Failure

The chakra within the dense mist released by the three Hidden Rain ninjas possessed extraordinary vitality and aggression.

Through his breathing, Yakushi Kabuto inhaled that chakra into his body, clogging his chakra pathways.

Yakushi Kabuto continued trying to gather chakra. By sensing the flow of his own chakra through his body, he finally adapted to his current physical condition.

He regained control over some of the chakra pathways within his body.

"I have to expel the chakra I inhaled earlier—the chakra that doesn't belong to me—as quickly as possible!"

Thinking this, Yakushi Kabuto began using his own chakra to assault the foreign chakra inside him.

As long as he completely expelled that foreign chakra from his body, he could use Yin Healing Wound Destruction again.

"I won't let you succeed!"

Shigure's voice rang out beside Yakushi Kabuto's ear.

He swung the kunai in his hand at Yakushi Kabuto, but Yakushi Kabuto immediately drew a kunai of his own and blocked Shigure's attack!

"That Body Flicker Technique that can conceal you completely again... How exactly do you do it?"

Yakushi Kabuto stared at Shigure, then denied his own conclusion. "No... Is that really the Body Flicker Technique?"

Hearing Yakushi Kabuto's question, Shigure fixed his gaze tightly on him.

Then, before Yakushi Kabuto's stunned eyes, Shigure vanished.

At the very same instant, he appeared behind Yakushi Kabuto.

The dense mist still interfered with Yakushi Kabuto's chakra pathways, preventing him from using Yin Healing Wound Destruction.

Yakushi Kabuto instinctively felt the shadow of death descending upon him.

In the final instant before he lost consciousness, he saw a highly compressed, rapidly spinning ball of chakra infused with wind-nature transformation—

—and then that chakra ball sheared away half of Yakushi Kabuto's head.

It had all happened in the blink of an eye!

As the thick mist dispersed, Shigure looked at Yakushi Kabuto's corpse lying before him. Only a small portion of the lower jaw remained connected to the neck.

He released the Transformation Technique cast on himself.

The originally tall Hidden Rain genin transformed into a blond boy around twelve or thirteen years old—

—it was none other than Naruto!

Naruto pulled a scroll from his ninja tool pouch and spread it over Yakushi Kabuto's corpse.

The scroll was densely covered in secret writing formed from black ink.

At the center of the scroll, within a white circle free of secret writing, was a large character meaning "corpse."

This was a very common sealing scroll.

A sealing scroll marked "tool" stored ninja tools;

A sealing scroll marked "jutsu" stored ninjutsu.

Naruto's scroll marked "corpse" was naturally a sealing scroll used to store corpses.

Naruto spread his fingers, circulated chakra, and pressed his palm against the character for "corpse."

Yakushi Kabuto's corpse was instantly sealed into the scroll.

As for Ken Misumi and Akato Yoroi's corpses, there was no need to preserve them in sealing scrolls.

Naruto destroyed their corpses on the spot.

He rolled up the scroll containing Yakushi Kabuto's sealed corpse and put it back into his ninja tool pouch.

Only then did Naruto finally have the time to sort through his thoughts.

Naruto had not expected Yakushi Kabuto's intuition to be so sharp.

The reason he had used his original body and Shadow Clones to disguise themselves as the three Hidden Rain ninjas supposedly slaughtered by Gaara—

—was because he feared the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu Orochimaru possessed.

When Naruto decided to kill Yakushi Kabuto, he had considered Yakushi Kabuto's exceptionally complicated identity.

Yakushi Kabuto was the messenger between Hidden Sound and Sunagakure in the Konoha Destruction Plan.

At the same time, he was Orochimaru's spy within Akatsuki, and among the talents Orochimaru most admired, second only to Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha.

At such a crucial moment in the Konoha Destruction Plan, his sudden death would certainly make Orochimaru notice that something was wrong.

Naruto had originally planned to kill Yakushi Kabuto while disguised as someone else.

Even if Orochimaru grew suspicious and used the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu to summon Yakushi Kabuto's soul back and learn the truth, he would never connect it to Naruto.

Rather, Naruto would never even be among Orochimaru's suspects.

In everyone's eyes, he was merely a genin who had spent only a few short months living as a ninja.

Orochimaru would only suspect Sunagakure, Danzo, the Third, or even Jiraiya...

But in the end, Yakushi Kabuto had directly realized that Naruto was not using the Body Flicker Technique.

