What? Orochimaru, you

Qianyu's progress through the Forest of Death gradually shifted from his initial physical discomfort into a cold, efficient rhythm.

He encountered several more teams of ninja.

One team consisted of unknown Konoha genin. The three of them trembled as they looked at Qianyu standing alone, hesitating over whether to attack. Qianyu merely gave them a calm glance and pointed at the dried, blackened bloodstains on his clothes. "Are you sure you want to try?"

The three Konoha genin immediately went pale, shaking their heads repeatedly before quickly retreating. Qianyu did not make things difficult for them.

Another team came from some small country. Their gazes were vicious, and without a word, they fired poisoned shuriken at him. Qianyu did not use Wood Release. He simply combined taijutsu with the Body Flicker Technique, breaking their arms and leg bones, taking their scrolls, and leaving them where they lay wailing. He did not kill them, but it was enough to force them out of the exam.

He now held enough Heaven and Earth Scrolls to make at least three pairs. But he did not care about that. His objective was clear.

At last, in a forest clearing near a stream, he saw the three figures.

Two tall, arrogant male ninja from Grass Village stood with the red-haired girl with glasses between them. Karin had her head lowered, both hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes as her body trembled faintly. Several fresh bite marks had appeared on her exposed arms.

Qianyu did not hide. He walked straight out of the woods.

The instant he stepped from the shadows, the two Grass ninja immediately acted as though they faced a formidable enemy! They swiftly put distance between themselves and him, kunai in hand as chakra surged through their bodies. It was not because they recognized Qianyu, but because of how he looked at that moment—

His long black hair was simply tied behind his head, while stray bangs across his forehead were dotted with forest dew and long-dried dark red specks of blood. Darker stains spread in patches across the dark fabric of his clothes—proof of blood that had splattered over him at different times, in different amounts.

Most striking of all were his eyes, calm without the slightest ripple. He looked as if he had just strolled out from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, still carrying an aura of killing intent that had yet to dissipate.

This was no ordinary genin! This was someone who had killed many people—and was very practiced at it!

"A Konoha..." The Grass ninja with a scar on his left cheek spoke in a dry voice, his expression wavering with uncertainty. Grass Village was a minor village. Their participation in the Chunin Exams was mostly for appearances and intelligence gathering; they rarely truly risked their lives. The person before them was clearly bad news.

The Grass ninja on the right, with a cloth band wrapped around his forehead, swallowed and forced himself to remain calm. "We... have no quarrel with each other. Our scroll is an Earth Scroll; it might not be what you need. How about we go our separate ways?"

They were backing down.

Qianyu said nothing. His gaze merely settled on Karin, and when he saw the fresh wounds on her arms, a distinct flash of anger crossed his eyes.

The two Grass ninja caught that subtle change. They exchanged a look, then suddenly attacked!

The scar-faced Grass ninja rapidly formed hand seals. "Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"

Several invisible, razor-sharp wind blades tore through the air, slicing toward Qianyu in a fan-shaped spread! At the same time, the cloth-banded Grass ninja flickered forward from the flank like a ghost, driving his kunai straight at Qianyu's ribs! Their coordination was not particularly refined, but the attack was sudden enough—more than sufficient against an ordinary genin.

Qianyu moved.

He did not even form hand seals. He merely stepped half a pace forward with his left foot, shifting his body by a hair's breadth to evade the densest cluster of wind blades. Then his right hand shot out like lightning, accurately seizing the cloth-banded Grass ninja's wrist.

Crack!

A crisp sound of bone breaking rang out.

"Argh—!" The cloth-banded Grass ninja screamed, his kunai falling from his hand. Qianyu used the momentum to pull and fling him away, sending him smashing into a nearby tree trunk like a ragged sack. With a dull bang, he slid to the ground, spitting blood and unable to get back up for the moment.

The scar-faced Grass ninja's pupils shrank sharply. Without hesitation, he leaped backward. At the same time, he looked at his fallen companion, then at Karin, who was trembling in terror, and a flash of viciousness and habitual greed passed through his eyes.

He needed chakra to recover from his injuries. He needed strength to deal with this monstrous Konoha ninja!

"Karin! Get over here!" he barked, charging toward her at the same time.

Karin shuddered all over. Almost instinctively, she shakily raised her arm. The movement had long become a conditioned reflex.

A cruel grin spread across the scar-faced Grass ninja's face. He opened his mouth, exposing pale white teeth as he prepared to bite down on that scar-covered arm!

