Stomp on Me? Hehe.

Orochimaru wore a smile at the corners of his mouth as he looked playfully at the increasingly dense haze before him.

"Being able to strike first, then remain calm after landing a hit... What a troublesome prey." He casually commented on the two's performance, like a diner evaluating the food on the table.

He fixed Sasuke with an aggressive stare. Then, without warning, he raised his head and opened his mouth wide. A body dripping with thick mucus slowly slid out of it.

Sasuke froze. The nauseating sight before him shattered his understanding of reality, making him forget to act for a moment.

"Smack!" A palm struck the back of Sasuke's head. Sakura flashed into view behind him, her expression solemn. "Don't get distracted. Try to finish him in one go."

Sasuke started. He had not expected Sakura to look even calmer than he was, and his chest tightened with frustration.

"Tch," he muttered under his breath before saying to Sakura, "I'll take the lead from here. You..."

Before he could finish, Orochimaru, who was shedding his skin, suddenly sped up and slithered toward Sasuke like a python!

His lower half had completely transformed into a snake's body. Sasuke's pupils contracted, and his reaction slowed by another half beat.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

A delicate shout rang out from within the haze. A dragon-shaped column of water, wrapped in vapor, shot into the sky and charged at Orochimaru with a roar!

The earth stirred with killing intent; dragons and snakes rose from the land!

Orochimaru was not annoyed in the slightest. He pulled a sticky kunai from his mouth, easily dodged the Water Dragon Bullet, and twisted toward Sasuke.

Sasuke finally reacted. He pulled a wire-attached kunai from his ninja pouch and threw it at Orochimaru. Orochimaru knocked it away with a single strike, but as the Water Dragon Bullet crashed into the ground, the rising spray sent the already-deflected kunai flying back toward Orochimaru!

This was a clever combination of Shurikenjutsu and Water Style Jutsu.

Orochimaru turned his head slightly and adjusted his body in a way that defied inertia, narrowly avoiding the kunai. His twisted posture made the whole scene seem bizarre.

Sasuke could not help feeling disgusted. At the same time, the pride of youth in his heart began to stir once more.

Ever since Team 7 had been formed, Naruto and Sakura had each produced their own shining moments. Meanwhile, Uchiha Sasuke's performance had been utterly unremarkable. Even against the enemy before him, he had been distracted by Orochimaru's bizarre methods and had even needed Sakura to smack the back of his head and remind him.

At this level, could he really take revenge?

Orochimaru caught Sasuke's gaze. He immediately transformed his lower body into a human form, extended one finger, and beckoned to Sasuke, his eyes filled with provocation.

As if he were saying: Come over here!

"Damn it..." Sasuke was instantly fired up. He charged at Orochimaru, brimming with fighting spirit, but Orochimaru retreated instead of advancing and began leading Sasuke in circles through the woods.

Sakura hurried after them and shouted, "Slow down! It could be a trap!"

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up!"

Sakura frowned. Sasuke had clearly begun acting on impulse, and his thoughts were written all over his face.

She was about to quicken her pace when she suddenly noticed several crooked characters written on a tree trunk nearby.

[Stomp on me? Hehe.]

Naruto's brows drew tightly together as he repeated the words on the tree trunk under his breath, pacing back and forth.

The marks were very fresh. They had probably been carved recently, so the possibility that they had been made before the exam could be ruled out. They were written in Japanese, not Chinese. Other than that, there were no clues.

What did this mean? Pay attention to me? Naruto could not help feeling bewildered.

In fact, when he saw the words "stomp on me," Naruto subconsciously recalled memories from his childhood. Long ago, when QQ Spaces were still popular, many QQ friends would leave messages on one another's pages saying "come stomp around," as a way of showing that they had visited and offering greetings.

But clearly, the transmigrator had not meant that.

Suddenly, he stopped, his expression turning strange.

"Hiss... It couldn't mean... that, right?"

Thanks to the internet, Naruto had encountered all kinds of strange people while browsing online in his previous life. One type of person with especially unique tastes had left a deep impression on him.

At that thought, the few words before him suddenly became painfully glaring in Naruto's eyes.

"My god, what kind of perverts are these..." Naruto felt a toothache coming on. Was the ninja world one enormous "Don't Laugh" challenge?

Couldn't some normal people transmigrate here for once?!

Naruto immediately became hesitant. He abandoned his original plan and hurried toward Sasuke and Sakura.

He did not dare imagine what would happen if Sasuke and Sakura were captured by this pervert. One was a young woman, and the other... was also a young woman.

Elsewhere, Sakura's expression was no better. If anything, it was worse than ever before.

[Lick my feet? Hehe.]

"L, l, l, l... lowlife!"

She could not help screaming. Clutching her chest tightly with both arms, she broke out in goosebumps and looked as if she had PTSD.

In her previous life, when she livestreamed Elden Ring, the types of private messages she received most often were: people wanting to keep her, people wanting to be her master, and people wanting her to be their master.

Of those, the last type disgusted her the most. They often attached indecent pictures, as if they were peddling themselves—or rather, presenting their "seller's showcase."

It was a vivid display of biological diversity.

Sakura's legs began trembling uncontrollably. The feeling was practically the same as having an internet pervert arrange to meet her offline. It made her skin crawl.

"Could it be Orochimaru?" Sakura's thoughts were a tangled mess. During the battle just now, she had not seen Orochimaru leave any marks on the tree trunk, but she could not rule out the possibility that he had used the haze to conceal himself.

If it really was Orochimaru, then Sasuke was in trouble. It was as if a red [Danger] sign had already appeared above his head!

But then again, Orochimaru's behavior had been fairly consistent with his character. More importantly, Sasuke had broken away from the original plot, leaving her without any basis for judgment.

Should she pursue them?

Sakura thought for a moment, forced down her fear, and began slowly moving her body.

But she moved very slowly, as if her system had crashed and she had no motivation. At the same time, she watched her surroundings tensely, drawing a kunai and holding it before her chest to make herself feel safer.

"It's fine. This is the ninja world. I'm strong now. No one can hurt me." She kept encouraging herself, and her pace finally began to quicken.

"Bang!!"

Suddenly, faint explosions began ringing out around her. Then came a succession of uninterrupted roars, animal cries, and the explosions of Explosive Tags burning out.

The enormous commotion seemed to drain all the courage from Sakura in an instant. She collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath, thin moisture already gathering in her eyes.

The situation continued to worsen. The noises were drawing closer and closer to Sakura.

She could not help thinking of Naruto. If he were here, would things be much better?

"No! I have to save myself!" Sakura used all her strength to draw her kunai and fiercely stab it into her thigh.

"Pfft!"

But a hand caught the tip of the kunai.