. Every shift in his chakra, every tiny movement—nothing escaped my sight.

"Ah, Kakashi," Orochimaru’s voice slithered out, smooth and mocking. "I’ve heard much about you. A man of talent and skill."

I smirked. "And yet, you’re still standing there like you have a chance. That’s cute."

Orochimaru’s cold gaze narrowed. "I’m curious—how much of your reputation is true? How strong are you really?"

I pushed off the tree, rolling my shoulders. "Strong enough to give you two options: come peacefully or get eliminated."

That got a reaction. Just a flicker of something in his expression before his lips curled into that ever-present smirk. "Eliminate me? My, my, Kakashi, you say such frightening things."

I didn’t respond. There was no need. Instead, I activated Godspeed, and in the blink of an eye, I was right in front of him, fist already launched.

Orochimaru barely dodged, his body twisting unnaturally to avoid my strike. He slithered back, just out of reach. "Fast... impressive," he murmured.

I tilted my head. "You haven’t seen anything yet."

His fingers twitched, and the shadows shifted. Snakes shot forward, fangs bared, hissing as they lunged for me. I moved before they got close, weaving through them effortlessly. Not a single one touched me.

"Really? This again?" I sighed. "You need new tricks, Orochimaru."

Meanwhile, Shisui was off in the distance, having a grand time cutting through Orochimaru’s minions. "You sure you don’t need backup, Captain? I could use the exercise!"

I sidestepped another snake and shot him a lazy glance. "You’ve got it. I’m just dealing with a slippery pest."

From his perch, Genma yawned. "At least he’s making you work for it. That’s rare."

Tokuma, ever the professional, was already slicing through Orochimaru’s failed experiments, his voice clipped. "Focus. We need to end this."

I turned back to Orochimaru. "Like I said, come quietly, or I take you down."

His smirk widened, but I caught it—that brief, almost imperceptible moment where his chakra flared with something close to hesitation. "Such confidence," he mused. "But you have no idea what you’re interfering with."

"Don’t care." I blurred forward again, this time with Raikiri crackling in my hand. Orochimaru barely managed to twist away, but I was already adapting, my movements shifting mid-attack. I drove a Chidori straight through one of his summons, shattering it into nothing.

The rogue ninja’s smirk faltered.

"Oh?" I tilted my head. "Starting to feel it now?"

His hand moved in a blur, forming more hand signs. Dark energy twisted around him, and I felt the shift in the air.

I sighed. "Fine. I’ll stop holding back."

Lightning’s Fury flared to life in my palm, blue energy crackling as I slammed it into the ground. The force sent a wave of destruction outward, carving deep trenches into the earth. Minions went flying. Snakes were incinerated.

Orochimaru, despite everything, still managed to land on his feet, eyes now filled with something sharper.

"You..." He exhaled, his smile thinner now.

"Yeah?" I flexed my fingers. "Still feeling talkative?"

Orochimaru started weaving his hands for another jutsu, I knew this wasn’t going to be a quick fight. And honestly? That was fine. I hadn’t been in a real scrap in a while, so it was nice to feel the familiar tension in my muscles, the weight of every decision as the world seemed to slow down around me.

I could hear Shisui and Genma handling the minions in the background, but my focus was entirely on Orochimaru. The bastard might have underestimated me, but he wouldn’t be the first to make that mistake.

A snake emerged from the ground, its venomous fangs glinting in the low light. I didn’t flinch. Instead, I moved, and every action felt as natural as breathing—each step, each motion, nothing was wasted. I felt the space around me, my body responding before I even consciously decided to act.

In a flash, I was in front of the snake. My hand shot out—Raikiri crackling with blue lightning, straight through its head. The thing crumpled in a heap, twitching once before falling still. A simple, clean kill. I barely broke a sweat.

But that’s when I saw it. Orochimaru’s eyes narrowed, and I could practically hear the gears in his mind turning. He’d recognized something. Maybe it was the fluidity of my movements, the way I’d dealt with his summoned snake as if it were nothing more than an annoying insect. Whatever it was, it had caught his attention.

“Not bad,” he said, his voice cold and slithery, full of that smug arrogance he wore like a second skin. “But you’ll have to do more than that to stop me.”

I didn’t say anything in return. I didn’t need to. I could feel him—his chakra swirling, his every movement, every thought—laid bare before me. My senses were tuned to a frequency most would call impossible, and Orochimaru’s tricks were nothing more than a dance for me. I could see every shift of his chakra, every flicker of his intentions. He was good, sure. But I was just a little bit better.

He made his move—sharp, deadly, and fast. But it didn’t matter. I’d already anticipated it. In a single step, I was beside him, lightning still crackling between my fingers as I thrust forward, catching him just in time to see the flicker of surprise in his eyes.