Just before his teeth could touch her skin—

"You... are asking to die."

Qianyu's voice was soft, yet it was like an icy steel needle piercing directly into their eardrums.

He had originally only intended to subdue them, take their scroll, and save Karin. But now, seeing that Grass ninja instinctively thinking of using Karin even at a time like this, seeing Karin's numb yet terrified motion of raising her arm... an uncontrollable fury surged through him!

These pieces of trash!

His hands came together in an instant.

With him at the center, the ground, trees, vines... every plant within a ten-meter radius seemed to be infused with violent life force, erupting into a frenzy!

"Wood Release: Binding Tree Eternal Burial!"

The scar-faced Grass ninja's cruel grin froze on his face. The ground beneath his feet suddenly split open, and seven or eight grotesque tree trunks as thick as water barrels, covered in sharp wooden spikes, burst from the earth. Like giant serpents from hell, they instantly wrapped around him, constricted, and pierced through him!

"No—!!!" His shriek, so agonized that his voice warped, lasted only half a second before it was drowned out by the teeth-grating sounds of crack, splat!

On the other side, the cloth-banded Grass ninja had only just struggled to his feet. Before he could see what had happened, equally terrifying wooden trunks growing from the large tree behind him swept him up and crushed him...

In the span of two or three breaths, the two living men were twisted before Karin's eyes by the wildly growing wooden tendrils into two unrecognizable heaps of bloody mush mixed with shattered bones and organs.

A nauseatingly heavy stench of blood exploded through the air, drowning out the forest's natural scent.

Qianyu slowly lowered his hands, the chakra fluctuations around him settling. He stepped over the spreading bloodstains and walked toward Karin, who stood frozen in place.

Karin was completely stunned. Behind her glasses, her violet pupils had widened to their limit. She stared blankly at the two bloody remains, which were swiftly swallowed by the wooden tendrils and slowly sank underground, before stiffly turning toward Qianyu as he came to stand before her.

The boy before her had walked through blood, his black clothes stained with filth, his features flickering between light and shadow beneath the mottled forest canopy. He had just used a power beyond her comprehension to instantly butcher two people she regarded as strong, with methods so cruel they made her scalp go numb.

He looked like a demon.

But...

From this demon-like boy, she could not feel the slightest malice. Not even a trace. Instead, what she sensed was a kind of... blazing anger, fury that had not yet faded. Yet more clearly than that, when he looked at her, it was swiftly replaced by gentle concern?

No greed, no exploitation, no treating her like a tool

Nothing but a pure desire to protect.

The enormous contrast made Karin's mind completely shut down. She could only stare blankly at Qianyu, her lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Seeing the terrified girl before him, Qianyu knew this was not the time to explain. He had to deal with this place quickly, and then—

With a thought, his eyes instantly turned blood-red, three tomoe slowly spinning within them.

Sharingan Hypnosis.

Karin's gaze instantly lost focus, and her body limply fell backward. Qianyu stepped forward to catch her, speaking softly at the same time.

"Abin."

Ripples spread across the ground beside them, and Abin emerged as though surfacing from water. He looked at the unconscious Karin and nodded. "Got it, Little Dried Fish. Take her back to our little house and hide her, right?"

"Yeah. Be careful not to let anyone see you. I'll deal with it when I get back," Qianyu instructed quickly.

Abin's body stretched and spread like liquid, gently wrapping around the unconscious Karin before slowly sinking into the earth. His presence disappeared completely.

Having dealt with Karin, Qianyu had just breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to clear away the traces at the scene when his expression abruptly sharpened.

Two enormous, violent, oppressive chakra surges erupted from the northwest of the forest!

They had finally met!

Qianyu hesitated no longer. His body became a blur as he raced toward the source of the chakra, weaving through the trees at full speed like the wind.

He had not gone far when he caught sight of a firework shooting into the sky from the corner of his eye, exploding above a nearby stretch of woodland.

A signal flare! It was Naruto and the others!

He adjusted his direction slightly and charged at full speed toward where the flare had risen. But before he could fully arrive, tremendous roars and rumbling came from the forest ahead!

Trees collapsed in swathes, and smoke and dust filled the air.

Qianyu rushed into a devastated forest clearing just in time to see a massive snake, its scales gleaming with a cold light, thrashing violently and sweeping the surrounding trees into ruin. In front of it, a blond figure charged forward without fear.

"Naruto! Back off!"

