"Ah!!"
Not long after the three of them entered the Forest of Death, a shrill scream exploded from deep within the woods, startling the birds in the nearby trees into flight.
This was followed by a series of sharp metallic clashes, then a second scream.
Sakura's fingers unconsciously tightened around her backpack strap, her knuckles turning white as her eyes swiftly darted toward the source of the sounds.
Sasuke walked at the front of the team, his expression utterly unchanged.
To Sasuke, those screams meant two things: there was a battle nearby, and he would soon have an opponent to fight.
Naruto walked behind and to Sasuke's right, neither fast nor slow, his gaze fixed straight ahead. Good and Evil Perception spread across a one-kilometer radius like an invisible spiderweb.
He focused his senses on Orochimaru's cold Chakra, but Orochimaru had not yet entered his range. Naruto did not sense him, though he did detect a weak Chakra rapidly approaching them before lying in ambush along their path.
The corner of Naruto's mouth rose, and his steps slowed by half a beat.
Sasuke, walking ahead, noticed Naruto's pace lagging by the slightest fraction.
His brows furrowed as he heightened his senses at the same instant.
Naruto did not stop. He continued forward, casually drawing a Kunai from his ninja tool pouch as he passed a thick tree.
Then his right wrist snapped, sending the Kunai streaking out in a silver line toward the dense bushes ahead and to the right.
Clang!!
A sharp metallic collision erupted from the bushes, followed by a gray figure leaping out from behind them in a disheveled state.
It was a Genin wearing an Amegakure forehead protector, his face wrapped in several layers of mud-stained bandages. His right hand was still held in a blocking