Strength in numbers
Night deepened. ±The Peak said,
Bathed in the beautiful silver moonlight, a series of ugly and bloody battles are taking place in the Forest of Death...
While Sakura was searching for a hiding place with the unconscious Sasuke and Naruto, in another place, the long-separated master and disciple were reunited once again in the Forest of Death.
However, the master and disciple showed no joy at their reunion; instead, they engaged in a life-or-death struggle!
Or perhaps it's just the apprentice's one-sided recklessness...
"Got you!" The young female ninja and her enemy held hands, but this was not a lovers' reunion, but a capture between mortal enemies!
Kunai, the sharp kunai pierced through her and her master's clasped hands, pinning them to the tree! The female ninja mutilated herself without a care, as if the pierced hand was not her own, but a tool for revenge; and pinned to the tree was the nightmare of her life!
"Oh dear, Anko... you're still so impulsive!" A hoarse male voice came from behind Anko, "Do you want to commit suicide?"
The figure nailed to the tree by the Anko revealed a strange, mocking smile before turning into a lump of mud!
"That's a clone..." the man said casually.
With red eyes, Anko still wanted to rush forward, but her body went limp and collapsed to the ground against her will. The Cursed Seal on her neck emitted a sharp pain, instantly draining all her strength!
"Orochimaru..." She looked up at the man, her voice filled with resentment, "Why... did you have to go back to the village!"
Orochimaru leaned calmly against the tree and said leisurely, "Because there's a child here that I really want... He's the orphan of the Uchiha, a very outstanding young man! So I gave him a gift, a gift just like that thing around your neck!"
Waves of weakness washed over her. Anko clutched her neck, knelt on the ground in agony, her eyes wide with despair!
"You actually gave that to him! You'll ruin that child!" Veins bulging, sweat pouring down her face, Anko gritted her teeth and said, "You won't succeed!"
"Heh heh... It seems you still resent me for abandoning you back then!" Orochimaru chuckled wickedly. "It's all because you were too mediocre! Even after receiving the power of the Cursed Seal, you're still so weak... All these years, you've hardly improved at all!"
"Ugh...!" Anko was speechless. Orochimaru's words had stirred up her most painful memories! Betrayed and abandoned by the person she respected most, she couldn't forget that feeling. Recalling that scene, the pain in her heart was even more unbearable than the pain brought by the Cursed Seal!
"I think even that cute girl who's in Sasuke's group is stronger than you! What a pity..."
A wave of intense dizziness surged through Anko's head. She bit her lip hard to stay conscious. "You killed that child?"
"Heh heh... She's talented, and she struggled fiercely against me! I was also very interested in her, and although she rejected me, I still spared her life..." Orochimaru licked his lips with his long tongue, "Because Konoha will eventually lose her, just like I did back then, hahahaha!"
"Oh, and don't you dare interrupt this exam..." Orochimaru's body gradually merged into the tree trunk. "If you dare to hinder my plan, I'll wipe out Konoha!"
As Orochimaru left, the Cursed Seal on Anko's body finally stopped raging. She struggled to her feet, leaning against a tree trunk, her whole body feeling as if she had been immersed in water.
"Damn it... I have to report this to the Lord Third right away!" Anko landed with difficulty and walked through the forest. Suddenly, she noticed signs of a battle in front of her!
"Wait... what is this! Snake corpses... this is Orochimaru's Ninjutsu! But the number is just too outrageous!"
As her strength gradually returned, Anko jumped onto a tall tree and looked down at the battlefield. The battle traces of Orochimaru and Team 7, which stretched for hundreds of meters, were all brought into Anko's view at once.
Anko saw traces of fire, Wind Cutter, and explosions, but what caught her eye even more were the mountain of snake corpses and the severed tree trunks that stretched across the entire battlefield, as well as the neat cut marks on the tree trunks and snake bodies!
Anko's years of experience as a ninja allowed Anko to immediately deduce that Orochimaru was fighting multiple enemies, one of whom possessed an excessively powerful cutting-type Ninjutsu. This single person had wiped out millions of snake summons and the giant trees on the battlefield, leaving a huge scar on the Forest of Death!
Who on earth could possibly push Orochimaru to this point?!
"They struggled fiercely too!" "Even that cute girl is stronger than you!"
Suddenly, Orochimaru's two sentences from earlier popped into Anko's mind!
"Hmph..." Anko managed a strained smile. "A Genin, yet she managed to go this far? That's outrageous! Is this what you call a fierce struggle?!"
