Collision

On the morning of the second exam.

Leaf Village, outskirts of the Training Ground.

Yunju stood in a corner of the gathering point disguised as Dosu, his head wrapped in bandages, leaving only his left eye exposed. His right arm wore that distinctive perforated armor. Dressed in the dark uniform of Sound Hidden Village, he radiated a gloomy, dangerous aura.

He looked completely different from his previous Grass Hidden Village disguise.

Kin and Zaku stood beside him. Kin was a quiet female ninja whose dark hair covered half her face. She carried a massive scroll on her back. Zaku was broad and powerfully built, with special air ducts fitted to both arms. He looked like a war machine ready to activate at any moment.

Both were waiting for his orders.

Dosu—or rather, the identity of Dosu—was the leader of the Sound ninja trio. Orochimaru had placed this team under his command, partly out of trust—or trust in an "experimental subject"—and partly to give him greater freedom of movement.

Leaning against the wall, Yunju swept his gaze over the teams arriving one after another.

The Leaf genin clustered together, while the Sand Village group kept their distance. The Grass Hidden Village team had nearly broken up—Yunju's identity was no longer usable, and he had no idea where Karin had been assigned.

"They're here." Orochimaru's voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

Yunju did not turn around, because he knew Orochimaru would not appear in his original face. Sure enough, a ninja in Sound Hidden Village clothing with an unfamiliar face walked past him without slowing. Only as they brushed shoulders did he murmur a single sentence.

"Among Leaf's twelve genin, there are two targets worth noting."

Yunju's ears perked up slightly.

"The first is Neji Hyuga. The strongest of Leaf's twelve rookies, a genius from the Hyuga branch family, and the wielder of the Byakugan." Orochimaru's voice was so low that only Yunju could hear it. "The Byakugan is one of the three great ocular techniques. It grants nearly three hundred and sixty degrees of vision and the ability to see chakra flow. His close-range taijutsu is extremely strong. The Gentle Fist can seal an opponent's chakra points and damage their internal organs. Do not engage him at close range."

Yunju's heart stirred.

The Byakugan.

It was an ocular technique as famous as the Sharingan. Kimimaro had once dismissed the Senju by saying they had merely ridden on others' fame, but Orochimaru clearly had an entirely different attitude toward the bloodlines of the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.

"The second is Sasuke Uchiha." A trace of eagerness suddenly entered Orochimaru's voice, a tone Yunju knew all too well—whenever Orochimaru spoke of the Sharingan, he sounded exactly like this. "The orphan of the Uchiha clan, possessing the Sharingan. Though he has only just awakened it, his potential is immeasurable. His Sharingan can copy an opponent's ninjutsu, predict movements, and perceive fine details."

Yunju's fingers tightened slightly.

"I've already told you what the Sharingan and Byakugan can do," Orochimaru said. "If you encounter those two, do not act rashly. Observe, record, collect data. Sasuke especially..."

Orochimaru paused.

"He is mine."

Yunju lowered his head, his exposed left eye narrowing slightly beneath the bandages.

He had long heard of Orochimaru's obsession with the Sharingan. Back when Orochimaru had shifted from "focusing on Yunju's development" to "placing him in cold storage," it had been because he saw Itachi Uchiha's Sharingan. Those eyes had captivated Orochimaru, driven him mad, made him willing to pay any price to possess them.

Now, Orochimaru had set his sights on Itachi's younger brother—Sasuke.

A thought suddenly surfaced in Yunju's mind.

What if I could do something to stop Orochimaru's plan?

Not because he wanted to save Sasuke, nor because he was loyal to Leaf Village. It was because... if Orochimaru got what he wanted, Yunju's value to him would plummet.

What would a "reserve" with no value become?

Experimental material.

Yunju shook his head inwardly.

It was not time yet. He was too weak, Orochimaru was too strong, and acting rashly would only get him killed faster.

But he could keep that thought in mind.

"The second exam begins!"

At the examiner's command, the gates of the Training Ground burst open, and dozens of teams surged into the dense forest like a tide.

Yunju led Kin and Zaku without rushing deeper inside. They moved at an unhurried, steady pace, putting distance between themselves and the other teams to avoid conflict at the entrance.

"Captain," Zaku said in a rough voice, "which direction are we going?"

Yunju did not answer immediately. His left eye swept over the surroundings—towering trees, dense undergrowth, and occasional figures flashing through the distance. This was the Forest of Death, stretching for dozens of kilometers and filled with traps and wild beasts. It was one of Leaf's harshest examination grounds.

"First, find prey." Yunju's voice was low, muffled by the bandages. "Don't rush. Wait for the other teams to start fighting, then we'll take what they leave behind."

Kin nodded without speaking.

Zaku grinned. "Got it."

The three had been moving through the forest for about half an hour when the sounds of battle suddenly came from the bushes ahead.

Yunju raised a hand. The three immediately halted and concealed themselves in the shadows of the canopy.

