Bloodthirsty Sound Ninja

Anko's words finally brought the Genin's attention back to the matter at hand.

Their excitement over successfully stopping Orochimaru gave way to the tension of continuing the exam.

Even so, no one listened to Anko. They were all ninjas from the same village.

They had fought together, too. Unless there was no other choice, none of them wanted to turn on their own.

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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 said no more.

The next moment, one shadow after another vanished. Only Naruto, Kazeka's team, and Anko remained.

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

Anko looked at Kazeka.

"The seal you placed on me earlier was temporary.

When it wears off, will the damage Orochimaru caused still affect me?"

"No."

Kazeka shook his head. In the original events, Orochimaru's Cursed Seal had left Anko bedridden for a long time, but that had been due to a chain reaction.

"I transferred the damage away from you from the start.

That broke the chain reaction, so it won't affect you. But there is one thing..."

Kazeka looked at Anko, making her heart leap again just as it had begun to settle.

"Although I used a Sealing Jutsu, which won't do much to the Cursed Seal itself, Orochimaru has always been cautious.

My appearance may well prompt him to upgrade the Cursed Seal again.

If possible, you should come to my Laboratory after the exam so I can take care of it."

"I will."

Anko nodded. The Hokage had been worried about her meeting Kazeka, fearing it could lead to other serious, unforeseen consequences.

But Kazeka's abilities had clearly surpassed the point where that was worth worrying about.

As far as Anko knew, if Kazeka hadn't been there, the sealing methods she had relied on before would have left her collapsed in pain at the very first clash, completely unable to fight back.

"Keep going with the exam. I still have to report everything that happened here to Lord Hokage. Remember, if you run into Orochimaru again, don't be so reckless!"

Anko left. Watching her disappear, Kiba Inuzuka furrowed his brow.

"I thought something this serious would make Examiner Anko stop the exam!"

"Especially since our opponent was Orochimaru..."

Hinata gave a cold snort.

"If he hadn't been wary of the Third Hokage and affected by Kazeka, he could have killed everyone here with ease.

The other examinees would have been just as helpless.

He couldn't beat the Third Hokage, but he could still avoid him while slaughtering everyone else here.

You didn't even realize that? Have you left your brain in the trash?"

"Hinata's right. Even the Third Hokage can only watch and wait for now..."

Kazeka agreed.

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

"Doesn't that make this dangerous?"

Only then did Naruto get a word in. He sounded worried.

"Orochimaru's after Sasuke. What should we do if we run into him again?"

"Naruto, are you worried about me?"

Hearing Naruto's words, Sasuke's lips curled slightly.

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

"And..."

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

"Sasuke's personality is getting weirder and weirder. Kazeka, is this your doing?"

"Getting away from Orochimaru again will be easy. Did you think I'd show myself without preparing anything?"

Kazeka crouched down and set a strange-looking cup on a tree trunk.

The cup was shaped like a hawk gazing up at the sky, with one talon as its base. Its body was covered in raised, sharp beaks and eyes.

As Kazeka formed a hand seal, the hawk's beak at the rim suddenly opened.

Thin and thick black strands suddenly shot out from the surrounding battlefield wreckage and converged inside the cup.

There were only seven or eight strands. Once they had been absorbed, the Hawk Cup's beak closed, and Kazeka explained.

"This is the Hawk Cup. I got the idea from the Holy Grail of the Summoning Beast—the Hawk Clan—and made a replica.

With it, I can collect traces Orochimaru left behind during the fight: flesh, blood, even strands of hair.

These things might not seem like much to you, but they can tell me a lot...

It can't capture targets as powerfully as the Hawk Clan's Holy Grail, but it has plenty of other little functions..."

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

After pecking away half the flesh, the beaks seemed satisfied. Each spat out a thin black strand that attached itself to one of the pieces of meat.

Before their eyes, both pieces of flesh changed into compasses. The black strands, with their arrowheads, served as the needles.

"Here!"

Kazeka tossed a palm-sized compass to Naruto.

"The arrow points to Orochimaru's location.

A weak tremor means he's far away. If it starts shaking violently, he's close!

This won't work for long. With Orochimaru's abilities, he'll soon notice it and destroy it. But it should help us make it through the second exam!"

"Thanks!"

Naruto thanked him, then quickly added:

"You still haven't answered me about Sasuke!"

"In this Forest of Death, danger lurks everywhere. You never know when something unexpected might happen..."

Kazeka looked seriously at Naruto and the others.

"We can't keep traveling with you. Be careful. We'll see you in the third exam!"

"Hey, answer me, damn it!"

Seeing Kazeka dodge the question, Naruto knew his suspicion was right. He grabbed onto Kazeka and refused to let go.

"I know what you're like. You're obviously feeling guilty, avoiding the question like that. Something's definitely wrong with Sasuke!"

"Naruto, don't sweat the details!"

"Details? Is that what you think this is about?"

Naruto was stunned.

"Do you even understand how important this is?"

"Looks like the Konoha guys are already turning on each other before we've even made a move..."

At the sound of the low, hoarse voice, a group of Sound Ninja appeared. Dosu, at their head, watched Naruto and Kazeka's team.

A bloodthirsty smile crept across his face.