Twenty: Strength

Sak had also thought of a way to defend himself. Using his ninja tools, he created a wall of compressed air that kept the Flower Bombs at bay.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The explosions continued for three seconds.

The mist gradually cleared. Neither of them was seriously hurt, but both were covered in soot from the flames.

Josuke watched it all with a calm expression.

The Sound Ninja trio had been badly hurt by Josuke, especially Dosu. That last attack had left his insides churning.

Dosu struggled to his feet, one hand clutching his stomach.

"Kin, Zaku, call them out!"

Dosu spoke to the two of them.

Kin nodded and blew into a specially made horn, producing a sound.

Three ninjas appeared in the dense forest.

They stood beside the Sound Ninja trio. There are more of them?

Josuke was startled. Weren't there only supposed to be those three in the original story?

Had his arrival changed the events of the original?

Josuke considered the possibility, then rejected it. No—perhaps the three in the forest had always been allies of the Sound Ninja trio.

It was just that in the original story, Sasuke had awakened his Cursed Seal, so the three in the forest hadn't shown themselves.

But now Sasuke didn't have the Cursed Seal, so Dosu and the others wanted to win through sheer numbers.

Josuke looked at the ninjas who'd emerged from the forest. Their Forehead Protectors bore the symbol of Amegakure. He wasn't worried. Even with more people, they were nothing but a bunch of nobodies.

Besides...

Josuke glanced back toward Sasuke. That guy should be waking up soon, right?

Seeing that their reinforcements had arrived, the Sound Ninja trio immediately grew cocky. "Hey, if you know what's good for you, hand over the scroll. Otherwise, you'll regret it!"

Josuke sneered.

"Oh? Is that so? Then come and try!"

When taunting him didn't work, Dosu gave the others a signal. The three Amegakure ninjas and the Sound Ninja trio moved in together.

The three Amegakure ninjas struck first, firing three water bullets to block Josuke's escape route. How naive!

Josuke activated his Sharingan!

The three attacks seemed to slow down before his eyes.

Josuke formed Hand Seals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

A huge fireball destroyed the three small water bullets and continued toward the trio, its force undiminished. They tried to scramble out of the way, but Josuke's Sharingan flared!

Genjutsu activated. (Stacking a buff here: the Genjutsu was self-taught, not from the Sharingan. Also, I personally think activating the Sharingan can increase the power of Genjutsu.)

The three were controlled for two seconds—and that was just long enough for the Great Fireball Technique to reach them.

"Boom!"

Flames engulfed the trio.

"Aaaah!"

They screamed in agony. When the flames died down, one of them was bleeding profusely, while the other two had suffered varying degrees of burns.

At the same time,

Dosu attacked Josuke from behind, while Kin and Zaku took the opportunity to head for Sakura and steal the scroll.

Josuke cursed inwardly. A bunch of dirty tricks.

But Dosu had him tied up, and all he could do was watch the other two approach Sakura. A wicked smile tugged at Josuke's lips.

My little brother's about to wake up.

Over by Sakura, Zaku's hand was just about to reach her. He was already smiling like a victor.

"The scroll is mine!"

But a hand shot out and seized his wrist.

Zaku jolted in surprise.

What was going on?

He turned around. Sasuke, who'd been lying on the ground just moments earlier, had woken up. Black markings covered his face, and an evil energy radiated from him.

Zaku instinctively tried to pull free, only to find that his hand was clamped in an iron grip. He couldn't move it at all.

There was a series of cracking sounds, and Zaku screamed in pain. His hand—his hand had been broken!

Sasuke stared at himself in disbelief. That power! That power! The power that could kill that man!

Sasuke grinned viciously, ready to kill the person in front of him. Kin tried to stop him, but it was already too late.

"Sasuke-kun!"

At that moment, Sakura hugged Sasuke from behind. Sasuke's eyes widened!

Her embrace pulled him back from his frenzy.

He gasped for breath.

Sasuke came to his senses, and Zaku had already retreated far away.

Nearby, Josuke watched with interest. Dosu lay unconscious after being beaten.

As expected of my Uchiha Sakura.

The three Genin from Amegakure had also regained consciousness, but they'd lost the ability to fight. They looked at Josuke in terror. This man... Josuke glanced at them.

"If you don't want to die, get lost," Josuke said coldly.

At his words, the three Amegakure Genin were as relieved as if they'd been granted a pardon. Supporting one another, they fled.

Josuke then turned to Dosu.

"Take your teammates and leave. You have ten seconds."

Dosu didn't argue. He went over to Zaku, helped him up, and left.

With everything settled, Josuke watched them disappear into the distance, then collapsed onto the ground. He was exhausted. Hoo, hoo, hoo.

"Sasuke, you're finally awake!" Sakura said happily. "Mm... I'm all right now, Sakura." Sasuke looked at her.

Ino had mostly recovered, too, so she came over to Josuke.

"Arigato, Josuke-kun."

Sakura said the same.

"Thank you, Josuke. If you hadn't arrived in time, things could have gone terribly wrong." Sakura looked at him gratefully.

Josuke waved a hand. "We're all Konoha teammates. No need to be so formal. It's not safe here. Let's get somewhere secure first!"

"Mm."

...(I can't be bothered writing the rest. Basically, they carried Naruto away, and he woke up later. Then Kabuto joined in, and Team 7 made it to the Tower of Trials without a hitch and passed.

Then came the one-on-one matches in the Chunin third exam. After Sasuke narrowly beat his opponent, Kakashi took him away because of the Cursed Seal. The rest of the matches went the same way, and Josuke also easily beat some random guy and advanced.)

Next up was!!!!!

The Konoha Crush Plan! Initiated!

(Author: When I first read this, I didn't understand what the Third Hokage was supposed to be. I even thought he was a good guy... I was shocked when he died, too QAQ. Looking back now, he was nothing but an Impure World Reincarnation monkey.)

When the smoke cleared, everyone had been caught in the mist, including some Genin with poor resistance. This had all been a coordinated, premeditated attack.

Everyone had been knocked unconscious. Josuke opened his Sharingan within the smoke. This level of Genjutsu was still too weak to affect him.

At that moment, inside the Chunin Exam arena,

the Konoha Ninja were already fighting the Sound Ninja and Sand Ninja. Josuke crawled stealthily beneath the desks and chairs. As he passed Ino, he took a look at her. So cute๑ŐεŐ๑.

Then he pinched Ino's cheek and quietly crawled away. Taking advantage of the chaos in the arena, he used the Transformation Technique to take on Kabuto Yakushi's appearance.

He quietly made his way to the Hokage's office building...