"Who knows, this guy might actually be stronger than me!"
Anko gave a cold laugh, withdrew her gaze, and continued walking alone forward!
Several hours later, in the darkest hour before dawn.
Sakura was awakened by an unfamiliar source of Chakra.
She was already extremely exhausted, but she dared not sleep too soundly in order to take care of the two of them. She did not enter a deep sleep, and the few hours of rest only restored a little of her strength. Forcibly waking herself up made her head throb even more.
She conjured a ball of cool water in her hand and plunged her head into it to wash her face. The icy touch instantly invigorated her.
Then he stood quietly in the darkness, observing silently.
Three not-so-powerful sources of Chakra advanced in search formation toward Team 7's hiding place. The unfamiliar texture indicated that this was a three-person team from another village. Sakura secretly breathed a sigh of relief; they weren't ninjas she recognized, and were probably a team that had been eliminated in the original story.
In that case... we can fight! Eliminating the enemy sooner rather than later will be more beneficial for our stamina recovery than hiding and monitoring them!
The trio advanced straight towards Sakura, likely having discovered traces she had left behind. Bloodstains, drag marks, and footprints of varying weights—all these signs indicated the enemy's weakness. They concluded that Sakura and her companions were a group that had just been routed in battle, fleeing here in disarray, and were no longer capable of fighting.
But to their surprise, the enemy did not hide in their hiding place as they had expected.
Instead, he stood confidently in the path they had to take, leisurely crossing his arms and looking at them.
Under the moonlight, the girl's short pink hair shimmered with a silvery sheen, swaying gently in the breeze. Her face was backlit, her expression obscured in the darkness, only her bright, moon-like turquoise eyes shone brilliantly in the shadows.
"I've been waiting for you for so long... Judging from your attire, are you Rain Ninja again? I'm tired of killing you all...!" The girl spoke calmly, a murderous aura emanating from her body!
Faced with the girl's cold gaze and chilling killing intent, the three Rain Ninja froze in their tracks. Then, the boy in the lead, who wore an earring and carried an extra umbrella compared to the two behind him, said angrily:
"Stop bluffing! You think you can fool us into thinking this is a trap by deliberately leaving those traces? Hmph, let me tell you, your empty city ploy is going to fail! We already knew your team encountered a strong enemy, and now you're the only one left fighting! Don't think you can scare us away. There are no teammates or traps here. You're in a 1v1 situation, and we have an absolute numerical advantage!"
The leader, Rain Ninja with the long earring, went on and on, trying to persuade the girl in front of him to see the situation clearly and hand over the scroll.
However, the girl merely curled her lips into a mocking smile, "Since you're so good at analysis, why don't you guess why I'm still standing here unscathed after encountering such a powerful enemy? If you really have the advantage as you claim, why don't you just attack directly instead of wasting time here talking nonsense?"
"And are you sure... you really have a numerical advantage?"
The girl sneered, clasped her hands together in front of her chest, and her Chakra began to fluctuate violently!
"Quick, charge in and fight her up close! She's a ninja with Ninjutsu!" shouted the Rain Ninja with the earring, charging towards the girl without hesitation!
However, it was all too late.
Crystalline Water Clone, wielding ice blades, appeared one after another behind Sakura, one, two... until they were densely packed, numbering over a hundred!
The strange Water Clone filled the open space. At first glance, these clones looked like poorly made, unfinished products, with only a semi-transparent humanoid shape and clear facial features, but no clothing or skin texture. It was as if the jutsu's master had simply chosen not to show them because they were too troublesome! Such clones, which could be seen through at a glance, were undoubtedly useless for deceiving the enemy. However, at the moment, the jutsu's master did not intend to use them for deception, but rather to use countless clones to launch a powerful attack and overwhelm the enemy head-on!
Near the river, the Water Release's Chakra consumption is undoubtedly minimized. The crudely made clones also greatly reduce the physical and mental energy required for the technique compared to normal clones, allowing even a girl with extremely low Chakra and physical strength to calmly perform such Ninjutsu!
Without a doubt, Orochimaru's endless sea of snakes taught the girl a good lesson in the previous battle, making her realize that numerical superiority is sometimes an absolute advantage!
Of course, against opponents of similar strength, having many clones is just a waste of Chakra. However, for the three Rain Ninja who are far weaker than Sakura, the endless clones are their nightmare. They are too clever for their own good and want to fight at close range. As a result, they are caught in a sea of clones, which makes the sea of clones even more powerful!