Sasuke's Defiance Lasted Only a Moment

Sakura Haruno had never seen Sasuke so cruel, so cold-blooded, so insane.

She feared this version of Sasuke, feared that he would fall completely into darkness.

But Sasuke merely glanced back coldly, his eyes utterly unmoved.

"Sakura."

"They hurt you."

"No one can save them."

Tears streamed down Sakura's face as she desperately tried to bring Sasuke back to his senses.

"But..."

"Heh..."

But before Sakura could finish, Sasuke's lips curled into an icy sneer.

Before everyone's horrified eyes, he raised his foot and brought it down, stomping the three Sound Ninja to death.

Effortlessly, casually, indifferently.

As though ending three human lives were as simple as crushing three ants.

Once it was over.

Sasuke stood amid the blood covering the ground, trembling slightly with excitement as overwhelming power surged through his body.

He lowered his head to look at his palms, feeling the unprecedented strength raging within him.

A low, deranged chuckle slowly rose from his throat.

"Power..."

"Such incredible power..."

"It's so strong!!"

"Heh heh heh... ha ha ha!!"

Sasuke covered one eye with his hand and threw back his head, laughing wildly, his eyes filled with utter madness and an obsession with revenge.

"Uchiha Itachi!!"

"Just you wait!!"

"I'll come for you soon!!"

"I'll show you what cruelty really means!"

But Sasuke's defiance lasted only a moment.

"Aaargh!!"

The backlash from using the Cursed Seal suddenly erupted!

Agonizing pain crushed every inch of his body!

Sasuke's face instantly turned deathly pale. He sank into a deep crouch in agony, then rolled across the ground in unbearable pain.

The agony tore at his nerves, far beyond anything he could endure.

Just a few seconds later.

The boy who had just dominated everyone with savage madness blacked out and collapsed unconscious once again.

The reversal caught everyone completely off guard!

Sakura was utterly stunned. Ignoring the blood covering the ground, she screamed and rushed over, crouching beside Sasuke and frantically checking his condition, her heart filled with panic and worry.

Outside the Sky Screen, the entire Shinobi World watched in stunned silence. Several seconds of dead quiet passed before a tidal wave of discussion erupted!

"This Sasuke... he's a completely different person, isn't he?!"

"He's usually cold and aloof, but he isn't a bad person at heart! Just now, he was a cold-blooded demon!"

"It has to be Orochimaru's Cursed Seal!"

"The Cursed Seal gave him incredible strength, but it's twisting his mind! It's making him violent and bloodthirsty!"

Then the conversation abruptly went off the rails as everyone eagerly started gossiping and shipping couples.

"But seriously, Sasuke really protects Sakura! He'll kill anyone who hurts her!"

"Are those two actually going to end up together?"

"No, no, no! Am I the only one who thinks there's something going on between Sasuke and Naruto?"

"Sakura's the extra one. She's totally the third wheel!"

"Agreed!"

Meanwhile, inside the Konoha Ninja Academy.

The entire room was deathly silent.

All the students trembled, not one of them daring to make a sound.

The image of Sasuke slaughtering people with bloody brutality, then throwing back his head in wild laughter, was seared into everyone's minds.

He was terrifying!

Completely insane!

That bloodthirsty, deranged appearance filled every one of his peers with deep, instinctive fear.

Everyone except Sasuke Uchiha.

He wasn't afraid in the slightest. Instead, his gaze burned, his heart raced, and his eyes brimmed with intense longing!

That was power!

That was the power he had always dreamed of!

That was absolute power-the power to crush everything, take revenge, and restore the Uchiha!

Even if it affected his mind!

Even if he had to endure agonizing backlash!

Even if Orochimaru had sinister intentions and ulterior motives!

So what?!

As long as he could grow stronger!

As long as he could take revenge!

As long as he could kill Uchiha Itachi!

He didn't care about anything else!

Blazing ambition ignited in Sasuke's eyes.

Orochimaru...

At that moment, Sasuke etched that name into his memory.

Whatever the price.

He would obtain that power!

On the Sky Screen, Sakura came to her senses and hurriedly tended to the unconscious Sasuke. She had only just begun to calm down when Naruto, who had gone to fetch water, rushed back.

When he saw the severed limbs strewn across the ground and the blood everywhere, Naruto stopped dead. His eyes went wide, and he stood there utterly dumbfounded.

He froze in place, unable to speak for a long moment. The smell of blood hanging in the air made his heart tighten.

"Sakura... what happened here?" Naruto asked, recovering from his shock, his voice full of bewilderment.

Sakura looked at Sasuke lying unconscious on the ground, her expression conflicted and uneasy. "Sasuke did it," she replied quietly. "After he woke up, he seemed like a completely different person. He was terrifying."

Though Naruto was full of questions, he knew they couldn't linger here.

He suppressed his confusion and said decisively, "Let's not worry about that now. We need to move somewhere else. It's too dangerous here."

Sakura nodded repeatedly.

Naruto bent down and carefully hoisted the unconscious Sasuke onto his back. Sakura picked up the scattered scrolls and unrolled them, joy instantly filling her eyes.

The two scrolls were precisely the Heaven and Earth Scrolls they needed to pass.

"Great! We've collected both scrolls! We passed the second stage!" Sakura cried excitedly.

Naruto stared in disbelief, his mouth falling open. "Huh? We passed already? I didn't even get a chance to do anything!"

"Don't worry about that. Let's hurry to the central exam venue. The longer we stay in the forest, the more trouble we're likely to run into," Sakura urged.

Neither dared linger. With Naruto carrying Sasuke and Sakura clutching the scrolls tightly, they hurried toward the exit of the Forest of Death and the central venue for the Chunin Ninja Exams.

The Sky Screen skipped ahead, passing over their journey and cutting straight to the gathering area at the exam venue.

Far more candidates had made it through the Forest of Death than expected, so the organizers added a preliminary round at short notice to select the competitors who would advance to the official matches.

Inside the arena, one battle followed another, the fighting fierce.

During Sasuke's match, the Cursed Seal flared up uncontrollably again.

Black markings spread across his skin, and violent power swept through his body. Drawing on the strength granted by the Cursed Seal, he fought his opponent with everything he had. Only after a bitter struggle did he scrape out a narrow victory and qualify for the next round.

But Sasuke wasn't the one who drew the most attention during the preliminaries.

Instead, it was someone who had received little attention at the start.

Rock Lee!

Before the match began, no one thought Rock Lee stood a chance.

As far as everyone was concerned, Rock Lee knew neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu. All he had was Taijutsu.

Against Gaara's invincible offense and defense, and his seemingly unbeatable Sand Release, he had no hope of winning.

Gaara looked at Rock Lee, who stood straight before him, brimming with enthusiasm, with nothing but indifference in his eyes.

To him, the opponent standing before him was no different from an ant.

The whistle sounded, starting the battle!

At first, Rock Lee charged in at high speed several times, but every punch and kick was blocked by the automatic sand defense.

Yellow sand swirled through the air, forming layer upon layer of flawless, impenetrable defense.

No matter how fast Rock Lee moved or how hard he struck, he couldn't hurt Gaara in the slightest.

Everyone watching shook their heads.