Through gaps in the leaves, he saw two squads fighting—one was made up of Mist Hidden Village ninja, while the other came from some minor ninja village. The three Mist ninja clearly held the upper hand. Although their Water Style ninjutsu was limited in the forest, their coordination was excellent. They quickly subdued their opponents and took their scroll.

"Mist," Yunju murmured. "They already have two scrolls on them—their own, plus the one they just took."

Zaku lowered his voice. "Hit them?"

Yunju observed for several seconds and noticed that the three Mist ninja had visibly relaxed after their victory. They were counting their spoils, completely unaware of the activity around them.

"Hit them," Yunju said. "Zaku, open with your Air Cutter and break up their formation. Kin, use sound-wave interference. Don't let them form hand seals. I'll deal with the one who gets separated."

"Yes."

The Mist squad was celebrating its victory, utterly unaware that death was closing in.

Zaku leaped down from the canopy. The air ducts on his arms let out a low hum, and invisible pressure erupted from his palms—

Air Cutter!

The compressed air exploded with the force of a cannonball. The three Mist ninja were blasted apart by the shockwave. One slammed directly into a tree trunk and passed out on the spot.

Kin followed close behind, forming hand seals and releasing a piercing sound wave from her mouth. The noise was like fingernails scraping glass, like metal grinding against metal. It stabbed into their eardrums, making the two surviving Mist ninja clutch their ears in agony. They had no time to form hand seals at all.

Yunju darted from the shadows, flashing behind the nearest Mist ninja like a ghost. The perforated armor on his right arm smashed fiercely into the back of the man's neck.

A dull thud sounded.

The man collapsed at once, without even having time to scream.

The last remaining Mist ninja finally reacted and turned to run, but Yunju was already standing before him. The only exposed left eye beneath his bandages stared at him coldly, devoid of emotion.

"Scrolls."

Only one word.

Trembling, the ninja pulled two scrolls from his clothes—the Heaven Scroll and the Earth Scroll—and offered them with both hands.

Yunju took the scrolls and put them away without another glance.

"Move."

The three figures quickly vanished into the depths of the forest, leaving the three Mist ninja on the ground—some unconscious, others limp and helpless.

Having successfully gathered both the Heaven and Earth Scrolls, Yunju should have led his team to the central tower. But he did not.

"Keep searching," he told Zaku and Kin. "Lord Orochimaru's plan is not complete. We need to remain on standby inside the examination grounds."

He was telling the truth. Orochimaru had indeed not ordered them to leave immediately. Instead, he had told them to wander the examination grounds and be ready to handle any unexpected situation.

But Yunju had another reason he did not say aloud.

He wanted to see what Orochimaru was really planning to do.

He wanted to see with his own eyes what the Sharingan Orochimaru was so obsessed with actually looked like.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Forest of Death.

Orochimaru had shed his Sound ninja disguise and returned to his original appearance—pale skin, golden snake-like eyes, purple eye shadow, and long black hair drifting in the wind.

He stood in a clearing among the trees, facing a massive ancient tree.

Three figures were curled up in the grass beneath it.

Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno.

Team 7.

The corners of Orochimaru's mouth slowly lifted into the smile of a hunter spotting prey—delighted, greedy, impatient.

"I finally found you."

He leaped down from the canopy and landed before the three of them.

Sasuke reacted first. He immediately stepped in front of Sakura and Naruto, forming hand seals as the Sharingan in his eyes slowly spun.

"Who are you?!"

Orochimaru did not answer. He merely stared into Sasuke's eyes—the tomoe slowly emerging within those black pupils.

"The Sharingan..." Orochimaru licked his lips. "What beautiful eyes."

The next instant, his figure vanished.

Sasuke's Sharingan caught the absurdly fast movement, but his body could not keep up. He only felt an enormous force slam into his abdomen before he flew away like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into a tree trunk.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out.

Naruto roared and charged forward, the kunai in his hand stabbing toward Orochimaru's throat.

Orochimaru did not even dodge.

The kunai pierced his neck, but no blood came out. That "Orochimaru" dissolved into a cloud of smoke—it was a Substitution Technique.

"Your reaction is quick," Orochimaru's voice came from behind Naruto. "But not quick enough."

A palm struck Naruto's back, sending him face-first into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Sasuke struggled to his feet, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but the Sharingan in his eyes spun even faster. He saw it—Orochimaru's chakra, chakra so immense it was suffocating, like a giant snake coiled above the clearing.

Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!

Sasuke rapidly formed hand seals and expelled a massive fireball from his mouth. The blazing flames rushed straight at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru casually stepped back, avoiding the fireball's direct impact, though the edge of his clothes still caught fire. He looked down at the burning hem, patted it out, and the smile on his lips deepened.

"Not bad Fire Style," he said. "But it's still not enough."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and tried to form hand seals again, but his body suddenly stopped obeying him. Cold chakra spread from his neck, as if something had crawled into his body.