The Assessment Ends

Orochimaru's attacks slowed!

Hiroki keenly realized that Orochimaru was attacking less frequently and more slowly, and that he wasn't using any new moves!

Sure enough, the next moment, Orochimaru stopped attacking.

"You've passed the assessment," he said in that uniquely flat, hoarse voice of his. "Come find me at the same time and place tomorrow."

Before the words had even faded, his figure vanished from where he stood, as silently as ink dissolving in water, as if he had never been there at all.

[Connection to "Orochimaru" has been severed.]

The alarm in Hiroki's mind abruptly fell silent. He let out a small breath, and at last the tension in his nerves eased. He'd passed again...

Meanwhile, on the grounds of the Konoha Ninja Academy.

The Orochimaru who had been kindly questioning the Ninja Academy students paused for a moment.

The vast flood of information transmitted by the Shadow Clone just before it dispersed surged into his brain.

It wasn't a simple report of the battle, but a complete, first-person experience of the offense and defense.

He had "personally" felt his Genjutsu intercepted, analyzed, and dismantled by an invisible barrier.

He couldn't even understand how the other boy had done it!

It was Genjutsu!

In all of Konoha, the only ones capable of resisting Genjutsu to this degree were the Uchiha, with their Sharingan, and this child!

Moreover, Orochimaru keenly noticed a difference.

The Uchiha Clan's resistance to Genjutsu was closer to this: you cast it, and they resist it!

In other words, they just powered through it.

But this child had actually reacted right away, though he hadn't made it particularly obvious.

Then, by some mysterious means, he tried to dismantle Orochimaru's Genjutsu step by step—and more importantly, he hadn't used the standard Genjutsu: Release taught in Konoha, which relied on disrupting one's chakra.

Was this more knowledge from who-knew-where?

How many times had this happened now?

"Interesting..." An unprecedented gleam flickered in Orochimaru's golden, serpentine eyes.

He thought of a forbidden jutsu created by the Second Hokage.

Impure World Reincarnation.

The jutsu could bring the dead back from the underworld.

Did that mean that someone who had died could also be reincarnated, or even take over another person's body?

Orochimaru smiled, intrigued.

Perhaps this child's Kekkei Genkai wasn't simply copying or mental resistance.

Maybe he was an outsider—a centuries-old monster who had taken over someone's body or been reincarnated.

And soon, Orochimaru's keen insight revealed another crucial point, a trait that could prove to be a fatal weakness.

From beginning to end, Sawada Hiroki seemed to have only defended himself.

He hadn't tried to attack Orochimaru's Shadow Clone—but that didn't fit with what the Ninja Academy taught.

The Ninja Academy certainly didn't teach that when you faced a teacher's test or a powerful enemy, you didn't need to attack and could just stand still and react.

That sort of thinking was rare even in the entire Shinobi World.

Passive defense... a lack of any real inclination to attack. Orochimaru often saw this behavior in just one kind of person.

The children of sufficiently wealthy daimyo or nobles. They didn't take part in battles, only handling money and domestic affairs. And killing them wouldn't affect the course of a war, so their children tended to be like this.

But Sawada Hiroki was an orphan!

How could an orphan have a trait usually found in children from wealthy families?

Orochimaru licked his lips, calmly analyzing the situation.

Could it be that the other boy had no way to attack?

Jiraiya's report had clearly stated that Sawada Hiroki possessed a powerful Genjutsu attack that could instantly dispel a Shadow Clone, but required physical contact to activate.

That Genjutsu attack had even affected the original after the Shadow Clone was dispelled.

So the other boy was capable of fighting back.

In theory, the most effective counterattack when Orochimaru put him under Genjutsu pressure would have been to charge forward without hesitation and try to make physical contact with the Shadow Clone.

After all, the boy could resist Orochimaru's Genjutsu to a degree, and Orochimaru hadn't tried attacking him by other means.

Charging in to counterattack would certainly have made a better impression on the examiner.

But he hadn't.

From beginning to end, Sawada Hiroki had stood still, calmly thinking through how to deal with Orochimaru's Genjutsu. Everything he did revolved around "how to withstand an attack." He had never actively sought out "how to counterattack."

That trait could hardly be called a strength.

"Really... a little too cautious, aren't you?" Orochimaru's lips curled into a chilling smile.

Could this be an opening?

At the edge of the Forest of Death, Hiroki let out a long breath, relieved to have made it through another inexplicable assessment.

He turned, about to say something to Kushina, but found the girl looking at him with an extremely complicated expression.

But what emotion did that look hold?

Hiroki couldn't tell.

What had happened?

Kushina's mind was still a muddle.

Just a moment earlier, she had been experiencing Hiroki's sudden "confession," which had made her heart race. The next moment, that terrifying blue snake had crawled out of his mouth... Then, before the bone-deep fear had even had time to fully sink in, everything around her had abruptly returned to normal.

Teacher Orochimaru had disappeared, and the assessment was over.

And Hiroki... He stood there, breathing a little heavily, but didn't even look all that tired.

It was as if she'd been the only one who'd been hopelessly lost in that Genjutsu.

Again.

It was just like before.

During the Cloud Village kidnapping, Hiroki had turned the situation around.

During Lord Jiraiya's assessment, Hiroki had settled everything with one decisive blow.

And this time, facing that terrifying, snake-like teacher, she'd been toyed with like a fool from start to finish, while Hiroki had once again resolved every problem with ease.

She... seemed like nothing but a dead-last. Someone who could only follow behind him, never help with anything, and get easily confused by Genjutsu—a burden.

A powerful sense of helplessness and resentment wound around her heart like a vine.

Her dream of becoming Hokage seemed so distant and ridiculous at that moment.

No!

She bit her lower lip hard, her nails digging deep into her palms.

She couldn't go on like this! She didn't want to be someone who could only be protected anymore! She wanted to grow stronger—strong enough to stand beside him, not always hide behind him!

Suddenly, Kushina thought of when she had first come to Konoha.

When she had just moved to Konoha, the village children had isolated her because of her red hair. She had hidden away and cried.

An elderly woman with the same red hair and a gentle, kindly air had found her. She had softly stroked Kushina's head and told her, "I'm from the Uzumaki Clan too. If you ever run into any trouble in the village, you can come to me."

Grandma Mito!

A flame reignited in Kushina's eyes.

She remembered that Grandma Mito lived in that tall building shaped like a whirlpool.

She would go ask for help. She would find a way to grow stronger that belonged to her!