Strength

At that moment, Zaku also came up with a defensive method. He used his ninja tool to create a wall of compressed air, blocking the Phoenix Flower Technique outside.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The explosions continued for three seconds.

The mist around them gradually dispersed. Though neither of them had suffered any serious injuries, they had both been blackened by the flames.

Josuke watched it all calmly.

The three Sound ninja had been badly hurt by Josuke, especially Dosu. That last attack had left his insides churning violently.

Dosu struggled to his feet, one hand clutching his stomach.

"Kin, Zaku, call them out!"

Dosu spoke to the two of them.

Kin nodded and blew a sound through a specially made horn.

Three ninja emerged from the dense forest.

They stood beside the three Sound ninja. There were more of them?

Josuke was startled. Weren't there only the three of them in the original story?

Could his arrival have changed the original plot?

Josuke considered it, then immediately rejected the idea. Maybe the three Sound ninja had allies in the forest all along in the original story.

It was just that Sasuke had awakened the Curse Mark in the original story, so the three people in the forest had never shown themselves.

But now that he did not have the Curse Mark, Dosu and the others wanted to win through numbers.

Josuke looked toward the ninja who had emerged from the woods. Their forehead protectors bore the symbol of the Hidden Rain Village. He was not worried about having more enemies; they were nothing but rabble.

Besides...

Josuke turned to look in Sasuke's direction. This guy was about to wake up, wasn't he?

Seeing that their reinforcements had arrived, the three Sound ninja immediately became arrogant again. "Hey, hand over the scroll if you know what's good for you, or you'll regret it!"

Josuke sneered.

"Oh? Is that so? Then come and try!"

Seeing that trash talk was useless, Dosu gave a signal. The three Hidden Rain ninja and the three of them moved together.

The Hidden Rain trio attacked first with ninjutsu. Three water bullets flew toward Josuke, trying to seal off his escape routes. How naïve!

Josuke activated his Sharingan!

At that instant, the attacks of the three men seemed to slow down.

Josuke formed hand seals.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball instantly destroyed the three small water bullets, then continued flying toward the three men without losing any power. They tried to get up and flee, but Josuke's Sharingan flashed!

Genjutsu activated. (Just to stack a buff here: he learned genjutsu on his own, not from the Sharingan. Also, personally, I think activating the Sharingan can increase the power of genjutsu.)

The three of them were controlled for two seconds. In those two seconds, the Great Fireball Technique reached them.

Boom!

The flames engulfed the three of them.

"Ahhh!!!"

The three let out agonized screams. When the flames faded, one of them was bleeding nonstop from the blast, while the other two had suffered burns to varying degrees.

At the same time.

Dosu attacked Josuke from behind, while Kin and Zaku took the opportunity to head toward Sakura, intending to seize the scroll.

Josuke cursed inwardly. What a bunch of sneaky bastards.

But Dosu had him tied down for the moment, and he could only watch the two approach Sakura. A wicked smile appeared at the corner of Josuke's mouth.

His little brother was about to wake up.

Over by Sakura, Zaku's hand was already about to touch her. He wore the smile of a victor.

"The scroll is mine!"

But the outstretched hand was suddenly seized by another hand. Zaku was shocked.

What was going on?

He turned his head and saw that Sasuke, who had been lying on the ground just moments ago, had awakened. Black Curse Marks covered his face, and evil energy radiated from his body.

Zaku instinctively tried to break free, only to discover that his hand was caught like it was held in a pair of iron pincers. He could not move at all.

A cracking sound rang out, and Zaku let out a scream of agony. His hand—his hand had actually been broken!

Sasuke stared at himself in disbelief. That power! That power! The power that could kill that man!

Sasuke grinned viciously and prepared to kill the person before him. Kin tried to stop him, but it was already too late.

"Sasuke!"

At that moment, Sakura hugged Sasuke from behind. Sasuke's pupils widened!

It pulled him back from his madness.

He panted heavily.

Sasuke came to his senses, while Zaku had already fled far away.

Not far off, Josuke watched the scene with great interest. Dosu had been beaten unconscious beside him.

As expected of my Uchiha Sakura.

The three Hidden Rain genin had also regained consciousness, but they had already lost their ability to fight. They looked at Josuke in fear. Josuke looked at them.

"If you don't want to die, get lost," Josuke said coldly.

Hearing Josuke's words, the three Hidden Rain genin felt as though they had been pardoned. Supporting one another, they fled from the area.

Josuke then spoke to Dosu.

"Take your companions and leave. You have ten seconds."

Hearing Josuke speak, Dosu said nothing. He went over to Zaku, helped him up, and left with him.

With everything settled, Josuke watched them disappear into the distance before lying down on the ground. He was exhausted, completely exhausted.

"Sasuke, you're finally awake!" Sakura said happily. "Yeah... I'm fine now, Sakura." Sasuke looked at Sakura.

Ino had mostly recovered as well, so she walked over to Josuke.

"Arigato, Josuke."

Sakura said the same.

"Thank you, Josuke. If you hadn't arrived in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable." Sakura looked at Josuke gratefully.

Josuke waved his hand. "We're all companions from the Hidden Leaf Village, so let's not be so polite with each other. This isn't a safe place to stay for long. We should get somewhere safe first!"

"Okay."

... (I'm too lazy to write the rest. Basically, they carried Naruto away, Naruto woke up later, then Kabuto joined them, and Team 7 successfully reached the Tower of Trials and passed the test. After that came the one-on-one battles of the third stage of the Chunin Exams. Sasuke narrowly defeated his opponent, then Kakashi took him away because of the Curse Mark. The later matches remained unchanged, and Josuke also easily passed after fighting some random nobody.)

What came next was!!!!!

The Konoha Crush Plan! Begin!

(Author: Back then, I didn't understand what kind of bastard the Third Hokage was. I thought he was a good person... I was even shocked when he died QAQ. Looking back now, he was just a filthy reanimated monkey.)

As the smoke cleared, everyone had fallen under the illusion, including some genin with weak resistance. This was all a carefully organized and premeditated attack.

Everyone had been knocked unconscious by the illusion. Josuke opened his Sharingan within the smoke; this level of genjutsu was still far too weak for him.

Inside the Chunin Exams arena.

The Hidden Leaf ninja had already begun fighting the Sound ninja and Sand ninja. Josuke crawled quietly beneath the tables and chairs. As he passed Ino, he took a look at her. Kawaii ๑ŐεŐ๑.

Then he pinched Ino's little cheek before quietly crawling away. With the arena now in complete chaos, he used the Transformation Technique and turned into Kabuto Yakushi.

He quietly made his way to the Hokage's office building...