Among them, Sakura Haruno was the weakest, but even she had improved by leaps and bounds. She had learned some Ninjutsu too. Unlike before, when she only knew the Three Basic Jutsu taught at school, she could now be considered a proper Chunin-level ninja.
So with a team like theirs, and Uchiha Sasuke opening the way, any team unlucky enough to run into them was no match at all. They had quickly gathered the Heaven and Earth Scrolls and were about to head toward the Central Tower deep within the Forest of Death when they suddenly encountered this ninja from Kusagakure.
The three of them had fought together, yet they had still been beaten badly. That was something Naruto had never expected.
His tactic of combining the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique with Rasengan had been completely useless. The enemy's Taijutsu was frighteningly skilled. He had easily destroyed every one of Naruto's Shadow Clone Jutsu, and just now, he had even grabbed Naruto himself and placed a seal on his body. After that, Naruto could no longer draw out the power of the Nine-Tails inside him.
That had been Naruto's hidden trump card. Earlier, Kaede Kitahara had taught him how to guide out a portion of the Nine-Tails' Chakra inside his body for his own use. Although it was only a little bit of leaked Chakra, nothing more than a drop in the ocean to the Nine-Tails itself, it was more than enough for the current Uzumaki Naruto.
In the Nine-Tails Chakra state, he could even fight evenly with Uchiha Sasuke.
But now that the Nine-Tails' Chakra had been completely sealed, he could only rely on his own Chakra. He did not even dare use a Chakra-wasting Ninjutsu like the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique anymore.
Sakura Haruno, standing nearby, was even more shaken. She knew very well how strong her two teammates were. This ninja from another village in front of them was simply too terrifying. Whether it was her Ninjutsu or her Genjutsu, none of it could help.
She had even been saved by Sasuke and Naruto several times.
That made her understand the gap in strength even more deeply.
Faced with Uchiha Sasuke's current condition, Sakura Haruno was completely helpless. The little bit of Medical Ninjutsu she knew had been taught to her by Kaede Kitahara, but right now, the power of the Cursed Seal had invaded Uchiha Sasuke's body and triggered a violent rejection reaction. That was not something her limited Medical Ninjutsu could solve.
"My name is Orochimaru!"
The Kusagakure ninja wiped away a bit of cold sweat. When he looked at Uchiha Sasuke, there was a trace of admiration in his eyes.
He had not expected Uchiha Sasuke to possess such strength at such a young age. The Three Tomoe Sharingan Sasuke had suddenly opened just now had caught him off guard, and Sasuke had immediately used the Sharingan's Genjutsu.
Ordinary Genjutsu was not something he cared about. Even though splitting his soul had greatly lowered his resistance to Genjutsu, he was still no ordinary ninja. He would not care about Genjutsu cast by a normal Jonin.
Even if he did have the dark history of being instantly defeated by Uchiha Itachi, his opponent back then had been a Genjutsu master like Uchiha Itachi.
But the Sharingan's enhancement of Genjutsu was simply too powerful. The Three Tomoe Sharingan in particular belonged to the Eye of Hypnotism, and it had almost hard-controlled him for half a second.
Although it had been very brief, and he had broken free in an instant, being able to hard-control Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, at this age was already a battle record worthy of pride if it got out.
He had not received any intelligence saying Uchiha Sasuke had already awakened the Sharingan, much less that Sasuke had awakened Three Tomoe.
Back when the Uchiha Clan still existed, many Uchiha praised as geniuses had to wait until they were sixteen or seventeen before awakening the Three Tomoe. Most people who opened the Sharingan never even evolved it to the Three Tomoe stage.
Those who could normally evolve it into the Three Tomoe Eye of Hypnotism were usually already in their twenties or thirties.
One could imagine just how outstanding Uchiha Sasuke's training talent was. It was enough to pleasantly surprise Orochimaru.
The more that was the case, the more he wanted to obtain Uchiha Sasuke.
With Uchiha Sasuke's body, there was no doubt he would gain the top bloodline in the Shinobi World. When he faced Uchiha Itachi again, he would no longer be instantly defeated.
When the time came, they would both have the Sharingan. Who would be afraid of whom?
And since Sasuke had awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan at such a young age, he had a chance to open the Mangekyo Sharingan in the future and touch the greatest secret of the Uchiha Clan.
So when he looked at Uchiha Sasuke, his gaze carried an abnormal delight and appreciation. Beyond that appreciation, there was also an unimaginable greed.
Across from him, Uchiha Sasuke's screams gradually subsided. He kept gasping for breath.
He felt the figure in front of him starting to blur.
I got arrogant.
That thought flashed through Uchiha Sasuke's mind. His two teammates did not know the identity of the person in front of them, but Uchiha Sasuke was different.
Although Uchiha Sasuke had not seen this particular section in Kaede Kitahara's diary, based on the information he already knew, it was enough for him to judge that the person in front of him was Orochimaru.