Qianyu shouted, bursting forward with the Body Flicker Technique. He appeared beside Naruto in an instant, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and retreated dozens of meters with him a second before the giant snake's tail swept through!

"Qianyu!" Naruto was set down and turned to see him. Surprise and delight flashed across his face, only to be immediately replaced by anxiety. "You're here—that's great! Sasuke! That weird woman bit Sasuke, and then he passed out! Sakura's over there protecting him!"

Qianyu followed the direction Naruto pointed. Sakura was half-kneeling beside a tree, shielding the unconscious Sasuke. On Sasuke's neck, a black Three-Tomoe Curse Mark slowly writhed beneath his skin, emanating an ominous aura.

As expected... he was still one step too late.

A figure stood atop the purple giant snake's head.

Under Qianyu's wary gaze, the figure reached up, grabbed the skin at the edge of her cheek, and slowly tore downward.

A human-skin mask peeled away, revealing a pale, androgynous male face. Long black hair fell loose, and golden vertical pupils glimmered with cold, inquisitive light in the shadows.

"Long time no see, Qianyu-kun."

Orochimaru's voice was low and hoarse, carrying the distinctive hiss of a snake, yet he called Qianyu by name with perfect accuracy. His tone was familiar, as though old friends had reunited.

Every muscle in Qianyu's body tensed at once, chakra rapidly circulating through him. He stepped forward, subtly shielding Naruto behind him as he spoke in a low voice.

"Orochimaru. What do you want?"

Wood Release chakra began rushing through his body, while natural energy faintly responded as well. He was prepared to enter Sage Mode at any moment—against an opponent of this level, holding anything back was suicide.

Yet Orochimaru did not seem eager to fight. He licked his lips, his long tongue sliding over the corner of his mouth in an inexplicably eerie motion. His gaze swept over Qianyu from head to toe, tangible as substance, as though admiring a perfect work of art—or assessing something.

"What do I want?" Orochimaru chuckled softly, the sound enough to make one's skin crawl. "I'm very curious about you, Qianyu-kun. Ever since you were six, when you first clumsily tried to make a little sapling grow by that secluded river in Konoha... I've been watching."

Qianyu's heart suddenly clenched, and a cold sweat instantly broke out across his back.

Six years old? Practicing Wood Release by the river? That had been when he first secretly began trying to control Wood Release! The location had been extremely secluded, and he had usually practiced late at night! Orochimaru... had been watching him from that early on?!

"And that peculiar little follower of yours... Abin, was it?" Orochimaru's smile deepened.

He knew! He even knew about Abin!

Qianyu felt a chill shoot straight from his tailbone to the top of his head. Before this man, his greatest secrets seemingly had not been secrets for a long time! He had been living under the other man's surveillance all along, completely unaware! The horror of that realization temporarily overwhelmed even his tension over the battle.

He could not wait any longer! He had to enter Sage Mode immediately!

Qianyu's hands instinctively moved to come together, drawing upon natural energy—

"Don't be nervous, Qianyu-kun." Orochimaru suddenly spoke, his tone carrying a strange, almost teasing reassurance. "I have no immediate hostility toward you."

He paused. Watching Qianyu remain tense, his golden vertical pupils narrowed slightly. Then, in exceptionally standard Chinese—even carrying a hint of some otherworldly accent—he slowly and clearly recited a sentence.

"Change is odd, invariance is even."

Qianyu: "..."

His entire body froze in place.

His hands stiffened in midair, the flow of chakra abruptly stagnating. It was as though his mind had been struck by lightning, instantly turning blank.

His pupils shook.

What?

What had he just... heard?

Chinese? Standard Mandarin? "Odd changes, even remains unchanged"????

Wasn't this... wasn't this some kind of coded joke from his previous life's world, passed around during their school days to test whether someone was "one of us"????

How did Orochimaru... know that phrase? And say it in Chinese????

Countless question marks flashed wildly through Qianyu's mind like exploding fireworks. Shock, absurdity, disbelief, utter confusion... all those emotions mixed together, completely shattering the coldness and vigilance on his face, leaving behind only a nearly vacant bewilderment.

He opened his mouth, staring at the pale, effeminate, lip-licking, strangely smiling "one of the Three Sannin" before him, feeling as though his worldview had developed a massive, incomprehensible crack.

"Y-you... what did you just... say?" Qianyu's voice was so dry it barely sounded like his own.

The smile on Orochimaru's face deepened.