Bloodthirsty Sound Ninja

Red Bean's words finally shifted the attention of the assembled Genin.

Their excitement from successfully blocking Orochimaru transformed back into the tension of continuing the exam.

However, they didn't entirely heed Red Bean's words. They were all ninja from the same village.

They had even cooperated in battle. Unless absolutely necessary, they didn't want to engage in infighting first.

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After all, there were still plenty of ninja from other villages, and they should be enough to go around. They exchanged glances, nodded, and stopped wasting words.

The next second, as dark shadows dispersed, only Naruto, Kazeka's team, and Red Bean remained on the scene!

"Kazeka, let me ask you first..."

Red Bean turned her gaze to Kazeka:

"The seal you placed on me earlier was temporary.

After the seal wears off, will the damage Orochimaru inflicted still affect me?"

"No!"

Kazeka shook his head. Although in the previous storyline, Orochimaru's Cursed Seal had left Red Bean bedridden for a long time, that was a series of chain reactions:

"I transferred the damage away from you at the very beginning.

So, the subsequent chain reactions have been severed and won't affect you. However, there's one thing..."

Kazeka looked at Red Bean, causing her recently settled heart to rise again:

"Although I used a Sealing Jutsu, which has little effect on the Cursed Seal itself, Orochimaru is a cautious person.

Because of my appearance, Orochimaru might initiate a new round of upgrades to the Cursed Seal.

If possible, after the exam ends, you'd best come to my laboratory for further treatment!"

"I will!"

Red Bean nodded. Although the Hokage had been afraid of her interacting with Kazeka before, worrying it might cause other unpredictable severe consequences.

But Kazeka's methods clearly surpassed the scope of their worries.

As far as Red Bean knew, without Kazeka in this battle, relying solely on the methods of the previous sealing masters, she would have collapsed in pain upon the first encounter, unable to resist at all!

"You all continue the exam. I need to report everything that happened here to the Hokage. Remember, don't be so reckless if you encounter Orochimaru again!"

Red Bean left. Watching her disappearing back, Kiba Inuzuka frowned slightly:

"I thought that with such a major incident, Examiner Red Bean would stop the exam!"

"After all, the opponent was Orochimaru..."

Hinata snorted:

"If it weren't for considering the Third Hokage and being influenced by Kazeka just now, it would have been incredibly easy for him to kill everyone here.

Even the other examinees would have been no different.

He couldn't defeat the Third Hokage, but he could have managed to slaughter everyone here while evading.

Didn't you even react to something like that? Have you thrown your brain in the trash?"

"Hinata is right. Even the Third Hokage can only observe at this moment..."

Kazeka agreed:

"After all, he doesn't want to provoke Orochimaru and cause severe consequences..."

"Then isn't this dangerous?"

It was only then that Naruto chimed in, saying worriedly:

"Orochimaru's target is Sasuke. If we meet Orochimaru again, what should we do!"

"Naruto, are you worried about me?"

Hearing Naruto's words, Sasuke's lips curved slightly:

"Don't worry, I won't let Orochimaru hurt you. If it comes to it, I'll lure him away. Your safety has always been my top priority!"

"And also..."

Naruto dodged Sasuke's strange gaze and looked at Kazeka:

"Sasuke's personality is becoming increasingly strange. Kazeka, did you cause this?"

"Avoiding Orochimaru again is easy. Do you think I showed up rashly without any preparation this time..."

Kazeka squatted on the ground, placing a strangely shaped cup on a tree trunk.

The cup was shaped like a falcon looking up at the sky, with a falcon's leg as its base. The cup was covered with protruding falcon beaks and eyes.

As Kazeka formed hand seals, the falcon's beak at the cup's opening suddenly opened.

Then, from the ruins of the battle around them, black lines of varying thickness suddenly shot out and converged into the cup.

There weren't many black threads, only about seven or eight. After absorbing the black threads, the Hawk Cup's large mouth closed, and Kazeka offered an explanation at the opportune moment:

"This is the Hawk Cup. It's an item I created, inspired by the Holy Grail of the Hawk Clan, a Summoning Beast.

With it, I can collect traces left behind by Orochimaru during battle—his flesh, blood, even strands of his hair.

These things might seem insignificant to you, but they provide me with a lot of information...

While it doesn't have the powerful target-capturing function of the Hawk Clan's Holy Grail, it has many other small functions added..."

Kazeka took out two more lumps of meat and fed them to the two hawk beaks on the Hawk Cup.

After pecking at half of the flesh and blood, the two hawk beaks seemed satisfied. They each spat out a thin black thread, which attached itself to the two pieces of flesh and blood.

Visibly, the two pieces of flesh and blood transformed into compasses, and the black threads with arrows were their needles!

"Here!"

Kazeka threw a palm-sized compass towards Naruto:

"The arrow on this indicates Orochimaru's location.

A weak tremor means he's far away, while a strong tremor means he's close!

This won't last long. With Orochimaru's abilities, he'll quickly discover and deal with it, but it should be enough to get us through this second exam!"

"Thanks!"

Naruto thanked him, then immediately asked:

"What about Sasuke?"

"In this Forest of Death, dangers lurk everywhere, and unexpected situations can arise at any moment..."

Kazeka looked seriously at Naruto and the other two:

"From here on, we can't accompany you any further. Be careful, and we look forward to meeting you in the third exam!"

"Hey, answer me, you jerk!"

Seeing Kazeka avoid the question, Naruto confirmed his suspicions. He grabbed Kazeka tightly:

"I know you well. Your evasiveness clearly shows you're guilty. Something must have happened to Sasuke!"

"Naruto, don't worry about the details!"

"Is this a matter of details?!"

Naruto was shocked to hear Kazeka's words:

"Don't you understand the importance of this?!"

"It seems that before we even make a move, these Konoha guys are already fighting amongst themselves..."

A low, hoarse voice announced the arrival of the Sound Ninja group. Dosu, their leader, looked at Naruto and Kazeka's team.

A bloodthirsty smile flickered across his face!