When he first realized the other party was Orochimaru, he had even felt eager to try fighting him. Logically, he knew Orochimaru was an extremely troublesome and terrifying existence, but emotionally, he had still looked down on him a little.
After all, he had seen Orochimaru get instantly defeated by Uchiha Itachi. He had also seen Orochimaru lose to Sasuke's self from three years later.
Orochimaru's weakness was far too obvious. It was Genjutsu.
Because of that, Sasuke had believed he had a chance. If he could not match Orochimaru in Taijutsu or Ninjutsu, then he could use Genjutsu directly and kill him in an instant.
As it happened, he had only awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan a few days ago and had been wanting to test it.
After obtaining Kaede Kitahara's diary, he had often used the pressure from the powerful people in the videos to temper his own battle will. The results had been extremely obvious, and he had actually awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan before the Chunin Exams.
Although that could not compare with Kaede Kitahara, who had awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan in rapid succession not long after opening his eyes, as far as the eye-opening records Sasuke knew from the Uchiha Clan were concerned, he was already terrifying.
However, he immediately learned just how wrong he was.
His ocular power was not enough to completely control Orochimaru. In a single instant, Orochimaru broke free from the Genjutsu, then dealt him a brutal blow. He had even planted a Cursed Seal on him.
Only now did Sasuke realize how badly mistaken he had been. He had only seen Uchiha Itachi dispose of Orochimaru with ease, but he had overlooked Uchiha Itachi's astonishing mastery of Genjutsu.
It was not that Orochimaru was too weak. It was that Uchiha Itachi was too strong in Genjutsu.
Any other Jonin would not have been able to pose the slightest threat to Orochimaru.
Of course Sasuke knew what the Cursed Seal was. It was something good that could increase his strength. According to what Kaede Kitahara had written in the diary, it belonged to an incomplete version of Sage Mode. Although incomplete, the boost it gave to his combat power was genuine.
The problem was that Orochimaru's soul was hidden inside it too.
Once Sasuke's Chakra was exhausted, it would rush out and take over his body. It could increase his combat power, but without a doubt, it was also the key Orochimaru would use to seize his body.
At that moment, Uchiha Sasuke remembered Kaede Kitahara's earlier evaluation of him. Kaede had called him Sunny Sasuke. The sky cleared, the rain stopped, and Uchiha Sasuke thought he could win again.
Sasuke had naturally been unhappy about it, and he refused to accept that nickname.
But now, he suddenly felt Kaede Kitahara might have been right. He really had gotten careless. It was almost exactly as Kaede had said.
"Uchiha Sasuke, if you still want to see me again, then perform well in this Chunin Exams. Only if you shine brightly enough will you have the right to come see me."
Orochimaru spoke with a trace of interest. "And you must defeat the three Sound Ninja from Otogakure under my control. If you can get past that stage, then you will have hope."
"Who wants to see you again?"
Uzumaki Naruto spoke at once.
"He will understand." Orochimaru's voice was calm. "You want revenge, don't you? You want revenge against that man, don't you? I can give you power, power strong enough for revenge. In exchange, you need to perform well."
"Also, there is one more thing I should tell you. Your chance of surviving that Cursed Seal is only one in ten," Orochimaru said. "If you cannot survive, then it proves you do not have that capacity. In that case, you should forget about revenge."
Uchiha Sasuke kept gasping for breath. Everything before his eyes gradually began to blur. He struggled to support himself with the Kusanagi Sword and stood up. "I will take revenge on Uchiha Itachi. You don't need to tell me that. But I also don't believe you have the ability to help me get revenge."
"Oh? There's no rush. If you survive, you'll be able to feel how much that Cursed Seal increases your power. When the time comes, there will naturally be a test of your capacity."
Orochimaru did not care in the slightest.
He believed Uchiha Sasuke would come looking for him. In Uchiha Sasuke's eyes, he had seen ambition and an obsession with revenge.
Then he glanced at Uzumaki Naruto. Was this Minato's child?
Although Naruto's performance was not bad, and for his age he should be considered very good, the one being used for comparison was not Uchiha Sasuke. It was Namikaze Minato.
Jiraiya's evaluation of Namikaze Minato was absurdly high. He called him a perfect ninja unlike any he had ever seen. And as someone who had once competed with Minato for the position of Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru did not rate him low either.
To be fair, although Orochimaru had lost the competition back then, he had no dissatisfaction toward Namikaze Minato. Whether in strength, personality, or talent, Minato had been more than qualified for the position.
The one Orochimaru truly resented was the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had toyed with him and played him in the palm of his hand.
Even Namikaze Minato had only been a tool he supported to suppress Orochimaru.
Compared with a perfect ninja like Namikaze Minato, someone rarely seen even once in ten years, Uzumaki Naruto's performance was truly far behind. He rushed forward shouting and flailing, reckless and impatient, with terrible tactical awareness.
"Who is it? Who's over there? Aren't you coming out?"
Orochimaru suddenly looked into the distance and shouted.
"Oh my. Looks like I've been discovered. As expected of one of the Legendary Sannin."