"Hiss!" After hearing Orochimaru's words, the others could hardly believe that, in just a few years, Kakashi had gone from the handsome, cold, and decisive ninja before them to a team leader who showed up late every day and liked reading erotic novels.
The difference was a little too great for them to accept.
Kakashi finally understood that these people must be his future students. He really couldn't understand how his future self could possibly have become like Obito.
After seeing that Naruto and the others were all right, Shikamaru and his group prepared to leave. Naturally, Shikamaru wouldn't tell the proctor what had happened here. Even if he did, they wouldn't believe him.
That left only Naruto's team, Kakashi, Orochimaru, and his student, Mitarashi Anko.
"I'm not the person who came after you earlier. Like Kakashi, I traveled here from the past," Orochimaru explained. As far as he knew, his counterpart in this world seemed to have taken a liking to the young Uchiha before him.
Naruto and the others still didn't let down their guard completely after hearing that. After all, the present Orochimaru wanted to kill them, and there was no guarantee that the Orochimaru who had traveled from the past wouldn't do the same.
"Still, I really do want to take you as my student," Orochimaru said.
Sasuke was astonished. He didn't understand why Orochimaru wanted to take him as a student.
"Can you help me get stronger?" Sasuke didn't care about anything else. If the man before him could make him stronger, he wouldn't mind becoming his student.
"Sasuke, you need to think about this," Naruto said, still trying to dissuade him.
"Naruto, stay out of this. I have to get revenge on that man." Sasuke then fixed his gaze on Orochimaru, waiting for an answer.
Orochimaru said confidently, "Become my student, and I'll make you stronger than you are now."
"I want you to teach me Ninjutsu that can defeat Uchiha Itachi," Sasuke said, his face twisted. No matter what, he had to kill that man.
Orochimaru thought little of it. If he remembered correctly, Uchiha Itachi was Uchiha Fugaku's child. He had seen him in the village before, and Itachi had asked him what the meaning of life was.
Looking back on it now, had that child been a little too precocious? Orochimaru didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
But teaching a student to become as strong as Uchiha Itachi was as easy as turning over his hand. After all, he hadn't earned the title of Sannin for nothing.
The current Orochimaru still didn't know that his counterpart in this world had been taken down by Itachi in a single move. If he had known, he definitely wouldn't have made such a bold claim.
Hearing Orochimaru say that only strengthened Sasuke Uchiha's resolve to become his student.
Naruto couldn't stop him and could only give up helplessly.
"But you need to show me your worth." Orochimaru smiled. Right now, he wanted to see Sasuke's current strength.
"What do I need to do?" Sasuke asked. He believed he could earn Orochimaru's approval with his own strength.
"This is my other student. If you want my approval, challenge her." Orochimaru pointed to his other student, Anko.
Anko was also surprised by her teacher's words. Although her task was to spar with Sasuke Uchiha, she wasn't good at fighting.
But Anko glanced at Orochimaru again. She didn't want to disappoint her teacher, so she decided to spar with Sasuke Uchiha.
Sasuke hadn't expected Orochimaru to choose this young girl as his opponent. In his eyes, she wasn't even as good as Sakura.
But that was just Sasuke's instinctive assumption. Whatever else could be said, Anko had learned directly from Orochimaru. Though she probably wasn't a match for Sasuke Uchiha, she was still considerably stronger than the current Sakura.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands." Anko attacked first.
Several snakes shot from Anko's hand, attacking Sasuke Uchiha.
Sasuke retreated and dodged to the side. He didn't have many Ninjutsu to attack with, so he didn't use one right away.
Seeing an opening, Sasuke pulled out several Kunai and threw them at Anko, but she reacted quickly and avoided them.
But as soon as Anko had dodged the Kunai, she looked up to find that Sasuke had already rushed in front of her.
Sasuke immediately unleashed a series of punches and kicks, striking Anko repeatedly in midair.
"Lion Combo."
Using the momentum from his midair combo, Sasuke added the force of gravity to his final blow, sending Anko crashing violently into the ground.
But the dust raised by the impact obscured Anko from view.
"Sharingan." Sasuke kept using his Sharingan to search for Anko. His full, no-questions-asked Taijutsu combo clearly hadn't done much damage.
Sasuke's Sharingan continued to scan the area. Suddenly, he spotted a figure appearing behind him.
"Twin Snakes Mutual Death Technique." Anko's arms turned into two snakes that bound Sasuke tightly, then kept squeezing.
Suddenly, with a bang, Sasuke vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving only a block of wood on the ground.
"Substitution Technique?" After using two Ninjutsu in succession, Anko was already running low on Chakra. She had been too hasty to attack.
Sasuke Uchiha had easily blocked all those attacks, and now she was nearly out of Chakra. It would be difficult for her to dodge his next attack.
Sasuke was looking around for an opening in Anko's defenses. The series of attacks just now had used up quite a bit of her Chakra; she definitely couldn't have much left.
Catching Anko in a moment of distraction, Sasuke suddenly attacked. Anko saw Sasuke Uchiha coming at her and was about to dodge when he activated his Sharingan. That single action slowed her for a moment.
Anko couldn't dodge in time and was struck by Sasuke. She could no longer fight back.
"As expected of a ninja from the Uchiha Clan. That was magnificent!" Orochimaru exclaimed.