To keep Yakushi Kabuto from discovering the truth, Naruto had even used the Hidden Mist Technique to mislead him...

He had never expected it to all come to nothing.

Yakushi Kabuto might not have been able to clearly understand that the ninjutsu Naruto used to instantly appear beside him was the Flying Thunder God Technique.

But Orochimaru, who had read the Scroll of Seals just like Naruto had, could not possibly fail to recognize it.

Naruto carefully recalled his battle with Yakushi Kabuto just now...

The mist he had created with the Hidden Mist Technique to keep Yakushi Kabuto from discovering the Flying Thunder God contained chakra from the Nine-Tails.

It had been meant to obstruct Yakushi Kabuto's chakra pathways and prevent him from continuing to use Yin Healing Wound Destruction.

After all, while disguised as a Hidden Rain ninja, the range of ninjutsu Naruto could use against Yakushi Kabuto was very limited.

With Yin Healing Wound Destruction, Yakushi Kabuto could easily turn the battle into a war of attrition.

A prolonged battle was extremely disadvantageous to Naruto's disguise.

Yet the ninjutsu Naruto had envisioned as a transitional tool for misleading his opponent...

Had now become another flaw that exposed him.

If Orochimaru could deduce the Flying Thunder God, he could certainly guess the Nine-Tails' chakra as well...

"One wrong step, and every step after goes wrong."

Naruto murmured softly.

It was also Yakushi Kabuto's sharp intuition that made Naruto abandon his disguise.

Since Naruto's disguise had already failed, Orochimaru was destined to discover his existence.

Then Naruto had to make absolutely certain that Yakushi Kabuto was dead.

The Forest of Death was the best place to deal with Yakushi Kabuto. Even now, Naruto still stood by that judgment.

He even felt fortunate that, after coming into contact with Yakushi Kabuto, he had developed the intention to kill him and acted on it.

With nothing more than his sharp intuition, Yakushi Kabuto had already caused Naruto enormous trouble.

If Yakushi Kabuto had truly been allowed to grow according to the original storyline, he would only have become an even greater obstacle for Naruto later on.

Therefore, Naruto did not regret killing Yakushi Kabuto.

He was only troubled that he had not killed Yakushi Kabuto as securely as planned, and by the various uncontrollable consequences that would follow.

But then Naruto considered that Orochimaru might not necessarily use Impure World Reincarnation to revive Yakushi Kabuto and ask about the cause of his death...

If that were the case, then his concerns would...

"No! Only fools expect their enemies to be foolish!"

The moment Naruto's pleasant fantasy arose, he crushed it himself.

Orochimaru could not possibly lack Yakushi Kabuto's DNA.

Orochimaru had gone to such lengths to revive the First Hokage and the Second Hokage. Since he was not short on sacrifices for Impure World Reincarnation in the first place, reviving Yakushi Kabuto would be effortless.

"I can only take it one step at a time..."

Naruto considered how a confrontation with Orochimaru would affect his plan to defect from Konoha.

The conclusion was that the impact would be enormous!

Orochimaru was entirely an unknown variable. Naruto's original plan could almost certainly no longer be carried out unchanged.

But there were still ways to make up for it.

For example—Naruto could summon Yakushi Kabuto through Impure World Reincarnation before Orochimaru did.

The Scroll of Seals contained Flying Thunder God Marks Naruto had placed!

However, Naruto also knew that he could not master Impure World Reincarnation anytime soon.

And choosing a sacrifice would be troublesome as well...

"No, think calmly. I don't need to rush."

Naruto's eyes flickered.

Before the second exam ended, Orochimaru would not know that something had happened to Yakushi Kabuto.

After all, Yakushi Kabuto's current identity was merely that of an ordinary participant in the Chunin Ninja Exams.

What Naruto needed to worry about were Sasuke and Sakura, whom he had left in the Forest of Death.

Now that Naruto had become entangled with the unpredictable factor that was Orochimaru, Sasuke and Sakura absolutely could not be allowed to come to harm.

If a teammate from his ninja class was harmed, Konoha's higher-ups would question whether the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki was truly qualified to become a ninja.

At that point, Naruto would have to face pressure from Orochimaru, Danzo, and the Third all at once.

After considering it carefully, Naruto sensed Sasuke and Sakura.

Sakura was still where Naruto had sent her using the Flying Thunder God Technique. Her position had not changed.

Orochimaru's chakra had already disappeared from Sasuke's side.

After confirming their situation, Naruto used the Flying Thunder God Technique once more.