But he was slippery—Orochimaru had always been that way. With a twist, he vanished, leaving a cloud of smoke behind, his presence slipping through my fingers like sand. Damn.

“Nice try,” I muttered, but I was already moving again, my body already tracing his last position. I could almost hear him chuckling, that low, venomous laugh of his. He wasn’t done, not yet.

I didn’t give him the chance to recover. I activated Godspeed, my body becoming a blur as I closed the distance, arriving just as he was gathering himself to strike. Without hesitation, I followed through with a Chidori, my hand piercing the smoke and finding its mark. I could feel the resistance as the jutsu met his defenses, but I wasn’t about to back down.

Or so I thought.

When I finally landed the finishing blow—one final, brutal thrust—Orochimaru's body gave a sick, unnatural ripple.

And then he crumbled.

Not fallen. Not bleeding.

Dissolving—into smoke, chakra threads snapping apart like rotten string.

My stomach dropped.

It had been a clone.

Somewhere mid-fight, he’d swapped himself out. Slipped away while I was too locked in, too focused on the rhythm of the battle to notice.

But it was too late. Orochimaru was already gone, leaving nothing but a smear of smoke and the lingering scent of something foul.

“Damn it,” I muttered, standing in the quiet aftermath, the adrenaline still running through my veins. He’d slipped through my fingers again.

I took a breath, letting the tension fade as I turned back to the others. Genma and Shisui were still dealing with the last of the minions, but I could tell this wasn’t over. Orochimaru might have escaped today, but this was far from finished.

I looked up at the sky, my thoughts drifting for a moment before I heard Tokuma’s voice, sharp as always. “Captain, is he—?”

“Gone,” I said, cutting him off. “For now.”

Shisui wiped his hands off, grinning like he’d just won a prize. “Well, that was fun. Too bad we didn’t get to crack a few more skulls. Maybe next time?”

Genma let out a long sigh, letting his senbon hang loose from his mouth. “Next time? You planning to go hunting mutant snakes again, Captain?”

“I’m not the one who almost got eaten by one,” I shot back with a grin, then turned to Tokuma. “We’ll track him down. We always do.”

“Right,” Tokuma said, though I could hear the irritation in his voice. “Next time, let’s try and keep him in one piece, yeah?”

I shrugged, still smiling despite the situation.

—

Hiruzen sat behind his desk, his fingers steepled together, watching us with that unreadable expression of his.

"So," he said finally, his voice carrying the weight of decades of leadership, "Orochimaru escaped.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, he was annoyingly slippery about it."

Tokuma, ever the professional, gave a deep bow. "We encountered significant resistance. Orochimaru was prepared for the possibility of discovery. We engaged, but ultimately, he fled."

Shisui, standing next to me, crossed his arms. "Though to be fair, we did wreck a good number of his minions. He’ll be feeling that loss."

Genma, leaning lazily against the wall, twirled a senbon between his fingers. "Not to mention, we gave him a nice little reality check. He knows Kakashi can match him now."

Hiruzen exhaled slowly, looking down at his desk. "And… the experiments?"

Tokuma’s face tightened. "Horrific."

I nodded. "He’s playing with things that shouldn’t be played with. Human experimentation, attempts at… well, let’s just say his definition of 'science' is a lot looser than ours."

Hiruzen closed his eyes for a long moment. I could tell he wasn’t just thinking about the report—he was thinking about Orochimaru himself. His former student. His prized prodigy. The one who had stood beside him for so many years.

And I knew, in that moment, that this was different from the story.

In the version I remembered, Hiruzen was the one who fought Orochimaru. And when the time came to put an end to him, he hesitated. He let his emotions cloud his judgment, let his guilt and nostalgia weigh him down. He couldn't bring himself to kill his student, so instead, he banished him—exiled him and named him a rogue ninja.

But this time, I had been the one to face Orochimaru. And unlike Hiruzen, I hadn't hesitated. I hadn't let old bonds or sentimental attachments cloud my decision. I gave him the choice: surrender or be eliminated. He chose to run.

And now? Now, things were different.

Hiruzen finally opened his eyes, his gaze steady. "Orochimaru is now officially classified as a rogue shinobi. Effective immediately, he is to be hunted and captured—dead or alive."

I blinked.

Huh. So… that was easy.

Shisui, beside me, let out a low whistle. "Well, that escalated quickly."

Genma smirked. "Guess he doesn’t get a free pass this time."

Hiruzen’s gaze flickered to me. "Kakashi… if you encounter him again, do you believe you can finish it?"

I met his eyes, my voice unwavering. "Absolutely."

The Third Hokage nodded slowly. "Good. Then next time… don’t let him escape."

I smirked. "Wasn’t planning to."