Goodbye, Kabuto Yakushi

"Everyone, I have the latest intel," Anko said as she walked into the proctoring room and addressed the Anbu inside.

The Anbu members turned their heads. Anko organized her thoughts and explained the situation with the Sound Ninja to the Anbu, omitting the parts concerning Naruto.

"Should we terminate the Chunin Exams immediately?" one of the Anbu asked.

"No, Lord Hokage said to proceed with the Chunin Exams as scheduled. As for us, we just need to secretly guard against Orochimaru causing any trouble."

Anko thought for a moment and then added, "The other Chunin will search for the Sound Ninja in groups of three. Don't alert her, but use her to find Orochimaru's tracks."

"Understood."

With that, she took two others and began a covert patrol throughout the Forest of Death.

This also aligned with Naruto's thoughts. It was somewhat thankless to search for Kin himself and Sakura. By making proper use of his 'connections,' he could achieve twice the result with half the effort.

On the other hand, the Chunin's search would also limit Kin's room to cause mischief, diverting some of her energy to evading pursuit.

Meanwhile.

"Yo, fancy meeting you here."

Team 7 had just finished tidying up when they saw a tall, silver-haired figure slowly approaching. He did have some signs of having been in a fight.

"Kabuto Yakushi..." Naruto looked at him without speaking. Sasuke, however, walked forward with a wary expression.

"Don't be nervous, I'm not here to steal your scroll," Kabuto said, waving his hands when he saw Sasuke's unfriendly look. "I've just lost contact with my companions and need to get to someone. I was hoping to find some help."

Sasuke's wary expression didn't change. "Did you gather both the Book of Heaven and the Book of Earth?"

"Naturally." Kabuto took out a scroll and waved it at the three of them. Naruto and Sakura remained silent, while Sasuke let out a sigh of relief.

Unlike the original story, Sasuke didn't choose to hand over the scroll to Orochimaru out of fear. He kept it in his pocket. After obtaining the Book of Earth from the Sound Ninja, Team 7 had met the conditions to pass the exam.

Compared to the original story, they seemed much more at ease.

"Let's go together. We're all from Konoha, we can look out for each other," Naruto walked up, looking at Kabuto with a half-smile.

Sakura remained silent, watching Naruto with a thoughtful expression.

She knew very well that Kabuto was here to gather information on Sasuke to hand over to Orochimaru, but Naruto's reaction was quite interesting...

Was he planning to use Kabuto as 'cannon fodder'? After all, unstable factors that differed from the original story had already appeared.

"Let's go together, Kabuto," Sakura said after some thought, agreeing.

Sasuke turned to the other two, his expression also becoming strange.

These two lovebirds aren't even pretending anymore, they're in cahoots directly, huh?

Bullying me because I'm single?

But considering his persona, Sasuke didn't speak, merely nodding silently.

Kabuto looked at the three of them, showing a grateful and kind, clear smile.

Naruto and Sakura also showed cordial smiles, causing the warmth in the air to rise a bit.

"You guys go ahead?"

"No, no, you go ahead," (Kind smile.jpg)

"You guys are quite polite."

"It's a joy to have friends coming from afar, isn't it? Haha."

"You're quite cultured."

"Haha, I, Naruto Uzumaki, am a well-known intellectual in the surrounding villages."

Sasuke: "..."

Naruto and Kabuto exchanged pleasantries and engaged in friendly conversation, reaching many consensuses on advancing the Chunin Exams, motivating each other to achieve the grand goal of realizing a community of shared future for mankind, and progressing together...

The two understood each other's intentions, yet both harbored ulterior motives.

Soon, the four of them approached the central pagoda.

Naruto appeared calm on the surface, but in reality, his heart involuntarily tensed. While outwardly flattering Kabuto, he was actually being extremely cautious, constantly scanning his surroundings, ready to guard against Kin's appearance at any moment.

If I were Kin, I would definitely find an opportunity to interfere with us passing the exam right now. If we pass the exam, there will be too many variables, Naruto thought, but there was still no movement around them.

The four walked for a while longer. By now, even Sasuke noticed something was wrong. He pointed to a spot nearby and said, "Look, haven't we been here before?"

"Finally noticed. If you hadn't, my legs would have broken..." Naruto deliberately feigned surprise and said to Kabuto, "Senpai, it really seems like it. Can you protect us?"

After saying that, he looked at Kabuto with an expectant yet slightly adoring gaze, his eyes sparkling.

Kabuto returned a warm smile, but the corner of his mouth twitched. "Naruto-kun, cough, let's work hard together." With that, he assumed a defensive stance.

Too bad you'll be out soon. Otherwise, I'd definitely keep annoying you until the end... Naruto withdrew his playful expression, his eyes constantly darting around, contemplating the plot's direction.

He remembered that he would encounter an enemy skilled in genjutsu, but overall, it wouldn't be too difficult to deal with, considered standard Genin strength.

"Hehehe, you finally noticed..." A male voice echoed from the air.

The surrounding air began to distort and waver. Suddenly, black, twisted phantoms appeared. The only similarity was that they all wore masks and wielded kunai.

"Sasuke, can your Sharingan reflect genjutsu?" Naruto turned and asked. He remembered that powerful pupil power could reflect genjutsu, like Uchiha Itachi reflecting Anko's genjutsu.

Naruto wanted to finish them off in the simplest way possible.

Sasuke, upon hearing this, was first slightly taken aback, then softly said, "I'll try."

"Okay."

Naruto then turned to Sakura, "Can you handle the kunai from the dark corners first?"

Sakura frowned slightly, "What do you mean?"

"Aim for a one-hit kill."

With that, the surrounding black phantoms suddenly charged towards everyone!

Sakura, with her fists, and Kabuto, with his kunai, deflected all the surrounding attacks. Meanwhile, Sasuke began to close his eyes, silently gathering chakra in his eyes.

"Hiss..." As soon as he gathered a bit of chakra, Sasuke felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. At the same time, the foreign power within him began to stir. Kabuto took all of this in.

But soon, Kabuto's attention was drawn back to Naruto.

He summoned a Shadow Clone. Without the Nine-Tails Chakra's enhancement, one Shadow Clone began to gather chakra on the original body's hand, spinning it. The surrounding airflow immediately became violent.

"This is..." Kabuto's pupils contracted slightly. His interest shifted from Sasuke back to Naruto.

On the other side, in a certain bush near where the few were fighting.

The unconscious woman slowly woke up. She first rubbed her temples, then suddenly knelt down in pain, clutching her head fiercely.

She raised one hand to cover her mouth, trying her best not to make any sound.

"Just a little more... I'll be saved soon..."

This formidable character, whom Naruto, Sakura, and the others were wary of, struggled to her feet and headed towards the direction of the battle.