#53 - Chapter 53: Waiting for something to happen. Do you want to follow me?

"The second round of the Chunin Exams, begin!!!"

As Anko Mitarashi's voice faded, all the examinees entered the Forest of Death from their respective entrances.

Naruto and his team were no exception.

"Naruto, where are we going?" Sakura asked with some worry.

Although Naruto looked cool when he said those words earlier, she was still uneasy about facing at least half of the examinees in this exam!

"We're not going anywhere. We'll just wait here, like waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree," Naruto said calmly.

"Right here?"

Sakura looked around, somewhat bewildered.

Their current location wasn't far from the entrance, only a few hundred meters away.

If they didn't move, someone would find them soon!

"Sasuke, do you want to warm up later when someone comes?" Naruto asked, sitting down on a comfortable rock he found.

"Yeah."

Sasuke stood beside Naruto, carrying the Kubikiribocho on his back.

Sakura, at a loss for what to do, squeezed her hands and walked over.

After waiting for a while,

there was a clear sound of footsteps from the nearby trees!

Someone was coming!

Sakura sensed it and became nervous. She was about to take out a kunai to prepare for battle, but Naruto grabbed her hand.

"Just stay put. Sasuke will handle it."

After Naruto said that, Sasuke disappeared from the spot as instructed.

Before long, the sound of kunai clashing came from the trees.

Faintly, Naruto could also hear the sound of ninjutsu being released.

Three minutes later,

Sasuke returned with some injuries, holding a scroll of Earth in his hand.

"Got the scroll. Are we leaving?" Sasuke asked, throwing the scroll to Naruto.

Naruto casually placed the scroll aside and shook his head. "We're not leaving. We'll get rid of all the rats that are coveting us first! Reduce some opponents for the third round of the Chunin Exams."

"Perhaps we can leave all the teams except us in this second exam!"

Sasuke was silent for a second, then continued to stand aside and wait for the next enemy.

Sakura hesitated, wanting to say something…

To be honest, she was the least willing to stay here among the three of them.

Why fight so many people?

Wouldn't it be better to just pass the exam by getting the Heaven and Earth scrolls?

But… she didn't have much say.

Who told her she was the weakest in the team?

Before long, there was movement around them again.

"Sasuke, don't hold back."

Sasuke, who was about to attack, nodded upon hearing Naruto's instructions and then disappeared from the spot.

Sasuke had indeed held back when dealing with those three people earlier, not even using the Kubikiribocho at first.

As a result, he suffered some injuries and consumed more chakra.

Two minutes later,

Sasuke, holding the Kubikiribocho, threw the second scroll of Earth he had taken to Naruto.

Naruto took the scroll of Earth, tossed it to the side, and asked, "Killed them?"

"No."

Sasuke paused and added, "But almost."

"There will be more people coming later, so don't hold back! If you can kill them with one strike, never use a second!" Naruto said calmly.

"Yeah." Sasuke nodded, indicating that he understood.

No one knew how many enemies they would encounter later, so naturally, they should conserve as much chakra and stamina as possible!

Sakura looked at Sasuke, then at Naruto, and finally at the two scrolls of Earth on the stone… Can't we just pass first?

Sigh~

Sakura sighed inwardly and continued to accompany the two, waiting idly.

This time they waited for a long time, about ten minutes or so,

when Sasuke suddenly sensed movement underground!

This time, without Naruto's instructions or exhortations, he directly used Body Flicker Technique and disappeared from the spot.

A Kubikiribocho fell from the sky and plunged into the ground, then was instantly pulled out!

Chih!

Mud flew everywhere, but there was no blood!

Clearly, he hadn't hit the opponent!

Missing the attack, he looked around vigilantly, but he didn't notice a giant snake appearing behind him!

"Sasuke, be careful!!"

Sakura's reminder made Sasuke subconsciously move away from the spot, and the snake behind him also missed, eating a mouthful of dirt!

"Oh? Quick reflexes? And that Kubikiribocho, although it's not perfect, since you were able to obtain a sword belonging to the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, your strength shouldn't be just this, right?"

Sasuke, who had dodged the attack, looked in the direction of the voice and saw a Grass Ninja riding on a giant snake.

And at the moment he made eye contact, Sasuke suddenly felt a tremor in his heart!

This guy was a bit off.

Why did he feel like his body was unable to move?

Was it a genjutsu?

No… it was killing intent!

How was that possible?

Even Zabuza's killing intent back then didn't make him feel fear. Could this guy be even stronger than a Jonin?

Just as Sasuke was feeling doubtful and constantly telling himself to move quickly, the Grass Ninja riding the snake pounced at him!

At the critical moment, Sasuke was about to bite his tongue to suppress his fear when a golden light flashed past, piercing through the snake and the Grass Ninja!

The giant snake bled profusely, wailed, and fell to the ground.

But the Grass Ninja turned into mud and disappeared!

"Substitution Technique?"

Sasuke's eyes widened, no longer being locked on by the killing intent.

He hadn't seen the hand seals at all!

Such a fast Substitution Technique!

"Golden ninjutsu?"

Orochimaru crawled out from under the snake corpse, looked at Naruto, and his eyes were filled with admiration and interest. "You are even more surprising than I imagined. I didn't expect Konoha to have such a great gift besides this child from the Uchiha clan!"

"How about it, do you want to follow me?"

Looking at Orochimaru reaching out to him, Naruto ignored him and looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke, do you still want to fight? Let me say first, he's not someone you can deal with right now!"

He knew that Sasuke wasn't Orochimaru's opponent. The reason he asked this was to see if Sasuke had the idea of training himself.

Just like when Sasuke wanted to deal with Haku himself before.

But for Sasuke, Haku and this guy from Grass were completely different!

Although Haku was strong, he felt that he had a chance of winning, and a big one!

This Grass Ninja was so strong that he couldn't even muster the thought of resisting!

That feeling was even more despairing than when he faced Zabuza!

Seeing that Sasuke was still hesitating, Naruto flashed in front of him and said calmly, "Fall back, go protect Sakura."

Sasuke looked at Naruto's back in front of him, and the unwillingness in his heart grew stronger.

His face was uncertain, and finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "I'll do it!"

Naruto turned around and looked at Sasuke,

finding that his face was now full of anger and unwillingness, and nothing else!

It was impossible to win with such emotions.

If a person's anger obscures their reason, then their speed, reaction, and combat intelligence will decrease.

Sasuke was already not Orochimaru's opponent, so it was even more impossible for him to win against Orochimaru like this!

However, he didn't stop Sasuke. After all, this was Sasuke's own choice!

If he stopped Sasuke, not only would he not be remembered kindly, but he would also be resented.

"I'll help you three times. After three times, you will retreat, understand?" Naruto took a step back, making way for Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't answer Naruto the first time. With a cold face, he charged towards Orochimaru with the Kubikiribocho!

: Click after reading, reward with max-level Observation Haki~