Heavenly Cursed Seal

Thinking of this, Orochimaru could not help but recall an old friend, Hiruko.

His ideal was to fuse the Kekkei Genkai of others, and the current situation of Naruto Uzumaki was exactly as the other had described.

This made Orochimaru begin to wonder if that person had truly developed a ninjutsu capable of fusing the Kekkei Genkai of others.

"It seems I must find this old friend of mine when the opportunity arises." Regardless of the method Naruto used, the fact that he succeeded meant that fusing Kekkei Genkai was a possibility.

Of course, no matter how much Orochimaru speculated, he would never guess that Naruto was using the ability of the Six Thief Immortals.

However, one should not underestimate Orochimaru's creative ability; in the original timeline, Hiruko was able to do it, and if Orochimaru set his mind to it, he would certainly be able to do it as well.

In the forest, under a large tree, Naruto leaned against the trunk, with Hinata resting beside him, her head pillowed on his shoulder.

Second Pillar had been placed by Naruto inside a hollow in the tree.

"He's awake." Although Naruto was deep in thought, his senses remained focused on his surroundings; in an unfamiliar environment, he was not sure if Orochimaru would send the Sound Four to test Sasuke again.

Hinata did not move, her mood very low, her white eyes appearing somewhat dim.

"Naruto, am I very useless?" Being frightened into unconsciousness by the other's aura was a heavy blow to Hinata.

In the original work, Hinata was in the reconnaissance squad and rarely saw combat. Now, in the same squad as Naruto, their first battle was against a wild boar; although they won, it wasn't easy for Hinata, and she only succeeded with Naruto's guidance, even getting injured. But she could console herself that it was just a beast. The second time she encountered Zabuza, she had no chance to act at all and could only watch silently as Naruto fought. This time, encountering Orochimaru, she was frightened into unconsciousness, especially in front of the person she liked. If she couldn't intervene in every battle, did she still have the confidence to like Naruto?

Naruto did not know what Hinata was thinking. Neither Zabuza nor Orochimaru were ordinary ninjas, so he had never noticed Hinata's feelings. Besides, he just liked Hinata's gentle and weak appearance; it had a kind of ancient beauty.

"Still sad about what happened just now?" Naruto did not turn his head.

"Do you know who he is?" Naruto asked softly.

Hinata naturally did not care about the other's identity; her focus was entirely on the fact that she could not fight the enemy, could not protect Naruto, and wondered if she was qualified to stand by his side.

"He is Orochimaru, one of the Sannin. Even I am no match for him. Fortunately, his goal was not us, so don't be discouraged." Although Naruto did not know Hinata's inner thoughts, encountering such a strong enemy would inevitably shake one's confidence, so Naruto directly revealed the other's identity.

"Orochimaru?" As expected, Hinata was very surprised.

"Yes, very strong," Naruto said. Without exposing his full strength, he was no match, and even if he did, he couldn't completely kill the other. He didn't know how many people the other had branded with the Heavenly Cursed Seal.

"What did he come here for?" Even Hinata knew the other was a missing-nin.

Hearing that it was Orochimaru, Hinata could not help but feel much more relaxed.

"Probably for Sasuke. Sasuke was tampered with by him." Naruto naturally did not want to tell Hinata about Orochimaru's true purpose.

When Orochimaru killed the Third Hokage, many in Konoha actually agreed with it in their hearts. Not to mention how many experts were in the Hokage's faction, there were also veteran jonin among Kakashi, Guy, Danzo, and the Ino-Shika-Cho.

If they really wanted to save the Third Hokage, how could they not have rescued him? It was just that everyone was tired of the Third, and they tacitly wanted him to exit the stage in such a way.

The Third Hokage had done a great job in his early years; there was no doubt he deserved the title of Professor. But after the death of the Fourth Hokage, the Third changed. Why couldn't the Third, who also knew the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, seal the Nine-Tails? Could the Third really not beat the Nine-Tails? The death of Hizashi, the genocide of the Uchiha, the death of Hatake Sakumo—on the surface, it was Danzo's doing, but the members of the great clans were not idiots. So much so that when the Third died, only the Anbu were present. Orochimaru killing the Third could be considered giving him a decent way to die.

"How is Sasuke?" Hinata finally remembered Sasuke, quickly sitting up straight and looking at Naruto.

"He's inside. Don't worry, there's no major problem. You should rest a bit more." Naruto did not care about Sasuke; he knew Orochimaru was sending Sasuke a power-up. Although the Cursed Seal was not a good thing, it was essentially a form of senjutsu.

Thinking of Sasuke's situation, Naruto couldn't help but sigh. In the early stages, Orochimaru sent power-ups; in the middle, Itachi Uchiha sent eyes; in the late stages, the Sage of Six Paths sent the Rinnegan. Think of how difficult it was for Madara Uchiha to awaken the Rinnegan—fighting Hashirama, being killed, losing a Sharingan, and only awakening the Rinnegan at the very end of his life.

Although Hinata hadn't fought, her spirit had been impacted by Orochimaru's killing intent. She was fine, but now she was a bit listless and needed a good rest.

Hearing that Sasuke was fine, Hinata took a look and immediately felt relieved, leaning back against the tree. As for Naruto's shoulder, she didn't have the courage to take the initiative.

Naruto knew Hinata's personality, so he directly used his hand to place her head onto his shoulder.

Hinata did not resist, feeling a little happy, and her spirits improved significantly.

Naruto did not pay attention to Hinata, as he had been thinking about Orochimaru all along. Come to think of it, who knows how many good things Orochimaru had collected? After all, Orochimaru's early dream was to learn all high-level ninjutsu.

It was unknown how much time had passed when Sasuke wobbled awake, his right hand clutching his shoulder.

"Awake?" Naruto turned his head.

"What happened to me?" Sasuke was a bit dazed.

"You were bitten by a snake," Naruto said with a solemn expression after thinking for a moment.

Sasuke was stunned, then remembered that he had indeed been bitten by a snake.

Especially when he recalled the scene of Orochimaru's head flying over, Sasuke couldn't help but shiver.

"How do you feel? If there's no problem, we'll continue on our way."

"A bit dizzy." Sasuke frowned, his neck still aching.

Naruto stood up and walked toward Sasuke.

"I can help you seal it, but I can't completely solve it for now." After thinking about it, Naruto decided to take action.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke did not understand.

"What's on your neck is not a good thing. I believe you can feel it yourself. I don't know the specifics, but I can temporarily seal it for you." Naruto did not explain in detail.

Sasuke naturally trusted him.

Raising his right hand, chakra appeared on his five fingers.

He pressed one hand onto Sasuke's neck.

[Five Elements Seal]

This was the sealing technique Naruto was currently most proficient in; it could perfectly seal a ninja's chakra.