While Sakura was the one originally paralyzed by fear, Sasuke becomes consumed with panic, causing him to fumble and make sloppy mistakes. Of the two, Sasuke was the first to overcome the terror of Orochimaru enough to flee. But a crippling fear takes hold of him. Sakura witnesses him panicking, noting that she's never seen the usually calm, collected Sasuke behave like this before. Sasuke is consumed by panic because he knows they are faced against a superior opponent well beyond their level, and he's terrified of this higher level opponent. Suddenly Sasuke is stripped of his confidence and sureness before Sakura's eyes, and Sakura sees the terrified, panicked boy underneath. She realizes Sasuke is not as mentally and psychologically invincible as she had always imagined him to be. Yet this realization doesn't lessen or decrease her love and admiration for him. Sakura still respects him and loves him and accepts him for who he is, even in his frightening and pathetic state of terror.
Once they are "safely" in a tree, Sasuke frantically keeps watch, but it is actually Sakura who maintains sense and awareness, better than Sasuke. She notices the lethal snake creeping on them, which Sasuke misses, and Sakura warns Sasuke just in time to give him the chance to avoid the snake's attack, saving his life.
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In the showdown with Orochimaru, Naruto refused to accept the shaken, scared, cowardly Sasuke as the real Sasuke. Naruto ridicules his Uchiha teammate's frightened state as an imposter with the accusation: "You're not the real Sasuke".
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